Soup, casserole, cake and a new family member

Life has been a little crazy over the past couple of weeks which means that blogging has taken a backseat. There are so many posts I would love to be writing as I've been cooking up plenty of interesting meals, unfortunately there aren't enough hours in the day so I haven't had the time to follow most of them up with a blog post.

Our time has largely been devoted to our new family member Ollie. Long time readers of my blog may remember the heartache we experienced last year with our dog Jasper after he was diagnosed with a bone cancer. Jasper successfully went through a hind leg amputation and lived an active and happy 6 months before deteriorating rapidly when the cancer spread to his lungs. It was a devastating experience and has taken almost a year for us to feel ready to accept another dog into our home.

We went through a lengthy period of attempting to adopt a dog via various rescue organisations. After a lot of waiting, red tape and many close calls we ended up finding an older puppy outside of these organisations that was in just as much need, if not more, of a good caring home. A group of young international students had purchased a border collie puppy from a breeder obviously without having any knowledge of dogs or this particular breed of working dog. The pup had been confined to the inside of their house for 5 months, was never walked, trained or even desexed and had developed into a bundle of frenetic energy that just wanted to jump all over people. They were so desperate to get rid of the problem they had unknowingly created and didn't even bother to say goodbye when we took him off their hands!

In just over a week with us Ollie has learnt to stop jumping on people (most of the time), walk on the lead, sit, stay, drop and go to his bed. He is a sweet pup that is very eager to please but there are still a lot of areas where he needs work, including learning not to chase our dear old cat Monty! It has been an exhausting period as he can be the equivalent of a badly behaved toddler at times although it is wonderful to have a canine companion around the house again.

A couple of weekends ago I pulled up some more borage plants to make soup. This dark green soup was very basic and adapted from an old celtic recipe which we initially enjoyed and likened the flavour of the borage to spinach. Unfortunately the leftovers didn't fare as well! The following day the soup was very thick and set like jelly. It thinned out a little after it was reheated although the flavour wasn't as nice as it had been on the first day. The man thought that it tasted like egg yolk and although we did finish our bowls I'm not sure that I would use borage this way again.

The other night I baked a tortilla casserole to use up some very old corn tortillas that had been in the fridge for ages. I made the tortilla casserole from Viva Vegan a while ago and didn't have the right ingredients for it this time so I created my own version. Rather than topping it with a creamy nut/tofu based sauce, I crumbled some plain corn chips followed by grated cheezly. The sauce that was spread within the tortillas included pinto beans, corn kernels and diced mushrooms. I love the concept of a tortilla casserole as it's like a Mexican styled lasagne, this recipe is simple and versatile as it could be changed up to suit whatever vegetables or beans happen to be on hand. This meal was fantastic and just as tasty as I recall the one in Viva Vegan, it's definitely something I'll be repeating again as it was a hit with all of us.

A recent acquisition to my ever growing pile of cookbooks is World Vegan Feast by Bryanna Clark Grogan. I wrote about Bryanna's delicious tofu "fish" fingers recently which is a recipe that is posted on her blog. I have made a handful of recipes from World Vegan Feast recently and they have all been fantastic. I had been eyeing off a recipe for a lebanese semolina cake with lemon syrup from the book and ended up making it with limes as my mother in law gave me heaps from her tree. The semolina cake which is also known as sfoof was supposed to be topped with slivered almonds and as there were none in the house I used some chopped pistachios instead. This cake had a nice tangy flavour from the syrup, a different texture from the semolina and it was so lovely and moist. The syrup is supposed to keep the cake fresher for a longer period. I'm not sure we will be able to test that theory as I have a feeling that it won't last long around here.

Hopefully I'll be able to get back into more regular blogging soon, for the time being I'll leave you with these three recipes.

Borage soup (Adapted from a recipe on celtnet)

2 tablespoons dairy free margarine
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup basmati rice
4 cups vegan chicken stock (I used Massel stock powder)
450g borage leaves, washed thoroughly
½ cup cashews
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt
Salt and pepper, to taste
Garnish borage flowers

Melt the margarine in a stockpot over medium heat and fry the onion and garlic for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the rice and stir thoroughly so that all of the grains are coated. Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Stir through the borage leaves and allow to cook for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the cashews, water, lemon juice and salt in a blender and process until a smooth paste results. Stop the blender and scraping down the sides a few times if necessary. Transfer the contents to a bowl and refrigerate. Rinse out the blender with warm water.

When the borage has cooked for 20 minutes, transfer the contents of the pot to the blender and process in batches until it is completely smooth. Return the blended soup to the stockpot and reheat gently. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve the soup ladled into bowl with a dollop of the cashew cream, garnished with borage flowers.


Tortilla casserole (Inspired by Viva Vegan)

1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
150 g mushrooms, diced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 heaped teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 x 400g tin pinto beans, drained and rinsed
400g fresh tomatoes, chopped (or use a tin)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
½ cup water
½ teaspoon smoked salt (or use regular)
6 small corn tortillas (15cm diameter), cut into halves
Large handful of plain corn chips
100g cheezly, grated
Serve with cashew cream, guacamole and salsa picante

Preheat oven to 180C.

Heat the oil in a deep sided frying pan over medium heat, add the onion and fry for about 5 minutes or until soft. Stir through the garlic for a minute, then add the mushrooms and cook until softened. Add the cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper and smoked paprika and stir until fragrant then add the corn kernels, pinto beans, tomatoes, tomato paste, water and smoked salt. Allow to cook for 10 minutes.

Spread a thin layer of the sauce in the bottom of a 20cm x 20cm baking dish and layer a couple of tortillas on top. Repeat the layering another 2 times finishing with the sauce on top. Crumble a large handful of corn chips on top followed by grated cheezly. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 20 minutes then remove the foil and bake for a further 10 minutes. Serve with cashew cream, guacamole and salsa picante.


Sfoof - Lebanese semolina cake with lime syrup (Adapted from World Vegan Feast)

¾ cup raw sugar
¾ cup water
grated zest of 1 lime
juice of 4 limes (about 2/3 cup)
½ cup pastry flour (low gluten)
1½ cups fine semolina
1 teaspoon turmeric
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1¼ cups raw sugar
1 cup soy milk
zest of 1 lime
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup pistachios, chopped roughly

Place the sugar, water and lime zest in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir through the lime juice thoroughly, then pour the contents into a jug and refrigerate until required.

Preheat oven to 180C.

Line a 23cm round cake tin with baking paper and grease lightly with dairy free margarine. Combine the pastry flour, semolina, turmeric, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. With a hand held mixer, beat together the soy milk, sugar and lime zest in a large bowl until the sugar has dissolved. Add the contents of the small bowl and the oil and beat at medium speed for 5 minutes. Pour the batter into the cake tin and sprinkle the chopped pistachios on top. Bake for 35 minutes on until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Cool the cake for 10 minutes, then remove carefully from the tin. Using a bamboo skewer, pierce small holes all over the top of the cake then pour the cooled lime syrup on top.

Latchkey lime pie

A couple of weeks ago my mother in law and I did a home-grown produce swap of limes for lemons which threw me a little. I had been planning so many things to make with lemons and didn't have much stored up in the way of lime recipes. Limes are something I frequently use in guacamole, cashew cream, stir-frys etc. and I adore their flavour although I've never made anything that features limes in a starring role. It wasn't until the man gently persuaded me to make something sweet that I recalled a Post Punk Kitchen recipe that had been stashed away for a while - key lime pie.

I've never eaten key lime pie before so I was never going to have anything to make a proper comparison with. I decided to use the sweet shortcrust pastry from Wrapped in Pastry (with lime juice and zest instead of lemon) as I've made this a couple of times now and it has always worked perfectly. When it came to the filling, a few adjustments needed to be made to cater for what was in the pantry. I was out of almond milk and substituted soy milk, my supply of coconut milk was rather low so I included less than the original recipe and increased the soy milk quantity slightly and used cornflour instead of tapioca flour. 

The pie took hours to complete yet there wasn't much active work throughout the process. The shortcrust pastry needs an hour to rest prior to rolling out and baking and the pie filling was cooled on the bench for a while prior to it's setting time in the fridge, in total it would have been about 5 hours from start to finish. The man asked about having a biscuit layer on top so I indulged him with this request and ran a handful of Nice biscuits through the food processor for this purpose.

The man and I adored this pie and agreed that it was totally worth the wait! It was more refreshing than a lemon tart, with a lovely citrus tang and wasn't overly sweet which I always appreciate. The young man was not convinced, it seems that he is more attracted to lemon based sweets. Recipes like this make me long for a lime tree in my garden as I would happily revisit this recipe often to deal with a surplus of limes.


Latchkey lime pie (Pastry adapted from Wrapped in Pastry, lime filling adapted from PPK)

Sweet shortcrust pastry

2 cups plain flour
¼ cup icing sugar
½ cup dairy-free margarine
¼ cup soy milk
1 tablespoon lime juice 
1 tablespoon lime zest

Sift the flour and sugar into a large bowl then sprinkle the lime zest over the top. Using your fingers, cream the margarine into the flour/sugar/zest mixture until it looks like breadcrumbs. Drizzle in the lime juice and soy milk slowly, mixing it through with a butter knife until the dough comes together. Knead for a couple of minutes until the dough is smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 180C.

Roll out the pastry between two pieces of plastic wrap or baking paper to an even thickness of about 1cm. Press the pastry into a greased and floured 25cm tart tin, patching up any bare places with leftover dough if necessary. Run a knife around the top edge of the tin to remove any excess pastry which will also neaten it's appearance.

Blind bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the pastry is cooked and a golden brown colour. Allow the pastry to cool completely before adding the filling.

Lime filling

1 tablespoon lime zest
2/3 cup lime juice
2 x 165ml light coconut milk (at room temperature)
2 tablespoons cornflour
½ cup raw sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essense
2 teaspoons agar powder
450ml soy milk (at room temperature)

Arnotts Nice biscuits, crushed, for topping (optional)

Whisk the lime zest, lime juice, coconut milk, cornflour, sugar and vanilla essense together in a mixing bowl and set aside.

Place soy milk and agar in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the agar has dissolved. Slowly pour the contents of the mixing bowl into the saucepan, stirring often. Continue to cook for a further 10 minutes, stirring often, until the mixture thickens slightly.

Pour the filling into the pie crust and allow it to cool on the kitchen bench for 30 minutes. Refrigerate until firm and set, about 2-3 hours. Top with crushed Arnotts Nice biscuits, if desired.

Thai pumpkin and lentil soup

When it comes to pumpkin, the man and I are in total agreement. The only way we appreciate it is roasted or in a Thai flavoured pumpkin soup. There are so many recipes around for Thai pumpkin soup that are essentially a standard pumpkin soup with curry paste and coconut milk added. I've made soups like this before so I decided to create my own this time with additional ingredients to enhance the Thai flavours.

I had some Thai green chillies and lemongrass in the fridge that needed using up and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Red lentils have been finding their way into a lot of my blended soups recently as I love their thickening quality, the nutritional value is just an added bonus. Our little kaffir lime tree had a couple of leaves stripped off for this purpose and I chose to use some Thai thin soy sauce in place of vegetable stock. The Thai thin soy sauce isn't an essential ingredient, regular soy sauce or vegetable stock could be used in it's place which is how I have written the recipe.

It turned out to be fairly spicy which is exactly how I planned it. The amount of chillies could be reduced or omitted to suit personal tastes. I loved the slight undertone of the kaffir lime and lemongrass in this soup and enjoyed an extra squeeze of lime halfway through my bowl.

Thai pumpkin and lentil soup

1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 Thai green chillies, sliced finely
3 tablespoon vegan red curry paste (Maesri brand)
1 cup red lentils
4 cups water (or use vegetable stock if not using soy sauce)
1 kg jap pumpkin, cut into chunks
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 stalk lemongrass
3 tablespoons Thai thin soy sauce (or regular soy sauce or omit and use vegetable stock)
165ml tin coconut milk
fresh coriander leaves, for garnish
lime wedges, for serving (optional)

Heat the oil in a stockpot and add the onions. Cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat until softened then stir through the garlic and chillies for a minute. Add the red curry paste, lentils, water (or stock), pumpkin, and kaffir lime leaves. Trim the end of the lemongrass and remove the outer layer, then pound the stalk gently using the back of a knife so that it releases more flavour into the soup. Add the lemongrass stalk to the pot, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 20 minutes.

Discard the lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves then transfer the contents of the pot to a blender and process in batches until smooth. Pour the soup back into the pot and place on low heat. Stir through the Thai thin soy sauce, coconut milk and lime juice. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with wedges of lime.

Tofu with adobe paste

When I ordered the TofuXpress I was only expecting to receive a pressing tool, so it was a pleasant surprise to find that the accompanying instruction booklet also contained a few recipes. There was one recipe that immediately stood out from the rest but I had so many other things lined up to try with my new tool that it was forgotten for a while.

The man and I decided it was time to have refried beans this week as it's something we love, the trouble is the young man is not so much a fan. Viva Vegan contains a few sections which gives you ideas for matching different elements and when I repeatedly saw tofu paired with beans, it sounded like a great idea to get the young man enthused. I still hadn't tried the Tofu with adobe paste recipe from the TofuXpress booklet which seemed like the perfect match to complete our meal.

I made a few alterations to the marinade, reducing the quantities of ingredients down a smidgen due to the size difference in my block of tofu. Another minor tweak I made was to cut back on some of the sweet paprika and add a bit of smoked paprika. The lime, garlic and chilli flavours really stood out in the marinade and my initial thought was that it would be slightly too spicy. If the tofu was eaten on it's own that could have been the case. After it was wrapped in a tortilla with refried beans, lettuce, tomato, guacamole and cashew cream we found ourselves reaching for the hot sauce for some extra kick.

The young man hasn't been that enthused about Mexican food previously because he really isn't a lover of beans. This meal was requested by everyone to be repeated regularly so I'm happy to have found a way that we can all enjoy Mexican food.


Tofu with adobe paste (Adapted from the TofuXpress recipe booklet)

350g firm tofu
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
zest of 1 lime
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Drain the tofu and press it using paper towels and heavy weights or a tofu press for at least 30 minutes.

Mix the remaining ingredients together in a bowl/shallow dish. Cut the tofu into small cubes and toss them well in the marinade. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Heat a non-stick frying pan and spray lightly with olive oil. Add the tofu and cook in batches over medium heat for about 8 minutes, stirring often until the tofu is browned on all sides.

Enjoy in tortillas with refried beans, guacamole, cashew cream, hot sauce and salad toppings of your choice.