Around the world - Stopover 25 - Seychelles

The Seychelles are a group of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean situated off the eastern coast of the African continent. Like many other island countries, seafood features predominantly as does locally grown produce such as breadfruit, coconut, yam, cassava, papaya and several varieties of bananas including plantains. The food has a mixture of influences from Indian, Chinese, African, French and British cuisines. Fiery hot Creole styled curries are commonly eaten based on a spice blend called massalé which is unique to these islands.

After encountering several dodgy websites that promised recipes from the Seychelles and ended up offering malicious software instead, I came across a suitable recipe on BBC food, a far more credible site. The recipe was for a Seychelles fish curry which I planned to make with tofu and vegetables. Part of the appeal of this recipe was that it used its own blend of freshly ground spices as this always enhances the flavour of a curry. Spice blends are easy to prepare when you have whole spices in the pantry and a grinder to whiz up them up into a powder.

My favourite type of tofu for adding to curries and stir-frys these days is the Savoury Baked Tofu from Vegan Eats World. I cannot speak highly enough of this recipe, the salty, sweet, sour and slightly spicy marinade is a cinch to put together and then its just a matter of baking the tofu in the oven. I make a batch almost every week, usually a day or two before I'm planning to use it as I find it easier to slice after it has cooled down. If you own Vegan Eats World, you should definitely check this recipe out if you haven't done so already. My only advice is to ensure that the tofu fits snugly in your baking dish otherwise the marinade will burn.  

With a freshly made spice blend, delicious baked tofu and a couple of favourite vegetables, I was confident that this curry would be a wonderful meal. Unfortunately this wasn't the case! In addition to the massalé, the recipe included ground anise/aniseed, tamarind water and fresh thyme. I used dried thyme instead of the fresh herb and substituted tamarind puree for the tamarind water. What I thought would be a moderate amount of tamarind turned out too be slightly too much giving it too much sourness for my liking. The dried thyme also dominated and the blend of spices didn't resonate with any of us. It was definitely not a disaster, just a slight disappointment as I had such high hopes for it.

I would have liked to attempt another dish from the Seychelles but time is short with Christmas around the corner so I'll bid farewell to the islands and move on to the next country.
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Did you know?

The Seychelles is home to a UNESCO World Heritage site called Aldabra. Aldabra is the world's largest raised coral atoll which boasts the largest population of giant tortoises in the world and is home to the only flightless bird in the Indian Ocean, the White-Throated Rail.

Around the world - Stopover 24 - Bhutan

The kingdom of Bhutan is nestled between India and China at the eastern end of the Himalayas. The majority of the country is mountainous with only 10% of it's fertile land situated in the valleys. Red rice is one of the staples, a medium grain rice with a pinkish hue which is the only variety of rice that can be grown at high altitudes.

My food memory led me to a Bhutanese pineapple rice recipe in Appetite for Reduction as I've read many positive reviews of it around the blogosphere. I was able to track the red rice down in a local Indian spice shop, it has a texture that is similar to brown rice although the cooking time is slightly less. The man isn't a fan of brown rice at all so I was concerned he wouldn't like this and the inclusion of pineapple definitely wasn't going to win him over. I'm not particularly fond of fruit in savoury meals either and replaced the pineapple with some broccoli instead. After the red rice was cooked, it was fried with onion, garlic, ginger, Thai red curry paste, soy sauce, agave and coriander. An extra dash of curry paste and soy sauce was added after an initial taste test to give it some extra heat and flavour.

To round out the meal, I veganised a recipe originally made with chicken called Jasha Maroo. It was frustrating to find exactly the same recipe duplicated on several websites as the method was unclear and didn't state when to add some of the ingredients that were listed. I resorted to cooking it in the manner that seemed most logical to me, frying the onion first followed by the garlic, ginger and chilli and then adding the rest of the ingredients. The tofu I used in this dish was a new variety from the supermarket labelled as medium firm, it actually resembled silken tofu more than firm tofu so I was extremely careful during the cooking process.

This was a fantastic dinner, the tofu dish had a perfect amount of heat for us and it was an excellent partner for the red rice. I was happy with my decision to season the tofu with "chicken" stock rather than salt as it provided an extra depth of flavour. This was also a speedy meal which gave it extra bonus marks. I was very pleased that the man enjoyed it, particularly the rice dish and delighted when he kept going back for more! As a result of this successful meal, red rice may become my brown rice substitute from now on.


Jasha Maroo (Adapted from Asiarecipe)

300g medium firm or firm tofu, drained, pressed and cut into pea sized cubes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, sliced into rounds
2 cloves garlic, minced
2cm piece ginger, minced
2 green thai chillies, thinly sliced (use 1 chilli for a milder version)
1 tomato, diced
1 teaspoon vegan "chicken" stock powder
½ cup water

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, add the onion and fry for 5 minutes until soft. Add the garlic, ginger and chillies a fry for a minute then gently stir through the tofu, tomato, "chicken" stock powder and water. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 10 minutes.

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Did you know?

Bhutan was the first country to measure the national index of happiness which later became an accepted worldwide index. Bhutan's third king, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, made a fleeting remark in a speech that was taken seriously by the Bhutanese. According to Buddhist beliefs, happiness is something that one needs to strive for and the country's leading thinkers set about to find a way to quantify it. The index of happiness is measured on four areas: sustainable development, cultural values, natural environment, and good governance.

Vegan MoFo - Speedy bookmarked meals

If you are anything like me, your recipe bookmarks will have grown madly since the start of October. There have been so many fantastic recipes and ideas shared during Vegan MoFo already and there is still over half of the month remaining! During the nights I've had off my country theme cooking, I turned to a couple of easy meals I had bookmarked over the last couple of weeks and put them to the test.

First up was a Mac n Cheese recipe from Chloe's Kitchen which I read about on omgoshimvegan. I haven't tried many of these types of recipes and we haven't enjoyed the baked versions I've made but this one looked so nice and creamy, the ingredients sounded good and it was a speedy dinner which was just what I wanted. I loved that it included broccoli florets as I normally include them in creamy pasta dishes. I only made half the quantity of the recipe which was more than enough for the three of us and also added a few broad beans as we really enjoy them in pasta. This bowl of pasta tasted great and restored my faith in Mac n Cheese, it was very creamy and had a nice cheesy flavour.

It's no secret that I love tofu scramble and have been blogging about them a bit recently. Fellow Australian blogger Erin of Meet the Wikos tofu scramble caught my eye with her Aussie twist of adding the indigenous herb lemon myrtle as I had never used it before. I also loved how it was served on roasted tomatoes and the only change I made to this was to fry a few mushrooms in with the tofu. The man and I really enjoyed this meal, it was packed full of lemony flavour and the fresh thyme paired perfectly. The young man wasn't so keen on it although he is pretty picky when it comes to scrambles. Now that I have lemon myrtle in the pantry, I've been thinking of a few other ways I would like to use it.

I'm happy to have found a couple of quick tasty meals I will definitely make again in the future and am looking forward to trying out some more of the delicious recipes I have bookmarked!

A series of scrambles (part 3)

I've been going through a slightly less productive period in the kitchen recently due to time constraints. Instead of being motivated to cook new meals 3 to 4 times a week, this figure has dwindled down to 1 or 2. Old favourites like pot pies, adobe tofu with refried beans, smoky alfred and a few curries have happily made their way back into our tummies whilst the new meals haven't been worthy of a post. This seemed like a perfect time to continue on with my series of scrambles.

A curried tofu scramble was created earlier this year to appease the man. He requested a tofu scramble flavoured with curry powder that would be somewhat reminiscent of curried eggs. I loaded this up with vegetables and also added some beans in a similar fashion to my Mexican scramble. Kala namak (black salt) is used in place of regular salt to replicate the eggy flavour. The amount of curry powder in the recipe could be adjusted to suit various tastes, I'm not shy when using spices so I would recommended adding a teaspoon or two at a time until you are satisfied with the spice level. This makes a huge batch which is enough to feed the three of us for dinner as well as providing ample leftovers for lunches.

If you have missed the first two parts of my series of scrambles, click here to read part 1 and here for part 2.


Curried tofu scramble

1 head broccoli, stalk cut into pieces and small florets
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, sliced into thin half moons
3 cloves garlic, minced
150g button mushrooms, sliced
700g firm tofu
5 teaspoons curry powder (use less curry powder for a milder version)
¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 ½ teaspoons black salt (kala namak)
½ cup water
3 small carrots (200g), grated
1 large zucchini (400g), grated
1 x 400g tin black eyed beans or red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
75g baby spinach

Lightly steam the broccoli and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large deep sided frying pan, add the onion and fry over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until soft. Stir through the garlic for a minute then add the mushrooms and cook until they are soft and beginning to release juices. Crumble in the tofu with your hands then stir through the curry powder, nutritional yeast and black salt.

Add the water, carrot and zucchini and stir to combine everything. Allow the liquid to cook off which should take between 3 to 5 minutes, then stir through your choice of beans, steamed broccoli and lemon juice. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Finally stir through the spinach leaves until just wilted and serve immediately.

A series of scrambles (part 1)

Tofu scrambles are one of the most popular meals in our house so I make them on a fairly regular basis. I hardly ever cook them for brunches these days and prefer to whip one up as a casual dinner. If it's a tried, tested and previously loved formula then I usually make an enormous batch as the leftovers are fantastic for work lunches throughout the week.

I haven't blogged much about tofu scrambles before so I figured it was time to start posting a few of my scramble recipes starting with the household favourite, a Mexican inspired tofu scramble. This scramble has been made several times over the past year with many tweaks along the way and I'm pleased to have recorded the recipe now so I can refer back to it next time I'm making a batch.

Broccoli is hardly an authentic Mexican ingredient but try telling that to the man who insists that it goes into almost every scramble I make! I love to include lots of vegetables and find that sliced mushrooms, grated carrot (sometimes also zucchini) and spinach leaves thrown in at the end are barely noticeable. The equivalent of a tin of red kidney, black or pinto beans are always an addition which give the meal an even bigger protein boost. As you can see in the photo below, my large deep sided frying pan is so full at the end it can be quite a struggle to stir the final ingredients through without making a mess.

The recipe has been written with a few variations in the ingredients. I don't always have smoked tofu on hand but the scramble works just as well with plain tofu and some extra smoked paprika. I normally use 2 teaspoons of chipotle chilli powder which makes it fairly hot, 1 teaspoon is quite mild if you are not a spice fiend. A hot sauce like salsa picante or sriracha is wonderful drizzled over your serve if you require an extra kick.

So that's it for part 1! I haven't set myself a timeline nor do I know how many of these posts I'll be writing at this stage. There are a few more that are ready to go in the recipe sense and plenty of other different scramble ideas floating around in my head.


Mexican inspired tofu scramble

1 head broccoli, cut into small florets and stalk sliced into bite sized pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, sliced into half moons
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
250g button or portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1-2 teaspoons chipotle chilli powder
1-2 teaspoons smoked paprika (use 1 teaspoon if using smoked tofu, 2 if using plain tofu)
2 x 350g packets firm tofu (or 1 x 350g plain tofu, 1 x 300g smoked tofu)
2 medium carrots, grated
1/3 cup tomato paste
½ cup water
1 x 400g tin red kidney beans, pinto or black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons lime juice
½ teaspoon salt (it may need a little more salt if not using smoked tofu)
freshly ground black pepper
75g baby spinach leaves

Lightly steam the broccoli and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large deep sided frying pan, add the onions and fry over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until soft. Stir through the garlic for a minute then add the mushrooms and cook until they are soft and beginning to release liquid. Add the cumin, oregano, chipotle chilli powder and smoked paprika and stir for a minute, then crumble in the tofu with your hands. If using smoked tofu, chop this into very small cubes as it doesn't crumble well.

Add the carrot, tomato paste and water and stir thoroughly. Allow the liquid to cook off which should take between 3 to 5 minutes, then stir through your choice of beans, steamed broccoli, lime juice, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Finally stir through the spinach leaves until just wilted and serve immediately.

Simple satisfying soup

There's nothing better than a bowl of soup to get you through a period of ill health. When the man came home from day surgery a couple of weeks ago I wanted to have a pot of soup ready for him as I had a feeling that his appetite would be diminished. I figured if there was a pot of soup around he may be persuaded to try some. I didn't have the time or inclination to look up recipes, instead I pulled vegetables out of the fridge and decided to make a simple soup based on broccoli as it's one of his favourite vegetables.

The soup turned out to be really lovely and the two of us polished it off in a couple of days. As I forgot to take a photo at the time, I had to make it again. It's a very simple recipe which takes about 10 minutes of preparation, 25 minutes of cooking and a few minutes at the end to blend it into a thick smooth delicious soup. Like most of my other blended soups, I included some red lentils for extra protein and to thicken it up.

I wasn't quite sure if the soup would be flavoursome enough initially and stirred some basil pesto into my bowl, honestly it tasted so much better without it. I love it with a shake or two of white pepper and think that's all it really needs. A mild tasting herb like parsley could also be a nice garnish.

Broccoli soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 small onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup red lentils
4 cups vegetable stock
2 medium (300g) potatoes, peeled and diced
2 heads (600g) broccoli, stalks and florets roughly chopped
salt and black or white pepper, to taste
fresh parsley chopped, for garnish (optional)

Heat the oil in a stockpot and fry the onions over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir through the garlic for a minute then add the lentils, stock, potatoes and broccoli. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 20 minutes.

Transfer the contents of the pot to a blender and process in batches until smooth. Pour back into the stockpot and reheat gently. Season with additional salt and pepper, to taste. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

Broccoli dal

This may not look like the most attractive meal in the world although it's delicious flavour has been enough to warrant this being repeated several times and that's saying a lot in this house! The concept of a creamy broccoli dal in Vegan Yum Yum interested me when I first purchased the book even though the amount of spices seemed lacking. I originally trialled the recipe with double the amount of spices which was nice yet I felt it could use some further improvement and began tinkering further.

During my second attempt, I discovered that my cumin seeds had run out. I used ground cumin instead and was on a kalonji/nigella seed craze at the time and added some as well. As you can see from the photo, I'm still hooked on these tasty seeds and also find them to be a tasty addition to saffron rice. I wasn't expecting the meal to be such a hit because a plate of dal doesn't usually excite the others as much as me. I didn't record quantities of ingredients used that time and it's been a challenge to win them over with this meal since.

It has taken a few attempts to rediscover the version that wowed my dal sceptics and I still received minor criticism this time that the broccoli to dal ratio was slightly low which was most likely due to using small heads of broccoli. My recommendation is to use medium or large sized heads of broccoli in order for the broccoli to work it's magic into this meal. Other notable tweaks I have made to the original recipe include the addition of some ground coriander and using blended cashews in place of soy milk to provide a thicker creamier texture. I also prefer to throw roughly chopped broccoli in the pot and blend the whole lot briefly at the end rather than finely chopping the broccoli at the start and serving the dal in a chunkier style.

The recipe below makes a decent sized pot of dal which would be enough to feed four without a side dish. I've been in the habit of making at least 2 curries when we have Indian food so there are always heaps of leftovers, as they reheat wonderfully and taste even better after the flavours have had a chance to meld further. We enjoyed broccoli dal on this occasion with spiced vegetable patties from Holy Cow and have previously loved it with "butter chicken" too.


Broccoli dal (Adapted from Vegan Yum Yum)

1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon kalonji/nigella seeds
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon Indian chilli powder/cayenne pepper
1 cup red lentils
4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
2 medium-sized heads of broccoli
1/2 cup raw unsalted cashews, soaked for at least 4 hours
1/3 cup water
2 teaspoons garam masala
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Heat the peanut oil in a large saucepan and add the black mustard and kalonji seeds. When the seeds begin to sizzle, stir through the onion and cook over a medium heat for a few minutes until softened. Add the garlic and stir for a minute, then add the turmeric, coriander, cumin and cayenne pepper. After another minute, stir through the lentils then pour in the water. Add the salt and roughly chopped broccoli stalks and florets to the pot. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, until the lentils are soft, about 20-25 minutes.

Transfer the contents of the saucepan into a blender. Process the mixture and when the broccoli has broken down, pour everything back into the saucepan and return to low heat. Rinse out the blender and add the cashews with the water. Blend the cashews until they become smooth and creamy and pour this into the saucepan. Add the garam masala, lemon juice and additional seasoning, to taste.

Cheezy roast vegetable pot pies

Last year I went on a pot pie bender after purchasing some ramekins and posted about my experiments a couple of times. The arrival of the New Year prompted me to sort through my draft posts and I was astounded to find that I had never published the recipe for the pot pies that ended up being the household favourite. As it had been such a long time since we last indulged in these pies, I decided to make them again and take some shots of the process.

The concept came from the roast vegetable pie recipe on easy as vegan pie where Carla combined some roasted vegetables with a cheezy sauce from Veganomicon. I turned this into pot pies and we loved them like this for quite some time. When I purchased Appetite for Reduction, we all adored the Easy Breezy Cheezy sauce in another recipe so I had to put it to the test in these roast vegetable pot pies.

The man and son were purposely kept in the dark about the change in sauce and I was thrilled that they could notice the difference and proclaimed them to the best pot pies. I can quite happily eat one of these pies without any condiments but the man always add some ketchup on top and the son prefers his with BBQ sauce.

Extra roasted, steamed or stir-fried vegetables are usually what accompanies these pot pies in the colder winter months. This time I served them with a side salad and garlic bread as I am currently enjoying a supply of sweet and juicy home-grown cherry tomatoes from my garden.
  

Cheezy roast veg pot pies (sauce adapted from Appetite for Reduction)

olive oil spray
1/2 head cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 small head broccoli, cut into small florets
1 medium sweet potato, chopped into 2cm pieces
3/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 cup plain flour
2 teaspoons dried garlic flakes
2 teaspoons dried onion flakes
2 teaspoons Massel vegetable stock powder
2 teaspoons Massel chicken stock powder
2 cups water
1 teaspoon American mustard
75g baby spinach leaves, chopped
1 sheet Borg's puff pastry, defrosted
soy milk, for brushing the pastry
sesame seeds, for topping

Preheat oven to 200C. Spread the chopped cauliflower, broccoli and sweet potato in a single layer on a large roasting tray lined with baking paper. Spray with olive oil and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the sweet potato is soft and the cauliflower and broccoli is slightly charred. Leave the oven set to 200C for baking the pot pies.

In a medium saucepan, combine the nutritional yeast, plain flour, onion flakes, garlic flakes, vegetable and chicken stock powders. Pour in the water slowly, stirring to ensure that there are no lumps. Heat over medium-low, stirring often until the mixture comes to a boil. Turn off the heat and stir through the mustard and chopped spinach.

Arrange the roasted vegetables into 4 ramekins and then cover with the cheezy spinach sauce. Place a ramekin on the puff pastry sheet and cut out a circle of dough around the base. Stretch the dough circle with your hands a little then place it on top of the mixture in the ramekin. Brush the top of the pastry with soy milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Repeat for the other 3 ramekins. Place the ramekins on a baking tray to prevent spillages and cook for about 20 minutes or until the pastry has browned.

Breakfast burritos

Breakfast burritos have always sounded like a fantastic idea to me although I must admit to never eating one before. Last weekend I decided it was time to give them a try with a tofu scramble filling. Smoked tofu seasoned with cumin, oregano, chipotle chilli powder and lime juice felt like a good combination of ingredients, along with some mushrooms and the man's favourite vegetable - broccoli. The broccoli seemed a little out of place but it was purely there to keep a promise.

After making the scramble, it was just a matter of filling the tortillas, folding them up and then grilling for a minute or two on each side. I had some sofrito, cashew cream and guacamole leftover from dinner which were perfect condiments for the burritos. This was a slightly different kind of brunch to ones I usually make on weekends but it is a meal I am very likely to make again as it was fairly quick to prepare and we loved it!

Mexican inspired tofu scramble burritos

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
1/2 cup water
1 large shallot or 1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
100g button mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon chipotle chilli powder
300g smoked tofu, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2-4 teaspoons lime juice (I used 4 which I might reduce to 3 next time)
salt and pepper, to taste
4 flour tortillas

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan, add the broccoli and cook, stirring for a few minutes until browned. Pour in 1/4 cup water, cover and steam for another minute. Transfer the broccoli to a plate.

Add the other tablespoon of oil to the pan and fry the shallots/onions and garlic on medium for about 5 minutes or until soft. Stir through the mushrooms with a pinch of salt and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are soft and juicy. Add the cumin, oregano, chipotle chilli powder, smoked tofu, tomato paste and 1/4 cup water and stir well to combine. Cook for a few minutes until the liquid has been absorbed. Turn off the heat and add the lime juice to your desired taste. Season with salt and pepper.

Place spoonfuls of the filling in the centre of the tortillas and then wrap them up to enclose the filling. Heat a non-stick grill pan or frying pan over medium heat and cook the burritos for a minute or two on each side. The burritos should be cooked seam side down first and carefully flipped over when slightly browned. Serve with cashew cream, guacamole and hot sauce.

Spicy Broccoli Risoni

Risoni is also known as orzo in other parts of the world. It's a small type of pasta that is shaped like rice which makes it perfect for using in pasta salads, soups, oven bakes and one pot pasta dishes. I haven't tried out any new recipes with risoni/orzo for quite some time and when I saw a post during Vegan MoFo called "Spicy Broccoli Orzo", I bookmarked it immediately.

The recipe from Big Mike Eat's interested me on a few different levels. The ingredients were certainly an appealing factor and I was also fascinated that Micah had used a wok to cook his meal in. I was tempted to follow suit but rather than pull out my wok, I stuck to my standard pasta cooking method using a large saucepan. I made a few changes to Micah's recipe by adding in an onion, using fresh garlic rather than powdered and swapping the dried rosemary and thyme for some basil.

This quick and simple one pot meal was declared to be a success by 2/3 of the household. My son and I loved it and the man was not so keen. We enjoyed the combination of chilli, lemon and basil but the man thought that the lemon flavour was too strong and also grumbled about there being too much black pepper. He really dislikes pepper so I usually put minimal amounts in dishes and add more to my own plate at the end. At least there was some home-made garlic bread on the side to keep him happy!

Spicy Broccoli Risoni (Adapted from Big Mike's Eats)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup risoni/orzo pasta
3 cups water
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 head broccoli
2 tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup lemon juice
salt and black pepper, to taste

Chop the head of broccoli into small florets and cut the stalks into bite-sized pieces.

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium and fry the onion for 5 minutes or until soft. Stir through the garlic and cook for a minute, then add the risoni and stir thoroughly.

Pour in the water and add the dried basil, chilli flakes and sea salt and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook uncovered for 5 minutes. Stir through the broccoli and tomatoes and cook uncovered for another 3 minutes. The liquid should be absorbed after this time. Add the lemon juice and season with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste.

Cauliflower alfredo with tofu bacon

Last week I took a few nights off recipe testing for various reasons. The man and son had been overwhelmed with so many new dishes, leftovers were getting out of control and my vegetable crisper needed a darn good clean out. Half a head of cauliflower was begging to be used which reminded me of Johanna's recent post about Cauliflower Alfredo. It sounded like a perfect way to use up the cauliflower and pasta is always a good way to keep my boys happy.

My adaptation was a bit different as I left out the white beans, kale and sun-dried tomatoes and added in some tofu bacon, broccoli and baby spinach leaves as they also needed to be used up. I included a larger quantity of smoked paprika which is something I have loved when playing around with the Alfredo recipe from Vegan Yum Yum. It turned out to be a fantastic meal that pleased everyone immensely so this pasta sauce will definitely be repeated in the future.


Cauliflower Alfredo (Adapted from Green Gourmet Giraffe and Cupcakes and Kale)

1/2 head cauliflower, chopped into florets
1 1/4 cups soy milk
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 small head broccoli, cut into small florets
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 spring onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
100g baby spinach leaves
10 strips tofu bacon, chopped
250g pasta of your choice
salt and pepper, to taste

Place the cauliflower florets in a saucepan filled with water, bring to the boil then simmer for about 15-20 minutes, or until very soft. In the meantime, steam the broccoli florets until just tender and cook the pasta until al dente. Drain the cauliflower in a colander. Put the cauliflower, soy milk, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt and smoked paprika in a blender and process until it becomes a smooth mixture.

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the spring onions and garlic and cook for a minute or two. Pour in the blender mixture then add the broccoli, baby spinach, tofu bacon and pasta. Stir everything together thoroughly and heat through until the spinach has just wilted. Season with salt and pepper.

Vegan MoFo - Q is for Quinoa Stew (and an award)

This quinoa, lentil and vegetable stew has to be my favourite recipe from the Fat Free Vegan blog as it's the one I have repeated the most. It's from Susan's "Ridiculously Easy" category as she used frozen vegies and tinned lentils for convenience. I have blogged my adaptation of this recipe before which uses fresh vegetables and larger quantities of quinoa and smoked paprika.

It's a great recipe which is simple to prepare and you can throw in whatever vegetables you have around. This time I used pumpkin, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and added spinach right at the end. The flavours improve over time as it tastes even better the next day. I have also mixed a bit of harissa into the leftovers before and made quinoa stuffed peppers which were fantastic!

Click here to see my A - Z of Vegan MoFo posts.

I was both thrilled and extremely honoured to receive the Liebster award (German for favourite, beloved or dearest) from Mandee at Cupcake Kitteh. Mandee's blog is full of beautiful photos of the many things she has made from Viva Vegan which is what initially attracted me. I also find it inspiring how she manages to cook such amazing food with ease that doesn't contain any soy or gluten. Head over and take a look if you haven't been there already!

My job now is to hand out the Liebster award to 5 bloggers that have less than 200 followers if this can be judged from the site. I decided to give the award to bloggers I have discovered throughout Vegan MoFo 2011 that haven't already received this award to the best of my knowledge.

The bloggers (listed in alphabetical order to keep in line with my MoFo theme) I am awarding are:

• Dawn from Veg-am
• erinwyso from Olives for Dinner
• Jes from Eating Appalachia
• Jes from Your Mom's a Vegan
• Rachel from I Eat Grains

The winners can pass the award on if they feel inclined to by:

• Showing your thanks by linking to the person that gave you the award
• Choosing 5 bloggers to give the award to and leaving a comment on their blog to let them know 
• Post the award on your blog 
• Enjoy spreading the love around

Delicious tofu indeed!

Tofu is something I could happily eat every day of the week. I love it's ability to soak up flavours and the different textures that can be achieved by applying various cooking methods. Having said that, I try to limit my weekly tofu consumption as there are enough soy products in my diet and it's better to eat a variety of protein sources. If I had to choose between a meal containing lentils, beans, tofu or nuts, tofu would be the winner most of the time.

Perhaps my self-imposed tofu limit is the reason that Matthew's delicious tofu posted by In the Mood for Noodles well over a year ago didn't make it out of my bookmarks until now. I always have an abundance of tofu recipes stored up and never enough time to cook them all! The flavours in the recipe sounded great, a combination of spicy, salty, sweet and sour. It had also been given the thumbs up by Where's the Beef earlier this year.

After planning out my meals for the week and deciding to try Matthew's delicious tofu, I became somewhat conflicted after reading K's post about Toby's Singapore Noodles. The noodles also sounded fantastic and I haven't eaten Singapore Noodles for quite some time. Of course, I could have made both recipes but the rest of my week's cooking was organised so I stuck to my original plan, telling myself that it was only fair to give this neglected recipe a shot first.

I wanted to include some vegetables with the meal without making a separate side dish so I decided to steam some vegetables and add them to the tofu at the end. As the sauce would have been devoured by the tofu by this stage, I doubled the sauce quantity and reserved half to mix into the pan with the vegetables. The recipe also listed chopped nuts which the man doesn't like as toppings so I left them out to appease him.

The recipe's title was certainly an honest one as the tofu truly was delicious! There were no complaints from my crew so it was unanimous win. It was also a simple meal to prepare which was perfect for a weeknight dinner. This recipe is one that I will keep in mind for nights when you need a quick meal on the table.

This post is my second submission for the 'that recipe seems very familiar...' blog event which is part of the 2nd birthday celebrations for Planet VeGMeL.

Matthew's delicious tofu with steamed vegies
(Adapted from In the Mood for Noodles and originally from The Garden of Vegan)

1 tablespoon peanut oil
350g firm tofu, drained, pressed and cut into pieces
1 small head broccoli, cut into florets
1 small red capscium, sliced
1 medium carrot, sliced
6 button mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup tamari
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons Sriracha chilli sauce (or less if you don't like too much spice)
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 tablespoon minced ginger

Heat the peanut oil in a large pan over medium heat and fry the tofu until browned on both sides.

While the tofu is frying, steam the broccoli, capsicum, carrot and mushrooms until just tender. Whisk the maple syrup, tamari, lemon juice and chilli sauce together and set aside.

When the tofu has cooked on both sides, reduce the heat, add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for a minute. Pour half of the sauce into the pan, stir well, then cover and cook until the juices have almost evaporated. Add the steamed vegetables to the pan with the rest of the sauce, mix thoroughly and cook until heated through. Serve the tofu and vegetables on a bed of rice with sauce from the pan drizzled on top.     

VOTM - Broccoli

VOTM generated some interest with the man and son which I have found somewhat amusing as they usually don't have much involvement in my blog (other than eating and providing the odd bit of feedback). After I finished last month's cauliflower post, they both made separate requests for my vegetable of focus for the following month. I went with the man's choice this time as he selected broccoli and given that my last two VOTM posts were from the cruciferous family I decided to keep rolling with it. 

We have increased our consumption of broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts this winter and one of the reasons is due to our dear dog Jasper. When he was diagnosed with bone cancer earlier this year and we made the difficult decision to have the cancer removed (which meant a leg amputation), I spent a lot of time researching an anti-cancer diet for dogs. We were aware that after the removal of his bone cancer, there was a potential risk of a secondary cancer forming. 

Did someone say broccoli? Mmm...

Jasper deserved to have the best possible chance of leading a long and happy three legged life after going through such a big operation so his diet had to change. One thing that was common in my research was that cruciferous vegetables are most suitable for a dog's anatomy (therefore easier for them to digest) and their cancer fighting properties are beneficial to dogs as they are to humans. Broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage and asian greens have since become a component of Jasper's nightly meal solely for this reason. Jasper is showing no other signs of cancer five months after the operation (and we hope it continues this way) although I'll never really know whether the change in his diet has assisted in any way.

Broccoli is a vegetable that has been a part of our meals for many years although more recently I have been putting it to more interesting uses than just serving it steamed on the side. Vegan Yum Yum's broccoli dhal and broccoli/mushroom bake are a couples of recipes that were enjoyed in the past and more recently bistro broccoli chowder and 40 cloves chickpeas and broccoli  from Appetite for Reduction. Spinach was pushed aside to make way for broccoli in my latest version of home-made cannelloni and broccoli burgers were a great find thanks to the posts from Johanna of Green Gourmet Giraffe and Cindy and Michael of Where's the Beef. Broccoli also manages to find it's way into the majority of my stir-fry's and tastes amazing when roasted and is slightly charred. 

This simple broccoli-based pasta sauce is a work in progress... 

Deciding on a recipe for this month wasn't the easiest task. One of my intents with VOTM is to post a simple side dish for the particular vegetable of focus, however it was difficult to make up my mind this time around. Out of the many broccoli recipes I had been playing around with, none was particularly simple and there were definitely no side dishes! Our holiday to FNQ came and went at the end of last month and I missed my VOTM post for July which gave me some breathing space to ponder.

When serving steaming broccoli as a side one night, I decided to toss it with some garlic margarine that was left over from making garlic bread. This worked quite well although I found that steaming the broccoli left some water remnants which watered down the margarine to a degree. My alternative method was to roast the broccoli florets and serve them drizzled with garlic that had been cooked in dairy-free margarine. I preferred the second method and also cooked some cauliflower in the same fashion. They were both delicious and I could have eaten a truckload! 

I decided to post these couple of quick sides for this month as they are very simple, tasty and moreish. In fact, when rushing to get food on the table this week I was questioned why the plain steamed broccoli was not covered in garlic marg. It seems like this one will be a regular in the future...

Now's it time to get my thinking cap on for my son's request which I have a feeling could be another challenge!

Broccoli with garlic margarine - two ways

Cut a head of broccoli into florets and use as much garlic and dairy-free margarine as you like!

1. Steam broccoli florets until just tender, drain well, then toss with dairy-free margarine and minced garlic.
2. Roast broccoli florets at 200C for 20 minutes on a baking tray sprayed with olive oil. Meanwhile, melt dairy-free margarine in a small frying pan and cook minced garlic until it turns golden. Drizzle the garlic margarine over the broccoli when serving.  

Kung Pao Noodles

Although I had never tried kung pao/po before, when I saw this posted on Ashley's eat me, delicious blog it sounded exactly like the type of meal for me. A spicy, salty sauce with a bit of sweetness was definitely one to try!!! Soon afterwards I had the opportunity to sample Kung Po "Lamb" and "Chicken" at Enlightened Cuisine and they were fantastic.

One of the things I wanted to change about the recipe was the hoisin sauce as it's not something I am particularly fond of and didn't have any on hand. Instead, I used a combination of kecap manis, BBQ sauce and vegan oyster mushroom sauce. White wine is something I never have around either so I added a touch of white wine vinegar as my substitute.

When it comes to stir-fry's the man came be quite fussy. He only recently made it known to me that he doesn't like nuts in stir-fry's and has also become a bit weird when it comes to tofu. I still haven't worked out how he likes it best (apart from deep-fried which I rarely do!) but I know some of the ways he doesn't like it. He seemed to enjoy the tofu that we had at Nana Thai in Mission Beach which wasn't pre-fried so I thought I would give that a try. Instead of frying the tofu cubes, I placed them into the kung pao sauce to marinade whilst preparing the rest of the vegetables.

The good news is that all three of us really loved these noodles. There were so many wonderful flavours in the sauce to enjoy and the tofu tasted sensational as it had soaked up the kung pao sauce. I had a good feeling about this recipe as I had loved a curried chickpea soup that Ashley posted from her Rebar cookbook a while ago. This cookbook is going on my wishlist, not that I really need any more!

Kung Pao Noodles
(Adapted from eatme, delicious and Rebar: Modern Food Cookbook)

Kung Pao sauce

2 tablespoons minced ginger
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon kecap manis
1 tablespoon BBQ sauce
1 tablespoon vegan oyster mushroom sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
3/4 cup water
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 star anise pod
2 teaspoons sriracha chilli sauce
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon cornflour

Other ingredients

270g dry udon noodles
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 onion, sliced
2 medium carrots, sliced
1 red capsicum, sliced
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
3 large portobello mushrooms, sliced
350g firm tofu, drained, pressed with paper towels and cut into cubes

Place all of the ingredients for the sauce except for the cornflour into a small saucepan. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 15 minutes. Mix the cornflour with a tablespoon of water in a teacup until it is a smooth paste, then pour this mixture into the simmering sauce. Simmer, covered for a further 10 minutes, then remove from the heat. Remove the star anise from the sauce and discard. Add the tofu cubes to the sauce to marinade.

Meanwhile, bring water to the boil to cook the noodles in. Cook according to package directions (mine took 8 minutes). Drain the noodles in a colander and run cold water over them to stop them from cooking further.

Heat the peanut oil in a wok, swirling it around so the sides of the wok are coated with the oil. Stir-fry the onion until golden, then add the vegetables and stir-fry for about 3 minutes. Add the sauce and the tofu and allow to cook until the vegetables start to soften. Mix through the noodles and serve.

Broccoli and tofu filled cannelloni

I used to have a bit of a love/hate relationship with cannelloni. Eating it was always a joyful experience but stuffing the pasta tubes with messy filling tested my patience and made me a little grumpy on occasion. My last few experiences with making cannelloni have been more enjoyable and rewarding using home-made pasta and it tastes so much better. Those old ready-made tubes have become a convenience of my past I'm not sure I will ever go back to now. 

Although cannelloni has appeared on my blog once before I wanted to revisit a few things as I am the type of person who rarely makes something the same way twice. I purchased semolina flour recently (mainly for the purpose of making pita bread) and went hunting around for a semolina based pasta recipe. The recipe I ended up trying cannot be judged properly at this stage as I made an error when adding the olive oil and used a tablespoon rather than a teaspoon. This could have been the cause of the dough being a little harder to work with than my usual pasta dough so I will have to give it another try with the correct measurements.

Instead of making a standard spinach and tofu filling, I opted to try broccoli and tofu and simply whizzed up all of the filling ingredients in my food processor. This cannelloni was sensational and although the dough was harder to work with, the resulting pasta was so soft and delicious it made the effort totally worthwhile. 

Broccoli and tofu filled cannelloni

Pasta dough (adapted from A (Life) Time of Cooking)

3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup semolina flour 

1/3 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil (I accidently used a tablespoon rather than a teaspoon)

Place the flours into a bowl, mix together thoroughly and make a well in the centre. Pour the water and olive oil into the well and work the flour into the water slowly until a slightly wet dough has formed. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and rest for 30 minutes.

Broccoli and tofu filling

1 head broccoli, cut into florets 

350g firm tofu
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper, to taste

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor bowl and pulse for about a minute. The resulting mixture should be soft and crumbly and the broccoli finely chopped.

Tomato sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
700ml jar tomato passata
1 teaspoon dried basil

salt and pepper, to taste 

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan, add the onion and cook over a medium for a few minutes until the onion has softened. Stir through the garlic for a minute then add the tomato passata and basil. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes or longer. Add salt to taste. 

Cannelloni assembly

Use a pasta machine or rolling pin to roll out thin sheets of pasta. Cut out rectangular shapes of pasta measuring the width of your baking tray. Place a line of the filling down the centre of the pasta, then roll up to enclose the filling. Repeat until the pasta or filling runs out.

Spread about 1/4 of the tomato sauce over the bottom of your baking dish. Place the cannelloni tubes in the tray then cover with the remaining sauce. Cover with foil and bake in the oven at 180C for 30-40 minutes or until bubbling.

Broccoli burgers on the blogger-go-round

One of the things I love about Cindy and Michael's blog is their links section on the right hand side titled "Old favourites we're eating this week". Quite often, I meander off to have a look at their old recipes and was particularly interested when I saw one called broccoli burgers some time ago. This recipe was linked back to Johanna's blog where she had discovered it in an article highlighting best vegetarian burger recipes. 

It wasn't a vegan recipe but sounded like it could be made vegan pretty easily so I had a stab with a few adaptations that night and was very impressed. These burgers were really tasty! The recipe came with the bonus of being an oven-baked version which I prefer over pan-frying in batches. It gives you more time to get other components of your meal ready, less angst about breaking up burgers and you don't use as much oil so they are better for you. Win, win, win!

The first time I baked the broccoli burgers no photos were taken or notes written down on the vegan adjustments that I made. When I had a second attempt last week they turned out just as I had remembered them to be and this time I was better prepared with camera and computer. 

The initial mention of broccoli burgers did instigate a few strange looks although they have since been enjoyed by all of us. Broccoli burgers seem to go well with a variety of condiments; gravy, tomato sauce, tomato chutney and BBQ sauce have all paired nicely and I even enjoyed a couple of cold plain left-over burgers for a quick snack.   

Broccoli burgers (Adapted from Where's the Beef via Green Gourmet Giraffe and originally posted here)

1 medium-sized head broccoli
2/3 cup almonds  
2 slices of wholemeal bread
1 red onion, cut into quarters
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 tablespoon vegan worchestershire sauce
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1/3-1/2 cup water
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 200C. Chop the broccoli into large florets, place in a food processor bowl and pulse until finely chopped. Remove the broccoli and place in a large bowl. Place the almonds in the food processor and process until finely chopped. Remove and add to the bowl with the broccoli. Repeat these steps with the slices of bread and then the onion.

Add the nutritional yeast flakes to the bowl and mix thoroughly so that all ingredients are well combined. Stir the ground flaxseed together with 1/4 cup of water and reserve 1/4 cup of water for later. Drizzle the worchestershire sauce over the top of the ingredients in the bowl, then add the flaxseed/water mixture and stir thoroughly until well combined. Add the reserved water slowly, stirring through and testing every so often to determine when the mixture becomes soft enough for rolling into burgers. You don't it to get too moist so all the water may not be required.

Line a large roasting tray with baking paper and spray lightly with olive oil. Roll the mixture into balls and then flatten out into burgers. Give the tops of the burgers with a spray with olive oil and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the bottoms are browned. Flip the burgers over and bake for a further 20 minutes.