Back through Perth to the Margaret River region

During our time in Perth a family friend kindly offered us accommodation at her property in Cowaramup near Margaret River, about 3 hours south of Perth. This had been playing on our minds during the camper trailer trip and after weighing up the logistics of where to go after Shark Bay we decided to head down south and return the camper trailer early. In order to make it back in time to collect the keys we endured a 10 hour drive which then gave us a rest day in Perth for cleaning up the camper trailer, eating out and enjoying a final swim at the lovely Perth beaches.

After heading back to PAWS for more food shopping and devouring another delicious falafel for lunch we attempted to go for a swim. Stingers (jellyfish with stinging tentacles) were littered across the shoreline of several beaches and clearly visible in the water which was odd as we hadn’t noticed a single one a couple of weeks earlier. As the weather was very warm, we braved the water momentarily to cool off although it wasn’t the relaxing swim we had been hoping for. A bushfire burning in the nearby Swan Valley sent clouds of smoke creeping over the otherwise clear blue sky.

We ordered take-away from Sri Melaka for dinner once again and had an alfresco meal in Kings Park. All of the meals on our first night in Perth were so good we wanted to eat them all again, even though we didn’t have the young man around to help us out this time. We couldn't resist trying some entrees and snacked on crunchy spring rolls and curry puffs. Along with main dishes it was way more food than we needed which didn't matter as the leftovers were devoured the next day. Pictured on my leftovers plate is "beef" rendang, mee goreng noodles and kangkong belacan. 

I’ll never forget our arrival at the Cowaramup property as it was like being in the lovliest dream I never wanted to wake up from. After meeting our friend at the front gate we drove down a long driveway with rows of grape vines on one side and a lake on the other. This wasn’t just any old property we had been invited to stay at, it was a huge vineyard with a tastefully decorated luxurious home overlooking an enormous  lake. Our friend showed us around the house and vegetable garden and then left it in our hands as she was staying elsewhere with family over the long weekend.

Ollie amused himself all afternoon trying to work out how to catch ducks and the hundreds of other resident water birds, thankfully without success. The man and I slowly unpacked and told each other a million times that the change of plans had definitely been our best holiday decision. When it was Ollie's bedtime we realised that his mattress had been left outside on the front verandah and discovered that a large frog had made it a temporary home. Ollie's fur is strewn across the front of it's nose.

Waking up to this view the following morning was rather surreal.

Followed by a leisurely walk around the lake and through the vines to sample some grapes.

It had been leisurely until Ollie spotted a young kangaroo! Ollie was right on the heels of the poor frightened creature at the beginning of the chase. They ran up and down the rows of vines until we lost sight of them for ages, eventually Ollie reappeared looking exhausted but very disappointed his fun game was over.

The walk worked up our appetites and it was inspiring to have an expansive kitchen at my disposal so I made a tofu and mixed veg stir fry for lunch. The sauce was thrown together from items in my portable pantry in addition to items at the house. From memory it contained soy sauce, garlic, sambal oelek, rice vinegar, sugar and sesame oil. Apart from being slightly too salty from an overload of soy sauce it was a fine meal and one I would like to replicate at home.

Lunch was followed up with a slightly less healthy dinner of pizza! We had been craving pizza ever since our disappointing one at Loving Hut. This was one of the main reasons we stopped off at PAWS, to purchase Cheezly and Redwood cheatin' pepperoni for pizzas. The man always loves a simple margherita and this one was enhanced with some fresh basil from the garden.

The other pizza was Mexican styled. I mashed a tin of Coles Mexican beans with some tomato paste and hot sauce to spread on the base and topped it with red onion, red capsicum/peppers, mushrooms, vegan pepperoni and cheezly. The dried out spinach on top that was procured from the garden was supposed to go on top of the bean layer but it was forgotten until the pizza was fully assembled and about to go in the oven. Regardless of my error, the pizza tasted great and the crunchy spinach provided a interesting texture.

A cooking relic in the house that captured my interest was a bean cutter. I have clear memories of my mum and grandma using these devices throughout my childhoood. Green beans are fed into the holes at the top and then you wind the handle whilst placing pressure on the beans. I don't think I ever ate a whole bean as a child, they were always sliced using one of these machines!

The days dwindled away quickly and we really hadn't seen anything at all in the region as we found it difficult to leave the magical property for long. The man suggested that we visit one of the nearby caves as he had fond memories of seeing them as a child and left it up to me to decide which one. I booked us in for a tour of the Lake Cave which begins with a descent down 300 steps through karri forest into a doline - a hole in the earth's surface.

True to it's name the Lake Cave contains a permanent lake in it's chamber. The main feature of the cave is called the "suspended table", an impressive formation which is the result of the fusion of stalagmites and stalactites and weighs several tonnes.

As we were due to hit the road again, our final meal needed to use up the frozen goods we had remaining. On my plate is a couple of Linda McCartney sausages with fried onions and gravy, mashed potatoes and some mixed frozen vegetables which were sautéed with garlic and a dash of soy sauce. 

Neither of us were ready to say goodbye to this beautiful place. Camping had lost its appeal after this comfortable instalment of our journey, and we weren't looking forward to the long drive across the Nullarbor back home either.  

Eating out around Perth

After a six hour drive from Kalgoorlie, unpacking the car and driving out to the airport to pick up the young man (he spent six nights with us in Perth before heading back home to start University), a quick meal was in order. I envisaged we would be tired and hungry on our first night in Perth and had printed a menu from Sri Melaka's website so we could pick up some take away food on our way back from the airport to the rental house. Sri Melaka vegetarian restaurant was one of the recommendations Steph suggested when I mentioned my travel plans to Perth. Steph formerly lived in Perth and is now based in Melbourne, so I used her blog as one of my resources for seeking out vegan food.  

Sri Melaka’s menu is Malaysian styled Nyonya cuisine predominately based on mock meat. It was difficult to choose from a large number of dishes as they all sounded fantastic. We ordered Chicken Kapitan, Kangkong Belacan and two of our favourite dishes Mee Goreng noodles and Lamb Rendang. The Chicken Kapitan contained chunks of mock meat and potatoes in a very spicy coconut curry gravy, the Lamb Rendang was 100% mock meat in a thick spicy coconut paste. Mee Goreng had a combination of vegetables, mock prawns and possibly some other form of mock meat I couldn’t identify and the Kangkong was Asian water spinach stir fried with chillies and mock shrimp paste. Every single dish was very spicy and our noses were running by the end of the meal. No-one could pick a favourite as we thoroughly enjoyed them all. I’ve been to a few Asian mock meat restaurants around Melbourne but none of them have managed to serve up food as delicious as this! It cost a little over $50 and there were enough leftovers to provide the three of us with a light lunch so it was also very good value.   

After reading about the Thai Vegan stall located at the Fremantle markets on Happy Cow, I put it high on my must visit list. I’ve travelled to Thailand a couple of times and haven’t been able to enjoy Thai food in Melbourne restaurants since. A reviewer on Happy Cow piqued my interest by mentioning that the food was that best they had eaten outside of Thailand. The stall is open on market days (Friday to Sunday) and is managed by two lovely women who were run off their feet pounding fresh herbs and spices, stir-frying and preparing fresh salads in addition to taking many orders. There are only a couple of seats to eat at the stall but there is a park nearby as well as plenty of benches in the surrounding streets.

In addition to a few precooked deep fried snacks, the menu is largely based on Thai salads, soups and noodle dishes (priced between $7 - $11). The man had left me to organise our food while he waited outside with Ollie and the young man ventured off to eat whatever he pleased. Salads are usually not popular with the man yet I recalled that he enjoyed the ones we ate in Thailand and boldly ordered a Larb salad, two spicy tofu sticks and a Pad Se Ew noodles. Somehow I managed to order an extra noodle dish which may have been due to the noise level in the markets and my substandard hearing. The amount of heat can be varied to your personal taste so I ordered all of our meals to be spicy.

The spicy tofu sticks ($3 each) consisted of three triangular pieces of crispy tofu on skewers, they were slightly disappointing as they didn't live up to their name in the spice department yet they were tasty enough to enjoy as a starter. The Larb salad was made up of lettuce, spinach, carrot, green papaya and cucumber topped with soy mince and was bursting with fresh flavours of lemongrass, chilli, coriander, mint and lime. It reminded us of the fantastic salads we had eaten in Thailand and I was thrilled that my brave selection turned out to be a success. Pad Se Ew was full of an assortment of vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, carrot, cabbage and bean sprouts) as well as nicely seasoned tofu and lovely wide rice noodles. I think the extra noodle dish was called Rad Na, it had the same vegetables, tofu and noodles as Pad Se Ew yet it contained more sour flavours and it was spiciest dish of the lot. We loved both of the noodle dishes although the man said that the Rad Na was verging on being too spicy for him.    

Perth is fortunate to have a couple of Loving Hut restaurants which are located a suburb apart from each other. Loving Hut at Victoria Park is open for lunches (Wednesday to Sunday) and weekend breakfasts and East Victoria Park is open for dinners (Wednesday to Sunday). I had looked at both of their online menus and after mentioning to the man that there was an opportunity to eat pizza with vegan cheese he was super keen to drive across and get some take away food.

The menu begins with Asian entrees, mains are a combination of Asian meals, pasta dishes and pizza. They also offer a range of desserts and like all of the stores in the Loving Hut chain, everything on the menu is vegan. We were in the mood for pizza and pasta, the entrees also sounded great so we ordered way too much food! The spring rolls and samosas were both good but it was the crispy bites (above) that were the most popular starter. These pieces of mock meat coated in a slightly spicy batter and deep fried may not have been the healthiest choice but boy did they taste good! I've been requested to pull out the deep fryer and recreate this at home one day.

While the vegan pizza had been a draw card, it ended up to be slightly disappointing. The base wasn't great, it was thin but the edges were not rolled out evenly and it was unlike a base you would get from a pizza shop. The vegetable toppings of capsicum, mushrooms, spinach and pineapple were fine but there was a scant quantity of Notzarella cheese covering them. By the time we demolished this amount of food we were too full to tackle the pasta dishes and put them aside for next days lunch. We enjoyed ravioli with a tomato based sauce and I was less impressed with spaghetti carbonara with mushrooms as I thought the sauce had a weird flavour but the man seemed to enjoy it. Loving Hut's strengths may be in their Asian meals given the success we had with the entrees. We paid $64 for three entrees, a pizza and two pasta dishes which was pretty good value.

Beautiful dog beach at Swanbourne which had a clear blue sky every day

The Naked Fig in Swanbourne boasts a lovely view across the ocean and was on our daily walking route from our accommodation to the closest dog beach. It is one of three trendy restaurants in Perth, their other locations are in Swanbourne and Fremantle and each of them has a dedicated vego night. We ordered take away soy lattes (with extra shots of coffee) from The Naked Fig twice after early morning swims. We decided not to return as the wait times were 15 minutes one day, over 20 minutes the following day and the coffees were very weak and milky, apparently made with St Ali coffee beans from Melbourne. It was a shame as The Naked Fig had a vegan breakfast on their menu and veggie burgers with vegan options for lunch and dinner.

Ollie waiting for the ball to be thrown in the ocean (yet again)

There were several other eateries I had wanted to visit but was most disappointed that we didn't make it to Heavenly Plate in Applecross as Kari's pre-wedding high tea sounded amazing as did Steph's dining experience there. The man spent half of his childhood growing up in Perth and was astounded by the amount of vegan food that is on offer these days. Vegans who are planning a trip to Perth should check out the following blogs for heaps of food options around town: Vegan4Life, Bite Sized Thoughts, vegan about town and Vegan Sparkles as well as Happy Cow.

Perfect pizza

On weeknights I tend to cook relatively healthy meals most of the time which means I don't mind having a splurge on something a little less healthy on the weekends. Pizza and calzones are examples of the more indulgent meals that we enjoy on these occasions. Last weekend I had a vague plan to make pizza and wanted to use up some beetroots so I made another batch of beetroot pepperoni on Friday night.
 

The following day I noticed our freezer was half full of mock meat from a shopping expedition to Vincent Vegetarian Food over six months ago and realised that I had never tried any of these mock meat products on pizza before. A further scrummage in the fridge revealed some other interesting leftovers I'd forgotten that had potential pizza toppings written all over them - tofu bacon and tempeh burgers. The original plan of a beetroot pepperoni pizza was transforming into a vegan meat lovers pizza before I knew it which sounded even more interesting!

After layering the pizza base with tomato paste, chopped onions and garlic, on went the mushrooms, beetroot pepperoni and tofu bacon. Next up was the "chicken" mock meat, chopped up tempeh burgers, a drizzle of BBQ sauce, followed by a layer of cheezly. This was the tastiest and most delicious vegan pizza that I've made and we all enjoyed it so much. Even though it didn't have the healthiest toppings, it's not a combination I can see happening around here again unless of course I'm graced with the same leftover ingredients at the same time.

Burmese curry

A Thai/Burmese restaurant in our neighbourhood gave us an introduction to Burmese food many years ago, namely Burmese curries. They include many similar ingredients to Thai curries although they don't typically use coconut milk or kaffir lime. I used to reproduce one at home with the aid of a cookbook recipe that would have my boys raving that it tasted exactly the same as the one down the street. These curries were always meat based so it's something I've been keen to replicate with the aid of some mock meat.

This was in fact my second attempt at a mock meat version. When I first gave this a shot and it didn't taste quite right, I realised that I had used the wrong recipe. There are a couple of Burmese curry recipes in my cookbooks and I had completely forgotten which one I used to make. This time it turned out much closer to how we can recall it tasting although it still wasn't perfect in my mind. It was a dry curry rather than saucy which may have been due to using mock meat; that stuff really seems to absorb a lot of liquid.

People who aren't fond of mock meat may find that this recipe works well with tempeh which is something I will try at some stage. The amount of chillies could also be decreased to suit personal spice preferences. It was perfectly spiced for us which means it could be too spicy for others with lower heat tolerance. It's also quite a simple meal to put together. Preparing the paste is the most labour intensive task and once that's out of the way, it's just a matter of simmering with the occasional stir.


Burmese Curry (Adapted from Taste of Thailand by Kit Chan)

3 dried red chillies, soaked in warm water for 20 minutes
3 small shallots, roughly chopped
2 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 stalk lemongrass, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons roughly chopped ginger
1 teaspoon roughly chopped galangal
2 teaspoons Golden Mountain Thai thin soy sauce (or use soy sauce)
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
300g "beef" chunks
1 cup water
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon tamarind puree

Pound the chillies, shallots, garlic, lemongrass, ginger and galangal into a rough paste with a mortar and pestle. Add one teaspoon of the Golden Mountain Thai thin soy sauce and the brown sugar and continue to pound until it the paste is relatively smooth.

Heat a pan over medium heat, add the "beef" chunks and the paste and stir frequently for 5 minutes. Stir in a cup of water along with the turmeric and dark soy sauce. Cook over a low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. The curry will be quite dry after this time.

Add the remaining teaspoon of Golden Mountain Thai thin soy sauce and tamarind puree and stir well. Serve with steamed rice and stir-fried Asian greens.

Vegan MoFo - G is for Glamorgan Sausages

Glamorgan Sausages or Selsig Morgannwg in the Welsh tongue are credited with being the first vegetarian sausages according to my copy of World Vegetarian Classics by Celia Brooks Brown. They can be traced back to 1862 where they were highly regarded by George Burrows in his diary about his travels through Wales. The original cookbook recipe consists of breadcrumbs, leeks, parsley, eggs, cheese, mustard and seasonings which is obviously not vegan. My husband and son adored these sausages during our period as vegetarians so I took it upon myself to attempt a vegan version several months ago which they both deemed to be a success.

By substituting a vegan cheese for dairy cheese with a bit of nutritional yeast thrown in for good measure and ground flaxseeds mixed with water for eggs, the mixture actually binds together better than the original version. They are not strongly flavoured so I recommend serving them with a nicely spiced tomato chutney or mustard. Tomato sauce/ketchup or BBQ sauce is another condiment that works well with them.

I actually prefer my meals to have a bit more oomph than these snags and mash but they have been requested for quite some time so I made them to please the man and son. To keep it interesting for me this time, I stir-fried some julienned carrots and shredded cabbage with garlic, chilli and vegan mushroom oyster sauce to have on the side. Next time around I may try adding a bit of smoked paprika to the sausage mixture as it's a spice I adore and feel could make them more interesting.

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

Vegan MoFo - B is for "Butter Chicken"

Butter chicken was a favourite meal of ours back when we were omnis. Once I discovered that I could nail this dish and provide us with such a close vegan rendition of what we used to adore so much, it was a huge comfort. Before I knew of the existence of asian mock meats I tried to make this curry with vegetables and tofu which worked well enough but did not live up to the taste and texture of a butter chicken made with mock meat. We don't eat mock meat very often but when we do the temptation is always there to whip up another batch of this delicious "butter chicken".

The original recipe was given to my husband by a work colleague as stated in my previous post where you can find the recipe. I made it a little differently last night due to being out of Tofutti cream cheese and only used about 300g of mock meat and added a touch more soy milk and dairy-free margarine than usual. Some other vegetable side dishes I usually serve with this meal are gajar matar (carrots and peas) or punjabi cabbage. Last night was an exception as we ate this simply with rice and pappadums. It wasn't the healthiest of meals but it was extremely tasty!

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

Enlightened Cuisine

The Crown complex is somewhere I usually try to avoid like the plague and have only had the displeasure of attending on a few rare occasions. When the man mentioned taking our son to see the last Harry Potter movie there, I agreed straight away as this would be my chance to introduce us to a nearby restaurant I had been wanting to go to for so long - Enlightened Cuisine.

Enlightened Cuisine is a popular and well renowned Chinese vegetarian restaurant that specialises in mock meat meals as well as a variety of tofu and vegetable based dishes. The man and I were very impressed when we sampled a selection of their dishes at World Vegan Day last year and ever since I had wanted the chance to choose from their full range of meals.

Rendang love extends throughout the three of us as our son made us proud and settled upon this as his choice almost straight away. The man and I were in debate mode for quite some time. My initial thought had been to order a tofu or vegetable dish so we weren't just eating mock meat. The man thought that if we were taking the rare opportunity to go to a mock meat restaurant we shouldn't be choosing tofu or vegies as we already eat them on a regular basis. We eventually put ourselves on the spot, ordered without final consultation and ended up with two Kung Po's between us; chicken and lamb. 

Apologies for the poor quality phone pics throughout this post...

The Beef Rendang was served with potatoes, the sauce was nicely spiced and the mock meat full of flavour. Our son is not vegan nor vegetarian but declared this to taste better than meat. From memory the rendang at Loving Hut had a slightly superior sauce (although I can't put my finger on why or how it was different) but their mock meat slices were not as nice as the chunks that Enlightened Cuisine use.

The Kung Po lamb was also delicious with a wonderful spicy sauce that was full of whole chillies and thankfully, a good selection of vegetables. The Kung Po chicken was a bit different to the lamb as it was served in a nest of fried potatoes and topped with cashews. It also contained a large amount of whole chillies and the same selection of vegies but the sauce was much sweeter and lighter in colour than the Kung Po lamb sauce. Of these two dishes, we all preferred the lamb over the chicken.

The service on the night was prompt and attentive and the meal was deemed to be a success in all of our eyes. Now that we have finally made it to Enlightened Cuisine, I'm sure we will visit again to sample more of the extensive menu as my boys do love their mock meat!

Enlightened Cuisine has been reviewed in the past by many bloggers but more recently by Where's the Beef,  Vegetarian Life Australia, vegan about town and easy as vegan pie.

Enlightened Cuisine
113 Queensbridge Road, Southbank
Phone: 9686 9188
Web: www.ecuisine.com.au

No butter, no chicken

Several years ago, my office was located in the city which meant commuting on a daily basis and getting home late in the evenings. A meal (or two) was usually prepared during the weekend and other weeknight meals were quick and simple to prepare. Once a week the man used to lend a hand in the kitchen. More often than not, butter chicken was the meal he chose to make. 

A special recipe was given to him by an Indian colleague he used to work with. He was a lovely guy who was more than happy to share his knowledge of Indian food and seemed almost humbled that we were so interested in the cuisine of his country of origin. He warned that his butter chicken recipe is not comparable with the mild version that is served up in Indian restaurants to westerners, instead it's a spicier, more traditional recipe.

We used to feast on butter chicken on an almost weekly basis and although it was technically my night off cooking, I began trying out different Indian vegetable-based recipes as our side dish. This catalog of vegie curries served with a multitude of dal recipes helped me through our early days of vegetarianism. Butter chicken was initially sorely missed, although as time passed so did the urge to consume our old favourite.  

Mock meat is something I don't cook with often as there is such a wide variety of more nutritional foods out there, however, I do quite enjoy it now and then as an occasional treat. There had been a bag of soy nuggets hiding away in the freezer for a long time and I had plans to make a "butter chicken" the moment they were purchased. I decided that it would be a great time to put them to use on the man's birthday eve as he would be able to enjoy a delicious birthday lunch of leftovers at work. 

The only problem I encountered was that the recipe was nowhere to be found! Luckily I do have quite a good memory bank for recipes that have been made several times. After consulting with the man, we were fairly confident that we had the spices nailed. A couple of other tweaks here and there were required to replace the dairy products that were once a part of it.

The "butter chicken" turned out just as delicious as we all remembered, although no chickens or cows were harmed in the making. We enjoyed this curry with punjabi sprouts which was a replica of this punjabi cabbage recipe using brussel sprouts instead. Although the man loved his birthday Mexican dinner and cake, it was the "butter chicken" left-overs that really made his gastronomic day.  

"Butter Chicken" (Adapted from Shohil's recipe)

1 onion, chopped roughly

4 cloves garlic, chopped roughly

2 cm knob ginger, chopped roughly

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cinnamon sticks

6 cloves

8 cardamon pods

2 heaped teaspoons ground coriander

2 heaped teaspoons ground cumin

2 heaped teaspoons garam masala

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

1/4 teaspoon saffron powder

400ml tomato passata

1/2 cup ground almonds/almond mill

1 1/2 cups water

600g packet Lamyong soy nuggets (almost fully defrosted)

1/2 cup soy milk

2 tablespoons tofutti cream cheese

2 tablespoons dairy-free margarine

Place the onions, garlic and ginger into a blender with a couple of tablespoons of water and process until a smooth paste is achieved.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot and fry the cinnamon sticks, cardamon pods and cloves until fragrant. Add the onion, garlic & ginger paste and cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat. Stir through the coriander, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, salt, chilli and saffron powder and cook for another minute.

Add the tomato passata and then the ground almonds and mix until thoroughly combined. Pour in the water, bring to the boil then reduce the heat to simmer. Add the soy nuggets, cover the pot and cook for 5-10 minutes until the soy nuggets are cooked through.

Stir through the soy milk, tofutti cream cheese and dairy-free margarine. When the tofutti and margarine have dissolved into the gravy, turn off the heat and serve. 

Thai "Chicken" Basil stir-fry

Back in October 2000, the man and I embarked on our first overseas trip together to Thailand. Nothing had been booked apart from our flights but I knew exactly where we were heading for the duration of our time. The ultimate highlight was our 2 night stay in Khao Sok national park, a stunning rainforest in Southern Thailand slightly off the beaten track, which meant that it wasn't over populated with tourists like most of the islands are. 

Our accommodation was a little village comprising of basic huts and a couple of tree houses. We were fortunate to secure one of the tree houses as a couple happened to be leaving just as we arrived. It was the perfect set-up. A tree house in the rainforest right next to the flowing Khao Sok river, which felt a bit rugged at nighttime when the jungle came to life and was full of so many unique sounds like gibbons calling. 

The greater surprise was the atmosphere in the communal area where the backpackers socialised when they weren't out and about exploring the beauty of the rainforest. The tourists were mainly European; lots of Brits, Germans, French and Norwegians and there was one chirpy Brit in particular that we became rather friendly with. We were intrigued when one of the lovely ladies that ran the place asked our friend if he was hungry and if he would like the "usual" with a cheeky grin on her face. Apparently he had been eating it for breakfast, lunch (when not out on a tour) and dinner while he had been staying there! We both decided to follow his recommendation and were also totally hooked.  

It was such a simple dish loaded with garlic, chillies, fish sauce, soy sauce, chicken (we were omnivores back then) and vegies but it was the aniseed taste of the thai basil throughout that made it so unique. We longed for authentic Thai food after we returned to Australia and were unable to find anything like this meal at restaurants. When I did manage to track down thai basil down at a local asian supermarket I was able to replicate the dish to a decent standard so it became a regular until we gave up eating meat.  

Upon sorting through my freezer contents recently, I came across a packet of Fry's chicken-style strips that had been bought so long ago they were getting pretty close to the best before date. We do enjoy a Fry's "chicken" schnitzel topped with a tomato sauce and cheezly every now and again when time is short and have tried a few of other products in the Fry's range but not the strips.  
I decided to put these strips to use in a stir-fry like the one we used to have and hope that they would be a good stand-in. The meal was cooked almost identically to the way it used to be done with the exception of the "chicken" strips. The directions instructed that they were to be cooked in a wok for 5 minutes with some oil and not defrosted first. 

Dinner was sensational! I'm not sure that I loved the "chicken" strips, they were quite good although I may prefer to use some tofu instead next time. The balance of the salty sauces with a touch of sugar and the aniseed bite of the thai basil was perfect. Even the man who used to become a little tired with my thai basil fascination thoroughly enjoyed it. 

I would have liked to include some of our photos from Khao Sok but they were taken in pre-digital camera days and our scanner is on the blink. :( 

Thai "Chicken" Basil stir-fry

2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 packet Fry's "chicken" stir-fry strips
4 cloves garlic, sliced into strips
2 birds-eye chillies, finely sliced
1 carrot, chopped thinly
1 red capsicum, sliced into thin strips
6 button mushrooms, sliced
1 bunch pak choy, stems and leaves chopped separately
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon vegan oyster mushroom sauce
2 teaspoons raw sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 large bunch thai basil leaves

Heat a tablespoon of peanut in a wok on the highest temperature and stir-fry the frozen "chicken" strips for about 5 minutes. Remove the strips from the wok.

Add the other tablespoon of peanut oil to the wok, stir-fry the garlic and chillies for about 15 seconds then add the carrot, red capsicum, mushrooms and pak choy stems. Stir-fry for about 2 minutes then add the chicken strips, soy sauce, vegan oyster mushroom sauce, sugar, water, pak choy leaves and thai basil leaves. Stir-fry until the pak choy and thai basil leaves have just wilted. Turn off the heat and serve immediately with brown (or white) rice.    

Loving Hut

A trip to Ikea last Friday evening had me in two minds for dinner options - back to Thanh Nga Nine for some delicious Vietnamese food or to give the Loving Hut a try. I'm satisfied with our choice to visit the Loving Hut despite not being blown away by all of the dishes we tried...

The traffic into Richmond was horrendous and by the time the man and I arrived at the Loving Hut we were extremely hungry. The place was only about 1/4 full when we walked in but became progressively busier during our dinner.

We started with some spring rolls and fried dumplings. The spring rolls were incredibly crispy and along with their dipping sauce were a fantastic start to the meal. The only problem with the serve was the odd number of rolls which meant that it couldn't be split evenly. The fried dumplings were OK but the ginger and 5-spice in the filling was too overpowering for my liking. 

Then we were onto the mains. The man selected the rendang which arrived first so we tucked into this straight away and it was sensational. It's a meal I wouldn't recommended if you are not a mock meat fan as this makes up the majority although there were a few potatoes and carrots included as well. The sauce had a wonderfully spicy coconutty flavour, of which I could have drank a whole bowl and I would have indulged a lot more if I wasn't waiting on my laksa... 

When the laksa finally arrived, my stomach was getting to the point where it really didn't need much more food and I could tell that the man was not going to be very helpful with assisting me in tackling this almighty bowl. The laksa turned out to be a disappointing choice, mainly because the broth seemed to be lacking in the blend of intricate flavours that makes a good laksa shine. My other gripe with it was that there was only one type of vegetable included, green beans. The other components of the bowl were fried tofu puffs (not my favourite type of tofu), different varieties of mock meat and two types of noodles.

The service throughout was attentive and cheerful, however the wait staff were a little bit confused about which meals were ordered at each table. The sequence of meals was also rather strange, one entree came out first, followed by the other entree served with one of the mains and then a long wait for the laksa. It was a cheap feed, the bill coming in at a bit over $30 for 2 entrees and 2 mains! The rendang and spring rolls are definitely an incentive for us to revisit the Loving Hut and one of their many tofu dishes might be a better selection next time.

Unfortunately there are no photos to share as my camera wasn't with me and I'm blaming my hunger for forgetting to take some phone pics. ;-)

Loving Hut was also reviewed soon after it's opening by Shawna, K @ In the Mood for Noodles and Katie Carrot.

Loving Hut
Shop 10, 242 Victoria Street
Richmond
9427 8916

"Beef" Rendang and Gajar Matar

Mock meat isn't something that features regularly in my kitchen but a trip to Global Green Vegetarian last weekend tempted me to purchase a couple of items. After a good hard think about what to use these products in, I decided on something that I used to enjoy as an omni which seems pretty difficult to achieve with vegies or legumes - "Beef" Rendang.

I knew just the source for it, my old faithful "Curry and Chilli cookbook"!!! After perusing the recipe which was made with 1kg of beef, it was clear that I would need to halve the rest of the ingredients in order for this to work with 300g of mock "beef". A couple of other minor adjustments were made to the recipe, instead of 250ml coconut milk I opted to use a small 165ml tin of light coconut milk as overpowering coconut flavours do not sit very well with me. In the middle of cooking the curry, I realised that I had tamarind pulp rather than concentrate so based on some quick googling doubled the amount stated.

A mock meat curry and rice couldn't make up our whole meal so I scanned through another favourite Indian cookbook given to me many years ago by my mother in law when I was going through an obsessive Indian phase. Curry used to be on the menu at least 2-3 times a week, these days my styles of cooking are a lot more diverse although I still love spicy stuff.

Flicking through "The Food of India" brought me to an old favourite, Gajar Matar (carrots and peas). It was the perfect choice for this week as my pea loathing son has been staying with his grandma for school holidays. This recipe has never been made as per the book due to the fact that it calls for 1/2 cup oil and 3 teaspoons of salt. There is no way I would use that much oil or salt, 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 teaspoon of salt has always worked for me. It has been a while since I last made it so I forgot how spicy it was (and that's coming from a chilli nut).

The whole meal was deliciously spicy and the two dishes worked well together, served with some rice and pappadums.

Pictured below are the "beef" chunks used in the recipe. I was surprised that they only contained 5 ingredients and nothing that sounded too dodgy: Soybean fiber, Chinese mushroom stem, vegetable oil, salt and vegetarian seasonings.

On a sad note, when linking to Global Green their facebook page states that the store opposite the Vic Market closed on the 18th Jan and has relocated to Braybrook :(

"Beef" Rendang (Adapted from "Curry and Chilli cookbook")

1 brown onion, chopped roughly
2 cloves garlic
1 green chilli, seeded and chopped roughly
2 teaspoons fresh ginger
1 x 165g tin light coconut milk
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon chilli powder
1 strip of lemon rind
300g packet of "beef" chunks
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons tamarind pulp

Place the onion, garlic, ginger, chilli and a tablespoon or 2 of the coconut milk into a food processor or blender and process until a paste is formed.

Heat the oil in the medium-large sized saucepan, add the paste and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the coriander, cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, cloves, chilli powder and stir until well combined and fragrant. Place the "beef" chunks, lemon rind and the rest of the coconut milk in the saucepan and mix well. Bring to the boil and simmer on very low heat for about 20-30 minutes until the curry is almost dry .

Finally add the lemon juice, brown sugar and tamarind and stir until heated through.

Gajar Matar (Adapted from "The Food of India")

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 large carrots, diced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder (omit if you don't like very spicy food)
2 tablespoons water

1 1/2 cups frozen peas

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

Heat the oil in a medium-sized saucepan, then add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook on medium heat for a few minutes until the onion has softened.

Add the cumin seeds and turmeric and when the seeds begin to sizzle, put the carrots in and stir through for 2 minutes. Add the ground coriander, cumin, salt, chilli powder (if using) and water and simmer, covered for about 10 minutes on low heat.

Stir through the frozen peas and cover for a few more minutes or until the carrots and peas are tender. Finally mix in the garam masala and serve.