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.

2012 - The unblogged edition

The 18th January marks the anniversary of my blog which has been going for two years now. During 2012 I only managed to publish 101 posts, which was a bit lower than 138 posts in 2011. Challenges on and off throughout the year prevented me from writing as much as I would have have liked and ever since Ollie's arrival in July a lot of my usual free time has been devoted to training and exercising him (which is very rewarding, good exercise and lots of fun). Although it wasn't the most productive year in the blogging sense, there were many recipes from other blogs I tried along the way so here's a round up of a few I can recall (with photos of ones I've been able to locate).  

Post Punk Kitchen - Chesapeake tempeh cakes. Johanna from Green Gourmet Giraffe posted about this recipe at a time when I was struggling to like tempeh much at all. I found the tempeh in these tasty little "crab" cakes to be very enjoyable although I wasn't particularly fond of the remoulade drizzled on top. I must make these again soon!

Seitan is my motor - Pasta with walnut, mushroom and tempeh sauce. This recipe was given high praise from vegan about town and where's the beef so I was keen to give it a try. Unfortunately it wasn't a winner for us, we didn't enjoy the tempeh in this meal and the flavour of the walnuts in the sauce were too strong for our tastes, so I'll stick to using cashews in creamy pasta sauces.

Holy Cow - Aloo posto. The man and I have a similar distaste for potatoes in curries so I generally steer clear of these types of recipes. I was intrigued by Vaishali's potato based curry as I had never seen a poppy seed paste in a curry previously so I made the recipe with cabbage instead. Even though my blender struggled to break down the poppy seeds completely it was still a very enjoyable dish which my extended family enjoyed too.

Fat Free Vegan - Okara crab cakes. This is an older recipe from Susan V's archives I stumbled upon when searching for okara recipe ideas after making home made tofu. I added the upper end of the stated amount of Old Bay Seasoning (purchased from USA Foods) which resulted in a strong peppery flavour that none of us were particularly fond of.

Inspired eats- Pan fried shiitake mushroom bacon. I was curious to see if a recipe that listed so few ingredients (mushrooms, oil, salt) would actually taste like bacon. The flavour was quite impressive given there was no liquid smoke or smoked paprika involved and they tasted great on baked potatoes with a spicy noochy sauce. It hasn't replaced my favourite tofu bacon but it was fun to try out another facon recipe.

Diet, dessert and dogs - Greek inspired chickpea scramble and Quinoa pizza balls. Both of these recipes tasted fantastic, the chickpea scramble made with besan was full of delicious Mediterranean flavours and is a great alternative to a regular tofu scramble. The quinoa and bean based pizza balls flavoured with tomato paste and herbs turned out a little softer than I expected but they were still lovely to snack on.

Sweet Roots - Coconut milk cheddar - There is something about coconut products that just doesn't work with my palate and I really need to stop experimenting. Heavily spiced coconut based curries are about the only savoury meals where I enjoy coconut and anything else just doesn't appeal. The coconut flavour in this cheese was way too strong for my liking and put me off vegan cheese making for a while.

Wheres the beef - Kentucky Fried Tofu. Cindy's not so secret blend of herbs and spices in this recipe that was written up in the Planet VeGMeL zine last year was really delicious and rather simple to prepare for a slightly indulgent nostalgic meal.

Tales of a Vegan Food Fetishist / Wrapped in Pastry - I'm a huge fan of Leigh Drew's recipes and was rapt to get my guys on board with split peas in her garlic lemon dal recipe as they usually associate split peas with soup. The man and young man were also highly impressed with the Subway style "meatball" subs I made early last year. Pate en croute and pissaldiere (bottom right in the photo above) from Leigh's latest cookbook Wrapped in Pastry were popular at family Christmas gatherings last year. I loved both of these recipes but the man wasn't crazy about the pate en croute.

Vegan Dad - Corned Beef. The man used to have a penchant for corned beef back in the day so I gave this version a try. I wasn't able to track down all of the ingredients and made a couple of substitutions which may have contributed to it's failure. The accompanying white sauce with capers I whipped up wasn't fantastic either. I was sad to read recently that Vegan Dad has farewelled the blogging world as I've enjoyed several recipes from his blog over the years.

Vegan about town - Dan dan mian. I was really disappointed that the man didn't share my enthusiasm for this delicious bowl of noodles and tempeh in a super spicy broth as I was so happy to find another tempeh dish that I enjoyed. We usually have similar tolerances to chilli but on this occasion it was too spicy for him and perfect for me. Perhaps if it's toned down a fraction I may have better success next time?

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I would like to finish this post with a huge thank you to all readers of this blog, everyone who has tried a recipe or two, readers that have left me a comment during these years and the many people I have connected with through regular comments on my blog as well as their own. It really means a lot and all of the feedback I receive is much appreciated. I hope you are looking forward to another year of posts with plenty more stopovers from around the world to come!

Favourite foods from 2012

Happy belated new year to all my readers! I hope everyone had a thoroughly enjoyable and restful festive season full of delicious food.

Apologies for such a lengthy break between posts, it feels like ages since my last post was published and I'm also way behind in responding to reader comments as well as reading other blogs. After my family Christmas obligations ended, we spent a few days away camping in the bush which was relaxing as we spent our days swimming, playing with Ollie and watching the different native birds in the area. Instead of being rejuvenated by the camping experience, I picked up a bug just after we got home (the first illness I've had in over 2.5 years!) and have been feeling extremely worn out after dragging myself back to work last week. Now that my head is finally feeling clearer, it's time to get back on track with the first of a couple of posts I've been working on to sum up 2012 in my kitchen.

Favourite soup - Smoky cauliflower (and tofu bacon) soup. With or without tofu bacon this simple blended soup has become a household favourite. Red lentils are a sneaky ingredient to provide the soup with added protein and make it a more substantial bowl.

Favourite Mexican meal - Tofu adobe with refried beans. This has become our standard Mexican meal, when Mexican is requested this is what my fellows are after! We pile refried beans from Viva Vegan along with Tofu with adobe paste (from the Tofu Xpress recipe booklet) onto tortillas with some lettuce, tomato, cashew cream, guacamole and hot sauce. There's an art to how much filling you can load in the tortillas before they become a very messy eating experience.

Favourite meal that can be served anytime of the day - Mexican inspired tofu scramble. I've been making this scramble for such a long time and it never fails to satisfy our taste buds. It's loaded up with heaps of veggies and beans and pairs well with toast for an easy dinner or wrapped into tortillas for breakfast burritos.

Favourite fried food - Tofu “fish” fingers with tartare sauce. We adore Bryanna Clark Grogan's tofu "fish" recipe and have scoffed them down on a few occasions. I also tried a baked version with a polenta coating but they turned out rather dry so I recommend shallow or deep frying them for the the ultimate eating experience.

Favourite finger food - Gobi (cauliflower) pakoras are superb when paired with a coriander chutney from Vegan Eats World. I made these a few times by frying them in a wok and have been meaning to make them again in our relatively new deep fryer.

Favourite noodles - Steph from vegan about town's Char Kueh Teow recipe isn't actually restricted to our favourite noodle dish of 2012, it first appeared in my kitchen in 2011 and has been on semi-regular rotation since. It's a super tasty meal for minimal effort.

Favourite quick meal – Smoky Alfred with broccoli, asparagus, spinach or broad beans. I've been making this pasta dish for years (originally based on Hurry Up Alfredo in Vegan Yum Yum) and we never tire of it for a speedy weeknight meal. I change it up frequently by adding in some seasonal greens and enjoy it with tofu bacon on occasion too.

Favourite from around the world posts - Sri Lankan pan rolls. Although they took a couple of attempts to perfect, I've been very happy with my version of these deep fried snacks that we used to enjoy years ago. Stay tuned for another delicious Sri Lankan snack soon which I've been playing around with recently.

Favourite sweet - Sfoof (Semolina cake) and Chocolate chip cookies. As I rarely feel the urge to eat sweet things I'm leaving this one up to my fellows. Bryanna Clark Grogan's semolina cake with lemon or lime syrup from World Vegan Feast was the definite winner for the man last year, when he is craving a cake this is what he always asks me to make. The young man's choice is slightly more mundane, chocolate chip cookies are his fave which is fairly predictable coming from a teenage boy.

Number 1 household favourite - Calzones. The regularity of our calzone nights has dropped back from fortnightly to about once a month but they are still without a doubt the recipe I am requested to make if I ask the others what they feel like eating. I can't imagine them disappearing from meal rotations in the near future either!

Around the world - Stopover 22 - Singapore

The small island country of Singapore is located on the southern part of Malay peninsula, separated from Malaysia by a narrow strait of water. Malaysian food is commonly found in Singapore as well as Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Middle Eastern and Western dishes. Noodle dishes are always popular at our house so I happily selected a few to make from an abundance of choices and due to my unsatisfactory attempt at making murtabak for Brunei I was also keen to give this another try.

This version of murtabak was adapted from a Singaporean recipe with a promising blend of spices (no cardamon overload in this version!) and I used lentils and mushrooms instead of tempeh this time. Murtabak usually has egg in the filling so I seasoned some crumbled tofu with kala namak (black salt) prior to mixing it with the rest of the filling ingredients.

I also wanted to try making the roti and watched a few videos on YouTube of murtabak being made in market places. It was a bit daunting to see them being prepared with such ease as I knew it wouldn't be the case for a novice yet it also provided me with a few tips and the inspiration I needed. After making the dough, it was rested for an hour in a bowl coated with oil. The oil made the dough very supple and created an elastic texture that is required for it to be stretched out to a paper thin consistency. My technique was fairly rudimentary after the dough was initially flattened between my palms. I placed the dough on the bench holding one side down and slowly stretched the other side in a flapping motion, if that makes sense! The edges didn't turn out as thin as the centre so I pinched them with my fingertips and stretched them out last as best I could. Perhaps a rolling pin could have been better for this task!

The initial concerns I had about the thin dough not holding the filling went away after the first murtbak was successfully assembled and I gathered some momentum for the remaining ones. We loved the curry dipping sauce last time I made murtabak so I made another one based on a recipe from Munting Kusina. Thai thin soy sauce was substituted for fish sauce and even though I used a hot curry powder it didn't turn out too spicy. This turned out to be one of the favourite meals I have cooked recently. The murtabaks paired with the dipping sauce were so delicious and everyone was disappointed that there weren't any leftovers.

Mee Goreng is one of the man's favourite noodle dishes, he frequently orders it from Chinese/Malaysian restaurants but I haven't been able to replicate it at home as well as I would like. This latest attempt was much closer to how we are used to it although I was a little heavy-handed with the chilli and it still needs a few minor tweaks to the ingredients in the sauce.

Singapore noodles have become rather popular at home since In the Mood for Noodles posted a fantastic recipe last year. This time I tried a recipe from World Vegan Feast by Bryanna Clark Grogan. I found it interesting that it used jalapeno chillies and smoked tofu as well as seitan or soy curls. I omitted the seitan/soy curls and bumped up the quantity of the smoked tofu instead. Bryanna's version was very tasty and quite spicy although the recipe from In the Mood for Noodles remains the household favourite as it's the most similar to Singapore noodles we have eaten locally.


Murtabak with lentil and mushroom filling (Adapted from MakanTime)
Makes 6

Roti dough

2 cups plain flour
½ heaped teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dairy-free margarine
2/3 cup lukewarm water
2-3 tablespoons peanut oil

Combine the flour and salt together in a large bowl, then rub the margarine into the mixture with your fingers. Add the water and mix together . Knead the dough for 10 minutes, then divide it into 6 even pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Place 2 to 3 tablespoons of peanut oil in a large bowl, roll the dough balls in the oil to coat them, then allow them to rest, covered with a tea towel for an hour.

Filling

½ cup brown lentils
150g firm tofu, crumbled
¼ teaspoon kala namak (black salt)
1 tablespoon peanut oil
2 small onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2cm piece ginger, minced
200g button mushrooms, diced
1 teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup water

Place the lentils in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain in a colander.

Crumble the tofu into a small bowl. Add the black salt and stir well to combine.

Heat the peanut oil in a deep sided frying pan or large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and fry for 5 minutes or until soft. Stir through the garlic and ginger for a minute then add the mushrooms and allow them to cook until softened. Add the garam masala, cayenne pepper, turmeric and salt and stir for a minute. Stir through the cooked lentils and the water and allow to cook on low heat for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and mix the the tofu through. Allow the filling to cool down prior to assembling the murtabaks.

Assembly

Take a dough ball in your hands and flatten it between your palms. Place it on your bench and carefully stretch out the dough with your hands until it is a rectangular shape and your benchtop can be seen through the dough. Place 1/6 of the filling in the centre of the dough and smooth it into a small rectangle. Wrap the ends of the roti over the filling so it is enclosed like a parcel. Place the roti on a plate seam side down and repeat the steps five more times.

Pour a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil in a frying pan and place on medium-high heat. Fry the rotis in batches for a couple of minutes on each side or until browned. Top up with additional oil in between batches as necessary.

Serve with the following curry dipping sauce.

Curry dipping sauce (Adapted from Munting Kusina)

1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon hot madras curry powder
pinch cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 ½ tablespoons Thai thin soy sauce
165ml tin (2/3 cup) light coconut milk

Heat the peanut oil in a small saucepan over medium heat and fry the garlic for 30 seconds, or until softened but not browned. Add the curry powder, cayenne pepper and turmeric and stir for 30 seconds. Pour in the Thai thin soy sauce and coconut milk and bring to the boil then turn off the heat and allow to cool. Transfer to a bowl for dipping.

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Did you know?

Although Singapore is one of the smallest countries in the world, it's population density is the second highest.

Thai inspired tofu and noodle salad

Salads are not commonly eaten in our house. It is difficult to find ones that suit all of our tastes, given everyone's individual food aversions. When we do eat salads, they are generally served on the side but the recent few days of warm weather motivated me to want a cold meal which is highly unusual. Perhaps this craving was due to some inner guilt as the "must try more salads" pledge I made to myself before the start of summer hadn't eventuated into anything more than a thought.

After rummaging through the pantry and fridge I was inspired to make a noodle salad. I had some left over tofu to use up and discovered half a tin of red curry paste hiding in the back of the fridge. I was in the mood to play around with the ingredients that were on hand rather look up recipes so that's just what I did.

The tofu was marinated in watered down red curry paste and fried briefly. The dressing for the noodles was kept simple, lime juice, Thai thin soy sauce and crushed garlic. Thai thin soy sauce is something I purchased whilst recipe testing, it has a lighter colour and flavour even though the sodium content is higher than regular soy sauce. I used some grated purple carrots as one of the vegetables which stained the noodles slightly as well as adding colour to the salad.

The young man isn't usually interested in salads in the slightest so I was extremely pleased that he liked the look of his dinner before he sat down to eat and then proceeded to devour his bowl with compliments. The tofu was initially quite spicy to eat, stirring it through the noodles toned it down a little as some of the marinade separated from the tofu and blended in with the noodles. The recipe has been written with different serving suggestions and recommended garnishes I didn't have on hand but would love to try next time around.


Thai inspired tofu and noodle salad

250g firm tofu, drained and pressed
3 tablespoons Maesri (or other vegan) red curry paste
3-4 tablespoons water
270g packet soba noodles
2 tablespoons lime juice
3 tablespoons Thai thin soy sauce (or regular soy sauce or tamari)
1 teaspoon agave nectar
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 carrot, grated
2 x purple carrots, grated
1 small red capsicum, cut into thin strips
75g baby spinach leaves, shredded
lime wedges, to serve

Recommended garnishes
roasted chopped peanuts or cashews
fresh coriander leaves and/or thai basil leaves

Cut the tofu into bite sized cubes. Mix the red curry paste with 3-4 tablespoons of water in a bowl and stir through the tofu, ensuring that all of the cubes are coated in the marinade. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Cook the soba noodles in boiling water according to the package directions. Drain in a colander, then rinse well with cold water. Transfer the noodles to a large bowl.

Whisk together the lime juice, soy sauce, agave and garlic, then pour over the noodles. Add the carrots, capsicum and spinach to the noodles and toss well to combine.

Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the tofu and cook for a couple of minutes on each side. Allow to cool.

Serve the noodles and vegetables in large bowls, then add the tofu cubes on top. Alternatively, stir the tofu through the noodles and vegetables prior to serving. Garnish with chopped nuts and herbs if desired and serve with a wedge of lime.

Vegan MoFo - N is for Noodles

N is for noodles because they are such a wonderful versatile food. I often cook different types of noodle dishes on weeknights as they are generally quick meals to prepare. Char Kueh Teow is a delicious dish made with fresh flat rice noodles that has been on regular rotation since I tried Steph from vegan about town's version earlier this year.

The noodles are flavoured with garlic, chilli, light and dark soy sauce and stir-fried with a few vegetables and tofu. One thing I love about this recipe is that the tofu is crumbled rather than cut into cubes or strips. I usually break up the tofu in a bowl and marinate it with a dash of soy sauce for about 30 minutes to give it some extra flavour.

I have blogged about Char Keuh Teow previously but didn't post a recipe. Next post will feature two recipes for the letter O so I'll leave this post short for now and be back with more tomorrow.

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

Vegan MoFo - C is for Chow Mein

My original idea for the letter C was a little different to what I have ending up posting but the result was still equally delicious. A lack of vital ingredients for the planned meal changed my focus onto Chow Mein which is a great way to use up bits and pieces of food. That is precisely the type of meal I needed to cook.

I had never made chow mein prior to my post back in May but since trying Johanna's recipe it has been back on the menu on a few subsequent occasions. It's a great one-pot meal made up of noodles, rice and vegetables cooked with soy sauce, "chicken" stock and chilli. It also has the bonus of being quick to prepare. After my first attempt I have always added a couple of teaspoons of curry powder which makes it taste even better.

This time I had some fresh pho noodles that needed to be used so I added these instead of dried rice vermicelli and replaced the TVP with what is rapidly becoming one of my favourite meat substitutes - a ground "meat" recipe from Ricki of Diet, Dessert and Dogs. I have plans to make more meals with Ricki's ground "meat" throughout Vegan Mofo and will discuss this wonderful concoction of cauliflower and nuts in more detail then.

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

Tofu quiches and apricot delights for potluck plus Singapore noodles

Spring was well and truly in the air last weekend making it perfect weather to celebrate Planet VegMel's 2nd anniversary with a potluck in the Edinburgh Gardens. It was a bit daunting to turn up to an unfamiliar park that was crawling with numerous groups of people enjoying the sun whilst trying to locate a bunch of people I hadn't met before. After a quick stroll around I thankfully recognised a couple of blogging faces and made my way over to the friendly welcoming group.

My stomach was still rather full from a late breakfast so I didn't sample as many of the wonderful selection of vegan delights as I would have liked, and ended up snacking on more sweet things than savoury which is quite out of character for me. I enjoyed K's refreshing iced tea and Fat Fueled Vegan's deliciously creamy mango lassi for drinks and tucked into some of Michael's potato-chickpea enchiladas from Viva Vegan. The enchiladas were not new to me as I have made them a few times before, but I was intrigued to try them to compare.

When it was time for the sweets, Johanna's cake pops were extremely popular and rightfully so. Steph's chocolate caramel slice was delicious as were Emily's chocolate truffles. I took home some of Cindy's peanut butter cookies with ganache filling amongst other goodies and tried one later that night. My relationship with peanuts is rather quirky (peanuts = yum, anything containing peanut butter = yuck) so I didn't expect to enjoy these cookies. The peanut flavour paired with chocolate wasn't too overpowering so I was pleasantly surprised to find the cookie enjoyable as did my son who devoured the remaining two.

I made some tofu quiches originally from Fat Free Vegan and previously blogged by Johanna GGG and Vicki Vegan which seemed to be popular. My only gripe was they were nice and fluffy when they were being baked and then shrunk a little after they were cooled. Unfortunately K was unable to try them as I had included miso which can contain gluten. I also made some apricot delights from Johanna's blog which were also blogged about at In the Mood for Noodles; they are a nice and healthy sweet although they did become rather soft after spending some time out of the fridge.

It was a fantastic experience to meet and share food with other veg*n bloggers I have been following for a few years although it was also a little overwhelming for a shy person like me.

A few nights before the potluck, I finally made Toby's Singapore noodles which were fantastically easy to prepare for such a tasty dinner so I decided to add this into the post for another 'that recipe seems very familiar...' submission. The only changes I made were to add some different veggies and I also crumbled the tofu which is something I loved in Steph's awesome Char Kueh Teow recipe and have since used in other dishes. Oh yes, and like others who have also tried this recipe we preferred it with additional soy sauce too! Singapore noodles will definitely be part of our mid-week noodle rotation meals from now on.


Tofu quiches
(Adapted from Green Gourmet Giraffe and Vicki Vegan, originally posted at Fat Free Vegan)

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 small onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
100g button mushrooms, finely chopped
100g baby spinach leaves, finely chopped
2 x 300g silken tofu, drained
2 tablespoons tahini
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 tablespoon white miso
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons tamari
2 tablespoons chickpea flour
1/4 cup soy milk
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chives, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and cook the onions for about 5 minutes until soft. Stir through the garlic and mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes until the mushrooms are cooked. Add the spinach and cook, stirring until the leaves have just wilted.

Place the tofu, tahini, nutritional yeast flakes, miso, smoked paprika and tamari in a food processor bowl and pulse until well combined, scraping down the sides if necessary.

In a small bowl, mix the chickpea flour with the soy milk thoroughly to obtain a smooth paste with no lumps. Mix together the ingredients from the frying pan, food processor and chickpea flour/soy milk paste. Stir through the sun-dried tomatoes and chives.

Place spoonfuls of the mixture into a muffin tray lined with papers and bake at 190C for about 30 minutes.


Apricot Delight 
(Adapted from Green Gourmet Giraffe, originally from Australian Women's Weekly)

250g dried apricots, chopped
3/4 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cup dessicated coconut
2 tablespoons agave nectar
extra coconut, for coating

Soak half of the apricots in a saucepan with the boiling water for about an hour. Bring to the boil and simmer on a low heat, uncovered for 10 minutes.

Puree the apricots in a food processor. Add the remaining apricots, coconut and agave and process until well combined. You may need to scrape down the sides a couple of times to ensure that all of the ingredients are blended in.

Spread the mixture into a small tin lined with baking paper, cover the top with baking paper and refrigerate overnight.

Remove from the tin, cut into squares and roll the squares in extra coconut. Store in the fridge in an airtight container.


Singapore Noodles (Adapted from In the Mood for Noodles)

250g rice vermicelli noodles
250g firm tofu, crumbled
1 medium carrot, julienned
1 small red capsicum, thinly sliced
2 large portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 small head broccoli, cut into small florets
splash of soy sauce
slash of sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 onion, sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
1/4 cup vegetable stock
extra soy sauce and white pepper to taste

Soak the noodles in hot water for about 10 minutes until the noodles are tender. Drain and set aside.

Place the crumbled tofu, carrot, capsicum, mushrooms, broccoli in a bowl and marinate with soy sauce, sesame oil and chilli flakes.

Toast the sesame seeds in a small frying pan over a medium high heat, then set aside.

Heat the peanut oil in a wok over the highest heat and stir-fry the onion until soft. Stir through the curry powder then add the marinated tofu and vegetables and stir-fry until the vegetables are softening. Add the noodles and stock and stir-fry until the stock has been absorbed. Season with extra soy sauce and white pepper and serve garnished with sesame seeds.

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.

Spicy Chow Mein

After reading Johanna's post about Chow Mein recently, I felt seriously deprived. It was something that I had never eaten in my life before and sounded so simple yet delicious. I needed to try it - sooner rather than later!

It seemed like a pretty easy meal to throw together, and any meal that only uses one pot is always a bonus as it means less dishes to do. As well as changing things around to suit the vegetables that were available, I also substituted rice vermicelli for the spaghetti, TVP for the nut roast and used Massel "chicken" stock in an attempt to recreate some of the flavour of a chicken noodle soup packet. A couple of chillies were thrown in for some heat, however some curry powder would have been added as well if I had taken note of it in the old recipe half-way through Johanna's post.

Dinner was very popular as everyone enjoyed the chow mein immensely. The chillies added a decent amount of heat although they were not overpowering and the "chicken" stock brought a nice salty taste to the meal. TVP is something I don't use often and haven't been overly impressed with in the past. Having said that, I quite enjoyed it in the chow mein. Perhaps it wasn't as dominant as it has been in other dishes where I have used it in the past.

Although most meals don't get repeated around here these days (as I am nearly always trying something new), chow mein should get another look in when time is short and vegies are plentiful... 

Spicy Chow Mein (Adapted from Johanna's recipe)

100g rice vermicelli
1 cup TVP granules
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 bird-eye chillies, finely sliced
2 portobello mushrooms, diced
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 cups of Massel "chicken" stock
1/2 cup basmati rice
8 brussel sprouts, shredded
2 small carrots, julienned
1 red capsicum, cut into thin strips
150g green beans, chopped into bite sized pieces

Place the rice vermicelli noodles in a heat-proof bowl and cover with boiling water. After 15 minutes drain well, return the noodles to the bowl and chop roughly with a knife (I find this method easier than cutting dry noodles which fly around everywhere and make a huge mess).

Place the TVP in a heat-proof bowl and cover with boiling water. Drain excess water after 10 minutes.

Heat olive oil in an large pot. Fry the onion for 5 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and chilli and saute for about a minute then add the mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally until the mushrooms begin to soften.

Add soy sauce, stock and rice to the pot.  Bring to the boil and simmer, covered for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, stir through the brussel sprouts, carrots, capsicum and beans and simmer for another 5-10 minutes until the vegetables are soft.

Stir through the rice vermicelli and re-hydrated TVP, allow to heat through and then serve.

Miso Udon Stir-Fry

I wouldn't say we were huge miso lovers at this abode so I'm not sure why one of the first recipes bookmarked in Appetite for Reduction was a fairly heavily based miso one. I have thought long and hard about this and still have not come up with a satisfactory answer. Miso seems to be one of those flavours that I have grown to like rather than something that you try and can't get enough of from the first bite. 

There were quite a few ingredient substitutions made which was mainly to do with using up vegetables that were on hand as well as the addition of fried shallots as a garnish. I loved the combination of fried shallots and sesame seeds garnish in this recipe I have previously made from Veganomicon and thought it would work well here too.   

Surprisingly this stir-fry was devoured and enjoyed by all of us. Perhaps we are all coming around to miso.

Miso Udon Stir-Fry with Greens and Beans (Adapted from Appetite for Reduction)

270g packet dried udon noodles

1/3 cup white miso

1/2 cup hot water

1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 stalk broccoli, chopped into small florets
12 green beans, chopped into bite-sized pieces
6 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
4 spring onions, chopped
4 brussel sprouts, cut in half and then shredded
2 small carrots, julienned
1 x 425g tin adzuki beans, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
1 tablespoon fried shallots, for garnish
Sriracha hot sauce, for garnish

Bring a pot of water to the boil and cook the noodles according to the packet directions. Use 1/2 cup of the noodle water to mix with the miso in a small water. When the noodles are ready, drain and then rinse well in cold water to stop the noodles from cooking further.

Heat half of the oil in a wok. When the oil is smoking, stir-fry the broccoli and green beans for a couple of minutes, then remove from the wok.

Add the rest of the oil to wok. Stir-fry the garlic, spring onions, brussel sprout and carrots for a couple of minutes then stir through the adzuki beans. Add the udon noodles and miso-water mixture, return the broccoli and green beans to the wok and stir thoroughly until combined. Turn the heat to low.

Serve topped with toasted sesame seeds, fried shallots and sriracha sauce.  

Planet VeGMeL week (Part 4) - Vegan About Town Char Kueh Teow

My eye has been on Steph's Char Kueh Teow from Vegan About Town for quite some time after having success with her Mee Goreng recipe ages ago. For several years, our household take-away favourite has been Malaysian food and noodles normally make up at least one of the meals ordered. The man has always preferred Mee Goreng and the son Char Kueh Teow, I quite like both of them in different ways and Singapore Noodles can be pretty tasty too.

Tonight was an exciting night of firsts for me. I mentioned cutting down our orange tree to make way for our house extension in this post which turned out to be an extremely drawn out painful project. I could write a lengthy essay about this but this is a food blog not a renovation nightmare blog! Only yesterday we were given the green light to use our rangehood for cooking after a final inspection from an electrician. This was very exciting news for me! 

Last weekend, the man and I went wok shopping. He had surprised me by taking it upon himself to do some research into the best types of woks to buy and how to season them properly. Prior to breaking it in with food, I had been instructed to go through the seasoning process of applying a thin coating of oil to the wok, heating it on a low flame until the oil started to smoke, waiting for it to cool and wiping it down with paper towels. This process had to be repeated several times.

Then it was time to cook some noodles. I went against Steph's advice a little and changed a few of the ingredients around but I did take on board not to overload the dish with veggies and let the noodles be the star. Beanshoots don't really do it for me so these were omitted instead I added in some shiitake mushrooms, and pak choy instead of kai lan as that's what needed to be used up in the fridge.

My plan was to either fry up some tofu cubes or crumble the tofu in like Steph, however I remembered that there were a few Vegan Brunch mini tofu omlettes in the fridge so these were sliced up and added to the noodles towards the end of the cooking time. The omlettes were a great vegan stand-in for eggs in this dish and would also work well in a Nasi Goreng, so if you are interested in the recipe I have previously posted it here.  

I am very pleased to say that I loved this recipe as did the others, the chillies used were quite spicy which didn't bother me at all but I may have to use one instead of two in the future. My new wok worked extremely well, this is the first real wok I have owned and it will be treasured and used very often.

Planet VeGMeL week is over the half way mark now and there are only 3 days remaining...