Planet VeGMeL 3rd birthday picnic and Vegan MoFo 2012

Just a reminder that the picnic potluck to celebrate the 3rd birthday of Planet VeGMeL is on tomorrow at the Edinburgh Gardens in Fitzroy at 1pm. Bloggers and readers are welcome to attend and bring a plate of vegan food (gluten-free if possible). Check the Facebook page for last minute updates before you head out there if the weather is looking sketchy. Last year's event was a lot of fun and I'm sure this one will be even bigger and better than the last!

The past year has flown by and it's almost time for Vegan MoFo again! The sign up form has just been launched which is available here. For the uninitiated, the aim of Vegan MoFo is to write a minimum of 20 posts for the month of October which is a lot of work but it's also rewarding and fun, especially if you set yourself a theme to work with. Even if you're not up for participating in the event, it's a fantastic month for blog reading as there were around 700 worldwide bloggers participating last year! I'll post a link to the rss feed when it's available for anyone interested in having their reader inundated with non-stop salivating vegan posts for the month. The deadline for participants wishing to sign up is the 26th September.  

Here's a summary of my A-Z themed posts from Vegan MoFo 2011.

Pista burfi

Last Saturday, I attended at vegan potluck at Johanna of Green Gourmet Giraffe's house with a theme of green food. It was lovely to catch up with the bloggers I had met before, meet some new bloggers, share so much wonderful food and have great conversations. An added bonus was Sylvia, Johanna's gorgeous daughter who was so shy at first and came out of her shell towards the end to entertain us all.

I had a couple of ideas for a green dessert to bring but it wasn't until the day before that I totally changed my mind and thought of making an Indian sweet called Pista burfi which is a pistachio fudge. I made a double batch of the the burfi as I also had a family curry dinner to attend that night so it served two purposes.

Although the ingredients for this fudge are rather basic, I found plenty of variations between the ingredients and techniques used when searching for recipes. Some recipes used milk or milk powder which gave them a lighter colour. I wanted a darker green colour so the recipe I ended up following most closely was the one that didn't include any dairy which meant there was no need for vegan substitutes.

All of the recipes I saw that didn't use dairy called for a sugar syrup to be made. The method for making the syrup and testing is readiness was somewhat perplexing. It was stated in every recipe I read that the syrup would be ready when it reached a one thread consistency. Huh? This was a totally foreign concept to me that was explained in this article. Hopefully I have managed to convey this part clearly enough in my adaptation of the recipe for other people to follow. The alternative and simpler method is to use a candy thermometer and wait for the syrup to reach 110C.

Blanching the pistachios and removing their skins was a tiresome job. I don't think I would bother doing this next time as their slight dampness meant that the food processor didn't do the greatest job of chopping them finely. Dry roasting the pistachios was another approach around that I would be inclined to try next time.

I was expecting the prepared fudge to harden very quickly, when that didn't happen I thought that my efforts were going to be wasted. The tray was plonked in the freezer (with my fingers crossed) whilst I tidied up and the short chilling time did it wonders. I wasn't confident if the texture of the fudge would remain firm enough after cutting it into squares so I opted to store the burfi in the fridge.

Pista burfi is a perfect sweet for me as it isn't over the top in sweetness and I do happen to love pistachios. I'll have to keep my eye out for a candy thermometer to make the process simpler next time!


You can read other posts about the potluck at Green Gourmet Giraffe, Laws of the Kitchen, Soya & Chocolat and where's the beef.

Pista burfi (Adapted from Chitra Amma's Kitchen)

2 cups pistachios

1 1/2 cups raw sugar

1 1/2 cups water

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon

dairy-free margarine, for greasing

Place the pistachios in a bowl, then cover with boiling water. Drain in a colander after one minute then rinse well with cold water. Peel the skins off the pistachios and dry with a clean tea towel. Set aside about a dozen pistachios for the topping and chop them coarsely. Place the rest of the pistachios in a food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped.

Mix the sugar and water together in a small saucepan and place on a medium heat. Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Continue to cook, stirring more frequently after it has reached boiling point.

If you don't own a candy thermometer, test the thickness of the syrup every so often by scooping out a bit with the wooden spoon. Allow the syrup to cool for 10-15 seconds, then dab your forefinger into the syrup. Press your thumb and forefinger together, then separate them slowly. When a single thin thread forms between your fingers without breaking, the syrup is ready. Alternatively, if you have a candy thermometer, wait for the temperature to reach 110C.

Turn the heat down to low then stir through the ground pistachios and cardamon. Continue to cook, stirring all the time until the mixture begins to leave the side of the pan. Transfer the mixture onto a baking tray greased well with dairy free margarine. Spread into a square shape and sprinkle with the chopped pistachios. Cover with baking paper and use a rolling pin to gently press the chopped nuts into the mixture. Remove the baking paper, then place the tray in the fridge or freezer until it just sets. Cut into diamond or square pieces using a sharp knife. Store in a container at room temperature or keep refrigerated for a firmer texture.

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.