Stir fried snow pea shoots

When I started planning and planting a vegetable garden a few months ago, I knew there was a lot to learn. I'm not a complete novice in this area although my previous efforts were centred on spring and summer plants rather than vegetables that develop slowly throughout autumn and winter. It's been rewarding to harvest and cook small crops of kale, bok choy and pak choy yet slightly frustrating when things haven't worked out as they should (a few mistakes have been made along the way which I'm happy to count as part of the learning experience). An added bonus of expanding my gardening knowledge has been discovering other valuable information about certain vegetables that was previously unbeknownst to me

Many vegetable plants serve multiple purposes – the leaves of a beetroot plant can be cooked and eaten as well as the beetroot bulb that is more well known in culinary circles. That's a fairly common example I was already aware of. A new one for me was that the leaves of brussel sprout and broccoli plants are also edible greens. Prior to this discovery, I had been lamenting that my broccoli and brussel sprout plants may not have been planted early enough in the season – I'm looking at these plants in a new light now, at least I'll get a feed from their greens if the vegetables don’t mature.

I was also thrilled to learn recently that certain sections of snow pea vines can be eaten and are commonly consumed in some Asian cuisines. The growth on the vines of my snow peas has been phenomenal and now extends well over the boundaries of the supports I originally put in place for them (that was one of my learning experiences). While I was desperately hunting around for a solution to my bending vines I stumbled across ways to cook snow pea shoots/tips. It was a win-win situation – the wayward vines could be given a light prune and the clippings cooked up as a side dish.

It was suggested that the shoots are best enjoyed stir-fried with a little oil, I was happy to give them this treatment as I've been savouring all of my latest home grown produce in the simplest possible ways. I read about cooking snow pea shoots in a few different places but it was these two posts on Serious Eats I referred to when trying to work out the right sections to use and preparation methods. I was cautious to chop off the many curly tendrils as the texture of them was likened to dental floss which didn't sound particularly appetising.

After the snow pea shoots were trimmed of tendrils, washed and spun dry in a salad spinner it was only a matter of giving them a quick stir-fry in the wok with a bit of oil. I was so concerned that I was going to overcook them that they ended up being slightly underdone and a bit on the crunchy side. The shoots had a very similar taste to snow peas which we really enjoyed. Michael of where's the beef  posted a recipe for Chilli lime tamarind tofu last week which I felt would be a perfect partner for our simple greens. The tofu was easy to prepare and full of bold spicy flavours, the only change I made to this was to add some garlic to the marinade - it was a delicious tofu dish which I'll be happy to revisit again.

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.  

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!

Vegan MoFo - X is for Xiang Luo Bu Si

X was always going to be the trickiest letter so I spent a bit of time hunting down recipes and came across this interesting Chinese side dish called Xiang Luo Bu Si which translates to Sounding Radish Slivers. The main ingredient of this recipe is daikon radish which is something I haven't cooked with before but I am always interested in experimenting with a new ingredient.

As this was only a side dish, I looked for a Chinese noodle recipe from the recipe testing pool to make it a full meal. The most challenging part was managing two woks and getting the timing right. Although I only have one wok burner, my other largest burner seemed to do a decent job of cooking the daikon side dish in my small wok. I didn't take a shot of the noodles but they were really nice and a little different to others I have made previously.

The daikon wasn't a hit with my son but he loved the noodles. The man loved the daikon and I thought it was alright but not fantastic. It wasn't until writing this post that I realised I had forgotten to finish it off with a drizzle of sesame oil. I had to go back and drizzle sesame oil on the leftovers which really did make a world of difference.    

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


Xiang Luo Bu Si (Slightly adapted from a recipe on food.com)

400g daikon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 bird's eye chilli
2 spring onions, green part only
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons rice vinegar
3/4 teaspoon rice flour
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Peel and cut the daikon into finger-sized thin slices, then cut each of these pieces into slivers. Combine in a bowl with some salt and set aside for 15 minutes. Finely chop the chilli and slice the spring onion into slivers of a similar size to the daikon. Mix the rice flour and water into a paste in a small bowl. Drain the moisture from the daikon and squeeze dry.

Heat the wok until smoking, then add the peanut oil and swirl to coat the sides of the wok with oil. Stir-fry the chilli for a few seconds then add the daikon and soy sauce and stir-fry for a few minutes. Add the spring onions and vinegar and stir well, then add the rice flour paste and stir rapidly until it thickens and becomes glossy. Remove from the heat, drizzle with sesame oil and serve immediately.

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.

FNQ - Holiday Cooking

My first official trip away from home as a vegan was to Far North Queensland last week so I wanted to be well prepared and take along some food for the road. The man and I (we went childless this time) flew up to Cairns, were picked up by our friends K and N and taken to an isolated spot called Russell Heads (pictured above) for the weekend, It is a tranquil and beautiful place 45 minutes south of Cairns and on the coast but only accessible by boat and only when the tide is high. The two of us then drove to the Daintree where we stayed in a gorgeous house in the middle of the rainforest for a couple of days and after that drove south down to Mission Beach to throw some dollars at the local economy which is still rebuilding after the devastation that Cyclone Yasi caused in February.

I started preparing for the trip a week in advance with some Viva Vegan chorizo seitan sausages as I thought they would be handy to have in case of a BBQ. Around the time I discovered chorizo seitan last summer, this spicy chipotle ranch dressing was also a hit and we enjoyed several chorizo snags in bread topped with the ranch dressing. It had been a while between batches, so I whizzed one up for the road. I also took along some of Cindy's well renowned vegan sausage rolls and prepped the bean burger mixture also posted on Where's the Beef recently. For the plane trip, I threw together a Mediterranean flavoured risoni based pasta salad which the man adored. It is a recipe I plan to work on further when the warmer months arrive as I thought it needed a little tweaking. So as well as our luggage I had a big cooler bag full to the brim of supplies to keep us going!        

The sausage rolls went on the first night and although K and N liked them, they were totally blown away by the chipotle ranch dressing. Unfortunately we forgot to take tomato or BBQ sauce so the sausage rolls were downed in a rather unorthodox fashion, with either sweet chilli sauce, tamari or chipotle ranch dressing. A trip to the shops would have meant a cruise back up the crocodile infested river in the dark so we had to make do with what we had. K and N made some awesome rice paper rolls the following night which was a bit of a struggle given the only knife in the house was totally blunt rendering it almost useless. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of the end result.

On our way to the Daintree we stopped off in Port Douglas for groceries and the man was interested in a Thai red curry and lentil bolognese (with garlic bread of course!) for our dinners. I was stunned that I couldn't find any plain tofu in two supermarkets, all they had was the pre-marinated packages which I usually don't buy. On our first night I made a red curry with a vegan friendly paste spruced up with extra chilli, garlic and lime loaded with heaps of vegies and marinated tofu and it was delicious.

For lunch the next day we had bean burger subs. The pre-made burger mix was purely made of ground beans, nuts, oats, flour and spices which made it perfect travel food. There was no need to keep it chilled and a week after making the mixture, it still smelt fresh and just as  good as the day it had been made. The final steps only required the addition of tamari, water and some garlic and after soaking for 15 minutes it was ready to ready to fry. These burgers had such a robust texture that I had no qualms about them falling apart in the pan. The subs were layered with a tofutti cheese slice (which I thankfully brought with me from Melbourne), the bean burger, tomato sauce, lettuce, carrot, capsicum, red onion and avocado. They were very tasty subs, the bean burgers had a fantastic nut and garlic flavour with a slight crunch and were deceivingly filling too.

We didn't have cooking facilities at Mission Beach which was a shame as it was difficult to find vegan eats but I will write more about that in my next post. For our last night we drove back to Cairns to stay with K and N who had planned a wood-fired pizza night as they recently bought a second-hand oven. I tried to hunt down some cheezly in Cairns but to no avail. A vegetarian supplies shop listed on the Happy Cow website had a "For Lease" sign in the window and a couple of other health food stores were of no use in the cheezly department. We made do with the remaining chopped up tofutti slices we had and the man was unusually given license to create the toppings for the vegan pizza. As well as heaps of veggies and loads of garlic, he decided to chop up some bean burgers and chorizo which worked a treat. We called it the vegan meat-lovers pizza! 

My biggest regret was that I didn't return to the Cairns markets before we returned home to purchase some fresh produce. We went there on our first day and I was blown away with variety of fruit and vegetables available. Local produce like bananas, pineapples and avocadoes were about half the price that we pay in Melbourne. Other more exotic tropical fruits like jackfruit, lychees, mangosteens and rambutans were in abundance. My jaw dropped open when I saw plantains as there are quite a few recipes that use plantains in Viva Vegan which I have wanted to try!

Although the weather was a lot warmer than Melbourne we only felt the sun on our skin once which was a shame. It was overcast most days with showers here and there but it was still lovely to walk around in shorts and t-shirts for a week. It doesn't feel right to finish without a recipe so I will leave you with the bean burgers which will definitely be made again and they will be something that I keep in mind for future travel. 

Next post will feature some places where we ate in FNQ!

Bean Burgers (Adapted from Where's the Beef and originally from Meals without Meat)

1/2 cup dry chickpeas
1/2 cup dry cannellini beans
1/2 cup unsalted peanuts
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup chickpea flour
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon salt
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 tablespoons tamari
1 cup water

Place the chickpeas, cannellini beans, peanuts and sesame seeds in a food processor bowl and process until the texture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the parsley, salt, oats and chickpea flour and mix well.

At this stage it can be stored in a airtight container for at least a week.

When you are ready to make burgers, add the water, tamari and chopped garlic to the dry mixture, mix until well combined and allow to soak for 15 minutes. Shape the dough into burger patties and fry until each side has browned up nicely.

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.    

VOTM - Brussel Sprouts

I decided to do a write up on a different vegetable every month and share a few ways I like to enjoy them. So from now when you see the VOTM prefix on a post that is my acronym for Vegetable Of The Month. And to get the ball rolling, my first post will feature brussel sprouts.

Brussel sprouts are something that I ate a few times as a child, they were always boiled to within an inch of their life and I never enjoyed them. In fact, none of my siblings liked them so mum stopped trying to make us eat them after a while. My husband was keen for me to cook sprouts a while ago and when I finally did, no effort was put into finding out different ways to prepare them. They were served the only way I knew and not surprisingly, I still didn't like them.

It wasn't until last year that I began to experiment with cooking sprouts in different ways. I evolved from a sprout hater to a sprout lover overnight! Roasting was one of the first methods I enjoyed, then I moved on to steaming sprout halves with chopped carrots and finishing them off with a light fry in nuttelex and toasted almonds.

More recently, sprouts have been enjoyed in shredded form. This began last year when I tried the Vegan Yum Yum stir-fry recipe for Seven Spice Udon. Appetite for Reduction has a recipe called Shaved Brussel Sprouts which is essentially onion, garlic and shredded sprouts seasoned with salt and pepper - which is a component of the last picture in my nut roast post. For my last Viva Vegan meal - Brazilian Black Bean Stew, I changed this side dish by ditching the onion and adding in some smoked paprika which turned out superbly - recipe below.

Whilst writing up this post, I flicked back through photos that haven't been posted to see if I could dig up any more sprout shots. The below meal was something I threw together in a hurry one night, using up left over vegies and totally not expecting it to be anything special. I actually didn't take a photo the first time around and because it was so good I tried to make it again the next week. I'm not sure why I didn't get around to posting about it and wouldn't be able to give you a recipe from looking at it. I'll have to make it again some day so it can be shared.      

Brussel sprouts are something that I really enjoy experimenting with and eating these days. Not so long ago I would have shied away from recipes that included them. Now I am always on the hunt for different ways to use them!

Shredded smoky sprouts (Adapted from Appetite for Reduction)

Olive oil spray
3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
10 brussel sprouts
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
salt and pepper, to taste

To prepare the sprouts, slice off knobbly end off the bottom and remove the outer leaves. Cut each sprout in half and then slice into strips.

Spray a large non-stick frying pan with olive oil spray and heat on a medium flame. Cook the garlic for about 30 seconds, then add the sprouts, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Fry for about 7 minutes, until the leaves become brown and crispy.

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...