Diptastic

My darling and I are going to my parent's house for dinner tonight. I'm excited because Mum is going to be making her first attempt at a vegan main course! I took her to Sri Melaka for Mother's Day, and she bought some faux meat there. So armed with her new vegetarian cook book and a bag or two of textured vegetable protein, Mum is going to serve up some culinary delights!

I thought I should contribute in some way, so I knocked up this dip. It is so flavoursome and creamy I could eat it with a spoon! Instead of being a pig and eating it all myself, I'm going to do some pita chips to go with it, and share with my fam.

Avocado Dip

Ingredients:

2 ripe, unbruised avocadoes
1 Tbsp Tofutti sour cream
1 tsp salt
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp tabasco (or whatever suits your tastes)
1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves and stalks
1/2 tsp agave syrup
pepper to taste

Easy as: Mash avocado flesh with all of the wet stuff. Stir in the lemon zest and mash til smooth. Fold in the coriander. Check the taste. You may like to add more salt or pepper.

Serve with pita chips, crackers or veg crudites. Mmm!

Breakfast for my Sweetheart

Last night my sweetie got a little bit plastered. I had forgotten how annoying people can be when they are drunk and I am not. I was very much relieved when he passed out in the car half way home. Before that he had been pressing every button in the car - hazard lights, sports button, horn, radio... Gosh it was irritating.

The sweet, sweet vengeance was served not by me, but by his physiology. Hangovers. Yet one more reason to lay off the booze. I was awakened by his signature call from the throne, " Man down! Man down!" Yes, I giggled.

When he got back to bed he immediately conked out again, so I got up to make him breakfast. I hope he remembers this so that next time I have a cracker hangover he will make me breaky too! I can only live in hope...

Banana Pancakes with Lemon Maple Syrup

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp agave syrup, or sugar if you prefer

2 cups soy milk

2 Tbsp veggie oil

1 tsp vanilla essence

Veg oil or vegan butter for cooking

Sauce:

4 Tbsp Maple Syrup

1 tsp lemon juice (fresh)

In a large bowl, whisk together baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour. When combined, make a well in the centre and add the rest of the ingredients. Whisk gently, starting from the centre and working gradually outwards until all of the ingredients are smooth and combined. Don't over whisk. Let the batter rest for 20 - 30 mins if you have the time. If you are super hungry and want food now, now, now!, reduce the soy milk by half a cup.

Slice two bananas thinly and evenly into round pieces. Put your best non-stick pan on the stove over medium heat. Use a tsp of oil for each pancake. I use a single pancake pan, so it takes a little while to cook them all. When the oil is hot, add the batter in 1/4 cup for each pancake. Let the batter settle, then place banana slices on to the wet batter.

When bubbles start to pop all over the pancake, flip it gently. Cook for another 30 seconds.

Serve with some tart lemon maple syrup. Simply combine the lemon and syrup in a bowl, and pour the desired amount over your pancake. My husband has slathering of butter too.

15 minute Asian Soup

Chinese Dumpling Soup


We are about to head out to a fundraising night for the Lords Taveners Cricket Team. I am pretty hungry, and can't stand the thought of subsisting on bar snacks tonight, so I've knocked up this healthy and yummo soup. I am serious when I say it was 15 minutes max, including prep time. I am eating it as I type, and my gosh it is deeeelish.

Ingredients:

For the stock-
2 cups Water
1 Massal Beef stock cube (this is vegan - love Massal!)
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp chopped ginger
1 tsp raw sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
chili flakes to taste
6 drops sesame oil

For texture-
a good handful asian green veg (choi sum, kai lan, bok choy - wash it first!!)
8 - 10 asian vegan dumplings
3 - 4 sliced shitake mushrooms
5 stalks and leaves of fresh coriander
2 stalks of sliced spring onion
Fried shallots

Put a pot on the stove and fill with all of the ingredients for the stock. Bring it to the boil. When it has been boiling for 3 minutes, add the dumplings, spring onion and shitake. Boil for a further 3 minutes until the dumpling wrappers go translucent. Now add the rest of the ingredients, except the shallots. Boil for a further 30 seconds, stir, and serve in a nice big bowl. Garnish with some fried shallots.

Faux Meat - A new convert's bestest friend

Buffalo Popcorn Chicken

I love faux chicken. Well actually, I love real chicken more because it is delicious, but I choose now to eat the next closest thing - faux chicken.

My favorite naughty treat right now is buffalo popcorn chicken. It is this spicy, sticky, crunchy treat that goes great with rice and pickled Japanese veggies. Or you can just eat it by itself for a snack. I like this amazing stuff called Greenfarm Popcorn Soya Chicken. You can get it from the Vegetarian Market on James St, next to Sri Melaka restaurant (another of my favorites).

Ingredients:

4 pieces of popcorn chicken (still frozen is OK)

1 tsp peanut oil

2 tbsp BBQ sauce

1 tbsp ABC Chili Sauce

Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a non-stick pan on a low flame. Place the chicken in the oil and swish around to coat. Pop the lid on the pan and walk away for about two to three minutes. Come back and check the chicken. It should be crispy and brown on one side. Turn it, pop the lid on and walk away for another two to three minutes.

Now your chicken should be brown all over, so sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, and add the sauces to the pan. Toss your chicken through the sauce until it is evenly coated. Fry for a little longer, maybe 30 seconds so the sauce dries out and starts to caramelise.

Pop it out of the pan and onto some rice. I've served mine tonight with twisted brown rice. It's basically brown rice cooked in vegan chicken stock with some silken tofu and spring onions tossed in. Yum! Serve with pickled Japanese vegetables (recipe to come) or some crispy steamed veg.

Jo - Now Comes in Cruelty Free!

Guess what? This is my 61st day of being vegan. It is as much of a surprise to me as it would be to people who know me. Why you say? Well, I started out my career as a chef. I have eaten A LOT of meat in my life. I have cooked even more meat than I have eaten. I have savoured every mouthful, loved every roast duck, blue steak, suckling pig and lamb roast. Drooled over meat pies, barbeque chicken and calamari rings. I have been known to ridicule and serve up crap to vegetarians and the dreaded vegans in restaurants that I worked in.

But now I am changing. Sometimes my brain hurts when I think of the enormity of my new lifestyle choice. Gosh, I have become the person I once despised!

Come and visit me as my weeks become months, and months become years. I am dying to share the amazing food I am now creating. This is food that comes guilt-free (excepting the occasional calorie). This is going to be a place for recipes, info on vegan food stuffs, restaurant, film and book reviews, testimonials from my guinea pigs at work, and most likely anecdotes about wearing my shoe on the other foot nowadays.

I am predicting that some people will need to restrain their tongues from licking the screen. Stay tuned!