Jessy's Sweet and Spicy Adzuki buddah bowls

I am sorry I haven't been posting for a while (apart from the other day). I have been flat out with work and although I have been cooking - it has been later in the evening and the light in our kitchen isn't that great and so many photos are coming out very blurry. But not this one!!

I love food in a bowl - its just very comforting - and with winter creeping up on us I think I will be making a lot more heavier/bowl friendly meals over the next few months.

I was feeling like something a bit different for dinner - I had some broccoli and kale and then I saw Jessy's recipe for sweet 'n sour adzuki buddah bowls and I knew that it was meant to be.

I love adzuki beans because they don't take that long to cook and they have a really distinctive flavour - now they don't win in my favourite bean contest (that is easily butter beans and chickpeas) but they are pretty good (but aren't all beans good??)

These bowls are awesome - I didn't have any cashews or sriracha but I did put in a little hot sauce. I also couldn't be bothered removing the veggies from the pan and then working with the beans before mixing it all back together - after the veggies were cooked I just shoved in the beans and then heated through.

I served this over buckwheat beause I love it and don't eat it enough. Mmmmmm it was wonderful - but then all of the recipes of Jessy's that I have tried are so it is no surprise. If you haven't seen Jessy's blog Happyveganface you should totally check it out!!!

Polenta and spinach lasagne

I bookmarked Susan's recipe for Polenta lasagne with Portabellas and Kale ages ago.
I have to laugh - I remember reading that she made it twice in the one week and I thought that it sounded like too much work - and then this last week I made it once and Nat decided that I had to make it again for a dinner party that we were having 2 nights later.

Oh my goodness this recipe ROCKS - it was so easy and so yummy. The photo isn't that great because the light isn't the greatest in our kitchen and its getting darker earlier. Also, this is the leftovers as I didn't want to be taking photos while everyone was waiting to eat. Susan has some beautiful photos though.

I made the quick microwave polenta using Susans directions and used frozen spinach instead of kale. I also used my own pasta sauce which is simple and very yummy.

This recipe was also great for the dinner party because I could make the marinara sauce, the cheese sauce and the polenta the night before and as soon as I got home from work I just put the whole thing together in no time flat!!!

I recommend this recipe to anyone!!! I think this is going to be a regular dish in our house from now on!!

Sorry for my absence

Hi all, I realise that I haven't blogged here for ages - things have just been crazy.
I started work at the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday. The people are all really lovely which is nice - what wasn't so nice was that on my first day of work I had to go to a work lunch and there was NOTHING vegan on the menu apart from "lettuce leaves with citrus dressing". How embarrassing to only be able to eat lettuce (thus perpetrating the image that vegans only eat rabbit food). So because I didn't want to eat only lettuce I ordered some sourdough bread which came with butter - so I ended up spending a forking fortune for some lettuce and a few pieces of bread. I was really angry and rather embarrassed. Next week is another lunch - and as I know about it before hand I got the menu - and once again all I can eat are the side dishes of salad or vegetables (and once again I will be paying about $10 per side dish). I hate eating out in Hobart :(

Nat and I have been eating (which is a good start) - but at the end of the day I have just been too tired to take a photo of what I make - Nat and I also had Nat's mum down for two nights and then my brother down for one night and so we have hardly had any time to breath - let alone cook and blog.

I just thought I would show you a few pictures of some dishes that we have had over the last fortnight. Then I think I will go and have a nap - I am so tired (I worked at the Organic Market Stall from 5.30am this morning and only just got back home). Tara nominated me for a blog award- but I think I will do that a bit later tonight.

So onto the eating!!

Pumpkin Oat Patties (made up recipe that needs
a lot of tweaking before I post it), wedges and green beans.

Zucchini Mozzarella Sticks from Happy Herbivore. These were really good. A healthy snack - I was a little lazy and didn't crush up the bread crumbs as much as I should have but it still worked well.

Chickpea and Spinach Curry from VWaV. I thought this was nice. But I have simpler chickpea spinach Marsala recipe that I enjoy much better.

I don't know how often I will be able to blog until Christmas - but I try to be a little bit more diligent. I hope you stay sane over the Christmas period.

Finally blogging about our indian feast

Clockwise from top: Tamarind Lentils, Chickpea Masala,
Aloo Mutter Gobi (Spicy Pea Potato and Cauliflower Curry), brown rice.

Well I was going to blog about this meal a while ago but I have been rather busy recovering. Who would have thought that I would sleep so much?!?!?! Granted the pain killers I was taking initially totally knocked me out - they also made me feel very nauseous - so I stopped taking them. I am still spending the majority of my time in bed or on the couch.

Before I tell you about this meal I want to apologise for not commenting on all of your lovely blog posts. I have been reading about all of your thanksgiving festivities but have not really had the energy to type much.

So the night before my surgery I had a group of friends over for dinner (8 friends to be precise). I thought that an Indian meal would be an easy way to serve so many people.

I served the curry with brown rice and this garlic naan. The whole meal all went down a treat. I personally loved the chickpea masala and the lentils, however most of my guests thought that the best dish was the Aloo Mutter Gobi when I found that to be the blandest of all the dishes - it goes to show how people's taste buds are different.

I finally made the Tamarind Lentils from VCon. They are so GOOD - I can't believe that it took this long for me to make them - they are easy and tasty.

Chickpea and Spinach Masala (adapted from The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook).
Preparation : 15 mins
Total cooking: 30mins
Serves: 4

2 onions, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2tsp olive oil
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp ground corriander
4 cups cooked chickpeas (or 2 tins) - drained
1 tin diced tomatoes
1 tsp garam masala
150g frozen spinach

1. Heat oil in a large pan, add onion and garlic and cook over medium heat, stirring until soft.
2. Add the chili powder, salt, turmeric, paprika, cumin and coriander. Stir for 1 minute.
3. Add chickpeas and undrained tomatoes, stir until combined. Simmer, covered over low heat for 15minutes, stiring occasionally. Add spinach and garam masala and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes.
4. Serve over rice or wrapped in chapattis or naan bread.
   

Aloo Mutter Gobi (Spicy Potato Pea and Cauliflower curry)
Cooking Time: 45mins
Serves 4
800g potatoes, peeled and diced
2 tsp olive oil
1 brown onion - diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
900g cauliflower florets (approx. one small cauliflower)
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garam masala
400g (1 can) diced tomatoes
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup frozen peas

1. In a large pan add oil, onions and garlic and cook until soft.
2. Add potatoes and spices and stir until the potatoes are covered. Add the tomatoes and vegetable stock and simmer 10-15 minutes. Add cauliflower and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes until cauliflower and potatoes are tender. Add peas and continue to simmer uncover until the peas are tender and all the liquid is absorbed.

apple cabbage and spinach salad and Pumpkin oat cookies

Apple, red cabbage and spinach salad. Yuuummmmm.

Well today was a (relatively) busy day for me. I am on holidays but I had a few pre-employment things to sort out. I had to go and get a pre-employment medical done (all clear!!) and then I went to do some op-shopping for some work clothes. I found 4 really nice shirts and one skirt and it all came to under $15 (I think it was $14 exactly). I am trying to walk everywhere so as to help lower my carbon emissions and also reduce the amount of money that we pay for transport.

By the time I got home I was pretty hungry. I initially ate a piece of corn on the cob (it was raw and beautifully sweet). Then I decided to whip up a salad inspired by The Café Fresh Cookbook. It was so simple and easy. I just thinly sliced some red cabbage (local and organic) and some baby spinach leaves (local and organic). I then added a small handful of sultanas and 1/2 a diced jonagold apple (which was the only type of apple I had on hand - this apple is crisp and has a bit of a bite to it but is still quite sweet). I then made a dressing from the juice of 1/2 orange and 1 1/2 tsp of apple juice concentrate and poured this over the salad. It was just divine - I had to stop myself from having seconds.

Pumpkin Oat Cookies

Two days ago I made VWaV's Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies. I cooked and pureed my own pumpkin because you can't buy canned pumpkin here and I added the flaxseeds, used coconut oil instead of canola oil and used sultanas instead of raisins. I also used spelt flour which seemed to work fine.

I found it a little difficult knowing when these cookies were cooked - they do firm up a LOT when they come out of the oven. They tasted a lot like ANZAC biscuits. I took them to a staff meeting and everyone loved them (and thought that they were ANZACs). I will be making these again but I have notes in my VWaV that these are still REALLY soft when they come out of the oven.

Simple Dinners - baked tofu with spinach

Nat has been fighting some stomach bug over the past few days and so he hasn't really been feeling like eating. Consequentially, I have been living off frozen leftovers from all the cooking I did during Mofo.

Last night Nat felt like something simple. I ran through all simple things to see if anything sounded like it would agree with his stomach. We settled on tofu and greens. I have been wanting to try a breaded tofu - but I was happy that Nat was feeling like eating at all and so I settled on using this simple baked tofu recipe from vegweb.

I omitted the oil from the marinade and marinated the tofu for about 2 hours. Then I baked the tofu. I then stir fried some spinach in the marinade and served it atop the spinach.

It was really good (for a really simple meal). I will make it again but when nat is feeling better I will bulk it up by boiling some potatoes, sweet potatoes or pumpkin and mixing it in with the spinach when stir frying.

I have my first exam at 1pm today -Social Problems and Social Policy - wish me luck!!!

Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Saag with garlic naan

Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Saag

Well tomorrow Nat and I are driving up to our parent's homes for a little under a week. It is our nephews naming ceremony tomorrow and as I am studying for exams nat asked if he could do a few tours to Cradle Mountain for his tour guiding company. So I am busy trying to clean out the fridge of veggies so we don't have too many nasty surprises when we get back.

The thing that I was worried about the most was the pumpkin, because I had been saving it to make some cookies to take tomorrow - but now have to find something gluten free to cook. Although it has been a little chilly lately, I still didn't feel like making pumpkin soup so I flipped through Veganomican and found the recipe for pumpkin saag. I didn't have any fresh spinach but I did have some frozen so I thought that this would be the dish of the night. I remember Jessy from happyveganface making some garlic naan a few days back and I thought that it would be a nice surprise for nat when he got home from work (he is a bread lover).

For the saag I pretty much followed the recipe - with a few additions. The dish was good - but not as flavourful as I would have liked.

I roasted and added some sweet potato with the pumpkin. I also used frozen rather than fresh spinach. I also added a little chili paste. The dish wasn't as moist as I would have liked - I think next time I will add a little vegetable stock and maybe some canned tomatoes or tomato paste. Also - if you want a spicey dish (and I think this would be good spicey) add more chili paste.
But I will definatly be making this again with those few more alterations.

Garlic Naan

What I am most excited about are these little beauties!!! Garlic Naan. I am not going to post the recipe because it is exactly like Jessy's which can be found here. It is WONDERFUL and easy though so I think you should try making it. From first bite nat commented on the wonderful garlic flavour and that it would rival indian naan (now he may have been stretching the truth a little there).

VCON sauteed seitan with mushrooms and spinach

And so my quest to discover the many faces of seitan continues... Let me just briefly say that personally - I don't go so much for the faux meats - I am much more happy with chickpeas and beans etc. I think Nat misses some of that stuff and so I have been doing a lot of experimenting on/for him. I guess that it will also be useful to show my omni friends that they don't have to go without meat if they don't want to.

So back to seitan...So far I have baked the seitan o' greatness and I steamed some seitan sausages (didn't look that pretty as I used cloth instead of al. foil - so I didn't bother blogging about it).

Today I tried boiled seitan. I used the recipe from VCON as it was titled 'Simple Seitan'. Out of all the seitans I have made this was NOT simple. I had to watch it and stress about it not boiling and also stress about all the failures that I have heard about this type of seitan.

Well, as it was cooking I was worried... really worried. It looked like one of those natural sponges that you find in the sea (all bobbly and holey and stuff). I accidentally let it boil (whoops - my stove is old and a bit temperamental - it was on the lowest setting for the 'simmer' but then it boiled).

Anyhow - I charged on with my plan to make another recipe from VCON, sauteed seitan with spinach and mushrooms. Except at the local grocery store I found some local silverbeet on special and so I decided to use that. Apart from that I didn't make many changes apart from omitting the wine and not adding as much vegetable broth as it called for as I found the seitan to be REALLY salty. I served the dish with mashed potato and sweet potato (just cause we had run out of rice)

When nat came home from guiding he couldn't believe that it was seitan (he had only seen the sausage type). He really liked the texture and said that it was nice and chewy. Mission accomplished.

Moroccan inspired foods - pumpkin dip and tajine

**Thanks to all the well wishers - Nat is feeling much better - he had a day off yesterday and was able to relax. Last night he was barely coughing at all and not so cloggy. YAY!!**

I love the subtle flavours of Moroccan foods. The sweet spices and fruity flavours just make me enjoy the food - even if it is slightly mushy and over cooked (like last nights dinner). Yesterday I ran out of hummus - so overnight I defrosted a container of chickpeas and today I made some spicy pumpkin dip - now - I know that its not moroccan. But it does have a Moroccan spice blend in it - does that count?? So here is my Moroccan inspired day.



Spicy Pumpkin Dip
- This is another of mum's recipes - she found it in a magazine and cut it out years ago - but didn't keep anything that let me know which magazine to credit. I have changed it a little bit to reduce the fat content.

500g butternut pumpkin - cut into cubes
1 clove garlic
400g chickpeas (rinsed and drained if from a can - reserve the cooking liquid if you cooked them)
2 tbsp tahini
1 lemon - juiced
1 1/2 tsp Moroccan Spice Mix*
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/8 - 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (depending how hot you like your dips - I don't use much at all)

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Spray a baking tray with cooking spray - roast for about 40mins until soft
2. Process garlic in food processor (putting it in first means it gets chopped up enough)
3. Add remaining ingredients - season with salt and ground pepper.
4. Add cooking liquid (or water) to reach desired consistency. I found that this sets a lot, so if refrigerating it - make it runnier than you want - otherwise it will be a pate rather than a dip.
5. Devour!!!

*The ingredients in my moroccan spice mix are: salt, garlic (11%), cumin, paprika (10%), sugar, onion, tumeric (6%), pepper, citric food acid, parsley, red pepper, coriander (1%)


Moroccan Bean Stew
I got the flavour inspiration for this dish from the New Internationalist cookbook - Vegetarian Main Dishes From Around the World. I changed many of the veggies to suit what was in my fridge and so got a bit confused as to when I should add each vegetable in. The result was that my eggplant turned out quite mushy. Next time I will add it later. I have adjusted the recipe so that it will not be too overdone. You could really add any veggies that you wanted to - green beans, carrots and zucchini would all work really well.

This recipe was really comforting and damn easy (I still had some black eyed peas/beans in my freezer so I thought it would be a good dish to have.

Serves 4

1 onion - chopped
1 red capsicum - chopped
1 medium sweet potato - chopped
1 medium eggplant - cubed
4 tomatoes - chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
400g black eyed peas (retain the cooking water)
400g spinach - chopped
1/4 cup sultanas (or raisins)

1. Saute the onion in oil or water until it is transparent.
2. Add red capsicum and sweet potato and a little bit of the black-eyed peas cooking water. Cook about 10 minutes.
3. Put in the tomatoes, tomato paste, cinnamon, nutmeg, peas and eggplant and stir well. Season with salt and pepper and then place the spinach on top. Add more reserved liquid and stew until vegetables are tender (but not mushy) - about 20 mins.
4. Serve over rice or cous cous

VeganMoFo - It must be eggplant season... that makes me a happy lady

Eggplants are cheap!! But they are not just cheap compared to how much they cost during the rest of the year... they are cheaper than most other vegetables at the moment. Now I love eggplant... but Nat is taking a little longer to warm to this versatile vegetable. However he did love this dish.

Dahl with eggplant and spinach

1 or 2 medium eggplants
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 tsp madras curry powder
1 tsp chili paste
1 1/2 cups lentils
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups water
About 50g frozen spinach, thawed (I would have used more but I only had one cube left)
1/4 cup diced tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste

Directions
Preheat oven to 200ºC, pierce the eggplant with a fork a couple of times and put on a tray on the middle rack for 30 minutes. When done, cool and then peel off the skin and place in a food processor. Add the spinach.

While the eggplant is roasting, fry the onion and garlic in oil or water until brown. Add spices and seeds and continue to stir for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.

Add the lentils, salt and the water to the pot. Bring them to a boil and then cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until the water is almost gone.

When the lentils are cooked, add half the lentil mixture to the food processor.
Add the spinach, tomatoes and tomato paste and process the ingredients on low. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan with the unblended lentils.

Serve over your choice of rice with naan or pappadams.

**I am going to make my first ever seitan tonight*** WATCH THIS SPACE*** I am super excited... and a little nervous.

Vegan Mofo #6 - Palak tofu - a combination of some awesome recipes

Well, I have never had Palak Paneer so I can't compare... but this was pretty damn good. It was the first time I made my own vegan paneer... I used the recipe from Vegan Feast Kitchen. It was great... however I wasn't too sure whether to use firm or extra firm tofu. I used extra firm, but it seemed too dry. WAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY to dry. I was getting rather nervous but added about another 1/4-1/2 cup of water and another tsp of agar agar. So I think that the Bryanna's recipe is for firm (not silken and not extra firm). Well it turned out REALLY well. So lovely.

Next, I based the recipe on a dish created by Susan from FFV. I made a few substitutions, I used silverbeet instead of spinach and a can of diced tomatoes instead of fresh. I used the curry powder and ommitted the fenugreek.

The result - well the paneer 'melted' a little and the final dish had lots of little tofu bits all through it... but it was really lovely. Both Nat and I enjoyed it and will probably make it again.

Two of our favourite veggies in one dish!!

My husband and I were rudely awoken this morning (at about 5am) to hear someone trying to get into our unit with a key. When my husband went to see what was going on they sheepishly realised that they had the wrong unit. I wasn't too impressed - I mean there are only 8 units are in our block. Anyway - from there it was a busy day for both of us. My partner worked from 9am to 6pm and I had uni until 1pm and then was home writing an assignment for the afternoon. For dinner because I know that nat is SO hungry after a full day of work (and riding his bike home up a long hill). Sweet potato is one of nat's favourite vegetables and I had a few eggplants to use up (Eggplant is one of my favourite vegetables) so I was incredibly excited when I found a recipe from Ashbury's Aubergines. I followed the recipe pretty well but did alter it a little. I have put my revisions below. I served this dish with an easy chickpea and silver beet side dish.

Sweet Potato Stuffed Eggplant

Stuffed Eggplant

2 medium eggplants
2 tablespoons soy sauce
oil
3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 large capsicum, diced

Spicy Peanut Sauce

• oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root
• 1/2 teaspoon chili paste, more to taste
• 3/4 cup natural unsalted crunchy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1-2 tablespoons agave syrup
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 cups water
• salt to taste
  
  

1. Preheat oven to 175ºC. Spray a baking pan with oil.
   
2. Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise, brush the cut sides with soy sauce, and lay them flesh side up in the pan. Add 1/2 cup of water to the pan and cover with foil. Bake until tender, about 30 minutes.
3. Steam the sweet potatoes for about 10 minutes, until just tender.
   
4. In a non-stick fry pan, sauté the onions and garlic for 5 minutes, until the onions are soft. Add the capsicum and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir, cover, and set the filling aside.
   
5. Peanut Sauce: saute onions in a saucepan for 5 minutes. Add the ginger, chili paste and saute for another 2 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and stir thoroughly until the peanut butter has melted and mixed with the remaining ingredients.
6. When the eggplants are done - remove them from the oven and scoop out the centre (leaving a little flesh attached to the skin), chop the removed flesh and add it to the sweet potato mixture.
   
7. Place the sweet potato mixture in the eggplant shells and return the eggplants to the oven and cook for 15mins.
8. Remove from the oven and top with the peanut sauce and serve.

Sauteed chickpeas and silver beet

• 1 medium onion
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 400g chickpeas, (either from a can or home cooked)
• 500g fresh silver beet, washed, stems removed and chopped. (or spinach)
  
• salt and pepper to taste.

1. Saute onion and garlic with either water or oil in a non-stick pan until onion is browned, about 5 mins
2. Add chickpeas and silver beet. Cover and heat until silver beet is wilted.
3. When silver beet is done, season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.