First Try at Vegan Mayonnaise

Now that the warmer weather is hitting Melbourne, my desire for BBQ-related summery foods is increasing. Salads, burgers, hot dogs, and all sorts of traditional accompaniments are coming back into rotation, and it's getting me excited for long hot sunny days! 

With this cuisine in mind, I realised there was a half cabbage sadly wilting in the fridge right next to 2kg of carrots (as a result of both T and I going food shopping without communicating!). I instantly knew what I had to do: Coleslaw! The only problem was that I had run out of mayo. When I asked T to pick some up on his way home from uni, he was only able to find one vegan mayo that cost over $8. Now I understand that vegan versions of things can sometimes be more expensive, but $8 mayo is a little bit too exorbitant for me. 

As a result of this exploitation, I thought, "Why not make my own?". I've seen it made plenty of times on Masterchef the real way, and despite many failed attempts by the monkeys on that show, it didn't look TOO hard. So I looked at a few recipes, got the general idea, and had a go. 

Turns out it was pretty much the easiest vegan-version of something I had ever made. Here's how you do it.

Depending on the quantity you want, you will add Vegetable/Canola oil to Soy milk in a 2:1 ratio. Use a teaspoon or two of something acidic- either lemon juice or apple cider vinegar for each 1/2C of soymilk you use, add a pinch of salt and some mustard powder (both to taste), and whizz in the food processor. That's it. 

I wanted a minimum amount because I didn't know how it would come out, and I still don't know how long it will last in the fridge, but this is the quantities I used:

1C Oil

1/2C Soymilk (The trick here is to get the thickest soy milk you can find. If you are using a watery one, consider using slightly less, or increase your acidic component to help curdle the milk first). 

~2tsp Apple cider vinegar

~1tsp Salt

~1tsp Mustard powder (I imagine you could also use prepared mustard)

It tasted great on my coleslaw and I can't wait to make some potato salad soon!!

Ethiopian Food Experimentation!

For the past few weeks I have been suffering a killer craving for Ethiopian/African food. While I would normally just head down to one of the many restaurants in the neighbouring suburb of Footscray, T & I are living on student budgets at the moment and I thought it would be a good challenge to whip up some food at home. I will admit that I did cheat a bit and get my Injera (sour pancake-like bread that you use to scoop the food up with) from Footscray as I didn't want to spend the time figuring out how to make it, but we made everything else ourselves!!

To get started we prepared the ubiquitous Ethiopian spice mix Berbere. I called out ingredients and amounts as T assembled the mix in a frying pan and lightly toasted it upon completion. This amazingly delicious spice mix is still haunting our kitchen and is still making the house smell tantalizingly good 24 hours later. 

Here is the recipe I used for the Berbere:

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground fenugreek
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
3 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoon red chili flakes

1/2 teaspoon hot cayenne powder

1 tablespoon salt

Combine together, and toast in fry pan until fragrant!

Using that spice mix you can now make the following recipes- Yellow Split Pea Stew and Misir Wot. For the greens, T just picked some Silverbeet from our back garden and sauteed it with garlic, turmeric, and berbere spice mix (to taste). I know it's not much to look at, but boy was it tasty!!

When I say these were delicious, it is an understatement. I'm still flabbergasted that we made something that was restaurant quality in taste AND significantly less oily than our previous restaurant meals. These recipes come highly recommended!! If you try them please let me know how they come out. Happy cooking!!

Pizza Perfection!!

Being from the home of some of the world's best pizza, it has been a long-term goal of mine & T's to get close to replicating the pizza of my pre-Australian life. Throughout the years we've played around with all the variables- types of flour, sweeteners, mixing methods, cooking times, etc., and I thought I'd share our current leader in pizza dough recipes.

This dough is great- it's chewy, resilient under heavy toppings, doesn't rise too much, and gets crispy on the bottom with proper use of a hot oven and preheated pizza stone. And it's tasty too! Here's how we do it.

This recipe ends up making 4 pizza-stone size pizzas (5 if you stretch it). We usually make 4-5 and freeze/refrigerate some for work lunches!

1kg Plain Flour (Type 00 is preferred)
14g Dried Instant Yeast
15g Salt
2Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil + extra for drizzling over dough
2 1/2 - 3C Warm (not hot) Water
Optional: A few teaspoons of dried herbs

Firstly, put your pizza stones in the oven and crank the heat to maximum! Then pour yourself a glass of nice wine. This is essential to pizza making success!

Now for the actual dough making... We use a Breville Scraper Mixer Pro (the apple green coloured love of my life) so I dump all the dry ingredients, including herbs if they're being used, in with the dough hook attachment. Turn it on low and then slowly add the Olive Oil & Water. How much water you need will depend on your flour quality and the weather, so it's best to add a bit at a time and check the dough consistency to know when you've added enough. Once all the water has been added, it's okay to turn it up slightly higher to increase the "kneading" power. I let it knead for about 2-3 minutes, or until the dough is smooth, shiny, and elastic. If you are doing this all by hand, add the ingredients together in a bowl and then hand-knead until you arrive at the smooth, shiny, elastic result. I expect it would take about 4-5 minutes longer.

I then form the dough into a ball, put it back in the mixing bowl, drizzle some olive oil to keep it from drying out, and cover the bowl with a damp tea towel. It's a good idea to put this bowl of dough near the oven so it stays warm (but not ON the oven as it may start to cook). How's your wine level? Do you need a top up? I usually do!

After about an hour, when the dough has doubled in size, it's ready to be separated into 4-5 smaller balls from which you will make your beautiful pizzas. I find that rotating and stretching the dough is the best way to make it pizza-sized, but you may prefer rolling it out if you don't like the rustic, hand-made look!

My tip for making uniform pizzas that will transfer easily to the stone is to use a metal round pizza tray to put the dough onto. That way you can have a relatively round pizza base and quickly flip the tray upside down onto the pizza stone. This requires a bit of practice, so if it seems like too much of a challenge, you can try forming the base on the bottom side of the pizza tray and sliding it onto the stone. Then you do a super-fast pizza toppings spread and pop that baby back into the oven to incubate!

As for cooking times, I generally leave the oven light on and check on the pizzas in about 7minutes. There seems to be a great variation in cooking times between ovens, and even where in the oven the pizza is. Cooking is an art and is all about feel, so as you make this recipe and become familiar with it and your ingredients you will start knowing what feels, looks, and tastes right and what doesn't.

Good luck and happy pizza making!!

Our Trip to PAWS (People & Animal Welfare Society) in Perth

It was a beautiful sunny day on our trip to Perth, and I was keen to have lunch with T at a place I had heard great things about - the People & Animal Welfare Society in Perth.

Part cruelty free shop, part cafe, part activist space, and entirely non-profit, this place is known to do some great lunches of both the raw and cooked vegan variety. Although T is a native of Perth, this was his first time here. I highly recommend checking out their website (at the bottom of this post) as they have heaps of information, an online store, and they do so many great things for the community! 



Our Table

The inside of PAWS is decorated nicely, although the business-like large tables provide an unusual seating arrangement for dining. As it was a seat-yourself and order at the bar arrangement, we chose to sit at a table near the exhibition wall which was featuring a dementia/aged care themed group of photos. This review is on the food though, so let's get started! 

It was quickly decided that we would order one medium raw plate and one medium cooked plate and share. These plates included a little sample of each of the dishes on offer, and they were a great way to be introduced to the food of PAWS.


Medium Raw Plate



The raw plate had a mix of salads, topped with a slice of their delectable raw pizza and a few raw seed crackers. I have been eating raw pizza wherever I can get it for years, and this is up there with the best! It was so flavourful and fresh... a totally guiltless indulgence. The best part about eating raw food is that you never feel too full or heavy after eating it, and I love the feeling that I get that I have done something really great for myself!



Medium Cooked Plate 

The cooked plate came with fluffy jasmine rice and a few curry-like dishes- some with faux meat chunks and some vegetable based. From memory there was a coconut chicken curry, a yellow curry, and I cannot for the life of me remember the third! The important part is that they were all tasty and filling, and great value for the $8-9 that I think we paid.

After the cooked food it was onto dessert!! I am a massive cheesecake fan, which sometimes makes vegan life difficult... but it's experiences like the one I had at PAWS that made me feel like I'm not missing out. We ordered a slice of beetroot-chocolate raw cheesecake ($6), which was a bit out of character for me as I am not a fan of beetroot. T loves it, so I thought I'd humour him and give it a try. Let's just say the cheesecake was so amazing that we started eating before I even got to photograph it! I am so crazy about this slice of cake that I think that access to it is pretty much worth the plane ticket to Perth. I can't wait to get back here and have more!!



The Best Raw Cheesecake in the WORLD



People & Animal Welfare Society(click for website, info & online store)

Address: 120 Beaufort Street Perth WA 6000

Ph: 08 9228 2435

PROS: Fresh delicious food, very affordable prices, being able to shop and eat at the same place, proximity to Perth CBD, great lolly/sweets fridge, that cheesecake, friendly staff.

CONS: The odd table settings made intimate lunches difficult, they probably don't ship that cheesecake to Melbourne.


Pupcakes for Hairy Hounds Playground!

A few weeks ago I agreed to bake 200 (180 vegan + 20 gluten free vegan) cupcakes for the 5th Birthday Extravaganza of Hairy Hounds Playground, a dog daycare that my friend owns in Williamstown. They came out great despite making me slightly crazy (a big shout out to my BEM800 mixer that made life a lot easier), and were a hit at the party (so I'm told). Here's a few snaps of them both in progress and completed! If you're wondering, the fur is toasted coconut, the ears are licorice ropes cut in half, the eyes are vanilla frosting with non-dairy chocolate chips for pupils, and the noses are chocolate chips as well! Apologies for the photos not being top notch, I was pretty frazzled and amazed that I even remembered to photograph them!

Pupcakes without mouths!

Finished Pups

Mmmm Pancakes

I was really craving some pancakes and since T and I had the luxury of this Thursday off, I decided to whip up some of my favourites. Pancakes are traditionally breakfast food in the US and for me, serving them with ice cream (Australian style) is very weird. I personally prefer them slathered in crunchy peanut butter so that it melts a little and then drizzled with maple syrup! You can't beat the combination of sweet and salty!!

Anyway, after a quick google search I used this recipe and added in some chopped banana, chocolate chips, and a pinch of cinnamon. They were a perfect way to start the day alongside a hot cup of coffee!

THE "Recipe for Love": Maple-Flaxseed Cornbread

Following the success of my cornbread at the American-themed vegan dinner party I held last night, I thought a share of this recipe was in order. This recipe has been slightly adapted from the original (as no recipe is my life is beyond reinterpretation and experimentation), but this adaptation seems to be a hit! I made a version of this cornbread for my now-husband when I first met him, and it sparked the first of our many food-related conversations and recipe exchanges. 
I was too busy eating and talking to take a photo!! Apologies.

MAPLE-FLAXSEED CORNBREAD

Preheat yo' oven to 190-200.  

1 C Flour
1 C Polenta
1tsp Salt
3 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

2/3 C Sugary Stuff (Made up of whatever combo of dry sugar & Maple Syrup that you wish- I usually do 1/4 C maple and the rest dry raw sugar)
1 "egg" (made up of 1tbsp ground linseed and 3tbsp of hot water, stirred and cooled until it becomes egg texture)
3/4 C Soy/Oat Milk
1/3 C Veg/Canola/Other mild-flavoured Oil 

Mix all the dry ingredients together in one bowl. Then mix the Sugars + wet ingredients in another bowl. Add the wet ones to the dry ones until just combined.

Pour into a spray-oiled or baking paper-lined 8x8 or 9x9 (I don't know what this is in metric) dish and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick in the centre comes out clean and the edges are goldeny brown.

Alternatives include: adding 3/4 C - 1 C corn kernels, or finely diced different coloured capsicum or jalapenos. You can also add paprika, smoked paprika, or some sort of chilli powder to give it a bit of a different taste.

Mmm Leafy Green Kale

Last winter was the first time that I tried to grow my own kale. I have long grown Silverbeet/Swiss Chard but hadn't thought much of kale since I am exposed to it so rarely- I can't recall one time that I've seen it in the supermarket or green grocer since moving to Australia four years ago! After hearing how amazingly healthy it is and having high hopes that it may be as easy to grow as silverbeet, I bought some seeds at our local gardening store.
The seedlings came up great and produced a fair few leaves before it got too warm outside and the plants went to seed. The way I dealt with this short but sweet harvesting period was to make a couple rounds of Kale Chips through a preparation method I had read about in a Vegetarian Times newsletter. Oh. my. lord. They were amazing and addictive, and I couldn't believe I was eating a food that has been touted as a "superfood" and "the most nutrient dense food that exists"! I CANNOT wait until its cool enough to grow some more- it will be a staple in my garden next winter.
In the mean time, I saw this article on "17 Ways to Use Kale" and thought I should share it because it helps make this somewhat unknown leafy green a bit more familiar. And if you do manage to find yourself some kale, A) Let me know where I can get it too!!! and B) Try some of these preparation methods!

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/17-ways-to-use-kale-slideshow.html

Little Saigon Market - Footscray

Recently I've been doing a bit more food shopping in Footscray, in particular at Little Saigon Market. This market is smaller than the regular Footscray Market that's across from the train station, but no less intimidating. When you enter Little Saigon, you are magically transported to Vietnam. Everywhere you look, there's fruits and vegetables and herbs that you have never seen before. Hawkers are screaming repetitive calls in Vietnamese and persistently offering samples of their mangoes and avocados and peaches for you to try. The aisles of the shops are beyond narrow, yet 3 people are trying to get by you as you smash up against the products you haven't seen since your last trip to Asia. People shove you around and step in front of you on line, and you need to fight to keep your place. There's 20 brands of tofu in every shop, in styles you've never even heard of. And the prices make it allllll worth it. I once bought an avocado there for 25c, and it was one of the best tasting avocados I had ever eaten!! On my last trip to Little Saigon, I bought several avocados at $4.99/kg. Now when I see signs advertising $2.99 for ONE avocado, or salad mix for $17.99 in Coles, (usually around $6.99 at Saigon) I just laugh smugly and pity the fools who pay those prices.
I'm also really excited about trying all these different things that are completely foreign to me, once I figure out what they are and how to use them! Can anyone identify these two to start with?

La Cena en Los Amates

     While T & I are vegan most of the time, evvverry once in a while we break our veganism for particular exceptions that we deem very worth while. For us it's been part of how transitioning to a diet free of animal products has been a bit more doable. Different things work for different people, and allowing ourselves these occasional "cheats" has made the whole thing seem a bit less extreme and easier to keep up with during the other 99% of our lives.
     I bring this up because our most recent cheat was at Los Amates, a Mexican restaurant in Fitzroy. Los Amates is probably my favourite Mexi place in Melbourne- to me it seems the most authentic, both food and decor wise. Almost every other attempt at Mexican food I've tried in Australia (with the exception of another favourite, Trippy Taco) has been something with beans covered in tasty cheese and jalapenos, and seems to be based on some weird Australian speculation of what Mexican food might be like. Los Amates, on the other hand, makes their own authentic salsas (including Molé sauce!), uses ingredients like nopales (cactus) and black beans in dishes, and overall is usually on par with the food quality and taste that I've experienced in Mexico and the US. Also there is a Latin American grocery across the street that sells lots of authentic, imported ingredients for your home experimentation!

     Anyway, I digress. We met our friends C & J who were visiting from Brisbane here for the first sitting at 6:30pm. Upon arrival we were told that we needed to be finished by 8pm, which was a bit of a surprise as they had said 8:30pm over the phone. Understanding that most restaurants do hold two sittings and knowing that they fit our booking in at the last minute, we said we'd try our best (secretly knowing there wasn't much of a chance of dinner happening that quickly). We ordered a jug of sangria to sip on while we caught up with C & J, took in the brightly decorated surrounds, and decided what we wanted for dinner. Luckily, a few minutes after bringing our drinks, the host told us to no longer worry about the time limit, which was good news and definitely made the experience more enjoyable! 
     One glass of sangria in and T & I still couldn't figure out what to order, so we ended up splitting the indecisive person's dream, the vegetarian combination  platter for two ($36). It was incredible! On the plate was a great array of little bits of their best stuff including sopes, quesadillas, molletes, empanadas, and bean taquitos. I got my fill of my favourites (those nopales and black beans I mentioned before!) and was perfectly full by the end of the meal. We washed dinner down with yet another jug of sangria and left very happy campers. I love this place and can't wait to go back- I think next time we'll see what they can make vegan. 

LOS AMATES (click for website & menu)

Address: 34 Johnston St, Fitzroy VIC 3065 

Ph: 03 9417 0441

PROS: great fresh authentic Mexican food, morish sangria, fun atmosphere, wait & kitchen staff that actually speaks Spanish, oh and that amazing MOLÉ sauce!! Also they sell their salsas in jars if you can't get enough while you're there.

CONS: Mexican beers that are overpriced as compared to some other restaurants, Occasional long wait for food (although not on this occasion), slight confusion over the sitting time lengths

Summer is Arriving!

One of my more shy sunflowers, on it's way to being fully revealed!