Save The Uni Students

I confess, I am one of those people who block your supermarket aisle because I'm checking out the ingredients list on the back of the packaging.

*raises hand* Yes, that's me.

So, in order to de-clutter the floors of our local IGAs everywhere, here's a recipe for a Spicy Peanut Sauce - no need to buy Kantong or Chicken Tonight, make your own and know what's in it.
And save those poor uni students from tripping over you as they reach for the Mi Goreng.

Spicy Peanut Sauce

(serves 8)

Prepare veggies and rice, as per a stir-fry.

Sauce Ingredients:

1 Glugful of Sesame Oil

1 brown onion

a couple of cloves of garlic

1 knob of ginger

(every time I write that, I think "you're a knob!")

1/3-1/2 cup of peanut butter

(I prefer 'no salt' and 'super crunchy'.

If they had 'ridiculously super crunchy', I'd be in that, too.)

1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari

1/4 cup or the juice of two limes

2 dessert spoons of brown sugar

1 tsp cayenne pepper (or a chilli)

1/4 cup of sesame seeds

400mL coconut cream



What to do, what to do...

1. Fry up onions in the sesame oil until becoming translucent, add garlic and ginger.

2. Reduce heat, add peanut butter and stir it around as it melts.

3. Add soy sauce, lime juice, sugar, cayenne pepper and sesame seeds and stir throughly.

4. Stir in coconut cream. Allow to simmer until it reduces slightly.

Notes:

Ideally, you should taste the flavours in this order: sweet peanut, salt, lime, spicy.

If one of these is missing or isn't strong enough for your liking, add more accordingly.

As I always say with cayenne pepper, add more carefully.

You can always add more, it's very hard to add less.

If you are skilled, all your stirfry ingredients will be ready at the same time and you can just serve it up and pour it over the top. Otherwise, leave it and reheat when needed.

Veggies, Rice and Sauce all ready for a grand feast!

...

...

...

...

The sauce freezes very well, although with all stirfry dishes, capsicum and snow peas don't reheat well.

Happy Vegan Eating and a Happy New Year!

We Are Japanese, if you please...

Konichiwa!

 

One of the questions I often receive from people when I tell them I'm a vegan, is

 ...what, exactly, do you eat?

While internally, I want to burst into a musical number where the chorus follows along the lines of, 'what don't I eat!', jazz hands included, I try to refrain from the showtunes and just have a few good answers up my sleeve.

Sushi is a food most people are aware of, and can understand a vegetarian and vegan option fairly easily.


Now, I'm no Japanese, so my finickiness for the finer details of this process do not exist. I'll give it to your straight - what I write is how to make something that resembles what you buy in the shop, with some ideas about variations, and not something you'd expect in a gourmet Japanese restaurant.
But, you can still eat mine with chopsticks, if you like.

PRAISE FOR SUSHI!

When you look at the quantities of the veggies in this recipe, you'll cleverly deduce that this is a good recipe for using up leftover veggies. Rice freezes well (and heaven knows I always make too much rice), so this recipe is easy to have on hand. Can be made the day before, open to many variations and is perfect to being to a picnic or potluck because of the variety and small portions!

ビーガン寿司

SUSHI FOR VEGANS!

(this makes enough for 3)

What you'll need...

1/2 a carrot

1/2 a cucumber

1/2 a capsicum

1/2 an avocado

2 cups cooked rice (add garlic and olive oil during the cooking process for lovely rice)

3 sheets of sushi seaweed paper (nori)

ステップワン

(Step One)

 

Cut all your veggies into thin strips, no longer than 8cm. The thinner the better. Trim the capsicums so that they are as straight as possible, and not curved at the end. Slice your avocado in long strips.

番号2ステップ

 (Step Two)

 

Place Nori shiny-side down, and place 3/4 cup of rice over, spreading evenly until 2cm from the far edge. The more even the rice, the better the sushi will be.




 

ナンバースリーステップ

(Step Three)

 

Layer a few of each vegetable onto the near end of the rice, a few cms from the edge, and overlapping the ends of the vegetable. The reason for this is so that the middle of any piece of sushi isn't clumped. I had no avocado, so I've used sliced Snow Peas in this one.

 

ナンバーフォーステップ

 (Step Four)

Carefully holding the veggies inside, roll the sushi up until the rice finishes.

ナンバーファイブステップ

(Step Five)

 

Wet the remaining end with water and finish rolling,

holding the sushi down on the wet end for a few seconds. (see video above)

ナンバーシックスステップ

(Step Six)
 

Carefully cut off the messy ends with a serrated knife and then proceed along the sushi cutting at 2cm intervals.

Serve with soy sauce or tamari.

I have experimented a lot with different things to put in the sushi, mainly stemming from whatever needed to be used in the next days. Cranberries - I liked. Basil Pesto - not so great. Figs... well, they all create an interesting dining experience.
Why not try your own variations and let me know how they turned out...

...but for now, eat up, me hearties!

Oat & Seed Slice, Life is Nice.

ummm.. I'm back?
You know that it's been a long time between drinks (posts) when you need to reset your password in order to access your blog - because you've forgotten it.

What's been happening in the six(cough)ish months since I've been blog-less? A whole lot.
...Winter has come and gone, with me passing out my Nacho Beans Mix recipe by the hundreds.

Okay, so, well, one guy asked about it, in passing.

...I've become fixated with idea of growing my own vegetables, mainly from the wholistic idea that I'm cheap and don't want to pay for them...

...and our rabbits make poo for free.

...I feel great. Really great. I celebrated my first unofficial year of being a vegan earlier this month  - officially, on January 1st - and I am amazed at myself and what I've learnt. About food and about people, too.

(I always want to balance my exuding enthusiam at how great I feel

with how much work I've put into this,

and how much resistance you will get from the world around you

if you try this too.)

So, without further ado, here is the recipe for Oat & Seed slice, the snack I am currently waiting to cool whilst I write this.

This is a simple one, folks!

• 200g of Rolled Oats (That's about 2 1/4 cups)
• 90mL Maple Syrup, or Honey, or Agave Syrup
• 75g of Nuttelex
• A small handful each of sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, pepitas, chia seeds...

1. Pre-heat oven to 160 C (fan-forced)
2. Mix ingredients together. Melting the Nuttelex a little in the microwave first does wonders for the sanity in this project.
3. Spread mixture on a shallowish tray, lined with baking paper is best.
4. Back for 30-35 minutes.

Done.

Coming out of the oven, the oats should be golden. Let it cool and harden before eating.

Some other notes - nuts work well in this recipe, berries DO NOT.

Don't try goji berries especially.

They don't work. RECIPE IDEA FAIL.

I add a Tablespoon of Black-strap molasses which tastes like sugar and salt and licorice melted together (do we know for sure that it's not???), but it's high in iron, so chuck a bit in, all you vegans.

Depending on how thinkly you spread it and how long you cook it, it might break nicely into muesli bar-type chunks. You may also be left with a whole heap of rolled oats covered in honey; this makes for a great breakfast cereal. The ratio isn't perfected, so I still usually only get a few large chunks and lots of crumbly. But, I can't get enough of this stuff, and every morning that I wake up and know that I don't have any cooked, I feel a little disappointed with life.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm here with my computer, my tall glass of cold soy milk and one very delicious slice. See y'all next time.

Butter Chicken - without the butter, without the chicken

The past short hiatus of posts has been exclusively due to the fact that I've been working, cooking and continuing in my quest to be the hippiest hipster of them all by trying to grow my own organic garlic.
But mostly I've been working all the time.

So the little patch of cultivated ground dedicated to said garlic forest remains upturned but unplanted.

(On a side note, when I dug up this little spot of land, which is not bigger than 2m2, to a depth of about 30 cm... I discovered 6 whole bricks and 10 half-bricks. It appears I had chosen the previous dumping ground for the entire block's building surplus. On the other hand, it's really sunny there.)

Nevertheless, I have managed to bring you a perfected recipe that is sure to please during these cooler Autumn months.

Introducing... Butter Chicken! - without the butter and without the chicken.
My meat loving friends very much hate this one and argue comprehensively that it definitely isn't butter and it definitely isn't chicken so therefore, it definitely isn't Vegan Butter Chicken.
I don't much mind however, because it tastes better than anything I've ever cooked from scratch and it's so much cheaper than a top-class indian restaurant.
So butter chicken defending champions of the meat, turn away now.

SPICES:

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 cloves of minced garlic

2 tsp minced ginger

1/2 tsp tumeric

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp chilli paste

2 Tbsp ground coriander

VEGETABLES:
1 small onion
6 tomatoes, diced
7 button mushrooms
2 cups of Kale, chopped roughly
1 T tomato paste

PROTEIN:

2 cups of protein*

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup cashews, chopped

CREAMY GOODNESS:

3 Tbsp nuttelex/non-dairy margarine

400 mL coconut cream

*Tofu or chickpeas or a mixture of both or even kidney beans...

I haven't included cooking rice to accompany this dish, but it is assumed. I also wilt the kale using the steamer part of my rice cooker and then add it at the end.

1. In a fry pan on a medium-high heat, melt the margarine, adding the onion and cinnamon and stir around.

2. Lower the heat a little and add the garlic and ginger.

3. Add the remaining spices and cook for a couple of minutes.

4. Add all the remaining ingredients and let simmer for 15 minutes.

(mushrooms, tomatoes, paste, peanut butter, cashews, coconut cream)

5. Pinch of salt to taste.

With rice, makes a meal for 6.

Bon appetite, hipsters.

Chewing The Polyunsaturated Fat

This week's DBAVT (don't become a vegan to) thought...

The point of the DBAVT drawing is this: If you want a weight-loss diet, there are much, much simpler ones. For weight loss, I strongly advocate the use of fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, lean meats and low fat dairy.
Pretty much, don't decide to go vegan to lose weight, then decide it's all too hard and give up on losing weight all together. If you've decided to lose weight, excellent!... but take baby steps.

Invest in good quality low-fat food choices. Sacrifice a small amount of flavour and extra money, and buy meat without the fat. (And preferably free-range)

Investigate portion control.

(How BIG should my serving size be?)

Exercise a bit more than you used to.

Identify the times and foods that are your weakness

and make a plan that lets you be strong

(ie. substitution or avoidance).

Learn about food and even aim for a few vegan meals a week... some are even listed on this blog to get you started.

This vegan blogger hasn't lost any weight since changing her diet - although there is a noticable change in fat and muscle distribution... that is, I now have more muscle and less fat!

There aren't too many vegan foods that are extremely high in fat content, but if you're worried that being a vegan will make you too skinny, then adding avocados, peanuts or unrefined oils to a dish is a great place to start.

Mum, Are Humming Birds Are Made From Hummus? Yes.

Possibly one of the world's simplest vegan dishes - with the exception of cutting up a few veggies and calling it done - has got to be hummus. The other day I made this is in about 10 minutes, from start to finish, because I'd promised a friend some hummus for his birthday and I possessed poor time management.

THROW INTO A FOOD PROCESSOR:
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas

2 Tbsp tahini paste

3 garlic cloves

the juice of 1 lemon

100mL olive oil

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp cayenne pepper

BLEND.

Done.

Well, maybe you might need to 1/2 cup of water if you want a smoother consistency, or some paprika for even more exotic flavour, but pretty much, you're done.
Serve with crusty Turkish bread or chopped veggies.

The thing about hummus is, just like a teenage girl's break-up, it's much better the next day.

Freezes well, and I don't know, I'm pretty sure you can go nuts tweaking this recipe to suit whatever is in your pantry. Broccoli hummus? Well, I am always trying to hide broccoli in everything (cos it's up there for iron content, down there for taste), but maybe that's a bit far.

Turmeric, however, is great for your brain, and I've added that before to my hummus with joyous results.

Get cracking, hepcats.

Eventually, We All Expire.

Did you know that I've spent several years thinking that paprika didn't have a stong smell,
and mostly no taste at all?

Turns out, once we cleaned out our spice rack,

that the paprika I had been using had a best before date of:

 'AUG 94'

I've now bought more paprika and can safely say that it does have a smell. And a taste.

Use fresh products, people.

Don't Become A Vegan To...

It's just over a week since Valentines Day and the thought occurred to me that I should post this Valentines Day-themed drawing I created a month ago.
Perhaps I didn't post this on Valentines Day because I was too busy crying alone in the bathroom, surrounded by my 15 cats, whilst listen to Adele on repeat...

"...never mind I'll find, someone like you..."

...or perhaps I was too busy living the good life. You decide.

There are many reasons to become a vegan... but this is not one of them.

How To Win Friends And Influence Carnivores

As sure as the sky is blue, any vegan has started out with skeptic friends.
To be fair, they probably tried Tofu as an impressionable 8-year old at their Primary School's Multicultual Day (cue: hippy parents) and thenceforth...

(side note: isn't that the best word ever?)

...decided that all food void of animal products tasted like raw sponge.

It takes a great many experiences to rewrite the impressions made by this one. I would know. That kid was me.

However now in my arsenal of facts and figures and statistics, I also have one recipe guaranteed to draw a concession that maybe, perhaps, just this once... a vegan option is better than a dairy one.

Clearly this recipe does not usually include meat.

#carnivoresconceednothing

Here we go...

Vegan Banana Bread

(recipe borrowed/stolen/altered from here)

Los Ingredientes:

2 cups plain flour

3/4 cups raw or white sugar 

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup soy milk

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

4-5 (over) ripe bananas, mashed

1/4 cup canola oil

2 Tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup walnuts, whole or broken

1/4 cup pepitas

1/4 cup sesame seeds

What to do...

One. boring prep stuff

Preheat the oven to 180 C, fan-forced. Oil up a 9"x5" loaf pan.

TWO! Sift-sift-arama

 Get your mediumest bowl and add (sifted!!) flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Then the sugars. 

Sift the dark brown sugar last because it sifts poorly and leaves a powdered sieve.

Three. Sir Mix-a-lot

Find your large mixing bowl and add the milk and apple cider vinegar and WHISK your heart away. Maybe sing some Julia Andrews while you do so. I enjoy a little 'Climb Every Mountain' with my mixing. It inspires me.

Once mixed, LEAVE. Not the room, just the milk solution. Let it rest for 2 minutes. I'm timing you...

Fooooour. Addition and subtraction.

To the milk solution, finally add (you've been waiting for this) the mashed banana, maple syrup, oil and vanilla extract and whisk again. Add the dry ingredients and whisk/mix, but this time, not until your heart is content. Just until your heart is barely satisfied and your ingredients are just mixed.

5ive. (Remember the boyband?) Nuttyness.

Fold in the walnuts, pepitas and sesame seeds. The latter two ingredients are not essential, but as a vegan it's an extra dose of iron (pepitas) and calcium (sesame seeds) and that's never a bad thing. Pepitas add great texture, sesame seeds finish unnoticable and they add nothing bad to the taste.

6ix. (The lesser known spin-off boyband). BAKE SALE!!

Pour your mix into the loaf pan, chuck into the oven for 1 hour and 25 minutes. A little burntness adds crunchiness, I always say, and charcoal aids digestion. That being said, start checking it from 1 hr 20 minutes but be prepared for it to need up to 1 hour 30 minutes.

Once it is tolerably touchable with oven mitts, tip out and let sit/stand/precariously perch on a wire rack to cool.

Seven. Cut Up And Eat.

Cut up and eat.

From the many superstars who've ventured to try this alternative, the result back is unanimous.

#ican'tbelieveitsvegan

#tastesensation

#betterthantheoriginal

...just like Back To The Future II.

The walnuts decided to run out, so this vegan banana bread is topped with pepitas.

Hey Pesto!

I met a herb the other day.
Basil The Herb.
And now, we're in love.

Just how was it that I'd gone through my 26 years of existance and never once come across basil?
I've lived a sheltered life, I'm sure.

Last night I made a Basil Pesto,  serving size for an entree.... about 4.
I ate it all.
I love Basil. Did I mention that?

Pesto is a really easy spread to make and it's perfect for pre-dinner snacks on crusty bread, or mixed with pasta for an italian mains.

Check it out...

2 cups of Basil leaves.
3 cloves of fresh garlic
1/3 cup of pine nuts
1/3 nutritional yeast (this is the substitute for parmesan cheese... and it's great!)
4 or 5 sun-dried tomatoes
1/3 cup of olive oil or flaxseed oil or sesame oil*
salt & pepper & sesame seeds

*I usually keep the oil from every jar of sun-dried tomatoes I finish and create a little tasty oil culmination. This spread is a great place to pour that in.

Add the salt and pepper to taste, the sesame seeds don't add too much flavour so add them for an excellent source of Calcium.

(It's quite a forgiving recipe in terms of ingredients; feel free to add walnuts/almonds/cashews instead, or as well as pine nuts... add chia seeds for Omega 3... remove the sun-dried tomato for a less sweet pesto.)

Step 2:
BLEND.

And hey pesto, you're done!

Freshness Tip Of The Week

When choosing the freshest carrot, go with the one that is the least floppiest.

Aching For Some Bacon?

Most people, when I tell them I'm vegan, can pretty quickly tell me of the one or two foods that they  simply could not give up.

Steak.

Cheese.

Mochas.

(That was me)

Corn chips.

(...umm, you can still eat them.)

Beer.

(...Do you even know what a vegan is?)

Two things are involved here: the first is habitual eating, which are statements that begin with,

"I always..." or "Whenever..."

"I always have a steak once a week with mates from work."

"Whenever I'm bored, I eat chocolate."

These are the actions that require no thinking, and just eating. Breaking these habits takes time, which is why I wouldn't suggest anyone try a vegan diet for less than three weeks, but if adequate substitutes are replaced consistantly, soon your mind will do the work for you. It will retrain itself to make the connections between the trigger and food you allow yourself to eat. Habitual eating, once changed, is easily maintained.

Number Two reason for Foods I'd Never Give Up is cravings. You know the ones... where all you want in the world is that piece of gooey soft cheese. Or a hot chocolate. Or a chunk of red meat.

Give me that chocolate, and no one gets hurt!!

Should we practice extreme self-denial in these situations and block our ears to the evil inner voice whispering of culinary delights....?

Actually, I don't think we should.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

Yeah, nah, I don't.

And this is why.

THE ILL-FOUNDED THEORIES OF ONE PRACTISING VEGAN

This heretical notion is based on the idea that your body will know what it's lacking and try to communicate it to us. It's like Lassie, trying to get us to come help, except, most of the time, we aren't fluent in Dog.

What is it, Lassie?

We pick up the signal that something is wrong, but we go about fixing it incorrectly.

And here's my theory.

If you crave....

Chocolate, candy, exceptionally sweet items...

... your body is really wanting vitamins.

SOLUTION: Want sweets? Cut up red and orange and yellow capsicums. Carrots. Oranges. Tomatoes.

(Add leafy greens to the little salad and you are set).

Eat a good portion size of this and if, once you have finished you still want chocolate, go for it.

 If you are starting as a vegan and allowing yourself some slack, then sure, grab cows' chocolate.

Otherwise another option is soy chocolate. It's not as good as cows' (IMO) but hey, it's sweet.

And that's what you want, right?

Milk products...

... your body is wanting protein.

Nom Noms.

SOLUTION: The best thing you can do, expecially if you crave this at similiar times each day, is to include a little more protein in the meal before (it'll keep you fuller for longer).

Quick sources of protein are nuts and seeds, but lentils also don't take too long to cook, and up the portion size for beans and chickpeas in your next prepared meal.

Also, soy milk. Almond milk. Oat milk. Rice milk. Hazelnut milk.

(Cue: Meet The Parents - "Oh, you can milk just about anything with nipples"

.. only, cross out the nipples bit and replace it with any plant-based product)

Red meat...

... your body is craving iron.

SOLUTION:.... eat more leafy greens? *cowers*

Okay, don't hate me for saying it again, but leafy greens are pretty much the winners in life.

The darker the leaf, the more iron.

Also, get in the habit of throwing added extras into your food:

Sun-dried tomatoes.

Pepitas!!

Sesame seeds!!

Sunflower seeds.

Dried Apricots.

Make sure to eat these while eating some vitamin C at the same time and this will help your body absorb to maximum effect (Orange Juice, capsiums, dark leafy greens)

Also, even though it's vegan, if you crave...

Corn chips, hot chips...

... your body needs carbohydrates!

SOLUTION: Get the good stuff into you.

Up on the whole grain everything, down on the refined bleached groups.

I am of the opinion that carbs are great and incredibly essential to a healthy lifestyle,

so cutting out carbs altogether will start up the cravings for the bad stuff.

And, I don't know about you, but I don't think I have enough self-control to walk past a fish and chip shop

when I'm starving for hot chips.

So there it is. If anyone would have trouble giving up cows' chocolate, it would be me. And, for awhile it was.

But it gets easier. I started listening to my body more, adjusting my vegan diet to experiment with satisfying my cravings, and that's what I got.

So, do yourself a favour -

listen to your body

 and fill up on the good stuff.

You Can Misquote Me On That...

Misquote of the week:

"Let he who is without nutrient deficiency throw the first stone fruit."

.

Beans, Beans, They're Good For Your Heart...

Yesterday I cooked up a big bean mix.
BEANS?!

*shudder*

Possibly my least favourite texture in the world - aside from some slimey Okra I once ate during my time in Africa - beans were extremely low on my shopping list during my pre-vegan times.
But, they are protein and WHAT great protein they give!

(Kidney beans offer ~ 13g of protein/ 1 cup... I need 27-49g a day)

So, like the glass slipper left on a staircase, one good recipe can change your life. Or, at least, your attitude towards beans.

In an effort to avoid pre-mixed anything, I grabbed a bunch of spices from the shops and jumped into the world of legume cuisine feet first.

Garlic & Onion

Cumin - ("don't leave yet, I'm cumin!"... hahaha best food joke ever)

Paprika
Ground Coriander
Fry them up, add beans, tomato paste and chopped tomatoes.
If you add mushrooms, they'll absorb the flavour overnight and will be pretty amazing for that dish the next day.
Then add.... kidney beans! Yuck. But they aren't so bad. I get pretty lazy and buy them in a tin these days, although one day I'll get my act together and plan what I'm going to eat more then 6 seconds before I start...
Add borlotti beans for a runnier stew-like consistancy, or refried beans for a thicker paste. I think I like the texture of refried beans even less than kidney beans.
Add chilli flakes for hotness, and any patriotic Australians ought to add vegemite.

(actually, as a flavouring to meat sauces, vegemite is ridiculously effective. It replaces all salt and adds a depth of colour and flavour to the mix, creating an added cheesiness. I don't eat cheese, you know, cos of the whole vegan thing, so it's a life saver. Weird, but true.)

Okay, so suddenly beans are not the arch-enemy I once thought. Chuck it on tacos/enchiladas/wraps instead of minced meat... or thin it up the make the world's most delicious "chilli" - (that is, what Americans call a tomatoy meaty spicy saucy dip-like concoction. Not entirely sure of the Australian equivalent name. If you know, tell me!).

Serve with avocado and corn chips. De-light!

(P.S. dried herbs are amazing for everything so don't be afraid to add heaps.)

Boring details:

2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, diced
3 teaspoons Cumin
2 teaspoons Coriander ground
2 teaspoons Paprika
100g tomato paste
2 tomatoes, diced
4 button mushrooms, chopped
800g (combined) kidney beans, borlotti beans, 4 bean mix, refried beans...
2 tablespoons vegemite
1 teaspoon chilli paste (to taste... you can always add more, but never less!)

It's entirely possibly they this recipe will invoke farting.

Apologies to all the friends who sit close by and have to endure the smell.