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!

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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.