kimchi buffalo cauliflower with simple slaw

Wow well December 18, 2012 was the last time I posted a recipe on this blog. How time flies. It's close to 3 years later - how ya been?

Things are well with me. Crazy as ever. I've been cooking up a storm the past year and experimenting with lots of different things. Mainly making everything from scratch. Stock, pasta, sauces, preserves - I've been getting my inner Mormon on. It's been wonderful to get back to basics and has improved our health to no end.

We get a box from Ceres each week and I love the ways you have to experiment with using things up. We went through a time when we were getting a lot of cauliflower so here we are.

I tinkered with this original recipe but felt using 2/3 of a cup of hot sauce was such a waste of resources and an expensive ingredient. The amount of kimchi, blended, isn't an exact science but neither is a 'medium head' of cauliflower. Use your judgement if the sauce looks took thin - up it, too much - save some for a dipping sauce.

I should say this didn't go too 'crispy' for me. It was more like sauce covered wings. Still delicious though.

kimchi buffalo cauliflower
1 medium head cauliflower, chopped into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup of chickpea flower
1/2 cup of water
1 tsp of garlic powder
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 cup of hot sauce
3/4 cup of vegan kimchi

method
1. Preheat oven to 230 degrees celcius

2. Mix chickpea flour and water to create a batter.  Toss cauliflower in batter, get a good coating on it.

3. Bake cauliflower bites in the oven on a non stick pan - tossing half way through to roast evenly. Repeat battering and roasting process if you would like an even fluffier batter.

4. Toss roasted cauliflower in the hot sauce mix. Bake on baking sheet for 25 minutes. Serve with celery sticks and veganaise.


simple slaw
1 half head of cabbage, shredded (you can use a mixture of cabbages)
2 carrots, shredded
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
pinch salt

method
1. Toss ingredients together. Use additional seasoning to taste.

mac n cheese

Ahh mac n cheese, the much fetishised vegan dish - there's even a whole blog dedicated to it. It's more of an American thing than an Australian thing, I do remember having a few KDs (Kraft Dinners as they're known) as a kid but it was by no means part of our regular meals. Sometimes you just want some comfort food, something creamy, something cheesy, something so full of carbs you feel like you're being hugged by God. This is the best BEST and most perfect mac recipe I've made, I'm not going to experiment anymore. I DIE.

ingredients
1/2 cup of raw alfredo sauce
1 1/2 cup of short noodle pasta, cooked and drained (should yield 2-3 cups cooked)
handful of frozen peas, beans, spinach, broadbeans - some kind of green so we can pretend its not completely devoid of nutritional value
1/2 cup of grated cheezly mozz
healthy lashing of salt and pepper

method
1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees

2. Toss the cooked noodles in the alfredo sauce then add the token greens. Combine and put into a casserole dish sprinkling the cheezly on top.

3. Bake until golden brown, start checking on it at the 20 minute mark.

dr tempehcon - or I how I stopped wretching and learned to love the tempeh

Ahhh "tempeh-con". I have to admit I've abhorred tempeh until now. The only time I'd eaten tempeh and liked it was at Real Food Daily in their burger. It's a texture thing, it's a taste thing, it's an all over tempeh you are seriously gross thing. But something came over me. I just became obsessed with recreating the tempeh bacon from Real Food Daily and although I couldn't be bothered making my own stove stop smoker or finding maple crystals I thought DAMN IT I can find a recipe that works. From there an addiction was born. Rummaging around the web the general consensus was maple syrup, soy sauce, liquid smoke. The cooking methods varied but the main method was slice thinly and pan fry. I then found this wonderful amazing woman Colleen Patrick Goudreau and tried the recipe in this video:



What I took away from this stuck, STEAM THE TEMPEH, it makes it completely amazing and like a sponge even eager to soak up the marinade. I can (and have) eaten a whole packet at once. It's seriously good, a little lengthy to get it crispy but OH so worth it.

ingredients
1 packet of tempeh, pat dry and slice thinly (bearing in mind it plumps up when steamed)
1/4 cup of soy sauce/tamari
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1 tbsp of liquid smoke

method
1. Steam the tempeh slices for 8-10 minutes in vegie steamer. The tempeh will go a whiteish colour.

2. Mix up the marinade and soack the tempeh strips (I usually just line them up like before they were sliced and wedge them into a lunchbox) over night if possible.

3. Line up the tempeh strips on a wire rack and drain the marinade off then line the little soldiers up on a baking sheet and grill the shit out of them at 200 degrees (or high). I do 10 minutes each side, twice. That gets them real crispy, so good you feel like you're going to die.

4. Slather some toast with mustard and avocado and you have yourself a breakfast of champions.

notes: my grill is crap, keep an eye on the tempeh, most people need half the time

corn fritters

There is just something about putting something in batter and frying it on a griddle. As you're all aware I've been travelling TONNES this year, there's something about turning 30 that makes you break your back in trying to get quite a few things ticked off before you turn 31. So most of my cooking lately has been about using up whatever food is in my fridge, what I can freeze etc, wasting food is the worst thing in the WHOLE WORLD to me. So these were knocked up quickly but what a deeeeelight. Enjoy.

Makes 1-2 servings

Ingredients

1 tbsp of besan (chickpea flour)
1 tbsp of flour
4 tbsp of water
2 large fresh corn cobs with the kernels cut off
a grind of fresh salt and pepper

1. Mix the flour and water until the batter is smooth and of a pancake consistency (you might have to add some more water). Add the corn kernals and combine well.

2. Heat a heavy bottom fry pan on high (or just regular pan but on a medium heat) and wait until the pan is quite hot (a few drops of water should sizzle when dripped onto the surface). Carefully ladle in mixture to form a couple of fritters. Only flip when completely cooked and browned on the first side (like a pancake, the mixture on the top is almost completely cooked before you flip it over).

3. Smear with vegan mayo and relish of some kind (I used green tomato relish - mm yum!)

Notes: You can you plain flour instead of chickpea, you may just need less water. I used white flour but whole wheat would be nice too. You can you plain flour instead of chickpea, you may just need less water. I used white flour but whole wheat would be nice too.

zucchini fritters

I just winged this recipe, a combination of a couple from Veganomicon. The mixture was almost like pancake batter which I then pretty much cooked just like a pancake. They were super yummy!

ingredients
2 zucchinis - grated
1/4 cup of chutney
1 tsp of tomato paste
1/2 cup of flour
1 small onion diced
1 clove of garlic - minced
salt
pepper

method
1. Combine. Heat a pan with a thin layer of oil on medium heat. Scoop with a ladle into pan and thin out the surface of fritter so it resembles a thick pancake. Flip when brown.

note: I served with Nanna Pats tomato relish and rocket pesto. This would rock with some grated Cheezly in it as well, you could also add some corn!

home fries

I hosted my first brunch on Sunday and it was a feast. The timing was a little stressful (keeping 4 dishes warm, I had prepared 2 the night before but had to make two in the morning) but it all ended up spectacularly well. This was the all out super fattening dish, we all need greasy potatoes on a Sunday morning.

Recipe straight from "In the Garden of Vegan"

ingredients
2 potatoes, roughly cubed
1, onion, roughly chopped
1 tbsp of olive oil (I ended up using way more)
2 tsp of all purpose seasoning (recipe to follow)
1/4 tsp of pepper (I used more)
1/4 tsp of salt (I think I used about 3!)
some fresh parsley, chopped
1 hot chilli, sliced

all purpose seasoning
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp of onion powder
2 tsp of cumin
2 tsp of garlic powder
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne

method
1. In a large non-stick frying pan on medium heat, saute the potatoes and onion in oil for about 8-10 minutes (mine needed way longer) until potatoes can be pierced easily with a fork. Stir in the remaining ingredients and saute for an additional 2 minutes.

notes: I also added 3 cloves of sliced garlic with the onions, but I'm crazy like that. If I had them on hand I would have mashed roasted garlic cloves into it.

mushrooms on toast

Drunk. I caught the last 55 tram home to Union Square silently chanting for hot chips. Boo! No! Chastising myself I thought, I'm an industrious young lass, surely I can knock something greasy up, myself when I get home. Yes, bring on mushrooms on toast.

ingredients
olive oil
2x large mushys
2x cloves of garlijavascript:void(0)c thinly sliced
handful of sundried tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
tsp of dried thyme or fresh
fresh or dried chilli to taste
salt/pepper
handful of greens like spinach or rocket(arugula)

method
1. Fry up! I served on sourdough with a drizzle of olive oil and salt. I inhaled it so quickly I almost choked to death. Total. Win.