perfect borscht

Borscht. That gleaming red blood soup. Blood building soup. I lost a lot of blood this year through a couple of different surgeries and needed to rebuild my blood. I have not stopped eating borscht. It is so incredible.

I studied Chinese medicine and Shiatsu last year, full time, and it solidified a lot of other teaching I had sought through out my life. So I went back to healing myself with food, lots of Spleen supporting foods like soup. There will be so so many soup recipes coming.

I experimented with quite a few borscht recipes but this is the best one, trimmed down to the essentials so I could make it quickly. Serve with some tofu sour cream. I also threw in some gnocchi to really bulk this up but when I have time I also make pierogies (recipe coming soon).

adapted from this recipe

ingredients
3 medium beets, peeled
3 tbsp of nuttelex
1 small onion, diced
1 small carrot, diced
1 small leek, sliced
1/2 bay leaf
1.5 litres of vegie stock
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into a small dice
1/2 cabbage shredded (I used homemade sauerkraut when I didn't have fresh)
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sugar
a couple of grinds of pepper

method
1. Dice beets into 1cm cube bites. Melt the Nuttelex in a large pot and soften the onions over a medium heat.

2. Once onions have softened add the carrot, leek, beets and bay leaf and stir well to coat with the marg. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add a little stock if the bottom gets too dry and the vegies start to stick.

3. Add the stock and potatoes and simmer for 15 minutes then add the cabbage and garlic. Cook for a further 10 minutes,

4. Add the vinegar, sugar, pepper and a pinch of salt to taste. Serve with sour cream and fresh dill.

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.

golden fruit cake

OMFG. Vegan. Gluten free. Full of rum, sugar and dried fruit. This is ridiculously easy and makes your house smell like a heavenly pixie land inhabited by unicorns for days.

Recipe tweaked from Nigella

ingredients 
350 gm dried pear 
250 gm sultanas 
250 gm dried apricot 
175 gm marg
200 gm caster sugar 
125 ml white rum 
200 gm ginger marmalade
225 gm almond meal
35 gm mixture sunflower & pumpkin seeds
¼ tsp ground coriander 
3 tbsp chia seeds (black or white)
9 tbsp of water
blanched almonds to decorate the top

method
1. Preheat your oven to 150 degrees celcius

2. Save yourself the hassle and roughly chop the pear and apricots in a food processor. You may have to work in batches because there is a TONNE of dried fruit.

3. Melt the marg, sugar, rum and marmalade to make the elixir of craziness. Then add the apricots, pear and sultanas and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes. Leave for 30 minutes to cool.

4. While the fruit mixture is cooling prepare your cake tin (20cms deep please - I also used a 9inch pan) and the chia seeds "eggs". Bash up the chia seeds in a mortar and pestle. As the cake is dense and you wont see the seeds I wouldn't worry about grinding them. Add the water and combine well. Let sit until ready. They will go all glugy like egg white - that's normal!

5. Mix the almond meal, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and ground coriander into the fruit mixutre until well combined. Smooth out into your cake tin and decorate with blanched almonds if that's your thing.

6. Bake for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Let sit until quite cool before trying to remove from cake pan.

7. Impress EVERYONE with this amazing gluten free, vegan Christmas cake.

Enjoy beauties.

jumbo chilli dip

This is my first Nigella recipe! I've always loved her presence but have never watched her tv show until recently (I just assumed that I wouldn't be able to handle the meat imagery). The shows I've seen haven't been too full on - she always cooks one dessert and vegetarian offering so I can get around it.

This is EASY AS. Though I did find it's missing something, it's missing a bit of weight. I think next time I make it I'm going to add half a cup of pine nuts. It's really lovely and refreshing on a hot day.

I'm making tacos this week and think this will be a perfect hot sauce for them. I'm also thinking a little dark rum wouldn't go astray and you could use it as a marinade.

recipe from Nigella - Kitchen (Devilishly Good episode) can't find recipe published on web

ingredients
1 500gm jar of roasted capsicum (drained and rinsed)
3 birds eye chillis
1 lime (juice and zest)
2 garlic cloves
3/4 bunch of coriander (including stalks)
big pinch of salt
90 mls of neutral oil

method
1. WHIZZ!

spinach and tofu ricotta cannelloni

In the absolutely insanity that is Spring in Melbourne I find my food cravings oscillating wildly. One day its frozen mochi and coconut water in 32 degree heat the next its comfort food craving in the blustering 8 degree freezing overcast misery.


Lately I've found myself contemplating the foods I've grown up on, which I've avoided for many years until now. A combination of they always made me feel ill and I don't do things by halves (it takes at least 6 hours for me to make my lasagne). But nostalgia won out and I really feel like I perfected the "ricotta" filling in this.

This dish is so light and tasty I actually think it's better than the real deal. Doing it gluten free really makes all the difference. Let me know what you think.

ingredients
1 bottle of passata (690 gm)
1 tin of diced tomatoes (400gm)
10 large basil leaves
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp of salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 box of cannelloni shells (200gm*)
1 packet of silken japanese tofu (250gm*)
170gm firm tofu*
1 tbsp white miso paste
4 large silverbeet leaves, washed and chopped roughly
1/2 block of cheezly, grated

method
1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius.

2. Gently slice open the silken tofu box and run some water into the sides to flush out the tofu water. Blend in a food processor until completely smooth. Add the miso until completely combined then add the silverbeet and firm tofu and pulse a few times. You want that creamy but also crumbly texture from the firm tofu and the silverbeet still a little chunky.

3. Before you start filling the cannelloni shells you want your sauce simmering down. Slice or crushed the 4 garlic cloves and fry in the olive oil on medium heat until they start to turn colour. Add the passata, diced tomatoes and salt, getting the remaining tomato flavour from the jar and can with some water. Leave on a medium heat to bring to the boil then turn heat down low for the sauce to simmer.

4. While the sauce is simmering fill your shells. I used a piping bag with a large tip and it made the process very easy. You could also just use a teaspoon or a knife depending on the size of your shells (mine were super small). You sauce should be done by then, do check on it every 5 minutes or so to check that it's not getting too thick.

5. Finish the sauce by snipping the basil in and stirring (I use scissors in the kitchen on most things green and leafy). Lay half the sauce in your baking pan, arrange cannelloni's on top then add the remaining sauce. Sprinkle with cheezly.

6. Bake at 200 for 30-35 minutes. If the top starts going too brown turn the heat down to 180 and let it cook longer. Stick in a knife to test the cannelloni shells.

notes: I used San Remo gluten free cannelloni shells and they were awesome. I love Cheezly mozz but the word around town is if you want that super creamy mozz combine Cheezly Mozz with Cheezly Sour Cream and Chives (I tried this on a pizza once IT WAS CRAZY).

* I'm trying to get better at measurements for you guys. But basically the cannelloni shells was one standard box of gluten free shells from San Remo. The Japanese silken tofu was a standard water packed Blue Lotus box and and the firm tofu was approximately a third of a 500gm pack of Pureland Firm tofu.

broccoli slaw

I've been eating raw broccoli obsessively lately, I can't get enough of it. So when Deb mentioned this slaw recently on her blog I leapt at the chance. The buttermilk dressing is a variation of what I created for the Ottolenghi eggplant recipe; it's tangy, creamy and marries perfectly with the sweetness of the cranberries. I use Kingland cream cheese as its much much better for you than Toffuti. This recipe is straight veganised from Smitten Kitchen.

ingredients
2 heads of broccoli, roughly chopped
1/2 cup raw almonds, roughly chopped
1/3 cup dried cranberries, (you guessed it) roughly chopped
1/2 small red onion, (to mix it up) finely chopped

buttermilk dressing
1/2 cup soy cream cheese, room temperature
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1-2 tablespoons rice milk

method
1. Make buttermilk dressing by whisking together the cream cheese and vinegars.  Whisk in the first tablespoon of milk and taste to see (depending on what kind of milk you use you may only need 1 tablespoon). Dressing should be tangy and creamy. Whisk in another tablespoon of milk if need be or a little bit more apple cider vinegar. This dressing needs a bit of playing around with. Thin out with a little water if you need to.

2. Drizzle the dressing in the big salad bowl full of deliciousness. Toss to dress. This keeps for quite a few days.

daifuku mochi

I'm obsessed with mochi. No really. Not overly sweet it comes in an amazing array of flavours and is gluten free, vegan perfection. I've had a bag of glutinous rice flour sitting in my cupboard for a YEAR and finally got around to it on the weekend. James and Matt finally pushed me over the edge a few months ago with their extensive post, I'm also clearing out all the ingredients I've been hoarding (I'm a serious hoarder) it was time, mochi time.

I'll be straight up and say I don't have a microwave which has always put me off but thanks to Chocolate and Zucchinis post with instructions for a steamer AND a rice cooker I was able to give it a go (there is talk elsewhere on the interwebs that mixing the dough with boiling water might be sufficient).

Ok so what I would do differently next time. Firstly I "scraped down the sides" of the rice cooker a little bit too much, I wouldn't touch it at all next time, it made the dough go a bit lumpy as you can see. Secondly I would take James and Matts advice and have a shaped, hard filling to wrap the mochi around. I had wet red bean paste and it was really difficult keeping it in. Other than that this was ridiculously easy. I doubled the recipe because I wanted a mountain of mochi.

ingredients from Chocolate and Zucchini - watch the video embedded in the post too

filling for your mochi, I used red bean paste - this you will have to experiment with (recipe says 240gms)
200 gms glutinous rice flour
1/2 cup of sugar
1 1/3 cup of water
potato starch or corn starch for dusting (A LOT)

method (for a rice cooker)
1. Put the flour, sugar and water in your rice cooker and stir to combine. Cook for about 10 minutes, mixture should be thick and slightly translucent.

2. On a baking sheet lay down a thick dusting of starch. When the dough is cooked pour it onto the starch , sprinkle with a load of starch and (with floured hands) pat out the dough to about 2cm thick (shit is STICKY and HOT so be careful).

3. Slice up as best you can into a grid making 6-9 squares (I dipped a chefs knife in potato starch each slice). Work quickly because the dough is easiest when hot, dust off the starch on the filling side, put your filling in the middle and bring up the sides squeezing them together. You can then roll them around in your palm a bit to get a more uniform look.

4. Once all the mochi is made leave to cool down for about an hour. Put all the potato starch into a container for your next batch and then store the mochis at room temp in an airtight container. NOM.

gluten free banana bread

This is hands down the best gluten free banana bread you will bake. Stays moist and fresh even the next day. Throw in a handful of chocolate chips if you want a sweeter treat for breakfast.

ingredients
2 cups of gluten free flour*
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup of vegetable oil*
2/3 cup of maple syrup*
2/3 cup of rice milk
1 tsp of vanilla extract
2 frozen bananas, defrosted in their skins
1 cup of walnuts, roughly chopped

method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Lightly grease a standard loaf pan or a small cake pan.

2. Toast the walnuts on a baking tray in the oven until they just start to brown, cool them while you make the batter.

3. In a medium sized bowl mix together all the dry ingredients (minus the walnuts).

4. In another medium sized bowl mix together all of the wet ingredients. Chop off the tops of the defrosted bananas and squeeze them out of their skins into the wet ingredients like toothpaste out of a tube. Weird huh! Mix the bananas into the wet ingredients then add to the dry ingredients until well combined. Gently fold the walnuts into the cake batter.

5. Pour the batter into your loaf pan till just above half way. Bake for 45 minutes. A cake is cooked when you lightly poke it, it springs back and a skewer or a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. If you cake is browning on the top too much but not cooked in the middle lower the heat a little and place a piece of baking paper on top of the cake.

notes: I find Orgran wheat free products to be the best. I use olive oil in mainly everything, if you find the taste too overpowering use canola oil or a blended vegetable oil. If you cant afford to use pure maple syrup in baking all the time use maple flavoured syrup or the equivalent sweetener of your choice, try and keep it liquid though.

smores

This is the laziest recipe I will ever post. Who can be bothered making their own biscuits? I'm sure I can at some point but until then enjoy some smores!

ingredients
1 x packet digestives
1 x packet dandies marshmallows
1 x block of vegan dark chocolate

method
1. Turn on grill to high. Put two pieces of chocolate on one digestive and a tbsp of marshmallows on another digestive. Grill and then smoosh together.

AMAZING.

notes: bonus points for roasting the marshmallows over a fire.

you can buy dandies from the green edge or angel foods marshmallow mix from the vegan store

oreo and peanut butter brownie cake

I don't bake much. I don't consider myself to be a great baker but honestly I'm banned from baking because I get too fat. Except for special occasions like bake sales or birthdays I get to get my BAKE ON. I saw this post on craft zine a wee while ago and became obsessed with recreating it. Their cross section and photo is much prettier than mine, but then mine was a birthday cake AND a whole cake. This was crappy to cut into but amazing to eat! So quick and easy to assemble too, I made this and my prize winning banoffee pie all in an hour. BOOM.

ingredients
2 packets of oreos
3 tbsp of peanut butter (or to your gluttony)
1 packet of Melinda's Heavenly Chocolate Brownie Mix
1/2 block of Lindt dark chocolate (or to your gluttony)
3/4 cup of soy milk


method
1. Smear peanut butter on top of Oreos like you're putting it on a sandwich. Line a standard cake pan with smeared Oreos then create another layer.

2. Follow instructions on packet to make brownie batter and pour over the top. Bake to instructions.

3. Either in the microwave or in a bowl over hot water, melt chocolate. Then whisk in the milk a little bit at a time. The ganache goes really thick, this is normal. Just keep adding milk until it gets to the consistency you like. Pour over the cake. VOILA!!!

you can buy Melinda's Brownie Mix from the Green Edge