Carrot Curry Puffs

The Vegan MoFo Iron Chef Challenge # 3 - Carrots & Oats!  What a great idea.  I just had to wrap my creation in puff pastry because I am pretty sure that just about anything can be improved by wrapping it in puff pastry.  I am just such a classy girl like that  :)

Ingredients
2 cups cooked, mashed carrot and pumpkin
(I used 2 large carrots and a chunk of pumpkin which came to a total of 500gm of raw veggies)
300mg silken tofu, also mashed
1 tablespoon oil (I used peanut oil)
1 medium sized onion chopped very finely
1 small garlic clove crushed
1/2 teaspoon finely grated ginger
1 teaspoon curry powder (more or less depending on your taste buds)

3 sheets of puff pastry
A little soy milk or oil to brush the tops with
Poppy seeds to decorate

Method
1. Prepare mashed carrot and pumpkin (if you haven't already)
2. Preheat oven to hot (220oC).  Line a tray with baking paper.
3. Lay the 3 sheets of puff pastry out to soften.
4. Saute the onion and garlic in the oil until translucent.
5. Add the ginger and curry powder and fry for a couple of minutes.
6. Combine the mashed veggies, tofu and onion mixture.
7. Cut the puff pastry sheets into halves.  You will now have 6 rectangles.
8. Make a "log" of the mixture along each rectangle.
9. Roll the pastry over the log.  Carefully cut into desired size.  I like party sized rolls so I cut each log into 5 pieces yielding 30 rolls in total.  (At this point you can store some rolls in the freezer for later.  Make sure you separate the rolls - the plastic sheets that come in the packet to separate each sheet of puff pastry work really well.)
10. Place on the tray with the "join" underneath.  Brush with a little soy milk or oil.  Sprinkle a few poppy seeds on top.
11.  Bake for about 25 minutes - until the pastry is golden and the yummy aroma seeps out of the oven.

A selection of Vegan Puffs.  Yummy!

Well, I now have 3 recipes for vegan puffs, or rolls, or savouries, or whatever you want to call them.   But you will have to come back another day for the other recipes.  They keep really well in the freezer.  Just defrost for 15+ minutes (while the oven preheats).  If I am serving more than one kind at once I make sure I decorate the rolls with different seeds so that people know which one to reach for when they come back for seconds.  And they will come back for seconds.  Serve with dipping bowls of tomato sauce (for true Aussie flavour), chilli sauce, and any other personal favorite sauce.

Bounty Slice

The key ingredient for the 3rd Vegan MoFo Iron Chef challenge is coconut.  Mmm, coconut.  I love coconut.  I adore coconut - in curries, in chocolate, and in desserts of all descriptions.

But what to make for the challenge?  Maybe a slice?  Dear husband asked if the filling would be like a Bounty.  Perfect!  Just the inspiration I needed.  Thank you dear husband.

Here is what I came up with:

I am very happy with the result.  It is very, very rich.  It is really a no-bake confectionery, rather than a slice. So if you make it please cut it into small squares.  You have been warned!  I cut mine into 48 squares.  Dear husband and I have eaten a few each and now we can't even contemplate dinner.

If I make this again I think I will keep the coconut layer thinner, but keep the proportions of the ingredients the same as it was just delicious.  Who am I kidding?  "If"!  I will definitely be making this again.  Hmmm, better yet, maybe next time I will make just as much filling, double the base and chocolate, and make it in a bigger tray!  Then there will even be enough to share.

Ingredients
250gm biscuits (cookies)
125gm margarine, melted

1 can coconut cream
60gm margarine
½ cup castor sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
2½ cup dessicated coconut

125gm chocolate
½ vegetable oil eg canola oil - NOT olive oil

Method
1. Line a slice tray
2. Crush the biscuits.  Mix in the melted margarine.  Press into tray.
3. In a saucepan combine the coconut cream, margarine, castor sugar and vanilla essence.  Heat until well combined and then simmer for 5 minutes over a low heat, stirring frequently.
4. Stir in the coconut then spread over the biscuit base.
5. Refrigerate until set (I popped mine in the freezer for 30 minutes and then the fridge for an hour).
6. Melt the chocolate and oil together.  Spread over the slice.  Refrigerate for ~ 15 minutes until just set then cut into squares.  (Don't let the chocolate get too hard before you try to cut it.)  Refrigerate for a further 30 minutes before serving.
 

For the base I used McVities Hobnobs.  They were perfect.  What a great vegan find.  But what a shame that it is a 400gm packet and I only needed 250gm for the base.  Dear husband and I had to eat a few with a glass of creamy soy milk while we waited for the slice to set.  No wonder we are too full for dinner!

Banoffee Coffee Squares

Has it really been a whole week since the last Vegan MoFo Iron Chef challenge?  Apparently it has.

I had a few bananas sitting on my kitchen bench that were just passed that pleasant eating stage but not yet at banana bread stage.  So when I found out that the 2 ingredients for the Vegan MoFo Iron Chef Challenge #2 were bananas and coffee I knew that I just had to give it a try.

My offering:  Banoffee Coffee Squares!

Ingredients
⅓ cup coffee (how strong you make it is up to you)
60gm Vegan margarine
1 cup dates (100gm)
½ cup Brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3 ripe bananas, mashed (200gm, 3/4 cup)

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup castor sugar
125gm Vegan margarine

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Line a shallow baking tray.  (Mine was 17cm x27cm - weird numbers!)
3. Reserve 2 tablespoons of coffee and set aside.  Combine the rest of the coffee in a pot with the 60gm margarine, dates, brown sugar and vanilla essence.  Heat until the margarine is melted. Reduce the heat and simmer for ~ 8 minutes until the dates are all squishy.  Set aside.
4. Mix the flour, baking powder and castor sugar together.  Add the margarine and cut in or rub with finger tips.  Add the 2 tablespoons of coffee and cut in with a knife.  Kneed together briefly to combine.
5. Take ¾ of the dough and press into the baking tray.
6. Mix the mashed bananas into the date mixture.
7. Spread the date mixture over the base.
8. Take the remaining ¼ of the dough and drop/crumble small piece of it over the date mixture.
9. Bake for ~ 22 minutes.  (I baked mine for 25 minutes and I think the base was just a few minutes overdone.

These are perfect with a cup of coffee (or tea in my case).

Iron Chef Challenge: Chickpea, Ginger and Peanut Curry

Here is my response to the Vegan MoFo Iron Chef Challenge #1.  The challenge was to come up with an original recipe using chick peas.

Before I present my offering - a disclaimer.  I had been planning to make Ginger Peanut Soup for dinner tonight.  It is a fabulous recipe that a friend gave me recently (thanks Sarah!) and we love it.  Not wanting to miss out on the Iron Chef fun I decided to mod the recipe, including of course, adding the all important chick peas.

So my recipe is not really one that I have created from scratch.  I did adjust the amounts of some of the ingredients and I added potatoes, coriander, a little lemon, coconut milk and of course chickpeas.  Will this be acceptable for the challenge or am I disqualified?

Challenge aside, the result was a delicious, creamy, satisfying, multicultural, soupy curry.  We had it on its own, however you could serve it with rice, naan or even couscous if you wanted to. 

Ingredients
3 tablespoons oil (I used peanut oil)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
2 potatoes, diced
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cups cauliflower, divided into small florets
2 cups broccoli, divided into small florets
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can chickpeas
2 cups vegetable stock
⅓ cup natural peanut butter
1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
½ cup coconut milk
Squeeze of lemon juice (about 1 teaspoon)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method
1. Saute the onion, garlic, ginger, potatoes and cayenne pepper in the oil for ~ 10 minutes.
2. Add the cauilflower, broccoli, tomatoes, chickpeas, stock, peanut butter and coriander.  Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally
3. Add the coconut milk and lemon juice.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with a drizzle of coconut milk.

Vegan Solidarity

I am enjoying checking out lots of vegan blogs that are taking part in Vegan MoFo.  I open the blogroll on veganmofo.com and then randomly click on a bunch of blogs with interesting sounding names.  I have come across all sorts of interesting people and yummy recipes.

In day to day life it is easy to feel like an odd ball for your diet choices.  So it is really nice to be reminded that you are not alone.  There are so many vegans out there.  From many walks of life and with many different motivations for choosing a vegan diet and lifestyle.  It is very encouraging to a vegan apprentice to encounter all these wonderful vegans and, of course, their mouth watering recipes.

I am also very grateful to have lovely friends who are vegetarian and are very vegan friendly.  And who have shown an interest in my apprenticeship, loaned me vegan cookbooks and encouraged me in blogging about it.  Thanks!

Glitters123.com

That's me on the swing.  See how happy I am?

And I am also very grateful for dear husband.  He lead the way to vegetarianism many years ago.  And now he is being so supportive of my vegan apprenticeship.  He has applauded all my efforts and encouraged me to stick with it and keep blogging.  And he helps me with technical computer stuff when I get stuck.

Glitters123.com 

Yes that's me too, in my rainbow outfit.  So photogenic.

Sure I get some good natured teasing at family get-togethers (that is what brothers are for isn't it?).  But overall family, friends and work colleagues have shown only the occasional eyebrow raise and have for the most part been supportive.  In return I am trying not to be a militant vegan and respect others food choices.  But that doesn't mean I can't make yummy things to share to show that being vegan is not all about eating rabbit food!

No that's not me.  It is a winking lego head.

Vegan Envy

Moving further along the food spectrum towards Veganism has been a pretty smooth ride.  With all sorts of vegan "milks" in the supermarket and quite a few vegan convenience foods available it has been roughly 10 times easier than I thought it would be!

A friend sent me this link to a recipe for Pumpkin Muffins on the PETA website.  They look and sound scrummy, but as I scanned the list of ingredients I found it included vegan cream cheese. 

Well vegan cream cheese may be lining the streets in New York and San Fransisco, but good luck finding it within a 10km radius of my home!  Now I know that I can make these muffins and improvise on the topping and they will still be delicious.  But it is times like this that I feel a little vegan envy.

I know I should be grateful for the stacks of vegan convenience foods that are available in most shops now.  In fact, really I should just be more than grateful for 3 square meals a day.  But sometimes, like when I see a recipe for Vegan 4 cheeses pizza, I feel a little envious of the big city vegans who have such a great range of vegan products available and many more options to eat out.

At times like these I remind myself to focus on the yummy food I can eat rather than feeling envious of the animal-ridden food that I am trying to avoid.  Rather than thinking "boo hoo, no pizza or cream cakes today",  I try to think "hooray, cherry ripe cookies and vegan sausage rolls."

I admit it doesn't always work, and I still occasionally buy something from the evil, tempting, corrupting bakery down the street.  (Note to self: do NOT go past the bakery when you are pre-menstrual!)  But most of the time it does work and I very content with my (mostly) vegan diet.

I do feel very glad that I am veganizing at a time when so many vegan options are available.  It must have been much harder work, and so much more restrictive, for people taking this journey 20 years ago.  Now I don't even have to miss out on chocolate biscuits!

And of course it is going to get even easier.  As more people make the move towards a vegan diet there will be more demand for vegan products including vegan choices in restaurants, and even, gasp, more vegan restaurants!

This rambling post has reminded me that I haven't shared my recipes for vegan sausage rolls yet.  RecipeS is correct because I have more than one version already, and I have a few more variations in mind.  You can hardly go wrong when you wrap just about any tasty filling in puff pastry.