Posts filed under ‘Friday Feast’
Friday Feast: Mango Pico de Gallo
This home-made salsa is based on a mango pico de gallo we used to eat when we lived in Texas. It was my first foray into pico de gallo ever (I know! But I’m Australian and it’s not something we typically eat here.). It was from HEB. Don’t look like that. It was good! Especially with those Tostitos cups or fresh made tortillas. You can’t get fresh made tortillas in Brisbane unless you make them yourself. I miss them. I miss Tostitos cups too.
I eat this pico de gallo piled on Mission corn chips/strips which I heat in the oven. In my pre-vegan days, I’d put cheese on top, but I find that it doesn’t taste that different. The heated corn chips add a really rustic flavour to the bright salsa. I also sometimes eat the salsa as an accompaniment to beans and rice. Or as a dip. Or on a spoon.
Yankee Elv has a weird genetic thing that makes coriander (cilantro) taste like soap, so we substitute parsley for coriander. However, if you don’t have that weird genetic thing, you like coriander and you’d like to be authentic, then that’s what should really be used.
Mango Pico de Gallo
Ingredients:
- 2 mangoes, diced
- 1 red onion, diced
- 5 – 6 tomatoes, with the cores discarded and the outer flesh diced for use
- 2 green chilis, diced finely (include the seeds if you like more heat)
- 1 red chili, diced finely (include the seeds if you like more heat)
- a handful of chopped parsley leaves
- lime juice, to taste
Method:
- Stir all the chopped fruit/veges together in a bowl.
- Add the parsley and lime juice and combine.
THE END! Easiest recipe ever. 
Friday Feast: Pickled Watermelon Rind
It’s almost summer here in Australia, which means it’s time to eat watermelon! I like to use my handy dandy melon baller so I can eat it with a fork. I know, it’s kinda un-Australian to not eat it in great big slices and get it all over your face… but I don’t really like getting sticky. If someone builds me a swimming pool to jump into after eating it, maybe I’ll change my method.
Anyway, I was eating watermelon the other day and after I’d removed all the lovely pink flesh of the melon, I was left with the rind, and I remembered reading about a Southern (as in the South, in the USA) snack – pickled watermelon rind. I don’t mind regular pickles, but I’m not as in love with them as my Polish-American partner, so I wasn’t sure I wanted to eat the pickled rind of quarter of a watermelon… but I figured I might as well give it a try at least once. Everyone raved about them, so why not?
Well, I gotta tell you, pickled watermelon rind is yummy! It’s crunchy and cool and refreshing – a perfect snack for hot weather, and it’s not super sweet. Most cold foods are sweet. This one is vinegary, but a little sweet from the sugar. It’s nice for a change. And I really like the crunch!
I chose the absolutely easiest watermelon pickle recipe I could find. Others call for certain herbs, or soaking the rind overnight – stuff like that. Since I wasn’t even sure I would like them, I was going for minimum effort. I think this actually was a great idea. The simplicity of the flavours is part of what I really like about these pickles. Plus they’re quick and easy, and they use up something I’d normally discard. I just changed the vinegar to apple cider vinegar cos that’s what I had in the cupboard.
So now that I’ve raved… here’s the recipe.
Pickled Watermelon Rind
Ingredients
- Watermelon rind (from a quarter of a big melon)
- 1 very scant cup of water
- 1 very scant up of apple cider vinegar
- 2/3 to 3/4 cup caster sugar
Method:
- Cut the watermelon rind into small chunks, about 1 to 2 inches in size. Make sure you remove the green skin.
- Stir the water, vinegar and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.
- Add the watermelon rind and stir.
- Turn off the stove, but leave the saucepan on the hotplate. Let the rind sit until it reaches room temperature.
- Place rind and as much brine as you can fit in a jar(s) and put them in the fridge.
- Eat them right away or save them for a bit in the fridge. Remember, these haven’t been properly sterilised and sealed, so they’re not shelf-safe. You should eat them within a few weeks at most and keep them in the fridge.
Note: swish your mouth with water after eating, because it’s not good for your teeth to let acidic foods like vinegar sit on the enamel.
Friday Feast: Pumpkin Pie Spice Muffin Tops
These were meant to be cookies. I followed the recipe completely! But they’re way too cakey. They don’t look like the picture in the recipe I veganised. I don’t know what happened… maybe it’s cos I made my own pumpkin puree*? Or could it have been the veganisation? I don’t think it was due to my reduction in white chocolate chips or making my own pumpkin pie spice (you can’t buy it in Australia!).
Anyway, regardless of whether or not they turned out how they were supposed to, they taste good. Just call ‘em muffin tops and eat ‘em all up!
This recipe makes about 36 cookies.
Pumpkin Pie Spice Muffin Tops
Ingredients:
- 2-¼ cups plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsps pumpkin pie spice
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup vegan margarine, softened
- 1 cup white/raw sugar (we used low GI cane sugar, which is similar to raw sugar)
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (I made my own from a grey pumpkin)
- egg replacer for a whole egg (we used Orgran’s No Egg)
- 1 tsp vanilla essence (imitation is fine)
- 1 cup vegan white chocolate chips (or chunks, in our case – we cut up some vegan white chocolate)
- Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
- Cream the margarine and sugars.
- Add the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla to the wet ingredients and combine thoroughly.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
- When all ingredients are combined, stir in the chocolate chips.
- Drop small spoonfuls (slightly heaped teaspoonfuls) of dough on a non-stick cookie sheet, then place in the fridge for 5 to 10 mins before baking.
- Place in the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
- Cool for a couple minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.
Friday Feast: Chewy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
On Halloween night, while Yankee Elv and I were waiting for trick-or-treaters, we decided to make biscuits. I mean, cookies. Since they were American style, they can be cookies just this once.
We made two types: chewy chocolate chip and pumpkin pie spice with white chocolate chips. The latter turned out too cakey. The flavour is great, but the texture is not right. However, if you think of them as something other than cookies (such as muffin tops), then they are super yummy. As for the former – the chocolate chip cookies – well, they’re only the most super awesome vegan cookies I’ve ever tasted.
So, here’s the recipe. We didn’t really change it much; but we did reduce the number of chocolate chips. Admittedly, this was only because we didn’t have enough chocolate chips… We actually changed the method more than the ingredients. Clearly we made smaller cookies, cos we ended up with 48 rather than the 25-30 the recipe said it would make. Also, to get a great texture and shape, Yankee Elv puts the tray full of unbaked cookies in the fridge for 5-10 minutes before placing it in the oven. This really helps for some reason and is not a trick I’ve ever used before. This may be why I’m typically bad at baking cookies. But these ones turned out great (thanks YE).
Chewy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of softened vegan margarine
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white/raw sugar (we used low GI cane sugar, which is kinda like raw sugar)
- 1/4 cup non-dairy milk
- 1 tsp vanilla essence (imitation is fine)
- 2 1/4 cups plain flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 300g vegan chocolate chips (the original recipe called for 12oz)
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- In a large bowl, cream the margarine, sugar and brown sugar.
- Slowly stir in the non-dairy milk.
- Add the vanilla essence.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda.
- Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir well.
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Drop small spoonfuls (slightly heaped teaspoonfuls) onto non-stick cookie sheets and refrigerate each tray for 5 to 10 minutes before placing them in the oven.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly, until you can lift them off the tray with a spatula. Then place them on a cooling rack until they’re cool. Make sure you eat some while they’re warm though!
Friday Feast: Rajmah Gobi Curry
This is a dish I made a few weeks ago with whatever I happened to have in the house. Clearly, I had a lot of cauliflower (gobi). It tastes good with basmati rice, but I also enjoyed this curry as a filling in a wrap.
When I made it, I let it simmer on the stove for about an hour while I was cooking something different for Mr Teeny-bop’s dinner and baking dessert. The long simmering time really made a difference – the curry would have been quite watery otherwise. If you want to make this with less cooking time, I’d reduce the coconut milk and chopped tomatoes – possibly using as little as half as much.
Chickpeas would also go well in this – in fact, that’s what I was originally going to use, but we didn’t have any! Kidney beans (rajmah) tasted great instead.
Rajmah Gobi Curry
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cauliflower
- 1/2 red capsicum
- 1/2 green capsicum
- 1/2 cup peas
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 400mL can coconut milk
- 400g can kidney beans
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tab lemon juice
- black pepper to taste
- 1 tab vegan margarine
- 2 tab curry powder
- oil
Method:
- Heat oil in large pan over medium-high heat and fry onions until slightly brown.
- Reduce heat to medium and add garlic, curry powder and tomatoes. Combine and simmer for 2 minutes.
- Add cauliflower, beans, lemon juice, salt, pepper and half of the coconut milk. Simmer for 6 to 8 minutes.
- Add capsicum, margarine and the other half of the coconut milk. Simmer for as long as you want – up to an hour – until the curry reaches a consistency you like. The chickpeas should be soft and the cauliflower tender.
- At the end, add the peas for just long enough to cook through. (If you leave them in there too long, they’ll get mushy and gross.)
- Serve with rice or flat bread. Yum!
Vegan Fast Food
Vegans and fast food don’t often go together. There are exceptions, like Lord of the Fries in Melbourne, but those kinds of places are far and few between. Takeaway food from regular restaurants is a bit expensive to eat very often.
So usually I make my own fast food.
This is what I had for lunch the other day:
- Roasted sweet potato (I had two in the basket in the pantry starting to get a bit old, so I roasted them up to eat as I pleased)
- Refried beans with jalapenos (thanks Old El Paso!)
- Mexi-beans (thanks again Old El Paso!)
- Mexican style express rice (this time, Uncle Ben’s was my friend)
- Roasted capsicum salsa (I’m taking out shares in Old El Paso).
So these aren’t the most eco-friendly items I’ve ever eaten… two things from cans, one in a plastic packet and one from a jar… but aside from the rice packet, it’s all recyclable and/or reusable, which is more than you can say for the paper/cardboard/plastic/styrofoam packaging you get from places like Macca’s.
It’s also loads healthier.
And it was fast! It took me less than 5 mins to make. Sometimes that’s what you want. Plus, there’s leftovers!!
But best of all, it was tasty. Nommmmm….
Friday Feast: Olive and Butter Bean Spread
The basis for this recipe comes from a cookbook my ex-colleagues got me when I left my previous job. You know you’re leaving friends when they give you a book called Vegan Italiano as a goodbye present. What champs.
We initially made this hoping it would be an acceptable substitute for Yankee Elv’s old favourite, cream cheese and green olive sandwich. It’s not the same (you can’t really mimic cream cheese with beans), but I like it better. The cream cheese used to be quite heavy, whereas this is light and perfect for warm days, especially straight out of the fridge. I’ve kept this in the fridge for a week without it going bad. It might keep longer than that, but I’m not sure as it’s never lasted that long!
This recipe is nearly the same as what’s in the book, but we increased the lemon juice, onion and olives. I’m not a lemon-y kind of person, but the addition of a little extra lemon gives this spread a really fresh flavour. We also usually use kalamata olives (the original recipe calls for green or black olives), but I think we tried green ones once and they were nice too. Plus we mix the onions and olives in – the recipe says they should be used as a garnish. Weird.
I especially like it spread on sourdough or grainy quinoa and flaxseed toast. Yum!
Olive and Butter Bean Spread
Ingredients
- 425g (16oz) can butter beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 tab extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tab lemon juice
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 to 3 tabs diced red onion
- 2 to 3 tabs chopped kalamata olives
- toast, whatever kind you like
Method
- Place the beans, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a food processor and whiz until smooth.
- Mix in the onion and olives. (You can process them if you want, but personally I think the flavour gets a bit lost without the little pieces.)
- Spread on toast and eat it all up!
Friday Feast: Sweet Potato Pinwheels
Did any of you Americans ever get those Everyday with Rachael Ray magazines? They used to have a reader-submitted section called Take 5. You used five ingredients or less to make some yummy dish.
Here’s mine.*
Sweet Potato Pinwheels
Ingredients (all measurements are approximate)
- Small sweet potat0
- 2 tabs non-dairy milk
- 2 tsps vegan margarine
- 2 heaped tabs brown sugar (I used dark brown)
- 1 sheet vegan puff pastry (Borg’s is vegan, as listed on my Accidentally Vegan page)
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Take the pastry sheet out and defrost according to instructions on the packet.
3. While the pastry is defrosting, use a fork to poke holes in the sweet potato and put it on a microwave safe plate. Cook the sweet potato in the microwave for about 6 mins, turning half way through.
4. Scoop the flesh of the sweet potato out into a bowl and mash thoroughly.
5. Add non-dairy milk, margarine and brown sugar. Combine with the sweet potato.
6. Spread the sweet potato mixture evenly over the pastry.
7. Roll the pastry up.
8. Slice the roll into pieces and place onto a greased baking tray.
9. Bake until the pastry is golden brown.
Super tasty and super easy and super quick! Plus it’s vegan. Yum.
*Not really… I never entered one. But I could enter this one if I wanted to!
Friday Feast: Cranberry Pecan Bread Pudding
A few weeks ago, I was looking through the cupboard and fridge thinking about what food I needed to use up. I try to avoid wasting food. If you want to know more about why, have a look on the Wasted Food blog, cos Jonathan Bloom lists a bunch of reasons.
Anyway, I found half a stale baguette, some pecans that were on their last legs (or would have been, if pecans had legs), and some apples. The baguette was like a rock – there was no eating that unless it was significantly softened somehow, which prompted me to think of a bread pudding. However, I was never the biggest fan of the kinds of bread puddings I had as a kid. They were made of white sandwich loaf (too soft, which made for a soggy pudding), with milk, eggs, sugar and sultanas. I’m not big on sultanas in sweet food, although I love them in curry. My childhood memory was not what I wanted for a bread pudding. (Sorry Mum and Dad, I know you like it, but it’s not my style.) So I hunted down a new recipe.
My google-fu did not fail me, and I found a recipe for Cranberry Pecan Bread Pudding in the Dairy Free Cooking section of About.com. There seems to be some good stuff there, so it’s worth having a look. I tweaked the recipe quite a bit (halving it, then increasing some ingredients, reducing others, swapping nutmeg for cardamom), but I’m really happy with the end result. It’s American tasting (hello cranberries, apples and pecans), but it’s got a special little something something that makes it unlike the typical American fare (probably the ginger and cardamom). The consistency was soft, but not soggy, and the nuts added a lovely bite.
I actually made it with only a quarter of a chopped apple, but I couldn’t taste it at all, so I’ve increased it to a whole apple in the recipe below. I increased the pecans too – I used only a third of a cup, but Yankee Elv insisted it needed more. Otherwise, she loved this pudding though – and so did I!
Cranberry Pecan Bread Pudding
Ingredients
- 4.5 cups stale bread, cut into 1.5cm (about half an inch) cubes
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries (currants might be a good alternative if you prefer them)
- 1 apple, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup pecans, chopped or crumbled
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp cardamom (or you could use nutmeg)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 cups plain non-dairy milk (I used soy)
- 1 tab vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup liquid sweetener (I used agave nectar)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 190°C (about 350°F).
- Lightly oil a medium-sized heatproof dish (such as a pyrex dish) and set it aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the bread cubes, cranberries, apple, pecans, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and salt until well mixed.
- Using a wooden spoon, stir in the non-dairy milk, vegetable oil and liquid sweetener until well combined.
- Allow the mixture to stand for 10 minutes, so all the bread is soaked. The liquid should be almost gone.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared dish and bake until mostly firm and golden brown, about 35 to 45 minutes.
- Serve warm with non-dairy custard (which I make the same way as dairy custard, just with soy milk. Please note: there are no eggs in my custard, ever!)
Friday Feast: Coconut Chocolate Pudding
This is the best vegan pudding I’ve made. Ever. It is so awesomely good. It has the perfect texture and is just brilliant!
I got the recipe from the Livejournal community vegan_cooking (where I habitually go to find recipes and ask questions about cooking). The original recipe is so good I hardly had to change it. This is very unlike me – I am a chronic recipe tweaker. The only thing I did to this, however, was reduce the sugar.
This pudding is super easy to make. Basically, you put everything in a bowl and cook it in the microwave for 4 minutes. (Yes, a little more finesse is preferrable – read the recipe!)
This recipe makes four servings and the pudding tastes great warm or cold. If you are putting it in the fridge, you’ll need to cover it unless you are ok with it developing a skin on the top. The skin tastes fine though, it’s just got a bit of a weird texture. You also don’t get as strong a coconut taste as I’d expected. I even tried to increase it using coconut essence (but it didn’t taste as good, so don’t go there). I haven’t tried making it with other non-dairy milks, but the original recipe suggests that it would work fine if you did.
I think this would also make a great vegan substitute for a ganache!
Chocolate Coconut Pudding
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sugar (I use low GI cane sugar)
- 3 tabs cornstarch (I use custard powder)
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 400mL (14oz) coconut milk (or 2 cups of the milk of your choice – soy, almond, oat, etc)
- 2 tsps vanilla extract
Method:
- Pour sugar into a microwave safe bowl.
- Sift in the cornstarch and cocoa powder and gently combine. Make sure there are no lumps.
- Gradually whisk in the coconut milk until combined. (I use a fork because I don’t have a whisk. It works.)
- Cook in the microwave for 3 minutes on full power.
- Stir, then cook in the microwave on full power for one more minute before stirring again. (If it doesn’t look shiny and thick, try 30 to 60 seconds more, but keep an eye on it so it doesn’t boil over!).
- Stir in the vanilla extract and spoon into dessert bowls/containers/glasses.
- Cover and refrigerate until chilled.
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