Vegan MoFo Day 27 - The Tempeh Conspiracy and Other Stories

Yes I think there is a tempeh conspiracy against me. The first time I ever tried it was this bottled stuff in brine and it was minging. 
Yet so many trusty vegans I know of declare their tempeh love on a daily basis so I've been determined to give it another go. I was pretty impressed when I spotted some fresh tempeh at my local supermarket, so I bought some. That was about 2 months ago. Afore mentioned product has been sitting in my fridge keeping the lone pickled onion company ever since. I didn't know what to do with it and there was that little bit of trepidation based on my last (and first) experience that was also playing a big part in my reluctance.

I PPK'd, I MoFo'd, I even Googled (I know, so primitive right?).

I had enough tempeh teasers in my brain that I felt confident enough to attepmt to cook with it today. 

What had I chosen you're all dying to know?

Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes from the AWESOME Isa.

So I opened the package, started to crumble the tempeh only to stop after 2 seconds, slightly confuzzled 'cos this tempeh shatang looks very similar to tofu. I grab the package, double check the label......hmmmmm........tofu sukiyaki estilo al japones is apparently not tempeh but, umm.....well......just tofu.

Determined not to abandon my plans (bearing in mind I'm now craving some fishy fried bredcrumbed goodness) I went ahead with the recipe anyway. I followed it step by step instead I didn't use red pepper and I used regular coarse homemade breadcrumbs.

These came out a cross between a Maccy D's filet o' fish and a fish cake. 

They were so so good. So so fish like. If I hadn't of made them with my bear [sic] hands I'd be screaming that someone had tried to poison me.

Think I'm exagerating?

I'm not.

Pretending that I'd been cleaning out the freezer and found a bit of cod that needed using up, I gave peskytarian Mr treehugger 2 of these for his lunch.

When asked if they were nice his only comment was; "There's too much lemon juice in them." 

Well I laughed because there's no lemon juice in them at all! He meant vinegar (he's a wuss with acidic things, they weren't too vinegary for me).

So I asked him if the cod tasted alright or if it had been in the freezer too long and he said "No, the fish is lovely".

RESULT!!

He would not believe me when I told him they were vegan.

I would still like to try the original recipe though, the way they were intended, but this really was a very happy error on my part.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Vegan MoFo IV Day 22: Tofu pancakes

During MoFo my morning ritual is make a cuppa tea, fire up the computer and catch up on all the MoFo'ing that has gone on overnight which, incidentally, involves most MoFo'ers from The States and Canada seeing as how y'all are 5,6,7,8 ish hours behind me. The problem with this though is that my belly starts grumbling earlier than it would normally and my previously satisfactory bowl of porridge just doesn't seem quite as appealing as it normally would.

I've had my eye on this recipe from the awesome Eat Pure blog but I didn't have any courgettes (I'm getting some later today from the market so I will be making this recipe asap). But then this morning I happened upon this recipe for Savoury Tofu Pancakes from the awesome Alien's Day Out blog and seeing as I had all the ingredients I knew what my breakfast would be today.

I added about a teaspoon of salt and lots of grated black pepper and a teaspoon of Colman's Mustard.

I  also used silken tofu instead of firm and I used half the amount which made 6 very delicious pancakes.

My tummy was happy!

Lime and Coriander Baked Tofu

I love the kind of recipes that you just throw together on instinct and they turn out to be super amazingly awesome. This recipe is one of those.

My coriander (cilantro) has gone crazy in my garden this year but it was just starting to bolt so I wanted to cut it right back and so resulted with LOADS to use up.

I had some fresh lime in the fridge that needed using up as well and thus this recipe was created.

Lime and Coriander Baked Tofu

serves 4

Ingredients

8 slices firm Tofu about a cm thick each

1/2 cup of olive oil

2 cloves garlic, diced

Juice from 1 lime

handful coriander leaves

salt and pepper to taste

Method

Place the oil, garlic, lime juice, coriander, salt and pepper in a blender and whizz up.

Place the tofu slices in an oven proof dish and pour over the marinade, turning the tofu over to incorporate all the flavours. Leave to marinade for half an hour.

Bake for 20 mins in a medium hot oven, turn over then bake for another 20 mins.

I served mine on a bed of fresh rocket, scallions and juicy ripe tomatoes.

DELISH!

GO VEGAN!

Vegan MoFo 2009 Day #8: Leftovers are GOOOOD!

I nuked the noodles and the tofu stir fry from the night before and sauteed a bag of spinach in some chili oil for a few minutes. Introduced the one to the other and......

TA DA!!!

GO VEGAN! GO MoFo!!

Vegan MoFo 2009 Day #6: Noodle doodle dandy

This morning I marinated some sliced up tofu in soy sauce, garlic, ginger and fresh lime juice and left it in the fridge for the whole day while I went about my business.

Then tonight I drained the tofu and fried it in peanut oil. Added mushrooms, red pepper, green beans and scallions.

The rice noodles were placed in boiling water for 4 minutes then drained. Then I mixed some soy sauce, lime juice, green chili, sugar and peanut butter all together. I totally eyeball this, just check and adjust to your preference.

Heat your wok up nice and hot, add sliced scallion, 2 crushed garlic cloves, teaspoon fresh ginger and a julienne carrot. Cook for 3 mins then add the drained noodles and the sauce.

And store bought spring rolls which took 12 mins in the oven served with some chilli oil and hoisin. Altogether a perfectly scrummy healthy meal ready and on the table in 20 mins! YUMMY! GO VEGAN! GO MoFo!!

Inspired by an alien and Cauliflower Uncheese

I've owned Hot Damn and Hell Yeah for a few months now but have, until now, not made anything from it. I am a bit of a sucker for seeing photos of recipes to give me a kick up the pants to try them but for some strange unexplained reason a lot of vegan cook books are sadly lacking in the photo department. I know that vegan cook books pack a lot of recipes into their pages but if I'm not gonna be inspired to make the recipes without some visuals then personally I'd prefer a few less recipes and more photos.

Anyhoo - this sounds like I'm moaning and I'm not - so ONTO THE FOOD!

Sal blogged about the Country Tofu recipe on her ace blog - Alien on Toast and it was seeing her gorgeous photos that made up my mind to give this recipe a try. I kind of winged it with the spices too but let me tell you - this recipe is DELICIOSO!

here it is served with some baked new Potatoes, Green Beans and Fried Onions. YUM!

And tonight I made a corker of a recipe that I wanted to share with you all right away. I give you Cauliflower Uncheese. So simple and so delicious.

Cauliflower Uncheese serves 4 Ingredients 1 Large-ish Cauliflower, cut into florets and steamed 400g cooked Chickpeas 1 Clove Garlic 4 Tablespoons Olive Oil +/- Half a cup of Soya Milk or other non dairy milk (though I've only tried this with Soya) 1-2 teaspoons Dry Mustard Powder Salt Black pepper 1 cup of fresh Breadcrumbs Method Place the cooked Cauliflower into an oven proof dish. Whizz up the Chickpeas, Garlic, Olive Oil and Soya Milk with a blender or stick blender. Add the Mustard Powder and season to taste. Add the Sauce to the Cauliflower and coat well. Cover with tin foil and bake in a hot oven for 30 mins. Take off the tin foil and sprinkle on the Breadcrumbs and finish off in the oven so as the Breadcrumbs turn a nice golden colour. Serve and scoff!

Served with Green Beans and Onion and Potato layer

I have also been super busy in the garden this past week and a half but I think that deserves a whole blog post all to itself, so watch this space.

GO VEGAN!

Tofu Breast

EURGH! I don't like that title. I was going to change it but couldn't think of anything else AND that is what this recipe is called after all. I've made this dish a lot of times and it is definitely one of my favourite ways to eat Tofu so I thought I would share it with you all in the hope that you'll give it a try too. I actually thought that this came from Every Day Dish, but a quick search on the site tells me that it's actually one of Bryanna's amazing creations. I did try to find the recipe over at Bryanna's site, but alack and alas I could not. Unfortunately it's not the easiest of sites to navigate is it. Bryanna - if you're reading this - let me redesign your site - I could make it SO much more user friendly. You could pay me with food! (hee hee hee) Anyway, enough with this tom foolery and on to the food.

The recipe for this can be found here with video instructions too!! I served mine with some new spring Potatoes (YUM) and a Salad of Rocket, baby Leaf Spinnach, Beetroot Leaves and Tomatoes all smothered in a dressing of Grapeseed Oil, Mustard, Red Wine Vinegar and Maple Syrup. YUM YUM YUM!

Shop Goodies and Fudgey Brownies

Well my panic buying wasn't too too bad - there were plenty of packs of silken tofu on the shelf and at 2.20€ a pop I limited myself to 4. On my way to the shops though I stopped off at an Asian store I had never been to before and I'm so glad I did. I managed to pick up Nori Sheets for 2.90€!!! That's 4 euros cheaper than my local Health Food Shop charges! Sweeeet! Also scored some Raw Cashews, Mock Abalone (seitan fried gloop - YUM!), Coconut milk Powder (I have no idea what I'm gonna do with this but I'll think of something).

So it was an excellent start to the day! And also an excellent end to the day because I ended it making Brownies. At half past ten. YAY! Lots of people have been raving about this recipe here so I thought I'd give 'em a try and see what all the hype is about. And boy oh boy oh boy. Am I ever glad I did. These really are the most chocolateyest, fudgeyest, gooeyist brownies EVER! I adjusted the recipe, as you do, so I will post my take here for you. And I implore you all to try this - you will be smitten.

Fudgey Brownies 1/2 Cup Sugar 1 Cup All Purpose Flour 1/3 Cup Green and Black's Cocoa Powder (if you can't get this use the BEST quality Cocoa powder you can find - don't scrimp on this, 'kay!) 1 Tblsp Freshly Ground Flax Seed 1/4 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp Baking Powder 1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil 1/3 Cup Water 1 Tblsp Maple Syrup

Turn oven on 180 degrees. Liberally grease a baking pan, I have an oblong one that's 9 inches by 5 and was perfect for this. Place all the liquid ingredients in a bowl and give a good whisk. Place all the dry ingredients in another bowl and stir - DO NOT sift ANYTHING! MOVE AWAY FROM THE SIEVE! Add dry stuff to the wet and stir well. Place the mix in your pan - make sure it's even and pop in the oven for 20-25 mins. Bob's yer uncle and Fanny's yer aunt! I decorated mine with icing sugar, raspberries and mint 'cos I think it looks purrrty - but these babies don't need anything - they are scrummy as is.

Today I are mostly Panic Buying Tofu

For anyone who has been to Spain you will appreciate my predicament on how hard it is to buy vegan products here, excluding Madrid and Barcelona. For those of you who haven't it is bloody hard and I deserve a medal. To my sheer delight (and the delight of the other thousands of British expats who live on the Costa Blanca) Iceland have opened a store in my town. AND IT IS FREAKING AWESOME! Not that I ever shopped there when I was in the UK, but having lived here for 7 years I do miss certain British foods - you know like Branston Pickle and stuff like that. I visited there for the first time last week and you can imagine my delight when I espied silken tofu on the shelf. I can buy the unsilken type quite easily from my local health food shop (which has been my saving grace) but I have NEVER seen the silken type. So I bought some to try. Now it is vacuum packed which isn't ideal but hey - beggars can't be choosers right, I used it in the Ceaser salad recipe in Vcon which requires silken tofu and OMG!! It is AMAZING!!

Gratuitous shot

If you haven't tried this recipe I implore you to - it is in my top favourite recipes EVER!! And I notice that most desserts require silken tofu so I am quite excited about all the yummy recipes I can now make with my new found supply of the silken stuff. I'm now planning on going to the store today to buy ALL the packs they have on the shelf because I'm frightened that if a product doesn't sell well they will discontinue it - and that would destroy me - so hence why I am panic buying tofu.