Recipe Round-Up: Vegan Yum Yum

One day I was gifted with the book Vegan Yum Yum by a friend who was clearing out some of cookbooks. This book, by Lauren Ulm, is a treasure trove of lovely recipes. I've only posted once briefly about it before, this is the first round up I've done for it on the blog.

Broccoli Almond Sweet and Sour Tofu: I am not always a fan of sweet and sour, I find a lot of the sauces tend to be too sweet. This one, however, was not. It was nice and tangy, with a hint of sweetness. The recipe calls for '1 tub extra firm tofu, pressed', with no weight given. I used a 375 g block of tofu (the kind that is vacuum packed in the fridge, rather than in a tub). The tofu is coated and fried, then coated in the sauce and before serving with steamed broccoli (and jasmine rice). This recipe does use a few pots and pans, but overall comes together quickly.
Rating: :)



Dal Makhini: This is a really simple but tasty dish, as daal/dal/dhal/dahl (which one?) tends to be. It is a comfort food sort of dish. This uses masoor dal, or you can use green lentils (which I did). I soaked my lentils first to shorten cooking time a bit. There are tomatoes and several spices in this, and it also has a cashew cream mixed through and then drizzled on as well. Served over some roasted cauliflower and rice, I got three servings.
Rating: :)



Italian Rice and Beans: This is a simple recipe but it is oh so delicious! Rice, dried herbs of choice, beans, spinach, and some sundried tomatoes and pine nuts. Plus some balsamic vinegar and, the magic ingredient, some lemon zest. I don't always enjoy zest, but it is fantastic in this. This recipe says it serves 2-3, which is accurate. I served it with some salad.
Rating: :D



Rainbow Rice and Beans: Another winner, this book knows how to do some good rice and beans. Peas, carrots, and corn bring some colour, black beans bring the protein, plus several spices and a mix of soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce (there's a recipe for this in the book if you can't find a vegan one to buy). It says it makes two huge servings, and they weren't lying - they are definitely big!
Rating: :D



Soy-Mirin Tofu with Snow Peas and Peanut Sauce: Tofu and peanut sauce? Make me swoon! I also love mirin. The peanut sauce is simple but delicious, with the option to use coconut milk or coconut water as the liquid - I used coconut water and it made it was lovely. The tofu is cooked and then glazed with a soy sauce and mirin mixture. This is served over brown rice, and I also served it over some baby spinach.
Rating: :D



Tahini Lemon Rice and Beans: Yes, more rice and beans. They are endlessly versatile! This recipe says it makes two serves, but I got four out of it. The sauce itself is very tangy, but I didn't get much of a lemon flavour from it. Perhaps decrease the vinegar and soy sauce in it, or increase the lemon juice, to make that flavour come through more. This rice is mixed with black beans, seitan (it was meant to be 6 oz but I only used 2 oz as I had a teeny bit left over after another recipe), kale (I used spinach), and carrot.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photos of the Post



A couple of weeks ago, we had a mumma and kittens surrendered to us at work for rehoming. I'll be introducing them to you over the next several posts. But firstly, here is the sweet mumma. We named her Petal. She is so beautiful and sweet at lovely! And while we now have homes lined up for all of them, Petal was the first to be reserved! It is so rare that mumma is the first to get a home, most people are just in it for the kittens. So this was lovely. She's going to an amazing home where she will be very loved.

VeganMoFo 2017 #1: The Dreaded Veggie Stack

1st: Re-inventing the veggie option – Think of a boring, bog-standard veggie option like nut roast or risotto and give it a makeover.

There is one stock standard veggie option that I cannot stand. It is often boring, often not pleasant... the veggie stack. A tragic stack of often oily and either overcooked or undercooked veggies... often including my nemesis the capsicum. And mostly offered as a main... in what world does this pile of plant matter resemble a filling dish? On this year's season of Masterchef Australia, a contestant decided to make a veggie stake IN AN INVENTION TEST (it wasn't vegan, it had cheese) and I was against him from that moment on. When he finally went home, I may have cheered. Is there anything less inventive than a poorly done veggie stack?

So it seemed like the natural choice for this challenge! And I knew just the recipe I wanted to try. A friend gifted me Vegan Yum Yum a few years back, and it has a very pretty little stack of veggies on the front cover! Lauren talks about her own veggie stack reservations, often fearing the poorly cooked eggplant (so true, I love eggplant but people abuse it so much), so she created an eggplant creme layer in her adorable little stacks. They were naturally capsicum free as well!

Miniature Napoleons with Eggplant Creme: I made just three these cuties as I was cooking for one, so using three small flat mushrooms (cremini and portobello mushrooms were unavailable). I made half a batch of the eggplant creme, which is cooked eggplant pureed with cashews and spices. I did need to add a couple of splashes of water to get it smooth. It made too much for what I needed, but the leftovers are good for spreading onto bread, using as a dip, or mashing into rice and lentils! The tomato and zucchini are roasted at a low temperature for a long time, so they get juice and sweet, and then the mushrooms are roasted with tamari, bringing in a yummy salty umami flavour. I skipped using a piping bag for the eggplant creme, and just plonked it on with a spoon. I garnished them with sundried tomato instead of more roast tomato and basil. I also skipped serving them on a plate covered in olive oil and dotted with vinegar, as that just seemed messy.
Rating: :)



These were lovely, and a bit more filling that your average veggie stack thanks to the cashewy eggplant creme, though not really enough for a dinner. She also had an interpretation of risotto, so why not. I generally don't mind when risotto is the vegan option (at least it is filling), but often in non vegan restaurants it can be quite bland. I have made lots of yummy risottos in the past. This risotto inspired recipe uses tomato and barley, and involved very little effort.

Creamy Tomato Barley Risotto: I made a half batch that led to one big serving. I soaked my barley for a few hours first, and that helped it cook up perfectly right on time. I did find it a bit salty overall, it has miso in it so I would skip the added salt next time.
Rating: :)



I served them together with some steamed baby spinach for a nice dinner.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post - Month of Sahara



Everyday, a photo of my sweet bear. For new people to the blog, hi! I always end every post with a cat photo. This month will be dedicated to my beautiful Sahara... she passed away earlier this year and I miss her every day. I will share a little bit of her life every month. This is her in one of her beds. It actually was Gizmo's bed, but once Gizmo passed away Sahara claimed it as her own. She loved it.