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.