The Australian Hotel

Anyone who doesn't know The Australian Hotel (for shame!), it's in the Rocks, Sydney. They have Gluten-free pizza and 3 vegan topping options.They are really good about the no dairy thing too. Definitely recommend this bar to all my vegan beer loving friends :)

Spiced Eggplant Pizza (vegan & GF) - no longer available...so sad

This is surprisingly my favourite, it has the most amazing tomato chilli sauce!

Mushroom Lovers Pizza (vegan & gluten free)

This has replaced the Spiced Eggplant Pizza and was pretty good. Still miss my old fave though :(

Antipasto Pizza (vegan & GF)

This was my third favourite, it was very nice but not specifica flavour just very antipasto and pesto-ish.

Pumpkin Pizza

My vegetarian friend had this (hence the cheese) but I've had it without and it is very yummy. My second favourite. :)

Glute-Free Vegan

These recipes are from the cookbook Gluten-Free Vegan by Susan O'Brien.

Spicy Quinoa Pilaf

I couldn't find it on her blog so I won't post the recipe myself but I saw it posted on Emily is Gluten-Free blog so you can get it from there. I added green beans and english spinach :)
I found it a bit salty so I might go easy on the stock next time.

Veggie-stuffed Bell Peppers

These were really yummy and far more filling than I expected (we only needed one capsicum each). They needed a little bit more salt than was in the recipe though.

Mushroom Pâté

This simple mushroom pâté is a great savoury dip or spread.

Mushroom Pâté


Ingredients


450g mushrooms, washed and sliced
1 large onion diced
2 cloves garlic
¾ cup walnuts
4 Tbls nutritional yeast
125g vegan cream cheese (1 used half a container of Tofutti 8oz)
1 tbls vegan margarine
Salt & pepper to taste
1 Tbls oil for frying

Method

Saute onions in oil on a medium heat until transparent.
Add mushrooms and fry all until caramelised.
Wait for mixture to cool then add to a food processor with all other ingredients.
Blend until smooth.  Refrigerate until firm.
Serve with crackers or on bread.

Teriyaki Tofu

Teriyaki sauce is so much nicer homemade than packet and far simpler than you might think. You may not have some of these ingredients in your house but you can get them from the supermarket and they will last a long time. Lovely as a slap of tofu and rice or as a stir fry strips with vegetables. The photos are showing small strips of tofu because I was using them for sushi rolls.

Teriyaki Tofu


Ingredients

2 packets of tofu - I used Japanese style medium tofu
OR
1 packet of extra firm tofu, pressed, cut into sticks and fried (recipe here)

Marinade;

4 Tbls sake or rice wine vinegar
8 tsp soy sauce (I use Tamari because it's GF)

Sauce;

100ml Mirin
4Tbs Soy Sauce (I use Tamari)
2 tsp granulated sugar


Method

Chop your tofu into desired slices and soak in the marinade for 30mins.

Once ready blot extra marinade off.

Mix Sauce together till sugar has dissolved.

Over a medium-high heat fry the tofu until lightly cooked then take out of frying pan.

Add sauce to pan and simmer for a few minutes.

When sauce starts to caramelise add tofu back and cook for another minute before taking off.

Serve with rice and/or vegetables.

Sushi Rolls (Nori Rolls & Boats)

Ok, so they are technically Nori Roll as sushi is raw fish on rice but they are better known as Sushi Rolls.
This is just a simple recipe and you can add whatever filling you like.

Tools: sushi rolling mat & rice boat makers.

Sushi Rolls


Ingredients

1 3/4 cup Sushi Rice
1 pk Nori sheets (you normally get around 10 sheets to a packet)
3 Tbls Sake or Rice Wine vinegar
7 1/2 tsp Sugar
2 tsp sea salt
Desired fillings (see bottom of page for suggestions)

For serving;
Soy sauce (I use Tamari)
Pickled Ginger
Wasabi paste


Method

Rinse rice 2-3 times before cooking.
I use a rice cooker because I'm lazy but if you're doing it on the stove just cook per instructions on the packet.
Mix sake, sugar annd salt together in a small saucepan and bring to boil melting the sugar. Allow to cool and and mix well into cooked rice.
Allow rice to cool before handling.
If you use a sushi mat to roll make sure you cover it in cling wrap first. I use my hands.
With slightly damp hands I take a sheet of nori (it usually has lines patterned across, make sure line is horizontal to you). I find it handy to have a bowl of water near by that I can keep dunking my fingers in.
Put some rice on the sheet at the end closest to you and pat down. Depending on how thick you want your roll, add more or less rice to each roll.

Add your first ingredient across the rice, don't over pack because it will fall apart.

Take the front peice of nori and roll, tucking it under as you go to make sure your roll is firm.

Once rolled all your sushi you can cut into pieces. Make sure you use a very sharp knife.

If you're making boats like these below, you fill up your rice boat container then pop them out and wrap a piece of nori paper around the outside, leaving space inside to fill with desired filling.

Fillings I like;

• Avocado
• Teriyaki Tofu (everyone will think this is chicken)
• Japanese Pickled Mushrooms
• Bean curd boats (you can get these bean curd wrappers from an Asian market)
• Julienne Carrot, Julienne Cucumber and Avocado
• Flower Nori Roll
• Fried Shiitake & Chilli Mayo Rolls
• Watermelon “Tuna” Sashimi

Fried Shiitake & Chilli Mayo

Flower Roll

Japanese Pickled Mushrooms

Teriyaki Tofu

White Bean & Chick Pea Chilli

I got this recipe from My Vegan Cookbook blog and it's also low fat. As you may have noticed from my past blogs, that isn't really important to me but I thought I'd mention it for all the health conscious out there!
I changed a couple of the spices because I didn't have them. Original recipe here.
Pictured here with home made croutons, yummy.

White Bean & Chickpea Chilli

Ingredients

400g Great Northern Beans (or Cannellini Beans), washed and soaked for at least 24 hours

1 can Chick Peas, drained and rinsed

6 Cups Water
2 Cups Frozen Corn Kernels
1 Medium Onion, Chopped
1 Cup Green Bell Pepper, Chopped
1 Tablespoon Canola Oil
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
2 Teaspoons Liquid Smoke
2 Teaspoons Onion Powder
2 Teaspoons Garlic Powder
2 Teaspoons Ground Coriander
2 Teaspoon Ground Chili Powder
2 Tablespoons Mexican Chili Powder
1 Teaspoon Cumin Powder
1/4 Cup Nutritional Food Yeast
1 cup Rice Milk
2 Tablespoons Arrow Root Powder Or Corn Starch
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Seasoning Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt

Method

Place soaked & rinsed beans/chickpeas in a large pot with the 6 cups of water and frozen corn. Bring to a boil.

In a skillet, saute onion and pepper with the canola oil until onions are transparent. Place this into the pot.

Now add liquid smoke, onion and garlic powder, lemon pepper, corriander, sugar, ancho chili powder, white or red chili powder and cumin.

His recipe says "Set crock pot for 4 hours" but I don't have one or the time so I let mine simmer covered, on medium for 1.5-2hours. 10 minutes before serving, place nutritional yeast, rice milk, arrow root, sugar and seasoning salt and salt into a food processor and blend until smooth. Place into the crock pot and stir together. Let cook another 10 minutes to thicken up the chili.

Serve with bread, rice, croutons or whatever you fancy. I got 5-6 main serves out of this just with croutons so I think with rice you could spread it out for more meals.

Note:  I thought this was a bit spicy and so would probably leave out the ground chilli next time. Having said my tolerance for spice is quite low.

Fishy Tofu Fingers with Aioli Sauce

This isn't my recipe but I've searched and I can't find where I got it from, sorry if it's yours and I stole it. My bad. They were really yummy, taste like fish fingers.
I changed a few things to make it gluten free and substituted some ingredients that I didn't have.
So here's my version.

Fishy Tofu Fingers


Ingredients for coating;

1 400g packet of firm tofu, drained and pressed
1/3 cup GF flour
2 Tbls gluten free gluten
1/3 cup polenta
2/3cup sliced almonds
2 Tbls nori sheets (I used 3 ripped up)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 dried dill
1/4 veg salt or celery salt
1/4 of lemon pepper

Ingredients for wet part;

2/3 cup non-dairy milk
2 Tbls vegan mayo (I used Praise Fat-Free)
1 Tbls lemon juice


Method

Blend dry ingredients in a food processor of blender unless crumbed.
Whisk dry mixture together.
In a large frying pan heat some coconut oil (or any oil you like) on high until bubbling.
Turn heat down to medium-high.
Cut tofu into fingers.
Dip each finger in the wet mixture then coat well in the dry crumbs before adding gently to the oil.
Fry on each side until golden brown and place on a plate with paper towel.
Serve with your favourite sauce - mines Aioli (recipe below).


Aioli Sauce


Ingredients

1/2 cup vegan mayo
2 Tbls lemon juice
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp salt

Method

Whisk ingredients together in a bowl.

Manic Panic Mascara

My biggest problem with vegan cosmetics was that the mascaras using synthetic wax suck arse.

But Manic Panic's range is all vegan and their mascara is the bomb!

Manic Panic are well known for their hair dyes in all colours of the rainbow but they have a small make up range as well.

You can buy online from their US store or their eBay store.

It works out to be about $16 (including postage) so still pretty cheap and comes in black and electric blue.

If you hadn't already seen my other Manic Panic blog, they do amazing lipsticks and glosses as well.

They do a lot of goth type make up as well so if you're after that look, it's all vegan!

Soap Making Part 2 - Colour

Original blog on how to make soap is here. Free printable soap labels here!
Soap Making Tutorial Video here.

I failed with the colour last time because I was using food dye (note: dye doesn't mix in oil so well...hmm who would've though? Not me apparently).

So I bought a range of lovely powder dyes online from Essentail Oils & Soap that look like this;

I also had a fail with the essential oils. Although the original recipe I used recommended 4oz of essential oil I went one better and added 8oz. And yet my soap still came out smelling like, well, soap. Which is fine. It could smell worse but I want it smell yummy so this time I'm going to add twice the amount and hope it doesn't affect the recipe too much!

OK, so I did my soapmaking on the weekend. I did two batches, one Cinnamon Leaf & Clove with brown clay colouring and Mandarin & Lemon Myrtle with a yellow ocre clay colouring. I had a slight fail with the Cinnamon Leaf & Clove one because when I went to add the essential oils (after adding the lye to the other oils) it turned the mixture chucky (like off milk). Twas quite gross.

So when I did my Mandarin & Lemon Myrtle batch I added the essential oils to the other oils BEFORE adding the lye. This seemed to work well but I did think the mixture was still quite liquidy when I poured it into the moulds. It could also be cause I was impatient and hadn't waited enough time for it to set a bit.

They are looking good after 24hours, they are harding well. There was a bit of oil resting on the top so I just tipped it out. I think I over did the colouring - maybe I've just invented fake tan soap!

Update: the Mandarin & Lemon Myrtle one have turned out ok so far but I had to throw out the Cinnamon Leaf & Clove ones because they weren't setting - so sad.

But this weekend I made a Coconut & Rose batch so fingers crossed!!

Update: Coconut and Rose soap actually turned out well (so far)...

After two weeks of curing.

Recently I made Chocolate & Coconut soap. It worked a bit better because I waited until the mixed had cooled and thickened a bit before pouring into molds. The marble affect was accidental, there was a layer of oil forming so I just mixed it up a bit while it was in the mold.

Neptune's Palace

Neptune's Palace is a upper market Chinese restaurant in Sydney's Circular Quay.

I was surpirsed to find out they actually carry the mushroom "oyster" sauce and so can substitute that in meals.

They were really good with the vegan and gluten free thing. I was actually able to have an entree, main and dessert which rarely happens.

The san choy bow with tofu was amazing!!

Not the cheapest Chinese, but well worth it for a special occasion, great service and atmosphere too.

Epping Hotel

OK so I know that the Epping Hotel isn't exactly "vegan" but they are really good with both vegan and gluten free options. They do the best gluten free pizza I've ever had - the base is sooo good. They have at least three choices of vegetarian toppings and it's just as good without cheese!

This was my pizza;

Blueberry Jam

I just used the same recipe as Strawberry Jam. With the exception of Marmalade which is a bit more complicated you could pretty much use any fruit (note: my guess, not fact). I ordered my cool labels from Blue Sugar Press on Etsy.com.

Blueberry Jam

Ingredients

1kg blueberries, washed (I'm lazy and used half fresh and half frozen)

1kg jam sugar (I used CSR Jam Sugar)

1/2 cup lemon juice

Method

Sterilise your jam jars and lids by placing on a tray in a 180˚C oven for 10-20mins.

Add all ingredients to a large pot and stir on a low heat until sugar has melted.

Turn heat up to medium-high and allow to boil for 10-15mins.

Do the crinkle test by pouring a spoonful onto a saucer and placing in fridge or freezer until cooled and then touching with your fingers. If it crinkles then the jam is set, if it is still liquid then allow jam to boil again for another 10 minutes.

Take jam off the heat and allow to cool slightly before dispensing into sterilised jars.

Wait for jam to be cool down to warm before sealing.

Vegan Meatballs

I got this recipe from My Vegan Cookbook. These were incredible. Really awesome. We got 4 meals out of them, two with pasta and two with garlic bread. I changed the recipe slightly but the original recipe is here.

Vegan Meatballs

Meatball Ingredients

1/2 red capsicum, chopped

1/2 green capsicum, chopped

1/2 White Onion, Chopped

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 1/2 Cups Cooked Brown Rice

1/2 Cup Gluten Free Oats

1/4 Cup Gluten Free Gluten

1/4 Cup Cooked & Drained Lentils

3 Tablespoons Brown Rice Flour

1 Tablespoon Unprepared Egg Replacer

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

1 Teaspoon Balsamic Vinegar

1 Teaspoon Onion Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Chili Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/2 Tablespoon Molasses

1/2 Teaspoon Liquid Smoke

Sauce Ingredients

1x 500g Tomato Paste
1 cup water
2 cloves garlic
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 red capsicum, chopped
1/2 green capsicum, chopped
1 Teaspoon Sugar
2 handfuls English spinach


Method

Start by sauteing the green and red peppers and onions in pan on a medium heat until onions are transparent. Then set aside.
Preheat oven to 150C.
In a food processor place the rest of the meatball ingredients and pulse a few times until well combined. If too dry, add a little water. Pour into a mixing bowl and place the cooked onions and peppers in this mixture and mix it together with your hands for a few minutes. This helps work the gluten.
Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray or oil.
Measure out each meatball (1 tablespoon of the mixture per meatball) and roll with wet hands so they don't stick to them.
Place on cookie sheet, place in oven and cook covered loosely with tin foil for 15 minutes.
Turn them over and cook for another 15 minutes with the tin foil still covering them.
Prepare the sauce by sauteing the green and red peppers, garlic and onions in pan on a medium heat until onions are transparent. Add water, tomato paste and sugar and stir through until warm.
Add English spinach and once wilted down add the meatballs and gently stir through the sauce.
Serve however you like.