Saturday 16 May 2020

Healthy Cheezy Fries

This sauce is also perfect for over nachos, vegetables, or as a dip.



Healthy Cheezy Fries

Ingredients

1 lb Fries (frozen or homemade)

Sauce 
2 cups of chopped potatoes (around 3 large)
1/2 cup sweet potatoes (around 2 small)
1 cup onion (around 1 large)
1 cup carrot (around 2 medium)
2 Tbls oil
2 Tbls Almond flour/ground almonds
4 Tbls Nutritional Yeast
1/4 cup roasted red peppers or jar peppers (optional)
1/2 tsp garlic
2 Tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1/4 ground coriander
1/4 ground cumin
pinch black pepper
pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
2 Green onions, sliced thinly (optional for garnish)

Method

Boil the vegetables and simmer until soft.
Reserve the vegetable water and drain vegetables.
Add vegetables, 1 cup veggie water and all other ingredients (except the green onions) to a blender or food processor and blitz until smooth. Add more water if needed.
If gone cold just reheat on the stove so it’s warm for the fries.
Cook fries as desired.
Plate up fries (I like to sprinkle with a little chicken salt*)
Pour over Cheezy sauce and sprinkle with green onions.

Spicy “Chicken” Burger

This is modeled on a spicy burger called the Bondi Burger from an Australian chain of Portuguese chicken fast food restaurants called Oporto’s.
You can use a slice of tofu with some chicken seasoning, faux chicken brand or homemade faux chicken. I like using Gardein Chickn Scallopini. Sometimes a smear of avocado is great too ;)


Spicy “Chicken” Burger

Ingredients 

Faux chicken slice of choice
2 romaine lettuce leaves
1 slice vegan provolone cheese
GF Vegan hamburger bun

Sauce
2Tbls vegan mayo
1 tsp of Sabal oelek or chilli paste such as Sriracha
1/4 tsp crush garlic
1/4 tsp crushed ginger


Method

Mix the sauce ingredients together and set aside.
Lightly fry or grill your faux chicken or tofu slice on both sides till slightly browned and firmed up.
Smear both sides of the bun with some of the sauce and construct your burger with the lettuce, cheese and faux chicken, pouring any left over sauce over the chicken.
Enjoy!



Wednesday 13 May 2020

Vegan Honey

So I wouldn't say this taste exactly like honey but it's close and certainly cheaper to make than buying agave or vegan honey brands. Small list of simple ingredients!
Original recipe from Vegan Kitchen Magick. She goes into detail of how to make your own flower teas/fragrances and infusing the juice with them for the honey too which is very cool. I just used some store bought chamomile tea bags and some loose leaf (that I put in a tea bag) which had chamomile, lavender, spearmint, passionflower, lemon balm, rose petals and silver lime leaves. Maybe next time I'll try my hand at DIY tea! Before you start check the weight of the large pot you're using. Once ingredients are in (minus tea bags) make sure you weigh before starting so you know what weight to end with. You will need to reduce the mixture to 1,360g (not including weight of your pot). I ended up having to use people scales because my pot was heavy and my kitchen scales don't go above 5kg.


Vegan Honey

Ingredients

2 quarts (1.89L) Organic Apple Juice (you will want 1,920g on the scales which is slightly less that the 2 quart bottle)
800 grams Vegan Sugar (I used turbinado)
3 Chamomile Tea Bags


Instructions

As written above weight your vessel and then weigh again with added ingredients, writing down the measurements.
Add the sugar to your juice, then heat while stirring constantly until the sugar has dissolved. About five minutes.
Bring the mixture to a boil, and add tea bags, I had my makeshift bag clipped and my store bought bags tied around the handles - when it starts to boil they will dance!

                                                                                                                         


After 30 minutes take out the tea bags and reduce the heat and simmer for two hours to start. 
Stir the syrup every 10-20 minutes to prevent it from burning on the bottom.
After the two hours of simmering, check the weight of your pot with the honee to see how close you are to your target weight of 1,360g. 
It might seem thin at first but it will thicken as it cools.
Let cool for 20 minutes or so before transferring into your sterilized jars.
Allow jars to cool to room temperature before storing in the fridge.
With sugar as a natural preservative it should last for several months in your fridge.
I got about 2 pints of vegan honey.



Monday 11 May 2020

Vegan GF Potstickers/Dumplings

Recipe by Loud Noodle. If you haven't seen her YouTube vegan adventures channel, check it out. She soooo hilarious! I'm making potstickers but if you shape them slightly differently and don't fry after steaming then you can easily make wontons. NOTE: the dough dries out very fast, I only ended up with half the amount because it dried up too fast. If you can have a second pair of hands it will help tremendously! Also the filling mixture would make a great fried rice addition!!


Vegan GF Potstickers/Dumplings

Ingredients

Filling
 
340g Chinese Cabbage (Wombok Cabbage)
100g carrot
100g tofu
2 stalks of spring onion, sliced
1 Tbls sesame oil
3 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/4 salt
1/4 sugar

Wrapper
115g white rice flour
65g tapioca starch
1/4 salt
2 tsp oil
2/3 boiling water


Method

Filling
Blitz cabbage in a food processor and then squeeze out all the liquid.
Blitz tofu and carrot in food processor and add to cabbage mix.
Heat sesame oil in a wok or large frying pan and add onion.
Once glossy add in cabbage, tofu & carrot mixture stir through.
Pour in soy sauce, white pepper, salt and sugar.
Allow too cook through and take off heat to cool.


Wrappers
Mix wrapper dough with hands, kneading it for a long time will make the dough much easier to work with. Roll into a log and chop in 20 pieces.
Dust working bench with flour.
Roll each piece into a 9-10cm diameter circle, you can use a cookie/scone cutter.
Cover made wrappers with a tea towel to keep from drying out.

Once done get your filling and a small bowl of water for sealing the dumplings.
Find a large chopping board for the finished dumplings and sprinkle with flour.
Take the wrapper in your hand and spread a thin layer of water over the inside of the wrapper.
Add around 1 Tbls of filling in the middle and fold up from the sides first and seal the top.
Take your time and once done place on your board and continue until done.
Steam dumplings for 8 minutes.

If you want to them fry the potstickers in a lightly oiled frying pan until golden on both sides. Serve with dipping sauce of choice, I love coconut aminos!

Monday 4 May 2020

Baked Donut Holes

This is based on a Cara Reed recipe which didn't quite work out for me so I changed some things and then they turned out pretty good! I had a hankering for donuts but with no yeast I thought I'd try the baking route. I’ve used a silicon donut tray to make oven donuts too! Pics below :)


Baked Donut Holes

Ingredients

1/2 Cup vegan brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup tapicoa starch
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup arrowroot flour
1 cup non-dairy milk + 2 tsp apple cider vinegar, leave for 5 minutes
1 1/2 tsp egg replacer + 2 Tbls mix until frothy
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Topping
1/4 cup vegan butter, melted
1/2 cup vegan sugar
2 Tbls cinnamon


Method

Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
If you need to grease your mold do so. I used a mini quiche silicon mold (approx. 3cm diameter) so I don't need to.
Mix the dry ingredients together well in a bowl.
Mix the wet ingredients and add to the dry, mixing well with a spoon.
Add more milk if needed.
Spoon mixture into mold or use a piping bag to pipe onto a baking sheet.
Bake for around 15 minutes, checking with a knife to see if cooked through.
Bake longer if needed.
Once removed from oven allow to cool enough to touch.
In one bowl mix our sugar and cinnamon.
In another bowl have your melted butter.
One at a time dredge the donut hole in the butter, using a brush if desired and then dredging in the sugar & cinnamon mix until covered.
Plate and serve :)






10 min longer in oven