Carrot and Walnut Cake of Joy

This is the finest cake I’ve made to date, I think so anyway. Photographs to follow when I make it again, which will have to be soon!

For the cake

Ingredients
250g flour
75g applesauce (I used home made)
125g coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
200g sugar
250-300g soya milk
200g walnuts
200g peeled carrots (approximately 2 medium sized)

Method
Preheat the oven to 180c.
Sift the flour into a bowl and add everything else except the carrot and walnuts. Mix well.

The batter shouldn’t be too dry- start with 250g soy milk and add the extra if the walnuts and carrot are hard to incorporate.

Grate the carrots and roughly chop the walnuts, then mix them into the batter.

Grease a small baking tin with coconut oil and pour in the batter.

Bake for about an hour, until a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean.

Allow to cool and then ice with the recipe below.

For the icing
Ingredients
150g icing sugar
150g coconut oil, softened
A tiny splash of orange juice

Method
Cream the juice, oil and sugar together until smooth, then spread over the cold cake. Allow to set.

Sesame Toasts

My version of this recipe.

Take
– one medium potato (diced)
– one medium carrot (diced)
– half an onion (chopped)
– two cloves of garlic (whole)
– half a courgette/one green pepper/handful of green beans
– one green chilli (chopped- optional)
– inch of ginger (chopped – optional)

And boil until the potatoes are soft (the courgette will be mush).

Drain and mash well with
– 2 tablespoons of cornflour and
– 2 tablespoons of soy sauce

Spread liberally onto
– 8 slices of bread
And add loads of
– sesame seeds
And then cut off the crusts before quartering them.

Fry in lots of vegetable oil- sesame side first.

Infinitely Variable Lambish Cutlets

These don’t exactly replicate lamb, but with their salty sweet richness and charred caramel crust they hit the lamb-chop spot square-on.

This is a left-overs dish, I’ve used every sort of pulse-based stew from Moroccan spiced chickpea to creamy mushroom and cannelini bean. I’ve even mixed various leftovers together. Each will give a different outcome but the process is the same and each is delicious.

These are inspired and shaped by the excellent Veganomicon Chickpea Cutlets.

The recipe is adaptable, pay more attention to texture than measurements.

Ingredients
To serve 4-6 with a substantial side, 2-3 with a big salad.
Pulses – roughly 3 cups cooked pulses with a coating of their sauce, not too wet.
Today my pulses have- chickpeas, cannelini beans, tarragon, rosemary, mint, nutritional yeast, balsamic vinegar, a little syrup and stock
Vital Wheat Gluten – approximately 2/3rds as much as you have pulses, by volume
Added flavouring – you can tweak the flavour of your leftover stew with added herbs or spices. For example – for a Moroccan feel add 2 teaspoons cumin, 2 teaspoons turmeric, 1 teaspoon paprika.
Herb rub – depending on your chosen meal you may want additional herbs to coat the chops
Oil to fry

Method
Today I am making a minty-traditional meal with mashed potatoes, cabbage and green beans. The exact same method could make spiced chops to accompany a middle-eastern style salad or mini cutlets flavoured with lemongrass to top a Thai noodle dish.

Mash your pulses well, leaving no whole beans. Add any additional flavourings, in this case I felt my pulses had enough intensity of flavour, taste to be sure- the flavour should be strong or the Vital Wheat Gluten will deaden it.

Add the gluten flour and mix well. You should have a texture like firm mashed potato.

Bake for 20 minutes at 150c, then remove and allow to cool.
Make your rub- for this I used 1 teaspoon of dried mint, 2 tablespoons of fresh (finely chopped), 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt and a little olive oil.
Once the cutlets are cool you can rub them all over with your mix and leave to marinate.
When you are nearly ready to eat you can fry them each side at a high heat until they are charred in places with a nice crust.
Serve on what you’re serving them with. They should be crunchy, meaty and delicious.

Kid Friendly Curried Chicken Style Strips

Just a note- Naan, Rice, Dal, Fry’s chicken style strips (fried, mixed with paste of garlic, tomato, onion, almond, garam masala…. And baked alongside the naan)

Roasted Vegetable Lasagne

Notes-

Really very good, better than expected so no photo, just notes to remember.

White sauce made with coconut oil, flour, soy milk, Veganic pizza cheese (just a little)

Roasted courgettes, peppers, cherry tomatoes, aubergine, mushrooms, paprika, whizzed into a rough sauce

Onions, garlic, celery, passata, loads of fresh basil, whizzed

Lasagne sheets

Breadcrumbs on top

Mini one for child to try:

Sesame Balls and Dipping Sauce

These are for using up leftovers.

To feed a family – 2 adults, 2 kids- you’ll need.

Roughly
1/2 cup of cooked pulses (probably white beans of some sort)
1/2 cup cooked rice
1/2 onion
1/2 cup vegetable (yup that vague- carrot or courgette are good)
1/4 cup uncooked polenta
1/2 cup sesame seeds
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons tomato sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

You could also add:
Red chilli
Lemongrass
Corriander

Blend everything except the sesame seeds together into something the texture of Humous. Add extra polenta if it’s really sloppy.

Using one hand for wet (the mixture) and one for dry (the seeds) make little balls and roll them in sesame seeds. This is messy.

Bake at 150c for an hour and then allow to cool.

Then either fry in a generous amount of oil or spray with oil and bake for 20 minutes.

Make dipping sauces to your taste- the kids have plain soy sauce, we have sirracha, sweet chilli sauce and this:

2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon tahini
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 inch lemongrass
1 red chilli
Small handful corriander
1 clove garlic
All blended up.

Something Fishy

These were inspired by Fat Free Vegan’s Crab Cakes. Many thanks.

These are also based on my crabby cakes with roasty sauce. Apologies for the photo, I didn’t know they’d be so yummy…

For the Fishy Cakes

Two serve two hungry vegans with salad as a main course, or four-six delicate appetites for a starter.

1 20oz, 500g tin of young green jackfruit in water, drained
100g dried haricot beans, soaked over night, boiled for 45 minutes and drained
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 pinch wakame flakes
1 stalk lemongrass, chopped
Handful of corriander
Juice of one lime
1 tablespoon Thai green curry paste
1 large chilli
Oil to fry

Method
Put the haricot beans, lime juice, paste, garlic, chilli lemongrass and wakame into your food processor and whizz till it has the consistency of rather dry hummus.

Add the jackfruit and whizz again until the jackfruit is shredded but not a paste. The mixture should look slightly disturbingly crab-like. Those little bits are jackfruit, not tiny bones.

Remove from the blender and shape into about 6/7 cakes.

Bake these on a non-stick mat for about an hour at 150c. You can skip this stage but it makes them hold together much better.

Refrigerate them until needed, then fry on both sides until nice and brown.

Thai-style Slaw
A simplified version of this recipe, using the ingredients I have.
1/2 cabbage, shredded
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
Handful of chopped roasted peanuts

Dressing- blend
1 teaspoon peanut butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice or distilled white vinegar
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 small apple
Handful sugarsnap peas, finely chopped
1 tablespoon sirracha

Um… Mix it all up. Give it a couple if hours in the fridge, and then half an hour to warm up a bit.

Grammy Bread

When I have a cold I require eggy bread, with sweet chilli sauce or sirracha. I know, no class. I also can’t think up names, so grammy (gram flour) bread it is…

Obviously, having a cold, I’m not going to be heading out to buy tofu, so this has to be store-cupboard only.

This serves one hungry cold feeding girl.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons gram flour
1 tablespoon cornflour
1/2 teaspoon black salt
1/ teaspoon turmeric
75ml (approx) soya milk
3 slices of bread- ideally some nice sourdough
2 tablespoons oil

Method
Sift 2 tablespoons of gram flour into a wide low bowl, add 1/2 teaspoon of black salt and 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric. Beat in the milk until smooth.

Cut three slices of bread and coat them on all sides with the mixture, leaving them to soak at least five minutes, or until you’re ready.

Now get your plates and cutlery ready, get the oil hot in a big pan.

Sprinkle the top of the bread with cornflour, then transfer into the hot pan with cornflour side down, then sprinkle the other side. I think it makes it crispy. A sieve would get a more even coating but we have a cold you know!

Fry the slices on both sides until crisp and golden brown, spotted with really dark brown in places.

Serve with enough chilli to get your nose running.

Dehydrating

My new toy is a dehydrator… Hooray birthday to me.

So here is my list of things to try:

Cauliflower jerky

And good things:

• Apple slices tossed in lemon juice
• Really ripe banana
• Courgette slices tossed in olive oil, smoked paprika and onion salt

Satay Kebabs

Adapted to suit my children from here…

The recipe will make about 12 teaspoons of marinade. 1-2 is enough for 1/2 pack of Fry’s Chicken-Style Strips. Freeze the rest for other times in an ice cube tray.

Ingredients
1 medium onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 inch of ginger
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

For grown ups you can add 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes.

Method
Blend the marinade ingredients together… Toss with the chicken strips, according to the original recipe tofu is good too.

Since the chicken strips and the marinade both usually come out of the freezer I usually defrost them together in the morning and stir together as they melt.

Leave the strips for a couple of hours in the fridge, then thread into a kebab stick and grill. Soak the sticks first to stop them burning.

Serve with rice and stir fried vegetables.