Vegan MoFo2014 – Recipe: Chilli

So I’m going to this picnic and I tried to make baked doughnuts and they failed. So I had to come up with another dish. A little while ago I made a Salami Style Crumb. The taste wasn’t particularly salami like and I thought at the time that it would make a good base for chilli.

The original mix

Ingredients:

1 batch of Salami Style Crumb.
1 Can of Diced Tomato.
1 Can of 3 Bean mix.
2 Large Tomatoes, diced.
2 Cups of Water.
1/2 A teaspoon of Cumin Powder.
1 Tablespoon of Sugar.
Chilli Flakes  and Salt to taste.

Method:

Put all the ingredients in a pan except the Chilli Flakes and Salt. Cook until excess water is gone and fresh tomatoes are softened.

In the pan

Add the Chilli Flakes and Salt to taste.

Chilli

Verdict: I should have added the chilli flakes! There was too much pepper on the mix already and the chilli is very spicy. Mind you I am a chilli wimp, other than that it taste pretty good.

Vegan MoFo2014 – Recipe: Baked Doughnuts with Lemon Glaze

At the last minute I decided to RSVP for a pot luck picnic being run on Sunday by one of the meetup groups I subscribe to. It’s not a vegan event so I was at a bit of a loss as to what to make. After a lot of useless thinking I decided to have a look through the recipes bookmarked on my computer and I came across a jam doughnut recipe. After a bit more thinking I decided that The recipe wasn’t the right one for me as they required deep frying (which I have only done once in my life and wouldn’t taste as good when cooled down and served the next day. So I did a bit of Googling and found this recipe

Ingredients:

2 Cups of Non Dairy Milk (I used soy).
1/3 Cup of Oil.
1/3 Cup of Agave or Maple Syrup (I used Brown Sugar).
1/2 Cup of Sugar.
1 7g Package of Dry Active Yeast.
4 1/2 Cups of Flour.
1 Teaspoon of Salt.

Method:

In a saucepan combine the Milk, Oil, Syrup and Sugar and bring to the boil. Turn of heat and leave to cool for 1/2 an hour.

The boiled mixture

Add the Yeast to the liquid mixture and stir in. Leave to activate for 10 minutes.

Put 4 cups of the Flour and the Salt in a large mixing bowl and add the activated yeast mixture. Mix thoroughly.

Before proving

Cover the mixture with a tea towel and leave to prove in a warm place for 1 hour.

Set the oven to 180 Celsius (350 Fahrenheit). After the mixture has proved, it should have doubled in size, add the remaining 1/2 cup of Flour.

Cutting out

Roll out dough to about 1 Inch thick and cut into shape. Place the doughnuts and the holes on a tray covered with baking paper and bake for 10 minutes

Lemon Glaze

Ingredients:

1/3 Cup of Lemon Juice.
1 Cup of Icing (Powdered) Sugar.

Method:

Combine Lemon Juice and Icing Sugar thoroughly and leave to harden a little.

Remove the doughnuts and holes from the oven and dunk them into the glaze. Leave to cool on a rack with something underneath to catch drips.

Eat.

Baked and glazed

Verdict: Unfortunately my dough didn’t rise properly (I think the wet mixture was still too hot when I added the Yeast). The end product was a bit doughy, edible, but not something I would serve to others. The glaze was delicious. Since I can’t take the doughnuts to the picnic I had to make something else.

Vegam MoFo2014 – Help Please?

So on a whim a little while back I bought a discounted can of Pumpkin.

The can

The issue is that in Australia we use pumpkin to make soup, salad or put it with a roast. All quite tasty but a bit boring and not really doable with canned pumpkin. Pumpkin is desserts is basically unheard of here so of course that’s what I want to try. But which recipe? I only have 1 can to use and I want it to be awesome.

A few recipes I have found:

Pumpkin Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

Pumpkin Cranberry Bagels (I’m pretty sure I’ve got some dried cranberries in the cupboard somewhere.)

Spiced Pumpkin Cookies

So which one should I make? Or do you have a different idea / recipe? Comment and let me know!

Vegan MOFO2014 – Recipe: Tomato, Lentil and Herb Lasagne

This recipe s for the 52 Weeks of Vegan Cooking week 36 Italian Challenge on Reddit. For all my talk of “Italian food is not just tomato and cheese” in the challenge introduction for this week… I’ve made a pretty traditional (westernised) lasagne. In my defence I’ve had most of the ingredient in the cupboard for a while but have been too lazy to actually make anything.

Tomato and Lentil Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 a Yellow Onion, diced.
1 Clove of Garlic, minced.
1/2 a Medium Capsicum (Red Pepper), diced.
1/4 head of Cabbage, chopped small.
125 Grams(4.5 Ounces) of Spinach, I used frozen.
2 Cans of Diced Tomatoes.
1 Can of Lentils, drained and washed.
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Method:

Heat some oil in a large pot and add the onion and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent.

Add the Capsicum, Cabbage and Spinach and cook until soft.

Veggies!

Add the Lentils, then add the Tomatoes plus one can full of water.

Before reducing

Cook until the excess water is gone, you want it wet but not watery.

Herbed White Sauce

Ingredients:

1/4 Cup of Vegan Margarine or Oil.
1/4 Cup of Plain Flour.
1 Clove of Garlic, minced.
2 Cups of Water.
2 Cups of Non-Dairy Milk, I used Rice Milk.
1 Teaspoon of Vegetable Stock Powder, I used Massel.
1 Tablespoon of Dried Thyme.
1 Tablespoon of Dried Basil.
1 Tablespoon of Dried Oregano.
Mustard (Optional).
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Method:

In a large pan heat the Margarine and the Garlic. Add the Flour and whisk.

Add the Milk and the Water one cup at a time, whisking as you go.

Add the Stock Powder and the Herbs. Add the Mustard if you’re using it.

Add Salt and Pepper to taste.

The herbed white sauce (it’s under the steam)

Assembly

Ingredients:

1 Packet of Lasagne Sheets, I used Wholemeal.
Vegan Cheese (optional), I used Cheezly Parmasan style.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).

In a large deep baking pan ladle 1/4 of the White Sauce and spread evenly over the bottom. Place 1 layer of Lasagne Sheet.

Add 1/2 of the Tomato Sauce, then 1 layer of the Lasagne Sheet.

Add 1/3 of the White Sauce, then 1 layer of the Lasagne Sheet.

Add 1/2 of the Tomato Sauce, then 1 layer of the Lasagne Sheet.

Add the remaining White Sauce and then top with Vegan Cheese if using.

Ready to bake

Bake for 40 minutes.

Done!

Cool for 10 – 20 minutes then serve.

Delicious

Verdict: Yum yum yum! A little too salty, but that’s my own fault. Sweet too, presumably from the cabbage. The vegan cheese left a lot of oil on the top, otherwise fantastic!

Vegan MOFO2014 – Introduction

So due to some negative (and very rude) feedback from one of my restaurant reviews I’ve been neglecting this blog lately.

Anyway I was on Reddit last night and I noticed something… LOTS of new vegan recipe posts. With I little investigation I worked it out the 2014 Vegan Month Of Food (MOFO) has started! But wait… didn’t I sign up for that? I checked the official site and yes I did sign up. (A little commnication from the organisers prior to the start of the month would’ve been nice).

So what is Vegan MOFO? It’s a month long challenge for food bloggers. You don’t have to be a vegan to join in but all posts tagged for the challenge must be vegan. Participants must post regularly throughout the month. Many posts are recipes but you can post anything you want.

For Vegan MOFO2014 I intend to do a few different things:

Firstly I have a backlog of drafts, mostly restaurant and products reviews, and I hope get a number of these posted.

Secondly I have a lot of ingredients in my cupboard bought on a whim (or a discount) and I definitely need to make use of them (and make space in the cupboard).

Thirdly I have over 200 recipes bookmarked on my laptop and I hope to make a few of them.

Well welcome to Glitter Blog and Vegan MOFO2014 and I hope you enjoy reading my blog.

Vegan MOFO2014 – Recipe: Salami Style Crumb

52 Weeks of Vegan Cooking challenge on Reddit is back again (because I’ve recently taken over as moderator) and the Week 33 challenge was DIY Mock Meats. Now there was a recipe I saw and saved a while back that I’ve been wanting to try… sort of. I’ve never particularly liked the spice combination of chorizo but I thought the recipe had a good base. I used that base in an attempt to make my own vegan salami.

Ingredients:

1 and 3/4 Cups of TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) Mince.
2 Cups of Vegetable Stock, Hot. I used Massel brand.
1/4 Cup of Roasted Capsicum (Red Pepper), finely chopped.
1/4 Cup of Black Olives, finely chopped.
1/4 Cup of Red WIne Vinegar.
3 Tablespoons of Tomato Paste.
3 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce.
1/2 and White or Yellow Onion, minced. I used the food procssor for this.
3 Garlic Cloves, minced.
3 Tablespoons of Paprika.
Coarsly Ground Pepper.
A Pinch of Ground Cinnamon.

Method:

Put the TVP and the hot Vegetable Stock in a large bowl, cover and set aside for at least 10 Minutes. I only has TVP Strips so I had to rehydrated them then chop them into mince sized pieces; sooo time consuming!

Add all the other ingredients into the bowl and stir together.

All chopped up and ready to go

Set aside for about 20 minutes while you hang out the laundry (or whatever it is you need to do).

Almost done

Heat a little olive oil into a large pan or wok and add the mixture. Cook until all excess moisture is gone.

The finished product

Set aside to cool. Enjoy.

Verdict: So it doesn’t really taste like salami but that’s okay because it still tastes good. It has a rich flavour and a meaty texture. I added a bit too much pepper so it’s a bit spicy and I used all smoked paprika making it far to smoky. Next time I will use 1 Tablespoon of Smoked and 2 Tablespoons of Sweet Paprika.