Vegan Reindeer (Rudolph) Cupcakes!

Ever since I discovered that Greens' moist vanilla cake mix is vegan (I confirmed this with the company) I have been finding it hard to bother making my own vanilla cake, they only cost $2 and all I do is add 2/3 cup of soy milk and as much melted nuttelex as I need to make it a cake batter consistency, you could put 'no egg' in but I just don't bother and they work out fine.

With us being only 11 days out from xmas I decided to do some pre-christmas baking, partly cause I was bored and partly cause I wanted to test run some recipes before my work secret santa afternoon tea on x-mas eve.

I used two packets of Greens' and made 16 quite large cup-cakes ( I added some cinnamon and ground ginger to the batter to make it seem more christmassy). Most people have a plain vanilla cake recipe so I'm not going to put one up, you can find a million on the internet, so just use what ever cake you like to make the cup cakes, and allow them to cool completely.


To decorate.

1 packet slivered almonds
1 packet red glace cherries
1 packet pretzels
1/4 block vegan dark chocolate melted
handful vegan choc chips (I used the brown ones out of a pack of rainbow choc chips)
a few tsp soy milk

To ice my cupcakes I used the icing packets that came with the cake mix and mixed through a few teaspoons of soymilk  and my melted chocolate until I got my icing to a good consistency. It came out really well and looks similar to a ganche (nice and shiny).

I cut 8 pretzels and  8 cherries in half  to give me enough noses and antlers for my reindeer and then iced my cupcakes with my chocolate icing.
 Push each pretzel half into the cupcake firmly until it stays upright (I just played around until I found a position I thought looked good).
Place two slivered almonds on for eyes and your half cherry for a nose.
I then dipped by choc chips in a little left over icing and used this to stick them to my slivered almonds to make little pupils.
They come out really cute, and although I am currently to full to eat them from licking about a kg of icing off my fingers I have been told they're delicious.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Mexican Breakfast Tagine

Ok, so it's been a while, but I've had a busy year and finally have six days off, so I decided it's time to start putting up the myriad of things I've been cooking and not posting.

This is actually what I had for breakfast this morning so why not start there ( I also had it for lunch, and then dinner, that is how good it is).

MEXICAN BREAKFAST TAGINE

If you don't own a tagine i'm sure any ceramic baking dish (stove top safe) will work. If you don't know what a tagine is it's a north african ceramic cooking pot that looks like this.

My house mate owns an Emile Henry Tagine pretty much identical to the one above and I have to say it is amazing and I love it and if she ever moves out I'm stealing it. Also the cinnamon quill in the recipe is a must! It will not be the same without it, trust me it's worth putting one in!

What you'll need:

Two small brown onions - chopped

Two large cloved garlic

Two fresh green chillies

One bunch coriander

One large tin of 5 bean mix (drained)

One tin of cherry tomatoes (I used russo brand)

One cinnamon quill  

One tsp of cumin

One lime

One tsp of liquid smoke

Half a bag small mushrooms (stalks removed)

I also had some sundried tomato pasta sauce which I threw in about 300ml but a few teaspoons of tomato paste would probably suffice.

What to do:

Place your tagine on stovetop on a medium heat, add olive oil to coat and fry chopped onion for a few minutes until translucent. 

While the onion is frying chop your garlic, chillies and a handful of coriander leaves together. Add these to onion mixture along with your cumin and a cinnamon quill and fry for another few minutes until fragrant, stirring occasionally. 

Once garlic is beginning to cook, add beans, tomatoes and pasta sauce (or tomato paste) and mix well. Add the juice of half a lime and the liquid smoke and mix through.

Once this mixture is bubbling add your mushrooms, place them evenly spaced around the dish, cup side up, and sprinkle with some more coriander.

This is actually a photo of a different tagine I cooked with large mushrooms but it's just to give you an idea of how to place them.

Place lid on tagine, turn heat to low and allow to simmer on the stovetop for atleast 45 minutes ( I think mine was more like an hour).

Stir and Serve!

I sprinkled mine with more coriander (I really like coriander) and some chopped shallots. I served it on toasted sourdough with lime wedges, coriander and more freshly chopped green chillies!

                                          

Crepes with sweet red bean paste

Azuki beans are one of those things I've never really attempted to cook with before, this recipe came about after an attempt by my housemate and I to make mochi, however after we discovered that we had no rice that idea was pretty much moot. Not wanting to waste our red beans we came up with this instead!

Sweet bean paste:
250g azuki beans soaked over night
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups water

Place azuki beans, and sugar in a small saucepan, add water and bring to the boil. Simmer with a lid on for 40 minutes or until beans are soft and mashable. Check regularly and top up with more water if it gets too dry. Once soft, mash with a potato masher until beans resemble a smooth paste. If too dry add water in small amounts

Crepes:

1 cup plain flour

pinch of salt

2/3 cup soy milk
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp melted margarine
2 tbsp golden syrup

Mix all ingredients together to form a thin batter, if your batter is a little thick and water in small increments. Use a large non-stick crepe pan, that is well greased. Over a high heat, pour some crepe mixture in and roll your pan to cover the bottom evenly with batter. Remember you want them to be thin! Once bubbles come to the surface of your crepe, flip it and cook for a further 30 seconds - 1 minute on the opposite side.

To bring together;

Place 1 - 2 tbsp of bean paste in the centre of your crepe and wrap around the 4 sides. To serve add a dollop of ice cream and drizzle with golden syrup.

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Sweet and Sour "Pork"

I'm not really a fan of faux meats, but I made this for the novelty, and it actually turns out really tasty. I used 'vege rib' I buy it in sunnybank at Yuens Market where they have a gigantic aisle of the stuff. If you can't get vege rib just use firm tofu, it's equally as good.

Firstly take your vege rib and tear it into useable chunks; then set a pot of vegetable oil to heat for deep frying.


Batter:
9 tablespoons of cornflour
9 tablespoons of plain flour
1 tsp of baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup of water

Mix all ingredients together to make a smooth batter, you can add more or less water depending on how thick you want your batter. Add chunks of vege rib and coat evenly; fry in batches in hot oil until golden brown, and then allow to drain on paper towel.

Sweet and Sour Sauce:

Half a cup of tomato sauce
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp of sugar
2 cloves garlic - crushed
1 tsp of freshly grated ginger
1/2 cup water
2 tsp corn flour
2 shallots cut into thin strip

Mix tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar and water in a bowl. Fry off your garlic and ginger for 1 -2 minutes in a small saucepan over a moderate heat, add the tomato sauce mixture and bring to the boil stirring occasionally. Add shallots and allow to simmer for another couple of minutes.
Mix the cornflour with 1/4 cup of water, and stir through sauce; allow to thicken for another minute or two (if sauce becomes too thick just add more water).

To Serve:
I serve this with some quickly stir fried veggies and steamed rice.  The best way is to pour your sauce over the deep fried vege rib right before serving so that they're still lovely and crispy when you eat them.

Enjoy Xx

Mushrooms Campagnola

My mum used to make this when I was a kid, although she used veal, the flavour combination is awesome and field mushrooms work fantastically in this recipe.

What you'll need:

1 Brown onion - Diced
3 cloves garlic - finely chopped
1 400g tin of diced tomatoes
2 tsp tomato paste
250 g chopped spinach - defrosted and drained if frozen
4 large flat field mushrooms
Vegan cream cheese (or mozarella if your making a vegetarian version)
Basil
Tarragon
Salt
Pepper

Using a large shallow pan fry your onion and garlic for 2 minutes until fragrant, add tomatoes and tomato paste, salt, pepper and herbs to taste and simmer with a lid on for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile cut the stems off your mushrooms and fry on a low heat until just cooked.
Place your mushrooms, cup side up in your tomato mixture and cook for another 5 minutes with a lid on. Split up your spinach and place in mushroom caps, then take a few teaspoonfulls of cheese, flatten it slightly and place it on top of the spinach till the spinach is mostly covered.
Turn your pan to a low heat and cover continue cooking until cheese is melted and spinach is warmed through.

Serve with garlic bread

Stuffed Banana Chillies

2 Large Banana Chillies
400gms cream cheese
4 large mushrooms chopped
1 tomato chopped
half a red capsicum chopped
1 small zucchini
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1/2 small onion
1 tsp sambal oelek
1 cup chopped baby spinach
fresh chopped parsley, thyme and basil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Fry onion and garlic for 2 minutes, add tomatoes, sambal,  spinach, capsicum, zucchini and mushroom and fry for a further 5 minutes or until veggies begin to soften. Take them off the heat and allow to cool.
Take your chillies and carefully cut around the stalks, remove and scrape out seeds using a sharp knife or teaspoon.
Add herbs, salt and pepper and cheese to cooled veggie mixture and stuff carefully into chillies using a teaspoon. Once filled cover in olive oil and roast for 20 minutes.
Enjoy Xx

Melon Brain

Melon brain = awesome...
they look so effective and cool, I did this one for friday 13th this year
cut a water melon in half and peel off the green skin, leaving the white behind
cut brainy patterns with a sharp knife....ta da!

I also attempted to make some brownies so I could cut them into little head stone shapes....but unfortunately I accidentally somehow managed to get a plastic handled knife in the oven whilst they were cooking and it melted and filled the oven with acrid plastic smoke....so just imagine their awesomeness. Xx