editor, Author at The Kind Cook

Pancakes

on September 26, 2012

I had made countless batches of pancakes and all had been complete failures since avoiding eggs. So I gave up trying myself and starting looking online for a plant based recipe but they contained oil or loads of bi carb soda and/or baking powder, so they tasted metallic so I gave up again.

Then one day I woke up determined to once and for all make perfect vegan pancakes. Another 3 batches of experiments later… I stepped back scratching my head, wondering why I couldn’t achieve what I was looking for. A few deep breaths I went back to basics, made a recipe that was simple and it worked! IT WORKED!

YOU NEED

1 cup of self raising flour

1 cup of Bonsoy milk

1 teaspoon of egg replacer powder

1 pinch of salt

1 tablespoon of sugar

maple syrup

YOU DO

Place the milk in a large bowl.

Sift the flour into another bowl. Add the salt, egg replacer powder and sugar and stir to combine. Add the flour mixture (carefully) to the milk and fold then together *gently*. Don’t whisk and beat the batter or work it for too much or for too long. It doesn’t matter if there are some lumps. You want to combine the flour and milk but REALLY do not want to work the ingredients too much. So just be really gentle and fast with this part. Then set the batter aside for 5 – 10 minutes.

Heat a non stick pan on a medium heat (add a spray of oil if you wish) and add a ladle of batter to it. Turn the heat down a little and WAIT for the entire pancake to bubble across the surface. Be patient, at this stage they look like they are going to be so flat but with patience and the right temp they start to rise. Once they have bubbled, then and only then…gently flip it over and cook the other side until golden brown. You want the temperature to be hot enough to push the pancakes up but not too hot that they start to colour too much before you are ready to flip them.

Yields: Not sure because I was eating as I was going 🙂

Note: I haven’t tried it with other plant milks yet so don’t know if the result will be the same.

Harissa Bean Tagine

on September 11, 2012

Harissa is a hot paste from Tunisia (North Africa), made from chilli, herbs and spices. Traditionally cooked in a tagine, this dish can also be done by gently cooking on your stove top. Choose good quality chopped tomatoes and go easy on the harissa paste if you are not great with chilli

This is such a simple, uncomplicated, warming, economical and nourishing dish. Loads of fresh herbs lift its earthy notes.

YOU NEED

oil for cooking

1 large brown onion, peeled and finely diced

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced

2 x 400 gram cans chopped tomatoes

1 – 1.5 teaspoons of harissa paste

2 teaspoons of pure maple syrup

2 cans cannellini beans, rinsed well and drained

1 cup of fresh parsley, washed well and roughly chopped

1 bunch of fresh coriander, washed well, stems finely diced, leaves roughly chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt and cracked black pepper to taste

#optional – 1 teaspoon of dried chilli

YOU DO

Heat a small amount of oil in a large pan. Alternatively just use a little water and sauté the onion until softened. Add the garlic and cook on a gentle heat for another minute or two.

Add the crushed chopped tomatoes, harissa paste and maple syrup. Stir to combine and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

Add the beans. Stir through the parsley and coriander. Bring everything to the boil.

Check the seasoning. Add some chilli flakes if you want more heat.

Serving suggestion: This is lovely served with cous cous, steamed maple carrots, loads of salad dressed in fresh lime juice and olive oil. Fresh bread to mop up all the juices is also a great accompaniment.

Yields: 4 small serves

Time: Takes about 30 minutes.

Notes: Harissa paste is available in well stocked delis.

I often also add a generous handful of good quality Kalamata olives to this dish, when I add the beans.

If you have left overs, this is delicious on toast the next day.

Kiwi, Pear & Mint Frappe

on August 26, 2012

This was great for breakfast but would also be gorgeous on a hot summer’s day or served at a party (maybe with a splash of vodka).

Like most people I fall into the trap of eating the same things every day. These days though I make a concerted effort to use ingredients I either don’t like and/or never use. Kiwi fruit falls into both those categories so I grabbed half a dozen the other day at the grocer. Now after experimenting by adding them to some other much loved flavours, I have created a drink that I really enjoyed, will make for others and drink again.

The best bit about this though is it’s fat free and full of Vitamin C.

YOU NEED

4 kiwi fruit, peeled

1 large pear

I lime

10 cubes of ice

½ cup of fresh mint leaves, washed

# optional 1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup

YOU DO

Juice the kiwi, lime and pear in a juicer.

Place the juice, mint, ice cubes and maple syrup (if you are using maple syrup) in a blender and blend until all are combined and the ice has broken up.

ENJOY!

Serves: Serves 1- 2

Time: Takes about 10 minutes to make.

Freezing: Not suitable.

Note: To add another dimension to this, make some ice cubes with coconut water and use those instead of plain ice cubes.

Raw Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake

on August 26, 2012

I have tried some incredible raw cheesecakes in my travels. You would never know they were raw, nor without any dairy or animal products. They are sweet, creamy and decadent. The only noticeable difference has been that lack of that really oily texture you get on your tongue with a dairy cheesecake. Most of my recipes come from meals I cook for my family, working through all my old favourite recipes and removing and then replacing all the animal ingredients and doing the same to recipes I come across. But my interest in raw is growing, so over time I will attempt some raw recipes.

This is my 1st first attempt at a raw cheesecake, thanks to some advice from friends whom eat a raw diet. It was incredibly easy to make and assemble. The only time consuming part was the soaking of the nuts and time needed for cooling.

YOU NEED (FOR THE CRUST)

2 ½ cups of macadamia nuts

½ cup of extra juicy dried apricots

2 tablespoons of cocoa

YOU DO (FOR THE CRUST)

Blend the nuts till they are crumbly and start adding the apricots. Don’t add them all once. Just add a few at a time until you get a dough like texture. Eat any you don’t use J Blend until all ingredients are smooth and combined.

Scrape out into a spring form cake tin, lined with baking paper. Push the mixture evenly around the base of the tin and then push down onto the mixture with your fingers or by using the bottom of a glass, to make the base smooth and even.

Pop in the fridge to firm

YOU NEED (FOR THE CHEESECAKE)

3 cups of raw cashews

½ cup pure maple syrup

¾ cup melted coconut oil

2 cups strawberries, green tops removed

2 cups fresh cherries, pips and stalks removed

¼ cup water

¼ cup water fresh lime juice

3 heaped tablespoons cocao

YOU DO (FOR THE CHEESECAKE)

Drain the soaking cashews and discard the soaking water. Blend the cashews, maple syrup and coconut oil.

Add the strawberries, cherries water and lime juice and continue blending until all ingredients are well combined and smooth. The smoothness of the nuts and ultimately the cheesecake will depend on how long you soaked the cashews for and/or the amazingness of your blender. I have quite a small blender so had to do mine in batches.

Pour half the mixture into a bowl and sift the cocoa into it. Whisk till well combined.

Get your tin out from the fridge and pour a little of the chocolate mixture and then little of the cherry mixture to achieve a swirled result. Repeat until all the mixture is in the cake tin. Scrape out any mixture that is left on the sides of your blender or bowl.

Pick up the tin and bang it gently on the bench a few times to get rid of any air pockets then place in the fridge to set. I left mine over night but it seemed set after only a few hours.

Remove and serve topped with loads of fresh cherries.

Serves: A LOT. It’s a big cake!

Time: Haven’t yet recorded the time.

Note: I used a small and high cake tin (20cm diameter) because I wanted my cheesecake to be really high. If you use the same or similar size tin you could easily get away with halving this recipe.

Cherry Ripe Truffles

on August 10, 2012

This recipe was inspired by a vegan cherry ripe square I was given by a friend at a festival last year. I was just so impressed at how “just like the real” thing it was.

I had forgotten about it until I bought cherries the other day and whilst playing with other recipes my memory randomly clicked back to that first bite I took of that cherry ripe square.

I have never made cherry ripe slice or anything of the like but knew they contained 3 main ingredients, coconut, glace cherries and chocolate. I figured that’s all I needed plus a little something to add to the sticky factor for balling, so I added some pure maple syrup and a little coconut, a little cherries, a little more coconut until I reached the texture I was after. It was so easy and they are delicious! I’m guessing gluten free too?

I can see myself turning up to most events I attend in the future with these as an offering. This was one of those recipe creating moments where you finish and have a little skip in your step and really wish it was possible to patent your recipes.

YOU NEED

2 x 100 gram packs of glace cherries (ensure that they are suitable for vegans. Red colouring can be tricky)

1 ¼ cup of desiccated coconut

4 teaspoons of pure maple syrup

200 grams of dairy free chocolate (mine was a mixture of whatever I had in the pantry along with some Noble Choice Raspberry chocolate which was really lovely with these.)

YOU DO

Throw half the cherries, all the coconut and the maple syrup into a blender and blend until all ingredients are combined well and place into a large bowl

Chop up the remainder of the cherries and stir them through the coconut and cherry mixture that you just blended.

Ball the mixture into even sized balls. # If you start to get a lot of mixture stuck on your hands just give your hands a quick wash and continue balling. Pop the balls in the freezer for 15 minutes or so. Longer if you need to. This will make it easier to coat them in chocolate.

Place a sheet of baking paper on your bench.

Melt the chocolate and allow it to cool a little. Pick up a cherry rip ball and place a fork underneath it, drop the ball carefully into the chocolate. Gently roll it around a few times gently using the fork. Then once it is covered in chocolate retrieve it, with the fork. You do not stab it with the prongs of the fork, you sit the ball onto the fork so that it is cradled by the fork. Scrape the underside of the fork against the edge of the bowl to get the excess chocolate off and place it on the baking paper with as little excess chocolate as possible to set.

Repeat until all the balls are covered.

Serves: I made 18 balls but you could probably double that because my truffles were quite big.

Time: Aside from freezing time this took me about 10-15 minutes.

Freezing: May be suitable for freezing. Mine have always all been eaten 🙂

Notes: Please also note that ingredient differ slightly from brand to brand so your balls may be slightly drier or more of a wet consistency than mine. If they are too wet, slowly add a little more coconut. If they are too dry add a little more maple syrup.

It’s difficult to have the exact amount of chocolate for this kind of recipe so scrape any surplus melted chocolate you have left over onto some greaseproof paper, let it set and place it in an airtight container for another recipe

Creamy Corn Dip

on August 10, 2012

I love anything corn and anything creamy and I LOVE dip. This is a perfect offering to take to a BBQ or pot luck and no one will ever know that this is not a dairy based dip. I like to let people eat it, tell me how lovely it is and then tell them it is vegan J

Enjoy this as is or use it as a base and add anything else you wish. Finely sliced red or green chillies or lots of fresh chopped coriander would compliment this beautifully. I just wanted something super quick and simple when I made this one.

YOU NEED

1 cup of corn relish

½ cup of Tofutti sour cream

1 small red onion, peeled, cored and finely diced

YOU DO

Set aside a couple of spoonful’s of corn relish to use for garnish.

Put the rest of the corn relish and the ingredients in a bowl, stir to combine and serve.

Serve topped with the few spoonful’s of corn relish that you had set aside.

Accompany with plain corn chips or flat bread.

Serves: Makes 1.5 cups of dip.

Time: Takes less than 5 minutes

Freezing: Not suitable.

Pho Bo with Green Bean Noodles

on August 9, 2012

I was so excited to find green bean noodles in an Asian grocer the other day. I didn’t know they even existed. They are actually white but are apparently made of beans and they look just like vermicelli.

Pho is a Vietnamese street dish that is usually made using beef – “Pho Bo” but is also found made with chicken – “Pho Ga”. It apparently originated in Hanoi where we stayed only a couple of years ago whilst touring through Vietnam and Laos but I sadly never had any whilst I was there.

The trick to this dish is allowing the broth time to marry with all the flavours. It’s quite a mellow dish but the flavour is in the broth and with all the coriander and mint that you add at the end. Make sure you use the stems of the coriander because that is where most of the flavour comes from when using coriander. They will also give you a lovely fragrant crunch. Just slice them finely. If you want more heat use bullet chillies instead of long ones as the long ones are quite mild.

I like it just as is with the noodles and some vegetables but for a more filling serve you can add tofu, seitan or tempeh.

YOU NEED

1.5 litres of “beef” stock (I use Massel brand which is flavoured beef but contains no animal products)

2 teaspoons of minced ginger

2 star anise

½ cup of tamari (or soy if you do not have tamari or don’t need this to be gluten free)

200grams of green bean noodles (if you don’t have these, vermicelli or any rice noodle is fine.)

2 cups of fresh bean shoots

1 bunch of fresh coriander (also known as cilantro), washed well, roots finely sliced and leaves roughly chopped

1 cup of fresh mint leaves, washed and roughly chopped

2 long red chillies, sliced lengthways and then finely sliced (If you like heat then use bullet chilli)

1 cup of frozen peas

1 lime

YOU DO

Put the stock, ginger, star anise and tamari into a large pot bring it to the boil, then turn the heat down to a gentle simmer for about 25 minutes to allow all the flavours to infuse and the broth to reduce.

Combine the bean shoots, coriander, mint and chilli in a bowl and set aside.

Just before the next step throw the peas into the broth.

Prepare the noodles as per the packet. Using tongs put equal amounts into your serving bowls. Check the seasoning of the broth and if desired add a little extra tamari (or soy) and/or “beef” broth. When you are happy with the flavour ladle the broth over the noodles, top each serve with a generous serve of the herb mix and serve with a lime wedge.

Serves: Makes 2 large serves.

Time: Haven’t recorded this yet.

Freezing: Not suitable.

Almond & Banana Porridge

on August 3, 2012

It feels kind of odd posting a recipe on how to make porridge but at the end of the day I am blogging what I eat and this is what I had for breakfast today.

I do also find that a reoccurring question is what do I eat for breakfast. The answer is pretty much what everyone else does just minus the animal products. I have cereal with a plant based milk instead of cow’s milk, toast with organic peanut butter or vegemite and coconut oil, vegemite and cashew cheese on toast, fruit and vegetable smoothies, scrambled tofu, baked beans and the list goes on.

But I will photograph and upload more breakfast ideas over time to help anyone new to the plants only game 🙂

YOU NEED

1/2 a cup of wholemeal oats (if you don’t have wholemeal don’t worry)

1 cup of almond milk (you can use any plant based milk)

1 large ripe banana, sliced

pure maple syrup

YOU DO

Put the oats and almond milk in a bowl and stir so that all the oats are wet.

Microwave for approximately 3 minutes. You may need slightly more or less cooking time depending on the strength of your microwave.

Carefully remove the bowl from the microwave with a tea towel because it is most likely going to be HOT. Top the oats with the banana and maple syrup to taste and a dash more almond milk.

Serves: Serves 1.

Time: Just MINUTES!

Notes: To make gluten free, use gluten free oats. #ALSO NOTE: if you are coeliac discuss this with your dietitian and/or GP. Unlike other countries, Australian standards do not recognise GF oats as safe for consumption for anyone with coeliacs disease.

Baked Jaffa Cheesecake

on July 30, 2012

The best part of being vegan is constantly discovering that you can veganise most anything. Dairy was such a favourite for me but the possibilities of recreating old creamy favourites is absolutely endless.

Just use your own trusted base recipe for this. I try to avoid Nuttelex in my cooking so am still experimenting with different oils and a biscuit that I am happy to use for bases)

I will play with some other flavours and versions of this in the future and will post them as I experiment.

YOU NEED

1 x 227 gram pack of Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese (available in most supermarkets and can be found next to the cow’s milk cream cheese)

1 x 250 gram package extra firm light silken tofu, drained (I use Blue Lotus brand)

3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup dairy free milk (I used Australia’s Own rice milk because that is all I had but I would have used Bonsoy because it is much creamier in texture)

5 tablespoons of dairy free chocolate spread (You can find these in the Health Food section at most supermarkets. Oxfam does a nice one too which is Fair Trade)

the zest from 2 medium oranges

3 tablespoons of cornflour

YOU DO

Preheat your oven to 180c Prepare your favourite cheesecake base and press down into a lightly sprayed non stick spring form pan to form the base.

Blend the cream cheese, silken tofu, sugar, dairy spread, zest and corn flour until smooth and combined. Pour into the pan, onto your base. Place in the oven for approx 45 minutes. The cooking time will vary depending on the strength of your oven and the size pan you use to cook your cheesecake in.

Don’t allow your cheesecake to brown. The middle with still be a little wobbly when you remove it, which is fine as it will continue to cook even once removed from the oven. Once it is ready remove your cheesecake from the oven and allow it to cool on a bench for an hour. Then place it in the fridge for another few hours till chilled.

Slice and serve 🙂

Serves: Yields 8 slices

Time: 1 hour plus chilling time

Freeze: Not suitable

Notes: I highly recommend a zester for recipes like this. They remove the zest from fruit so easily, don’t leave the bitter pith behind and you get really fine lovely zest, instead of course and chunky zest you get when you use a grater.

Mango Banana Soft Serve Ice-Cream

on July 28, 2012

Raw banana ice-cream is a great way to use up super ripe bananas that may normally have hit the compost or sadly the rubbish bin. When your bananas get so ripe that you don’t want to eat them, quickly peel them and pop them in a bag and into the freezer and make ice cream with them. It’s a quick, healthy, super easy snack, dessert or breakfast idea.

It is also a great way to get fussy children to eat fruit. My fussy 4 currently refuses to eat bananas and has never wanted to try mango but has finally decided he likes raw ice cream. I just kept making it and kept offering it and one day he decided to give it a try and now he is asking me for it!

YOU NEED

1 large, peeled, frozen banana

1/2 cup of fresh peeled mango

YOU DO

Cut the banana into chunks.

Blend the banana and the mango in a food processor until you get a smooth creamy texture.

Serve immediately and eat before it melts.

Yields: 1

Time: 5 minutes

Notes: I use organic fruit so I mix whatever is in season with the banana.