Holy Macaroni!

"So. What do you miss most, being a Vegan?".. Oh. nothing at all really...

Yeah! Sure!  Cheese. Cheese. Cheese. Cheese. I miss it. I don't need it. I don't want it. But I miss that flavor. And I love mac and cheese and I don't care how unsophisticated that makes me. It is seriously special comfort food and you cannot tell me otherwise. Well, you can, but I ain't listening! On the net you will find a plethora of 'quick and easy!' 'Super amazing!' 'You can't tell the difference!' Vegan macaroni and cheese recipes. But who are we kidding, you can tell the difference, and I've tried a lot of those recipes and I always found they were too rich, too complex or too chunky. So what do you do when you have no answer? You make one up! So I made up a recipe which I love the most and I promise it really is 'Super amazing quick and easy Mac and cheese'! Also it contains no soy! Wow!

Holy Macaroni Recipe:
2 cups of gluten free macaroni or pasta (or normal pasta if you are so inclined!)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 massel vegetable stock cube or a tsp of the powder stock
1 Tbsp Coconut oil
1/3 - 1/2 cup of rice milk (or equivalent soy milk if you like)
Salt or Tamari to taste if needed

Method:
Cook pasta as per instructions. If it is gluten free, remember to rinse, as sometimes it can be coated in weird 'glut-free' gunch. Drain and place back in saucepan. Add all the ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon over low heat until it is nice and creamy. You may want to add more or less Nutritional yeast, depending on your taste. I don't like it too tangy so I use a little less. Also, depending on how creamy/liquidy, feel free to add more or less 'milk' also.

And that's it. Takes about 3 minutes after the pasta is cooked and now you can put it in your Belly!

Okonomiyaki is your friend!

I love okonomiyaki. I would live on it if I could be bothered making it and didn't mind living on a fried food diet. But the thing about the little Japanese pancakes is that you really can experiment with the ingredients! The one above had a subtle Indian feel, thanks to the 1/2 tsp of curry powder that I shook in. So don't be conservative with this recipe! Go buck wild!

Okonomiyaki Recipe:
4 small purple Sweet Potatoes (Or 1 large sweet potato or Yam.)
1 large Carrot
4 inches of a large Daikon
1/8 Cabbage
1/2 cup of peas(I used minted. It's all I had.....)
1 cup plain flour (I used Gluten free)
1/2 tsp Baking soda
3/4 - 1 cup water
1/2 to 1 Tbsp Tamari (soy sauce)
2 tsp Mirin
Coconut oil for cooking
Condiments: Mayonnaise(Praise 97% fat free creamy is vegan!) and Terriyaki sauce

Method:
Using a food processor with grating attachment (I got one for Christmas. Thanks Mum!), Grate sweet potato, carrot, daikon and cabbage. Transfer to a large bowl and add peas, flour, baking soda, tamari and mirin. Slowly add water until it is all nice and juicy but not too watery. Heat up a large saucepan on medium with a little coconut oil. Dump a large amount of the mixture onto the saucepan, flatten until about 1/2 inch thick with a diameter of your hand. Cook for about 5-7 minutes until crispy around the edges and like a normal pancake, you see small bubbles in the mixture, Flip. Cook for another 5-7 minutes. Serve with Mayonnaise and terriyaki sauce. In restaurants they smother the pancakes with the stuff, but I like to have 'sauce choice' so I put the sauce on the side.

Eat up my friends!

Deathrow meal request.... INARI!

I was thinking of doing a post on making sushi, but it is so darn easy, why waste the keystrokes? But something I don't think people believe is so easy, is the construction of INARI! Oooooh yes! I can eat this stuff until I am bursting at the seams with sweet rice. Imagine me, as a scarecrow, leaking rice and sesame seeds... Yep, that's me.....

First thing, Inari pouches seem to be a 'B' to make from scratch (listen, I haven't tried because the instructions scare me) so, just go to the Great eastern food centre on Russell Street, Melbourne (or your local Japanese grocer) and buy some pre-made! They are pre-juiced with sweetly goodness and ready to stuff! I picked up a 16 pack of Inari tofu pouches for $5.40! I've also seen them online, you can get a 40 pack for about ten bucks, but before purchasing this lot, remember, you have to eat them. I think like most tofu you should eat it within a few days of opening.

Inari recipe:

5 - 10 premade inari pouches (or 40 if you are really hungry. Quadruple rice recipe.)
1 cup of rice
1.5 cup water
Sushi rice vinegar
Salt
Roasted sesame seeds

Method:
To make Sushi rice:
Rinse rice. Combine 1 cup of rice with 1.5 cups of water in a medium saucepan. Add a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer. Leave to cook for 20 minutes without removing the cover. Once cooked, mix in 3 Tbsp of Sushi seasoning (or 2 Tbsp of sushi vinegar and 1 tbsp of rice malt or sugar. I buy the seasoning as it is premixed and amazing!)  Mix through with a wooden rice paddle. Leave to cool down to room temperature.

(Nb. or if you use a rice cooker, follow instructions as per your machine.)

To make Inari:
Gently open tofu pouch. Stuff full of rice. Sprinkle with roasted sesame seeds. And then......

GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE

(KFC) Kindtucky fried Cauliflower!

Yes. It's Vegan. And yes. It's So delicious. And yes. You can make this in no time at all! It is kinda heavy, but you gotta get in some fried treats now and then. Am I right, or am I right?

They're so stupidly easy to make! Kinda like a pakora or thick tempura. You can also substitute the cauliflower for any other vegetable, think broccoli, eggplant, yam(Yam!), zucchini. Amazing.....

Kindtucky fried Cauliflower Recipe:
Approximately 2 cups of haphazardly chopped cauliflower(or other yum vegetable)
Oil for frying
Batter:
1/2 cup all plain flower (I used Gluten free)
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup water

(optional: Add some spice during the cooking process. A shake of cajun, tumeric or some perhaps some 5 spice gives them a little tang! Just beware of MSG and salt content.)

Method:
In a large bowl, combine the flour, curry powder, salt, baking powder, and water to make a smooth, thick batter. It should not be runny. If necessary, add more water 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time. Mix well.

Warm 1/5 inch(or so) of oil in a large fry pan or skillet on medium heat. The oil is ready for frying when a drop of batter quickly crisps. Coat the cauliflower slices in the batter, and carefully place them in the pan to avoid splashing the hot oil. Don't crowd the pan. Cook until golden on both sides, turning once, for about 3 minutes on each side. Transfer to a paper towel to drain. Serve as soon as possible.

You can serve the little incredible bites with a nice chutney, or as I did, make a dip from some leftover dahl! Eat em up soldiers!

Recipe originally found here: Gluten-free/soy-free vegan