Mabu Mabu Big Esso Snack Bar

 September 24, 2021

   

I have to hand it to the Mabu Mabu team for overcoming two of my prejudices with this one offering! First, Michael and I have rarely subscribed to the 'heat and eat' services that have sprung up during the pandemic - they seem to generate a lot of packaging and aren't always convenient when you don't have a microwave. (That said, it was novel to celebrate a special anniversary at home with Estelle last year). The second prejudice runs longer and deeper - I am really, really uninterested in football. But when Mabu Mabu announced that they'd be catering vegan game boxes for the AFL grand final weekend, I was signed up in minutes!

We had the box delivered direct to our home for a $5 fee, and there was also the option of direct pick-up at Big Esso in Fed Square. It arrived right on schedule and the staff were terrific in dealing with a minor address glitch.

   

To my delight, all the heated components called for mere minutes in the oven. The dishes looked to us like enough to feed four people, and we stretched them out over a couple of days. We made the loaded chilli cheese yams for an early dinner - they're a reliably comforting carb, and we actually would've been content to skip this mock cheese.

   

We paired the yams with the wattleseed eggplant schnitzels and they came out as an early favourite - impressively crispy outside and tender inside following their 10 minute bake!

   

A couple of hours later we took on the bush tomato cauliflower hot wings. They were still a bit watery after the recommended bake time, and we should have cooked 'em longer. They weren't short on flavour, mind - I actually conferred much of my share to Michael because I found them pretty spicy.

   

By contrast, we were both making sure we got our portion of the saltbush caramel popcorn for dessert. I liked that the caramel was striped across the batch, allowing for crunchy toffee, puffy corn and nutty kernel textures.

   

We unwittingly saved the best for lunch the following day. The mini pepperberry mushroom bourguignon pies were spectacular, with an impressive thousand-layer flake to the golden-brown vegan pastry. The box included a full bottle of Mabu Mabu's organic tomato sauce, which is already a favourite condiment in our kitchen. Surprisingly, the strawberry, cos lettuce and native tamarind salad might've been my favourite dish of all - the native ingredients shone brightest here, creating a sweet, tangy and refreshing medley.

   

Unfortunately, I was nursing a headache on the day of delivery so we postponed drinking our desert lime margarita for a couple of days. It was small but strong, and we really liked the coconut notes. I was also able to throw a top-up jar of ground wattleseed into the order and, as you can see, Zimbra loved the box! So we stretched days of enjoyment out of a delivery celebrating an 80 minute game.

While the game box's moment has passed, Mabu Mabu offer other 'heat and eat' packs regularly. Now that picnic season is building up, Big Esso looks like a great potential source for riverside snacks too.

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Mabu Mabu Big Esso Snack Bar

Fed Square, corner of Swanston & Flinders Sts 

https://www.mabumabu.com.au/

Accessibility: Big Esso has a wide, flat entry, although Fed Square itself has a somewhat cobbled surface. At the moment you can pick up food at their entry, or arrange for home delivery.

Maple barbecue tempeh sandwiches with garlic cabbage slaw

September 13, 2021

   

We decided to take on a cooking project this week, and there's nothing more project-y than the recipes in Adam Sobel's Street Vegan - every recipe has about 8 components and a million ingredients. We simplified this one by dropping the beer-battered pickles, habanero mayo and marinated kale, and just focussed on the tempeh and the slaw. 

It's still a fair bit of faffing around - a couple of different sauces in the blender, pre-boiling of the tempeh and more spices than you can poke a stick at. Still: it was worth it - the sweet and smoky barbecue sauce is really wonderful, and perfect with the tangy, garlicky slaw. Definitely a sandwich that will go into our regular rotation.

Maple barbecue tempeh sandwiches with garlic cabbage slaw

(slightly adapted from a recipe in Adam Sobel's Street Vegan)

maple barbecue sauce

1 cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons treacle (the original recipe asked for molasses)

1/2 cup tomato paste

4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon liquid smoke

2 tablespoons tamari

1/2 cup olive oil

tempeh

600g tempeh

4 cups veggie stock

1/2 cup tamari

1/4 cup seeded mustard

1/4 cup olive oil

garlic cabbage slaw

10-15 garlic cloves

5 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons dried oregano

4 tablespoons maple syrup

5 tablespoons mirin

3/4 cup vegan mayonnaise

zest of 2 lemons + juice of 1

4 cups shredded cabbage

2 teaspoons caraway seeds

dill pickles, finely sliced

6 long rolls

Put all the sauce ingredients in a blender and whizz for a good minute until everything is emulsified. You can make the sauce a few days ahead of time if you need, but we did it in one hit.

Cut the two tempeh blocks into thirds and then turn them on the side and halve them - you should have 12 thin rectangles.

In a large frypan, combine the stock, mustard and half the olive oil and lay out the tempeh pieces so they're submerged. Bring to the boil over high heat and then turn the heat down, simmering for 10-15 minutes. Take the tempeh pieces out with a slotted spoon and set aside (you don't use the stock mixture again, but you can store it to use in other recipes).

Now make the slaw - preheat the oven to 180°C. Thoroughly combine the garlic cloves, olive oil and oregano in a small bowl and then pour the mix out onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Roast for 20 minutes, until the garlic is soft and golden.

Pop the roasted garlic and oil mix into a blender, with the maple syrup, mirin, mayo and lemon juice and blend them until smooth. Combine the cabbage, lemon zest and caraway seeds in a big bowl and then thoroughly mix through the garlic paste - it's easiest with your hands unfortunately.

Now finish off the tempeh - fry the pieces in the rest of the oil over high heat, for a few minutes on each side. Pour over a good splash of the bbq sauce and cook for another minute or two, turning once. 

Build your roll! A slab and a half of tempeh, a few sliced pickles, an extra drizzle of barbecue sauce and as much slaw as you can squeeze in. We got dinner and 3 lunches from this recipe - every one a delight.