Stir-fried cauliflower with fermented bean curd

September 2, 2022

   

Recently a friend passed a jar of fermented bean curd to me in a swap of a few household bits and pieces. I'd never used it before but was interested in giving it a go, and quickly found a simple vegan-friendly recipe on Serious Eats to get to know this ingredient better.

This stir-fry really is so simple, that's it's just granted me permission to apply the fermented bean curd as a condiment to any stir-fried veges. The bean curd has a savoury, slightly funky flavour that reminds me most of fermented black beans. The squares have the texture of cream cheese, so rather than being chopped they are easily mashed and spread around to coat the vegetables evenly. I was cautious about how spicy it might be, but it was milder than I expected and I've been spreading the curd around more generously in subsequent stir-fries.

In this original batch, with cauliflower, the bean curd and its chilli flecks are barely visible in the photos. The recipe includes a neat steaming technique for the cauliflower that won't always be needed for other veges. I skipped it a couple of days later, when I flavoured mixed green vegetables with the bean curd and served them with Anna Jones' sticky-soy cauliflower and rice. 

Stir-fried cauliflower with fermented bean curd

(a recipe from Serious Eats)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 head cauliflower, broken/chopped into large bite-sized pieces

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons water

3 cubes fermented bean curd

salt

Heat the oil in a wok until it is smoking. Add the cauliflower and stir-fry for a few minutes, until browning at the edges and becoming tender. Add the garlic and stir-fry for a further 30 seconds.

Add the water and cover the wok to steam the cauliflower for a couple of minutes. Remove the lid and stir through the bean curd, until it has evenly coated the cauliflower. Add salt and serve.

Peanut butter & cardamom thumbprint cookies

September 1, 2022

   

I no longer work my job on Thursdays. I often have errands to run, but sometimes I have time to bake. Last week I had time to spare and wanted something sweet but not chocolatey, so I pulled up a recipe for peanut butter and cardamom cookies from The First Mess. 

I relaxed on some of the wholefoods ingredients in the original recipe. I didn't have spelt flour on hand, so I relied on plain wheat flour. Instead of almond flour I used the coarser almond meal in my pantry. Golden syrup instead of maple syrup. And, for all my airs and graces, I just really prefer the most processed peanut butter on the supermarket shelf over the 'natural' kind listed in this recipe.

In spite of all these substitutions, these cookies still have a 'wholefoods' texture to them - I credit the flaxseeds for it. I erred on the side of underbaking, and they were comforting and almost fudgy. I couldn't detect the cardamom and would double it in any future batches. 

The peanut butter caramel is very sweet and rich, and there's double the quantity here than I could fit into the cookies. I probably will halve the quantity, but this time around I followed Wright's serving suggestion of dabbing the extra on at serving time and I must admit it was pretty great. So retain or halve the caramel recipe, to taste!

Peanut butter & cardamom thumbprint cookies

(slightly adapted from a recipe on The First Mess)

peanut butter caramel (could be halved)

2 tablespoons peanut butter

2 tablespoons maple or golden syrup

1 tablespoon non-dairy milk

pinch of salt if peanut butter is unsalted

cookie dough

1 tablespoon flaxseeds

1 cup spelt or plain wheat flour

1/2 cup almond flour or meal

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom (I would double this)

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons maple or golden syrup

2 tablespoons peanut butter

2 tablespoons melted coconut oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat an oven to 180°C. Line two baking trays with paper.

In a small bowl, whisk together all of the peanut butter caramel ingredients until smooth.

Grind the flaxseeds to a powder and blend in 3 tablespoons of water (I did this all using a spice grinder attachment to my blender). Set aside for 5 minutes.

In a medium bowl, stir together the spelt/wheat flour, almond flour, cardamom and salt. Add the flaxseed mixture, syrup, peanut butter, coconut oil and vanilla; stir well to combine. Roll tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls and place them on the baking trays. Use a finger, 1/4 teaspoon measure, or the handle end of a wooden spoon to form an indentation in each dough ball. Spoon some peanut butter caramel into each indentation. Bake the cookies until golden brown, 10-12 minutes.

Allow the cookies to cool, and if you have leftover caramel you can spoon it on top when serving.

Vegan potato gratin with miso cashew cream

August 29, 2022

   

Cindy's been subscribed to the ABC Everyday newsletter since they started regularly including Hetty McKinnon recipes. She spotted this vegan miso potato gratin recently and we made it an immediate cooking priority. It takes a good chunk of time to cook this, but it's remarkably easy: blend up the cashew cream, slice up the potatoes and then combine them and bake. The end result is great - maybe not quite as creamy as a classic gratin, but rich and delicious, with the miso adding a subtle savoury note to the cashew cream base. The recipe as written makes heaps, so you might want to halve it unless you've got a big gang around for dinner or an insatiable appetite for potatoes. We used dried thyme instead of fresh because it was more convenient and it worked a treat, so don't be afraid to sub it in for the fresh.

    

   

Vegan potato gratin with miso cashew cream

(based on this Hetty McKinnon recipe)

1.5kg starchy potatoes, cut into 1/2cm wide discs

Olive oil

2 sprigs fresh thyme (we used a teaspoon of dried thyme)

salt and pepper

cashew cream

2 cups of raw cashews

3 garlic cloves

2 tablespoons white miso

1 cup stock

1 cup soy milk

4 sprigs thyme/2 teaspoons dried thyme

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat your oven to 180°C.

Whiz all the cashew cream ingredients in a blender until it's as smooth as possible

Drizzle a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into the base of a large baking dish (Hetty recommends 25 x 25cm, we wound up using two smaller ones)

Lay out the sliced potato in the baking dish so that they're overlapping - it's okay to crowd them in pretty tight.

Pour over the cashew cream and bake, covered, for 65 minutes - the potatoes should be pretty soft.

Take the lid off the baking dish and drizzle in a bit more oil, before baking for another 10-15 minutes at 220°C to finish.

Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.