April 6, 2009: Tempeh lasagne

When I first suggested lasagne for dinner recently, Cindy plied me with more options than I could begin to take in. I opted for the first on the list, the eggplant lasagne rolls, but I had my eye on the tempeh lasagne that Anni and Heikki over at Tofu for Two raved about. It's a different beast to the eggplant rolls, going for a much meatier and more traditional filling. The tempeh soaks up the salty and smoky flavours from the soy sauce and liquid smoke and, by the time it's all been mushed together with onions, garlic, tomatoe sauce and basil, you've got yourself a filling that would satisfy even the meatiest meat-eater. The vegan version of the white sauce was also a success, with the nutritional yeast and lemon juice giving a bit of flavour to an otherwise fairly plain nut-based mush.

Between the white-sauce and the filling, there's a fair bit of work involved (it helped that we had some tomato sauce leftover from the eggplant rolls), and if I were doing it again, I'd probably up the tempeh filling a bit and cut down the amount of white sauce. Still, this was another astounding success, and satisfied us both for days of delicious lunches. So within two weeks we've gone from having no particularly exciting lasagne recipes to having cooked up two of the most deliciously satisfying lasagne recipes known to man. And they're both vegan! I'm still trying to decide which one is my favourite - we'll have to make them both again to help me choose.

Tempeh Lasagne with Cashew Cream Sauce

250g lasagne sheets

The tempeh filling
2 cups tomato sauce (we still had some of this left from last time)
2 finely chopped onions
200g tempeh
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Chop the tempeh into tiny little mince-sized cubes and then heat some olive oil in a pan and fry the cubes for around ten minutes - they should start turning golden brown.

Add in the soy sauce and liquid smoke and fry until the liquid has either been soaked up by the tempeh or has evaporated.

Take the tempeh out of the pan and use it to fry up the onions for ten or fifteen minutes - until they're completely soft and delicious. Add in the basil, the tomato sauce and the seasonings and simmer for as long as it takes you to make the cashew cream sauce. Once you're almost ready to build your lasagne you can throw the tempeh back in and stir it through the tomato sauce mix.

Cashew cream sauce

3 tablespoons nuttelex
1/4 cup flour
1 cup cashews and 100ml oat milk
900 ml oat milk
1/3 - 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt

Blend up the cashews with the 100ml of oat milk in a food processor to get a thick paste.

Melt the nuttlex in a saucepan over medium heat and then add the flour, whisking it through the butter. Fry for a few minutes, whisking almost constantly and then gradually add the rest of the oat milk while whisking to keep everything as smooth as possible.

Once all the oat milk is in the saucepan, bring the mix to the boil and simmer for ten minutes or so - until it all starts to thicken up a bit. When it's almost as thick as you want it, add in the pre-ground cashew cream and the yeast flakes and stir everthing together well. Simmer for another five minutes or so and then finish things off with the pepper, lemon juice and salt.

To create your actual lasagne, layer up the two sauces with lasagne sheets - we went with a fairly ad hoc ordering - I think the main thing is to put some of the tempeh mix on the very bottom and to finish things up with the cashew sauce on top. As I said earlier, I'd rejig this slightly next time so that we have more of the tempeh and a bit less cashew cream - we were spreading the tempeh pretty thin by the time we were on our last layer.

Once it's all assembled, bake in a 200 degree oven for about half an hour - until the top layer browns nicely.

April 5, 2009: Mitte

Another week, another new breakfast spot. This time we had high expectations - Mitte won the 2009 Cheap Eats breakfast of the year award. It hasn't received too much blog attention just yet, although Jules Gormond's review had me enthused at the idea of a chickpea bake with poached eggs.

It's a cute little place - a converted residence in the vein of A Minor Place or Julio's, and while it was quite full, we were happy to turn up and scoop up a table without waiting at all. The menu is chock-full of interesting options including breakfast crumble, some delicious sounding toasts and various egg dishes.

I opted for the aforementioned combo of chickpeas and poached eggs (free range poached eggs with a Middle Eastern chickpea bake, topped with Meredith marinated goat's fetta and a shallot and herb salad, served with avocado, lemon and toats, $15).

It was bursting with flavours - fresh coriander, a yoghurty sauce and fresh lemon added plenty of spark to the spiced chickpeas, fresh avocado and perfectly poached eggs. It's a lot of food, but everything worked together so well that it was surprisingly easy to chow it all down. I was mightily impressed.

Cindy sampled from the sweet side of the menu, opting for pikelets with mascarpone and a Middle Eastern fruit compote ($10).

She was a little less impressed than me, finding the pancake accompaniments a little short on zing - some interesting spices or some sort of citrus bite would have livened things up a bit. Still, part of her disappointment probably stemmed from just how good this dish sounded - it was pretty satisfactory on the whole.

We had friendly and reasonably efficient service (although if I was being picky, we did have to wait a while for the food to arrive) and they churn out high quality coffees (and Jo's berry smoothie tasted amazing as well). It's a strong addition to the inner-north's already crowded repertoire of trendy brekkie places, but I'm not sure how The Age scored it above Min Lokal, Fandango or Las Chicas.

Address: 76 Michael Street, Fitzroy North
Ph: 9077 7379
Price: veg breakfasts $5-$15

April 4, 2009: Chocolate Mexican wedding biscuits

While Michael thoroughly covered the savoury side, I prepared a dessert for the Tex Mex potluck. If MexicanDessertRecipes.net is anything to go by, many Mexican desserts involve custard and/or dulce de leche (a milk-based caramel) and don't lend themselves to straightforward veganising (though it's by no means impossible!). Mexican wedding cookies, however, don't require eggs and I was particularly taken by this chocolate version. Chocolate's not the only ingredient that reeled me in - I also liked the use of cinnamon and ground pecans. I made my own mark on them by adding a generous pinch of cardamom and some chilli powder.

These didn't turn out quite as I expected but were still pleasant enough. Lazy ol' me tried putting the chocolate in the food processor rather than grating it, and most of the chocolate remained as separate speckles rather than disintegrating into the cookies. The spices made little impression at all. My biscuits turned out to be one of three Mexican wedding cookie submissions to the potluck (the others being traditional and raw renditions, respectively), yet most of them were happily eaten. Dessert didn't stop there, either - there were also churros with chocolate, chocolate-chilli and margarita cupcakes, and a piñata bursting with candy.

Chocolate Mexican wedding cookies
(inspired by a recipe from MexicanDessrtRecipes.net)

1 cup Nuttelex
1/3 cup icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1 cup ground pecans
1/2 cup chocolate, grated (I used dark 80% cocoa and chucked it in the food processor)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
generous pinch of cardamom
scant pinch of chilli powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup icing sugar, extra
1/4 cup grated chocolate, extra

Using an electric mixer, cream together the Nuttelex and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla.

In a separate bowl stir together the flour, ground pecans, grated chocolate, cinnamon, cardamom, chilli powder and salt.

Gradually beat the dry ingredients into the Nuttelex mixture, a few large spoonfuls at a time. Once everything's combined, it shouldn't be too difficult to scoop the dough together into a ball using a spatula. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour, preferably two.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC, and line a baking tray (or two) with baking paper. In a small bowl, stir together the extra icing sugar and chocolate.

Pinch and roll the dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter and place them on the baking tray. Bake the biscuits for 15-18 minutes, until firm to touch. Give them a minute or two to cool, then dredge them through the sugar/chocolate mixture before cooling them properly on a rack.

April 4, 2009: Green pumpkin-seed mole

Emily's Tex-Mex themed potluck has already been well covered by bloggers far more timely than Cindy and I. I'm not going to go through all the wonders that were produced - suffice to say the food was plentiful and consistently amazing. I gorged myself almost to bursting point.

Our contributions to the food fiesta were relatively modest - Cindy whipped up something sweet (which will no doubt appear here shortly) while I went mad with savoury accompaniments. Cindy recommended two of her previous Mexi-themed successes: the chipotle-onion sauce and the coleslaw from this post, and I added something new: green pumpkin-seed mole.

This is another Veganomicon recipe, and is as simple as the two linked to above - the only cooking required is a bit of pepitas toasting and then it's everything in a food processor. It did require a brief jaunt to Casa Iberica for canned tomatillos, but everything else was pretty straightforward. And it turned out a treat - only a little bit spicy, with the flavours coming more from the fresh herbs and onions, it was a nice cooling sauce to go with the more firey chipotle-based option.

Green pumpkin-seed mole

1 cup pepitas
4 black peppercorns
1 cup fresh coriander
1 cup fresh parsley
1 x 250ml can tomatillos
1 chilli, seeded and chopped
2 shallots, chopped coarsely
2 lettuce leaves, torn into pieces (although it's worth noting that I didn't notice the influence of the lettuce leaves, and you're probably better off just skipping this ingredient if you don't have any greens in the fridge)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil

Heat a frying pan over medium heat and toast the pumpkin seeds, turning regularly. It took me about 10 minutes, but it can probably be done in less if you crank the heat up a bit.

Put the toasted pepitas and the peppercorns in a food processor and blend into a coarse powder.

Add everything else except the oil and blend it all together. Throw in the oil and give it a last whizz and voila, you're done.

April 2, 2009: Gingerboy

Gingerboy's been kicking around for a few years now. It's received fairly regular attention from food bloggers over that time, and most seem to have emerged with a gripe or two. Surely, though, you're all hungry for the specific vegetarian gripe(s) we might have about Gingerboy, right? Actually, the strange vegetarian gripe I have is that they undersell their veg-friendliness.

It starts with their website. Ezard's other eponymous restaurant clearly spells out its vegetarian menu online, and even notes that vegan options are available. The Gingerboy menu? Trawlers full of seafood and a token tofu dish. The staff aren't any more encouraging. When we arrived with a large group and happily agreed to a banquet, our waiter dutifully jotted down that there were two vegetarians amongst the dozen of us. Preferring to avoid a meat overload, another in the group requested that they serve us 40% vegetarian food. After some consultation this was apparently impossible; first because they couldn't convert a percentage to a number of dishes, and secondly because "40% vegetarian won't be enough variety". Huh? Does that mean that the two vegos at the table were always doomed to a monotonous meal?

The Gingerboy crew aren't shy, however, about their cocktail menu. It's a tantalising list of twists on old classics and entirely new concoctions (all priced at $17). Michael tried the Mexican cherry blossom, a "tart and fruity" combination of Jose Cuervo traditional tequila, pink grapefruit, lime and strawberry.

I requested the more manly Glasgow kiss, a terrific sweet and sour mix of Drambuie, Campari, aloe vera, lime and vanilla syrup - finished of with a lemon peel and novelty miniature clothes peg... or peel peg in this instance.

The first dish for all was a vegetarian one - son in law eggs with chilli jam and Asian herbs. These eggs are soft-boiled, crumbed and deep-fried; we were instructed to pop an entire egg in our mouths lest we dribble the liquid yolk. Knowing the limited capacity of my mouth, I did no such thing, spilling nothing on my first bite and making a terrible mess on my second. Oh well - none of the people taking the one-bite approach looked any more elegant than I.

While the others shared cuttlefish, the vegos scored similarly seasoned and battered tofu bites. These were spectacular; piping hot and a little crisp on the outside with a centre of almost-molten silken tofu and a charming hint of spice. Topped with a squeeze of lemon, I daresay these were the equal (if not the better) of the fishy version.

As we politely offered each other the last of the tofu, a few more dishes popped up. Most were meaty, though there was also this green papaya salad, with its perky flavours of lime and basil. Michael warned me that it was rather spicy, yet I happily gulped down three mouthfuls before the chilli hit me. Once that heat turned up, it sure stuck around a while.

A couple bowls of corn cakes appeared at odd intervals and were very popular. The balance of flavours and textures was completely different to any other corn fritter I've encountered. The corn was so caramelised, and the fritters so salty; the batter so deep-fried that there was as much crispy crust as there was fluffy centre. They were an intense, and intensely enjoyable experience... but it wasn't difficult to stop at two.

The main dish for the vegetarians was inevitably more tofu. This silken brick of bean curd came with XO sauce and a chilli black vinegar dressing. The deep, mushroomy flavours were a pleasant contrast to the other tofu dish, and we had no difficulties fobbing off the second plateful to the omnivores around us.

After a puzzlingly long pause (about 40 minutes), we were presented not with dessert, but with more mains! The crispy Singapore noodles were bathed in the tangy-sweet coconut laksa and they concealed a medley of soft vegetables.

The wok greens had a pleasantly subtle saltiness, but didn't receive priority as most of us filled up.

Most of the table was utterly defeated by the time the shared dessert plates came round but, oh, not I! I'd swooned over the online dessert menu before we arrived and was thrilled to have the chance to taste the lot. While others nursed last drinks or sighed at their over-full stomachs, I (with just one or two others) was delightedly picking my way through the tofu cheesecake with pandan jelly (so creamy!), a chilli sugared banana fritter with Baileys icecream (gorgeous texture, but where was the Baileys?), a custard pot with a dehydrated and candied pineapple wedge (amazing... like a chewy toffee), a rhubarb and apple dumpling with coconut sorbet (impossible to share), and a curious sugar pudding. While it was all rather good, I suspect that it was the variety itself that impressed me most. It certainly outdid the sugar-fest we were served up at Ezard.

Gingerboy certainly didn't try to endear itself to me - the backless stools were not designed for an extended meal, references to vegetarian food were somewhat dismissive, and the hipster-bar-with-$30-mains reality doesn't exactly gel with the "South East Asian street food and hawker identity". Yet not only was the banquet tasty, it offered a few surprises along the way and was fun - the right fit for this rowdy birthday party.

Address: 27-29 Crossley St, Melbourne CBD
Ph: 9662 4200
Fully licensed
Price: banquet $65 per person, cocktails $17
Website: www.gingerboy.com.au