Wabi Sabi Salon II

October 31, 2011

Back from our weekend away, Cindy and I decided to try to use our long weekend to sample a new lunch place - we had The Social Studio and their four kinds of vegetarian burgers in mind. Unfortunately, they'd had the same idea as us and had used Melbourne Cup day to manufacture a long weekend for themselves.

We kept wandering along Smith, eventually settling on one of the few places that would serve us lunch at 2:50 - Wabi Sabi Salon. I've professed my enthusiasm for their vegie bento box before and I didn't even explore the rest of the menu. Prices have gone up significantly in the past year and a bit - the vegetarian bento box has gone from $11 to $15. Still, it's a pretty decent combo: rice, pickles, a vegie dish, a salad and a random hot main.

Oh, and a miso soup to start things off.

A nice warming start to the meal, with a few pieces of tofu and seaweed in a rich broth.

The main of choice on Monday was potato croquettes: four little fried potato triangles with golden crispy shells, a few smears of a sweetish sauce and a sprinkle of sesame seeds on top. The broccoli (although sparse) came with a tasty miso sauce, while the seasoning on the rice turned a plain accompaniment into its own little highlight. This was a decent lunch, but probably not quite worth the price.

Cindy looked beyond the box option, ordering the tofu and vegetable ankake donburi ($15).

There were lots of fresh vegetables, some delicious cubes of tofu and rice. Everything was perfectly cooked, but the sauce lacked a bit of pizzazz - it was just a bit plain. Still, a fair bit healthier than four chunks of crispy fried potato.

We were happy to find a place open and willing to serve us lunch on an afternoon when most of Melbourne was taking a long weekend. We walked out fairly contented with our lunch, but at $15 a meal, we were probably paying a little more than what the food we got was worth. The service was friendly and efficient, and the setting is as charming as ever, but the food wasn't quite as good as I remembered it. I'll give them another shot, but with more moderate expectations in future.

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Since we first visited, Wabi Sabi has had mostly positive reviews, although there have been a few reservations: I'm so Hungreee, Ballroom Blintz (veg review!), Miss Adriennely, Multicultural Melbourne and E. T. & C thinks.

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Wabi Sabi Salon
94 Smith Street, Collingwood
9417 6119
Veg lunch: $14 - $15
http://www.wabisabi.net.au/

Accessibility: There's a flat entryway and a somewhat crowded table arrangement with a wide path through the middle. Ordering and payment takes place at the table, and we didn't make our way to the toilets.

Caramel slice

Of course, a weekend away requires some sweets. Having recently purchased my first can of sweetened condensed soy milk, I took inspiration from Steph - the vegan, gluten-free caramel slice she made for the VegMel picnic was a show-stopper. (It was a tribute to a recipe previously made by Johanna GGG; since then Johanna has returned the compliment and made Steph's version!)

The only tweak I attempted was cooking the base a little less. Steph's slice was quite crunchy and I prefer softer biscuit bases, myself. As it turned out, this slice sat in the fridge for a full week before being eaten and was coming dangerously close to sogginess by then. So my new theory is: bake for 15 minutes if eating soon, 20 minutes if eating days later.

No-one complained. This is a humdinger of a recipe, and isn't compromised at all in the process of veganising and deglutefying. It's something of an Aussie(/NZ/British) classic as is, but I'm kinda itching to try a crunchy peanut butter caramel version one day.

Caramel slice
(recipe from Vegan About Town,
adapted from Green Gourmet Giraffe)

base
1 cup dessicated coconut
1 cup brown sugar
125g margarine
1 cup gluten-free flour

caramel
1 x 330g can soy condensed milk
2 tablespoons golden syrup
30g margarine

topping
150g dark chocolate
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Preheat an oven to 180°C. Line a small-ish baking tray with paper.

In a medium bowl, mix together the base ingredients thoroughly. Gently press the mixture into the baking tray, smoothing over the top as best you can. Bake the base for 15 minutes.

Place the caramel ingredients in a small-medium saucepan. Stir them together over medium heat for 10 minutes, until thickened (mine didn't really change colour like Steph's).

When the base is done, spread the caramel over the top of it and bake the slice for a further 10 minutes. Set it aside to cool a while.

When the slice is cool, gently melt together the topping ingredients and spread them over the caramel. Refrigerate the slice until set. Give it a little while at room temperature before slicing into small squares.

Curry cauliflower frittata

October 28-29, 2011

To avoid the frustrating spring carnival hoopla that overtakes Melbourne this time every year, we got together with a bunch of regular vegan potluckers and booked in a weekend out of town. In Warburton to be precise. Soak up some of the serenity:

We had a houseful of excellent cooks, all taking turns to try to feed eight people and nearly as many dietary restrictions (the key three: vegan, gluten-free and garlic-free). Cindy and I drew the breakfast roster, opting for a massive pile of gf-pancakes and tempeh bacon on the Sunday morning and pre-preparing this giant cauliflower frittata for Saturday. The recipe (based on one from Vegan Brunch) fit the bill perfectly - it was substantial enough to feed a big group, could be taken up basically completed and, most importantly, it was a taste sensation.

Cauliflower and tofu make up the bulk of the frittata, with carrot and spinach adding a bit of colour to the mix. The key to the whole thing is having a decent curry powder - we realised as we were making this that we'd run out, so I ad-libbed something out of the spices we had around. It worked okay - I'd be keen to try this again with a proper spice mix though. As delicious as it was, a whole plate would probably get a bit samey without a few accompaniments - Cindy's pickled radishes provided the perfect acidity kick, while stir-fried greens offered something a bit colourful on the plate.

This was a great start to our Saturday, filling us with the energy we'd need to sit around eating chips, playing cards and drinking wine.

Curry cauliflower frittata
(adapted from a recipe in Vegan Brunch)

home-made curry powder
1 tablespoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon coriander powder
1 tablespoon cardamom powder
1/2 tablespoon mustard powder
1/2 tablespoon turmeric powder
1/2 tablespoon chilli powder
1/2 tabelspoon garam masala

the rest
3 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 onion, finely chopped
6 cups finely chopped cauliflower (as small as you can!)
3 cups finely chopped spinach
900g firm tofu, pressed and crumbled
3 tablespoons gf soy sauce
Juice of a lemon
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 smallish carrots, grated
salt to taste
3 egg replacers (we used the Orgran stuff)

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

In a large frying pan (or two medium ones in our case), fry the onion and the cauliflower in the oil for about 10 minutes, until it's softened and started to brown up. Add the spinach and fry for another couple of minutes, until it wilts and can be easily stirred through.

While the cauliflower is cooking combine the tofu with the soy sauce, lemon juice, nooch, grated carrot, curry powder, salt and egg replacers in a large mixing bowl.

When the frying is all done, stir the cauliflower/onion/spinach mix into the tofu mix and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Press the mix firmly into a large, lightly greased cooking tray and cook until it's warm through and lightly browned on top (about 40 minutes). The recipe suggests flipping the tray over to serve, but we weren't brave enough and just cut slices out.

Sesame-soy pickled radishes

October 27-29, 2011

We rarely eat radishes. In fact, for years at a time I kind of forget that radishes exist. Vege boxes and well-tagged delicious accounts make veges like this one much more fun to deal with! A cute little radish bouquet, in three or four different shades of pink and purple, was delivered to our door recently and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had tagged, tucked away then forgotten no less than three radish recipes.

This one was posted on Nourish Me more than three years ago. It's very easy and very, very tasty. It involves pickling radishes for just half an hour (though I left mine overnight), then dressing them in soy sauce, sweetener, a dash of sesame oil and a sprinkle of chilli powder. They're sweet, salty and earthy, with just the teensiest bit of bite to them. Lucy has some lovely serving suggestions; I imagine eating them with braised tofu, steamed greens and rice, though I'd happily eat a substantial mound of these pickles on their own. They're radishes I'll remember.

Sesame-soy pickled radishes
(adapted slightly from a recipe at Nourish Me,
which is itself adapted slightly from Kylie Kwong's Simple Chinese Cooking)

pickling
1 bunch radishes (I had about 10 of varying sizes)
3 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons sea salt

dressing
1 1/2 tablespoons tamari
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar, agave nectar or maple syrup (I used the latter)
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
generous pinch chilli powder

Wash the radishes and slice them into the thinnest rounds you can. Place them in a small-medium bowl with the sugar and salt, mixing it all together. Let the radishes pickle for half an hour, or refrigerate them for longer (I left mine overnight). 

Whisk together the dressing ingredients in another bowl. When the radishes are ready drain them, gently squeezing out some of the pickling juice, and transfer them into the dressing. Gently toss them through the dressing and serve or store for later.

Fried noodles

October 24, 2011

October's calendar recipe was simply titled 'fried noodles'. It was a fairly quick and easy dinner to throw together and provided plenty of leftovers - a winning combination for working week cooking. It's not the most exciting recipe, although the sesame seed sprinkles add something a bit interesting to a fairly standard stir-fry. It's a filling and relatively healthy meal, and a good way to use up some vegie box bits, but I'm not sure we'll make it again in a hurry.


Fried noodles

1/4 cup sesame seeds
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
3 teaspoons sesame oil
4 spring onions, chopped finely
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 red chillies, chopped finely
200g firm tofu, cubed
150g button mushrooms, sliced
4 small carrots, cut into sticks
2 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons shoshoyu (Japanese soy sauce)
2 teaspoons sugar
350g packet of hokkien noodles

Toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan until they're just golden (be careful they don't get away from you and burn!). Take them off the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes before whizzing them in a spice grinder or food processor to make powdery sesame sprinkles.

Combine the sesame and sunflower oil in a small bowl and stir together.

Heat half of the oil mixture in a wok and stir-fry the spring onion, garlic and chilli over a medium-high heat for a couple of minutes. Remove the fried mix from the wok and set aside.

Now stir-fry the tofu for 5-6 minutes, until it's gone nice and golden. Once it's ready, remove it and set it aside for later.

Pour the remaining oil into the wok and, once it has warmed up, stir-fry the carrots and mushrooms for a couple of minutes. Add the water, shoshoyu, sugar and noodles to the wok, making sure you've separated the noodles and stirred them through the sauce as much as possible. Cover the wok and leave to cook for 4 minutes.

Add back the tofu and the onion mix to the wok, stir everything together and serve with a generous sprinkle of the sesame seeds on top.