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.

Gasometer VI

11/11/2013: We're sad to report the closure of our beloved Gasometer.

October 23, 2011

   

On Sunday last week we shared a farewell meal with Steph. We're sad about her absence from the VegMel scene but super-happy-excited for the adventures coming her way. We were also just a little excited to check out Gasometer's new menu. It's very much a continuation of the Americana theme and heavy on the mock meat; the beloved vegan Southern-fried chicken burger and Buffalo tofu strips remain but there's so much more to distract one from revisiting them. Vegan and veganisable options are well-labelled and cover most of the menu, gluten-free options are less abundant but still clearly stated. Michael, Toby and I split three new meals for optimum taste-testing.

   

Toby started out with the chicken and waffles ($21), choosing the iceberg wedge with ranch dressing and grilled corn cob brushed with smoked garlic butter as his sides. I did not hold high hopes for this sweet and savoury combo but was pleasantly surprised - the Southern-fried mock meat, waffles and syrup were a pretty tasty combination. That said, I can't imagine ever polishing this off solo.

   

I ordered the BBQ pulled 'pork' sandwich ($20) with chips and slaw on the side. I barely recognised the slaw, more minced than shredded now. The chips are still great (phew!). I was most excited, though, to test out this jackfruit-based 'pork'. Opinions are divided - it's a little smoky, heavily sauced and very, very sweet. The bun is pretty sweet and puffy too, adding to the effect. I liked this 'pork', though I wished it came with an extra contrasting filling - something fresher with a bit of chew.

   

Michael's Reuben sandwich ($20) was the widespread favourite, a tower of imitation pastrami betwixt rye bread slices, with a little sauerkraut and Russian dressing. Another meal I couldn't ever hope to defeat on my own. His sides of cornbread and greens were solid if not inspiring.

Gasometer is going bigger and better with every alteration. I love it, but my appetite is struggling to keep up with their super-sizing. It's probably time I scaled back to apps and zerts.

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Check out our previous visits to Gasometer: one, two, three, four, five. The new menu has already been covered by Louise, By Degrees. Veg*n reviews have also recently appeared on Healthy Party Girl, Ballroom Blintz, Black Bunny Carousel and easy as vegan pie. There's only been one omni review in the last few months, on two munch. Everyone loves the food, though some of us have had to wait for it.

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The Gasometer
484 Smith Street, Collingwood
9417 5539
veg eats $5 - $21
facebook page

Accessibility: The Gasometer has a small step on entry. The tables are crowded in some areas but the booths and tables closest to the entry are relatively spacious. Ordering and payment occurs at a high counter. Male and female toilets are on the same level as everything else but are not particularly spacious.