Serves 4-6

When you think of soul food, you immediately think of fried chicken, which isn’t something easily veganised. I think I’ve come pretty close to hitting the nail on the head with this one though; the skewers give each piece a little handle to hold, reminiscent of a drumstick and the combination of spices make this one tasty treat. Because of their size, these are great little morsels to serve at a party or gathering as well.

Ingredients

• Oil for deep frying
• Wooden skewers
• 1 packet, Lamyong Soy Nuggets (or whatever mock chicken you prefer)
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Method

1. Leave out the soy nuggets to thaw completely.
2. Cut the wooden skewers in half and heat the oil in either a deep fryer or pan.
3. In a shallow bowl, combine the soy milk and vinegar. Whisk with a fork and set aside to curdle.
4. In another shallow bowl or container, combine the flour, salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder.
5. Thread three soy nuggets onto each skewer, leaving enough skewer to have a little handle.
6. Dip each skewer into the soy milk mix, then the flour mix before adding to the oil to deep fry.
7. Fry for about 8 minutes before draining.
8. Serve with barbecue sauce.

Serves 4

Each year on my brother’s birthday he requests a specifically themed meal for me to cook for him as part of his gift. This year he went for soul food, something I’ve little to no experience in cooking but to my delight was actually fun to do. Hoppin’ John is a classic soul food ‘beans and rice’ dish which is traditionally made using black-eyed peas and a ham hock. Vegan cooking id often about substitution so for this one I’ve had to sub in facon and turtle beans as black-eyed peas are near impossible to source in Newcastle. Hoppin’ John may look a little strange but the combination of different flavours and textures work perfectly, made even more perfect when served on a cold evening!

Ingredients

• 3 cups dried turtle beans
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/2 red capsicum, diced
• 1/2 green capsicum, diced
• 1 spring onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup facon bits
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 chicken style stock cubes
• 1 litre water
• 4 cups boiled white rice
• Parsley to garnish

Method

1. Soak the turtle beans in water overnight.
2. In a large pan, heat some oil before adding the onion, capsicum, spring onion, garlic and facon.
3. Throw in the dried thyme and bay leaves before adding the stock and the water.
4. Bring to the boil and allow to cook for 10 minutes before allowing to simmer until the beans have cooked through.
5. Serve on a bed of rice and garnish with the parsley.

Makes 6

I tried the ol’ healthy Mexican thing with my Healthy Summer Nachos and to be honest I think they went down a real treat! I know sequels can be dangerous but I whipped up some deliciously tasty healthy burritos and it’s like one of those sequels that is as good or better than the original (has that ever actually happened?) You don’t need guacamole, Cheezly or Sour Supreme to make these babies because I’ve concocted a delightful tofu and cashew cream to fill the void. Get stuck in!

Ingredients

• 6 jumbo tortillas
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 can 5 bean mix
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 2 cups cooked brown rice

Cashew Creme

• 1 x 350 gram packet silken tofu
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup cashews

Salsa

• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup corn niblets
• 1 firm avocado, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Juice of one lime
• 1 chilli finely chopped (optional)

Method

1. Firstly prepare the cashew cream by mixing the cashews, tofu and garlic in a food processor until smooth and set aside.
2. Next, make the salsa by gently combining the tomato, onion, corn, avocado, garlic, lime juice and chilli if you’re feeling spicy.
3. To make the burrito filling, sauté the onion in garlic in some olive oil before adding the beans, spices and salt.
4. Heat the tortillas in the oven or microwave until warm.
5. Lay a tortilla on a plate and place a large spoonful of bean mixture in the middle before adding some brown rice and pour over some cashew cream.
6. Fold two edges of the tortilla over the filling and then roll from one of the other edges to make a sealed tortilla.
7. Repeat with the rest of the burritos.
8. Serve with a large helping of salsa and enjoy!

Serves 4

There are some weekly markets near where I work and they always have the most amazing looking produce. I noticed some rhubarb that was just begging to be baked into something so I decided to make a crumble because it’s delicious and easy. To my delight it’s getting kind of wintery in Newcastle, so I decided to make this heartwarming dessert to celebrate.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch (about 6 sticks) rhubarb
• 1/3 cup caster sugar
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup Nuttelex, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 tablespoon sultanas

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Rinse and chop the rhubarb before throwing in a saucepan with the caster sugar. Place on medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Pour evenly into 4 ramekins.
3. In a bowl combine the oats and brown sugar.
4. Pour in the melted Nuttelex and vanilla and mix well.
5. Evenly spoon the oat mixture onto the rhubarb.
6. Sprinkle with sultanas and bake for about 20-30 minutes or until crumble becomes crisp.
7. Serve hot with custard or soy ice cream!

How Much?: $9.75

When I first heard of The Vegg (vegan egg yolk),  I was super skeptical for several reasons and had quite a few questions. Firstly, what the hell does it look like? Do I get some kind of pouch with a yolk inside or does it come in some kind of sachet? Secondly, what does it taste like? Surely it can’t taste like a real egg, or can it? Finally, what do I use this for? Is this a product I really need in my life?

I want to throw some more reviews at you guys this year so I am going to try out a new format. I’m going to give you the run down on the product and my thoughts like I usually do, but I’m going to introduce a pro and con system to break it down so you can decide for yourself if it’s something you want to try. So here goes…

What the hell does it look like?

The Vegg comes in powder form and is packaged in a foil sachet. The packaging could be made more exciting, colourful and eye-catching but that would inevitably increase the cost so for the moment we won’t focus on that. The powder itself is quite coarse and yellow in colour, it looks just like nutritional yeast (which is one of the ingredients). When prepared, The Vegg is a thick yet runny golden substance. When you heat it, it gets thicker too!

What the hell does it taste like?

It’s been a good 4 or 5 years since I’ve actually eaten an egg but from memory this is pretty spot on! As I was preparing it, the smell was even reminiscent of an egg (in a good way). My mum still eats eggs and when she had a taste she was impressed by its likeness to the real thing so that’s got to say something!

What the hell do I do with it?

From the outset, it may be hard to think of what to do with The Vegg however you can use it in practically anything that would usually require an egg yolk. The simplest application of The Vegg is by just adding one teaspoon to 1/4 cup of water, blending it, heating it and dipping toast in. The possibilities are endless when it comes to The Vegg but if you can’t drum up anything from your imagination, take a look at the website for some inspiration. See below for a little “Scrambled Vegg” recipe I came up with!

Pros

• Easy to use
• Tastes amazing
• A lot of Vegg from one sachet
• Endless possibilities
• Can now be purchased in Australia from Cruelty Free Shop

Cons

• Plain packaging
• You can’t cook it like a normal egg (as far as my testing showed, there may be a way though!)
• Some more ideas of how to use it on the packaging (including directions to make 1 vegg, instead of the whole packet)

Recipe: Scrambled Vegg with Mushrooms, Spring Onion and Cheezly

Difficulty: Easy

Serves One

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons, The Vegg
• 1/3 cup water
• 1oo grams silken tofu
• 2 teaspoons plain flour
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 mushroom, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon spring onion, sliced
• 2 tablespoons Cheezly, roughly chopped

Method

1. Blend together the Vegg and water before adding the silken tofu, flour, salt and pepper.
2. On a medium-high heat, heat some oil in a small frypan.
3. Pour in the Vegg mixture into the frypan and swirl it around to cover the base of the pan.
4. Sprinkle the spring onion, Cheezly and mushroom over the mixture.
5. Allow to cook for about 5 minutes and the Cheezly is melting.
6. Stir gently for a minute or so before serving with toast.

Serves many as a party snack

My family loves a good dip in a cob loaf and until recently I’ve exclusively made the spinach version. I thought I’d branch out and try something different, so I made a three mushroom version. YUM! The combination of mushrooms is delightfully tasty but you could really do it with whatever combination of mushrooms you have lying around.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup brown onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 cups shemeji mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 2 cups Swiss brown mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1/2 bunch enoki mushroom, cut into thirds
• 3/4 tub Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
• 1 chicken style stock cube
• 2 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise
• 1 small bunch parsley
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. Remove the top from the cob loaf and pull out some of the inside. Make sure you leave enough room to fill with dip but don’t compromise the structural integrity of the bread. Place on a baking tray.
3. Rip up the bread you’ve removed and the lid. Place around the loaf on the tray.
4. Sauté the onion and garlic before throwing in the mushrooms.
5. After tossing them around for a couple of minutes, crumble in the stock cube and stir through.
6. Add the mayonnaise and Better Than Cream Cheese and stir through, before adding some chunks of fresh parsley.
7. Pour the mixture into the bread and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
8. Serve hot and enjoy.

Serves 4

I’ve never made polenta before but by golly I don’t know why, it’s so dope! This is a great salad that you can serve as a meal or as a side dish if you want it to serve more people. All your usual flavoursome suspects are there; basil, chilli and garlic, so you know this dish really packs a punch!

Ingredients

• 1 litre water
• 1 cup polenta
• 1 teaspoon garlic
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped chilli
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped basil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 handfuls mixed leaves
• 1/2 cup unsalted cashews
• 1/4 chilli, finely sliced
• 1/2 red onion, finely sliced
• 1 lebanese cucumber, sliced
• Sweet chilli sauce

Method

1. Grease a square baking tray.
2. Bring the water and polenta to the boil on medium heat, stirring constantly.
3. After 15 minutes, lower the heat and continue to stir.
4. Stir in the garlic, salt, chilli and basil and stir for 5 minutes.
5. Remove from the heat and cover for 5 minutes.
6. Pour the polenta into the baking tray and spread out evenly.
7. Cover and allow to cool in the fridge.
8. Gently flip the pan to get the polenta out on to clean surface. Slice into 12 rectangular pieces.
9. Heat under the grill until golden, then flip and do the same on the other side.
10. Combine the leaves, chilli, cucumber, onion and cashews on a serving dish.
11. Place the polenta on top and drizzle with sweet chilli sauce.

Makes about 16 balls

I’ve been wanting to make some kind of rice ball for a while now and expected it to me much harder than it actually was. You can throw whatever you want into these babies, seeds, nuts, pebbles (probably not pebbles) but if you want more guidance, don’t fret, I’ll be making more variations on this theme very soon. If you want to make them flatter and pop them on a burger or smaller for finger food, that’s a-okay with me too.

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked brown rice
• 1/3 cup black chia seeds
• 1/4 cup white sesame seeds
• 1 small brown onion, finely chopped.
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/4 cup gluten flour
• 1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C and line a tray with baking paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine the brown rice, chia, sesame seeds and onion in a bowl before adding the salt and pepper.
3. Stir through the soy sauce, peanut butter and tomato paste.
4. Gradually add the gluten flour and breadcrumbs and stir until the mixture comes together. The rice should start to stick together when you press it together.
5. Using about 1/4 cup as a measure, roll the mixture into balls and place on a plate. Place in the fridge until ready to cook.
6. Lay the balls out on the baking tray and spray lightly with olive oil.
7. Cook for about 15-20 minutes until the outside begins to darken and the balls become crispy.
8. Serve hot!

Serves 4

I’ve been thinking of making pho for a while now, so I made a trip to my local Asian grocer and stocked up on delicious ingredients. If you’ve never heard of pho, it’s a traditional Vietnamese soup served with rice noodles, vegetables, herbs and some kind of meat. Obviously I’m mixing this up with some mock meat but if that’s not your thing just use the tofu. It’s surprisingly easy to make, just a little time consuming to prepare all of your ingredients. In saying that though, you can probably have this baby made in about an hour. Another fun idea is to just serve the broth, noodles and prepared ingredients and everybody can build their own!

Ingredients

• 2 litres water
• 4 beef style stock cubes (I use Massel)
• 1 brown onion, cut into large chunks
• 3 star anise
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (make sure it’s vegan! I use Spring Gully brand)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 375 gram packet rice noodles
• 2 cups “beef” chunks, thinly sliced (I use Lamyong)
• 1 packet fried tofu puffs (about 12 pieces, you can find them at your Asian supermarket)
• 1 bunch coriander
• 1 bunch mint
• 1 bunch basil
• 1 cup bean shoots
• 1 large red chilli, finely sliced (optional)
• 1 spring onion, finely sliced
• 1/3 cup fried shallots
• 1/4 cup chilli paste (optional)
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Method

1. In a large stockpot, combine the water, stock cubes, onion, star anise and cinnamon sticks. Bring to the boil.
2. Add the lime juice, Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce and stir through.
3. Leave the stock to simmer.
4. Prepare your noodles by placing in a saucepan of boiling water for about seven minutes or until cooked. Drain and set aside.
5. Place a small amount of olive oil in a frypan and throw in the tofu and “beef”. Toss around until heated through.
6. Lay out four large bowls and evenly distribute the rice noodles.
7. Fill the bowls with the broth before tearing up the coriander, mint and basil and placing on one side of each bowl.
8. Place the “beef chunks down the middle of each bowl next to the herbs and place the tofu puffs next along.
9. Add some bean shoots before sprinkling some chilli, spring onion, fried shallots and chilli paste.
10. Finish with a lime wedge and serve piping hot.

Serves 2 -4 depending on what you serve it with!

We all love a good pizza and there’s no better pizza than the one you make yourself, dough and all. This delightful number turns the traditional tomato base pizza on its head and instead relies on the simple yet tasty flavours of garlic and rosemary to tantalise the taste buds. You also can’t go wrong with a stuffed crust, so we’re going to chuck that in there as well for that extra burst of flavour.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 3.5 grams dry yeast (half a sachet)
• 1 1/2 cups fine Italian flour
• A pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 potato, semi par-boiled
• 1/4 brown onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 bunch rosemary
• 1/2 block mozzarella Cheezly

Method

1. The first step here is to make your pizza dough which is not as daunting as it sounds. Start by mixing together the warm water and yeast until the yeast dissolves.
2. Slowly sift in the flour while stirring constantly.
3. Now add the salt and olive oil and bring the dough together into a ball.
4. Place in a large bowl and cover with cling wrap. Leave to rise for about 45 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with baking paper (or pizza stone or whatever you want to use).
6. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into something that somewhat resembles a circle.
7. Grate 1/2 of the Cheezly and mix with about 1 tablespoon of chopped rosemary.
8. About 2cm in from the edge of the base, create a ring of Cheezly and rosemary.
9. Fold the edge of the base over the ring and press down to seal. This is to create the stuffed crust.
10. Spread the base with oil and garlic before gently laying out the potato and onion.
11. Sprinkle with some rosemary and the remaining Cheezly.
12. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until Cheezly has melted and crust has started to brown.
13. Slice ‘n’ serve.