I made this sweet potato rosti burger on Thursday night when Susan dropped by for dinner. I served it with crumbed cauliflower, which I will be blogging next, followed by molten chocolate cakes.

For the burger you will need:
300g sweet potato, grated
1/3 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon cumin
1 garlic clove,crushed
100g cannellini beans
1/4 cup water
oil, for frying
burger rolls
butter, for buttering the rolls
baby spinach / lettuce / rocket
red onion, finely sliced

For the tangy garlic mayo you will need:
3 tablespoons mayonnaise, I used Plamil soy mayo
1 garlic clove
1/2 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon onion chives, chopped

In a food processor blend together the beans and water to form a paste. Set it aside.

Add the flour to the sweet potato in a large bowl.

Along with the cumin,

garlic and cannellini bean paste. Season with salt and pepper.

Combine all of the ingredients well with your hands. Don’t use a spoon for this. It is not nearly as much fun!

Using your hands separate the sweet potato mixture into fist size portions. I have carni-hands so if you are a normal person with normal sized hands err on the side of small fist fulls.

Simply flatten each portion between your hands to form a disk. You want it thick enough that it stays together but thin enough to crisp up while cooking.

You should make four-six patties. I made six thanks to my small hands!

Now you can shallow fry or deep fry the rostis, I chose to deep fry mine. Was that even a question?? I would deep fry a salad if I thought it would taste good! Oh, one day I will have to tell you the story of the time my mum went overseas and my dad tried to deep fry camembert for us kids… suffice to say we didn’t eat deep fried camembert that night!

Heat your oil to 180°C, make sure you test that the oil is at the right temperature before you start cooking the rostis. Once the oil is hot enough cook each rosti separately.

You want the oil to bubble like champagne when you put the rosti in. If it doesn’t do that take it out and wait for the oil to heat further. If you leave it in the oil and the oil isn’t hot enough you will end up with a mushy oily patty. And no one wants a mushy oily patty.

Once the rosti starts to brown and the outside is crispy remove it from the oil and leave to drain on paper towel. Repeat the process with the remaining rostis.

While the rostis are a fryin’ start on the tangy garlic mayo. Or tangy aioli if you want to be all fancy pants.

In a bowl combine the mayo,

lime juice,

garlic

and chives. Stir to combine and pop it in the fridge until you are ready to assemble your burgers.

Lightly butter and toast or grill your burger rolls. These are wholemeal and we so delicious. Usually I am all about the white bread but I think I may have been converted!

Add one rosti to the bun and top with…

some tangy garlic aioli/mayo,

something green (I used baby spinach) and red onion.

Serve with a side of crumbed cauliflower or a salad if you are that kinda person.  I am not that kinda person.

Enjoy!

For this you will need:
125g vermicelli (rice) noodles
2 carrots
1/2 red capsicum
150g sugar snap beans
1/4 cabbage
2 birds eye chillies
4 shallots
150g block of marinated tofu, I used Nutrisoy’s ‘Spicy’ tofu
1/2 cup Thai basil leaves
1/2 cup mint leaves
1 tablespoon vegan oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
1/2 lime, juiced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
50g roasted peanuts

Start by finely slicing the carrot, beans, capsicum and cabbage.

De-seed the chillies by cutting them in half and running the edge of a sharp knife down the spine.

Slice the chillies into fine strips.

Slice the shallots however you like. I did mine on angles in 1cm lengths.

Try to keep the vegetables uniform, it helps with the general appearance of the dish.

In a small bowl combine the oyster sauce, ginger, lime juice

and brown sugar. Mix it well and sit it aside while we cook the stir-fry.

Now you can marinate your own tofu; if you choose to do that make sure you use firm tofu and you rinse and drain it well. But as one highlights of this dish is that it is very quick to throw together I prefer to use pre-marinated tofu. This time I used Nutrisoy’s ‘Spicy’ tofu. It comes in three sheets but I only use two for this dish.

In a wok heat one tablespoon of the peanut oil and crumble in the tofu. Quickly stir-fry the tofu until it has warmed through.

Once the tofu is done transfer it to a bowl. Put the wok back on the heat and add the remaining peanut oil.

Over a high heat, stir-fry the carrot, beans, capsicum and cabbage for 5 minutes or until the vegetables start to soften.

Add in the shallots,

tofu,

basil and mint. Stir for one minute.

Once we did this “Asian cooking class” through TAFE in Mackay. Back in those days Kris had only ever cooked a stir-fry using the packet vegetables from the frozen section at Woolworths. The kind you have to cook the crap out of and then drown in soy sauce to get any flavour. Anyway, we were all standing over our woks cooking this stir-fry, I think it was a peanut stir-fry… but maybe I just have nuts on the brain, and the teacher comes up to Kris and goes “It’s a stir-fry. Not a stand-there-and-watch-it-burn-fry”. It was the best line ever. I think of that every time I’ve made stir-fries since. Suffice to say, my stir-fries are always very well stirred!

Remove the stir-fry from the heat and transfer it to a large salad bowl.

While the stir-fry was cooking/is cooling prep the noodles. For thin vermicelli noodles they generally require soaking in a covered bowl of boiling water for 10 minutes. Make sure not to over cook them or they will become soggy – you want them to still be firm and separate easily.

Once the noodles are done stir them through the vegetables.

Mix through most of the crushed peanuts.

Along with the sauce.

Serve the salad in bowls and top with some more peanuts. I like it extra nutty.

Enjoy!

You’re probably thinking ‘what the hell is seitan’? Even if you are already vegan (and don’t worry, it is nothing like tempeh. Don’t let the crazy vegans convince you that that stuff is worth a lick of your taste buds! EW!). Seitan is the ultimate meat replacer. Wait, wait! Don’t run away yet! I know most of you omnivores out there think we vegans and our meat replacers are like walking oxymoron’s. I hear it from you all the time “but I just don’t get you people who refuse to eat meat but will eat a “replacement”. Why not just eat the real thing??” Well aside from having morals the idea of eating meat is up there with having your nails pulled out on the list of things to do for a vegan but some of us still like the taste of bacon or beef so it means we can have the taste without the taint.

Have you ever been to a restaurant, most probably located in or close to Chinatown, that you weren’t sure if what you were eating was really chicken or pork or duck or even fish? It probably wasn’t. It was probably seitan. Welcome, you are now eating vegan! Yep, we can make just about any meat product from seitan. Seitan is a mix of wheat gluten and flavours. And trust me, it is amazing!

You can add just about any flavours to the wheat gluten to make seitan at home. This time I wanted something akin to a peppery chicken burger patty. Have a shot and let me know what you think!

For these you will need:
6 burger rolls
Nuttelex
Lettuce
Beetroot
1 1/2 onion
1/3 cup tomato sauce
1/3 cup vegan mayo, I used Praise 99% Fat Free (Ninja!)
1 teaspoon chili powder
Dill
1 3/4 cup warm water
1 chicken stock cube, I used Massel (Ninja again!)
2 tablespoon BBQ Sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/8 teaspoon browning essence
2 teaspoons tahini
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups wheat gluten
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup noosh

In a bowl combine the warm water, stock, one tablespoon of BBQ sauce,

soy sauce,

liquid smoke, browning essence,

tahini

and vegetable oil.

Mix well and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl combine the wheat gluten,

flour,

noosh, (look at that beautiful waterfall of noosh!! Don’t you just want to stick your head under it and drink it all up?? So much vitamin B goodness!!)

garlic powder,

paprika

and pepper.

Combine the dry ingredients with a fork and form a well in the center.

Pour the wet ingredients into the wheat flour mix.

And use a dough hook to combine the ingredients. The dough will be sticky to touch but firm and elastic.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll it out to a 1cm thickness.

Cut out rounds that are approximately 10cm in diameter. You should get eight patties out of the dough but I only made six and wrapped up the remaining dough for another night.

Unless you have a very sharp round cutter you will have to use a knife to cut the rounds out – the dough is very elastic. Don’t worry about making them perfect circles, you want them a little rustic.

Lay the rounds out on an oiled tray and bake in a preheated oven at 180°c for 10-15 minutes.

While the seitan patties are baking we will make up the special sauce.

Finely dice half a small onion.

In a small bowl combine the onion, mayonnaise,

tomato sauce,

the remaining BBQ sauce,

chili powder

and dill. Mix well and refrigerate.

Remove the seitan patties from the oven when they start to brown. Make sure not to overcook them though as they will go tough. You really don’t want tough burger patties!

As they cool the patties will start to wrinkle, that is perfectly normal and what you want. The wrinkles adds a little extra texture.

In a fry pan fry the remaining onion, chopped into half rounds, with some olive oil.

Once the onions start to brown remove them from the pan but leave the pan on the heat.

Dip both sides of the seitan patties into the special sauce.

Then quickly fry them in the remaining olive oil.

A minute on either side is more than enough!

Butter and slightly grill your burger patties. Cover the base with a layer of special sauce.

Add a burger patty and onion.

Top with a couple of slices of beetroot

and lettuce.

I did plan on only eating half and keeping the other half for lunch the next day. Hahahaha that was never going to happen! I dare you to try and eat half a burger. It is undoubtedly impossible.

Enjoy!

But thanks to the wonderful Kris, I have a charger without having to battle the scary outside world again so once my camera is charged, photos from America* have been downloaded and I have the desire to eat non-processed foods again then I will have a new recipe up. Pinkie promise!

*Oh yeh, I didn’t mention that little tidbit, did I? I ducked over to the States in June. Outside of it being a complete failure/hell on earth, there was some REALLY amazing vegan food. Let’s hope I took some photos of the noms!

I have been mulling over this post for the last month or so trying and rewriting the post to make something kinda special. I wanted to go along the lines of Allie from Hyperbole and a Half and make you all laugh at what a crazy ride the last few months have been, or write something strong and heartwarming like The Bloggess. But as I’ve been learning over the past few months I can’t expect what I want in my head to be exactly as life turns out. Life will always be greener on the other side and I can not be perfect like I see all of those other people. But I can keep trying.

So today I am here, sitting at my kitchen table, selling my furniture on ebay to pretend I am bringing in some form of wage since the big dipper stole my job from me, dreaming of a better tomorrow and contemplating what my next recipe should be.

I went quite a while without eating anything more than Fry’s Nuggets and even longer without stepping a foot in the kitchen but slowly my appetite and asbestos hands and coming back to me and recipes are flowing again (just don’t count the last three cardboard lasagnas I’ve made… Thank-you Kris for pretending they were good!). Tomorrow will hopefully see my first real post in five months up here and hopefully that will be the next step to getting my life back.

**I just want to give a massive thank you to my amazing partner Kris. You’ve helped me so much everyday. I couldn’t have gotten through this without you. I owe you a lychee martini at our favorite place with the pretty lights when everything is better! My mum, who asked me at least once a week without fail when I would be blogging again. Without her I probably would never have come back. And also to Susan who was by my side with baked goods, crappy movies, hugs and absolutely no pressure everyday – you are the best crazy cat lady a girl could ask for

There was group cooking, swimming (Ok, that may have just been me…), movies, vodka (Ok, that may have just been Matt) and so so soooo much food. Here is just a taste of what we… tasted on Saturday.

I was forced to use a recipe so I made Balsamic Maple Wingz from Tamasin Noyes’ ‘American Vegan Kitchen’

Along with my version of the wingz

Susan’s Ribz*

Matt and James’ fried tofu balls

Susan’s barbecue tofu

Susan’s Mac&Cheese

Mitch’s salad

More of Matt and James’ balls

Susan’s ranch dressing to go with my wingz

Susan’s creamy broccoli salad

Susan’s garlic and dill bread

My Choc-Ridonc cake

And Susan’s chocolate truffle pie.

It was amazing and I want it all in front of me again… please?

*Updated to add Susan’s Ribz. How did I forget about my new love????

This Sunday was no exception for us! I was craving pancakes with lemon and sugar but I was fresh out of lemons and nothing was getting me out of my trackies to battle the fruit barn on a Sunday morning so I whipped up these little babies and could not have been happier. These are rich. By the end of eating two crepes Kris curled up in a ball and exclaimed “So much butter! I didn’t know that was possible!” I say “poo-ie” to Kris, these boys are juuuuust right!

For this you will need:
2 no-eggs
1 & 1/2 cups soy milk
1 tablespoon melted butter, 3 tablespoons butter ( I use Nuttelex)
1 cup plain flour
pinch of salt
6 button mushrooms, finely sliced
black truffle, approx. 6 fine slices
5 oregano leaves
lemon thyme (or plain thyme with a dash of lemon juice)
rocket leaves

In a bowl combine the no-egg, milk,

one tablespoon of melted butter,

flour and salt.

Whisk until all of the lumps dissolve and the batter is smooth.

In a crepe pan heat a small amount of butter or oil and cook the crepes until they start to brown on each side. Remember that you are cooking crepes not pancakes so the batter should be very thin in the pan. If you have the skill it should be nearly translucent. I don’t have skill.

Meanwhile, in a fry pan melt the remaining butter over a high heat.

When the butter starts to bubble reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the butter starts to darken.

When the butter starts to change colour add in the mushroom and fry on both sides until they are brown.

Consider dipping bread straight into that bubbly, buttery goodness.

Once the mushrooms have browned add in the truffle slices. If you don’t have access to truffles you can substitute it with a dash of truffle oil.

Along with the herbs.

Remove the mushroom/butter mixture from the heat.

Assemble the crepes with the rocket, mushroom and truffles and drizzle with the burnt butter sauce.

Drizzle a little more sauce over the top. It’s Sunday, you’ve earned it!

Bon Appétit!

If you don’t have candy canes laying around your cupboard you could easily use any other hard candy, preferably something minty though.

For these you will need:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons butter, I use Nuttelex
1/2 cup rice milk
1 no-egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 serving of cream cheese icing
5 candy canes, crushed

In a mixing bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder,

butter,

sugar

and baking powder. Using an electric beater, mix the ingredients until they start to come together.

Slowly add in the milk and no-egg until the mixture is combined.

Stir through the vanilla essence.

Along with the nutmeg and cinnamon.

Divide the mixture between 12 cupcake papers and pop into a pre-heated oven at 160°c for 25-30minutes or until they pass the skewer test.

Once the cupcakes are cooked remove them from the oven to cool on a rack.

Take your cream cheese icing and mix through half of the crushed candy canes. Leave the icing/candy cane mixture to sit on the bench for 10 minutes. This allows the mint flavour from the candy canes to spread through the icing.

Once the cupcakes have cooled completely ice them with the candy cane icing and sprinkle with the remaining crushed candy canes.

Serve with some hot chocolate or a butterscotch schnapps.

Although these are very much a Christmas dessert there is no reason why you can’t indulge all year round. We are all over those New Years’ resolutions right? Right??

For this you will need:
4 portobello mushrooms
500g firm tofu, drained and pressed
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2 red capsicum
1/2 cup marinated sun-dried tomatoes, with the oil
1 roasted artichoke
3/4 cup bread crumbs
herbs to taste, I used rosemary and parsley
salt and pepper, to season
4 tablespoons basil pesto
1 serving of cheese sauce

Start by removing the stems and gills of the mushrooms and setting the caps aside. Don’t throw out the insides though!

In a food processor combine the tofu, mushroom stems and gills, onion, garlic, capsicum, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke, herbs and 1/2 a cup of bread crumbs until combined.

Stir through two tablespoons of the sun-dried tomato oil.

And season with salt and pepper.

Coat the inside of the mushroom caps with one tablespoon of basil pesto each.

And heap the tofu mixture on top, pressing it down firmly.

Top with the remaining bread crumbs and pop in a pre-heated oven at 200°c for 20 minutes or until the mushroom caps are starting to wilt and the tops are browning.

At this stage remove the mushrooms from the oven and top with a generous serve of cheese sauce. Return the mushrooms to the oven for a further 5-7 minutes. Or if you are impatient like me chuck them under the grill, it won’t be quite the same but you will get to start eating these glorious mushrooms sooner!

Once the cheese sauce has melted a little and started to brown remove them from the oven completely and they are ready to eat! I served mine with some greenery and a balsamic vinaigrette.

Enjoy!

Give it a shot and tell me what you think!

For this you will need:
2 thick slices of bread
3 no-eggs
1/2 cup soy milk
1 banana
peanut butter
butter, I use Nuttelex
maple syrup
icing sugar (optional)

In a shallow bowl whisk together the no-egg and soy milk until it becomes frothy.

Dip both sides of the bread slices into the no-egg/soy milk so that it is generously coated.

Place them in your sandwich press and cook until both sides are golden brown. You could also do this in a fry pan with some butter.

Once the toast is brown butter the outside sides of your sandwich with the plain butter.

And generously coat the inside slices with peanut butter. I like chunky peanut butter, people who like smooth are just weird.

Cut banana slices onto the bottom piece of toast.

Top it with the remaining piece and return to the sandwich press.

Once the bread is toasted to your standard transfer the sandwich to a plate and coat it in maple syrup. And then add a little bit more syrup. Oh my golly I love maple syrup!!

Dust it with some icing sugar. While we’ve crossed the line of unhealthy we may as well keep running!

And enjoy!

You can burn my house, steal my car
Steal my liquor from my ol fruit jar
You can do anything that you wanna do
But ahahoney lay off my banana and peanut butter sandwich!