Beach

The Vegetarian Dinner Diary Project

Tonight’s dinner was a picnic on the beach with friends. We had a lovely time and I completely forgot to take a photo of the food! But I did take one of the beach instead.

It was a simple affair with fresh bread, organic cheddar cheese, semi dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, chili bean dip, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and a big box of strawberries. Oh, and a few beers too. The weather was a perfect 29 degrees and the kids cooled off in the surf. Perfect.

I do like the excuse to go food exploring in suburbs that I normally rarely visit. So the decision of our brunching group to move our focus from cafes around Melbourne Uni to cafes around Swinburne (wise move, since most of us don’t even go to Melbourne anymore!) was very much welcomed by me, as Hawthorn is a bit of a dark shadow on the map of my foodie knowledge.

Axil Coffee Roasters sits solidly on busy Burwood Road. It is a big, deep space, surfaces all decked out in a palette of dark greens and blacks, with splashes of exposed wood and vertical racks filled with pot plants (some of whom seemed to be struggling in the hot weather). The clientele is eclectic, with the requisite number of students, business folk and even some of Hawthorn’s genteel older guard. Axil clearly ticks a lot of bases for people.

The main base is, obviously, coffee. There’s a crazy amount of bean choices, drip coffee, filter thingies, and probably a whole heap of other crazy coffee options that are completely wasted on me. Overwhelmed by all this coffee new-fanglery, I retreated to the tea menu to see of there was anything to spark my interest. There’s a small selection of teas by Victorian tea company Larsen and Thompson, and I decided to go with the most interesting and unusual option, the white peony tea. While it didn’t have the light orange colouring promised by the menu notes, it had been properly brewed before reaching my table, meaning there were no tea leaves left to stew in the pot and sour the second cup. It was a subtle blend, starting off very quiet yet building up flavour with each sip. It wasn’t quite as floral as I’d expected (though floral notes are definitely present, beware floral loathers), but all in all a very satisfying brew worth trying.

Food-wise, it was a bit hard to single myself down to one dish, but I ended up going with the savoury French toast with spinach, sauteed wild mushrooms and truffled pecorino cheese, plus I added a side of haloumi that came with a lemon wedge. This was a good solid meal, everything was cooked well, the bread of the toast wasn’t soggy and was liberally coated in egg, and I was pleased to see that wild mushrooms meant a variety of mushrooms. I couldn’t help feeling though that, without the inclusion of the haloumi, it was all a touch bland. My suspicions were confirmed by Alison, who had ordered the same without haloumi, and opined that the dish as a whole lacked something. Perhaps next time I’ll order the corn fritters instead, Jess and Kim both had these and they looked colourfully fabulous.

It’s sometimes interesting to see how staff in a place react when things go wrong, rather than experiencing service where everything goes right. Towards the end of our eating, and just when some of us were getting a second beverage, a harried waiter came up to us and apologetically requested whether we would mind moving to a table outside. None of us were quite sure at this stage exactly why we were being asked to move, but we are nothing if not amiable folks and all pottered out to go sit in the sun. Once we were settled the harried waiter returned and explained that someone had taken a booking and not informed the other staff. He was very sorry that we’d had to move (we weren’t! We were in the sunshine!), and insisted on striking the price for all the drinks we’d had. We protested, but he won out, and in the end he not only didn’t charge for drinks but rounded down our bill as well. Crisis well averted, young man, and very happy customers you made in us!

Axil was for the most part an enjoyable place to spend a afternoon eating and chatting happily with friends. I might need to try a few more items on the menu to be entirely sold on the food options, but the beverages are good, the service more than obliging, and it’s just a nice spot to hang out.

Axil Coffee Roasters

322 Burwood Road, Hawthorn

Ph: 9819 0091

http://www.axilcoffee.com.au/

Nut slice with salad, etc

The Vegetarian Dinner Diary Project

Tonight’s dinner – Nut slice with herb tomato sauce, Yorkshire pudding and mixed salad.

I usually make this nutty dish as a roast but thought I’d try it as a slice instead tonight. It worked really well – the best bits are always the crispy edges and by making it as a slice there are a lot more of them!

In the first picture it is hard to see the nut slice underneath all the sauce so I’ve added a second picture of it alone (half eaten). For those interested, the nuts are cashews and almonds with a mixture of onions, mushroom, tomatoes, bread crumbs. eggs and seasonings.

Nut slice

I often make this recipe as a nut roast for Christmas and the meat eaters always like is just as much as the vegetarians.

28 Jan 2012
After a request from a good friend I’ve decided to add the recipe for the nut slice and sauce. So here it is …

Nut Slice

Ingredients:

• 100g raw almonds
• 200g raw cashews
• 2 medium onions
• 2 large chopped tomatoes – tinned is fine
• 4 medium mushrooms
• 200g fresh breadcrumbs
• 3 tsp plain flour
• 300 ml vegetable stock
• 3 tsp yeast extract
• 2 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 2 eggs lightly beaten

Method:

Grease and line a 27cm x 18cm non-stick tin and preheat the oven to 190c. Prepare all the ingredients by chopping finely in a blender and set aside in bowls:

• Chop nuts together
• Chop breadcrumbs
• Chop onions
• Chop mushrooms

Saute the onion in a little oil until soft, then add the chopped tomatoes and mushrooms and cook together for about 3 minutes. Stir in the flour, cook for a minute, and then add the vegetable stock. Cook for a few minutes and stir whilst the mixture thickens. Turn off the heat and add the yeast extract. Stir through thoroughly and then add all of the remaining ingredients – the eggs last.

Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for approx 45 – 50 minutes until the top is crisp and the nut slice is firm. When cooked, set aside for a few minutes before removing from the tin. You should be able to lift the whole slice from the tin using the greaseproof paper and place straight onto a serving plate.

Thanks to Rose Elliot for the original inspiration!

Herb tomato sauce

I always serve the nut slice with a herb tomato sauce. Saute a finely chopped medium onion in olive oil with 2 large cloves of chopped garlic. Add a large tin of chopped tomatoes, 2 teaspoons of dried mixed herbs and salt and pepper to taste. You can also add a handful of fresh herbs towards the end of the cooking. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

Chana dal with salad

The Vegetarian Dinner Diary Project

Last night’s dinner – leftover chana dal with basmati rice, tzatziki and a big mixed salad.

There are some things I eat almost everyday, and salad is top of the list. Anyone who has been following my dinner project through January will have realised this by now. A big mixed salad makes an appearance with almost every (not quite all) home cooked meal. I just love salad vegetables and they go with everything!

Happy 2012! My apologies for the lengthy delay between posts, but hopefully it’s been a great start to the year for you all and you’ll accept my best wishes for a healthy, delicious and fabulous 2012.

My lovely vegan friend came for dinner this week and I decided to stuff eggplants as our main. I wanted something as a topping but as I find a lot of vegan substitutes to be very processed, I didn’t want to use a vegan cheese. Instead, as a bit of an experiment, I used a ‘crumble’ mix and found it worked really well – not only did it complement the roasted veggies and brown rice of the stuffing, but added great texture.

This crumble mix is really versatile and I have also used it on top of an eggplant parmigiana instead of breading the eggplant slices (out of sheer laziness!) and have stuffed roasted mushrooms with it, as pictured. Anything could be added to the basic recipe so if you don’t have some of the ingredients, substitute with whatever you have handy. But make sure you use good quality bread, not the poor excuse for bread we find in most supermarkets (though there can be some decent ones hiding in amongst a bad lot). I have mainly been using an organic spelt bread – the ends and odd pieces collected from old loaves and kept in the freezer – but any dense-ish bread will do; wholemeal, rye, barley or the like – as long as it makes breadcrumbs.

My bread ends aren’t really dried out like what’s used to make ‘proper’ breadcrumbs. They are stale, but still have a bit of moisture and I like the texture of them better than the powdery dry versions you can buy. I put them in a coffee grinder and pulse quickly, making sure they are still quite chunky. This will also work in a food processor but if you have neither, just rip the bread into very small pieces.

Savoury crumble/stuffing mix

4 slices of stale bread, made into breadcrumbs

½ cup walnuts, chopped

¼ cup or so of olives, finely chopped

3 tblsp chopped fresh oregano or 2 tsp dried herbs

1-2 cloves garlic, finely diced

1 tsp lemon rind

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

• Put all the ingredients, except the olive oil, into a bowl and mix to combine
• Pour olive oil over the breadcrumb mix, stirring continuously, until it is coated with oil. Do this quite slowly as you don’t want to use too much oil and make it too greasy, but these crumbs will soak in more oil than dryer crumbs so just enough so it all presses together
• Use it to stuff mushrooms or tomatoes, to cover stuffed vegetables, as a savoury crumble topping or as you like! This mixture will keep for a day or two in an airtight container in the fridge.

Chana dal and bok choy

The Vegetarian Dinner Diary Project

Tonight’s dinner – Chana dahl with basmati rice, sauteed garlic bok choy and tzatziki.

The wholesome and spicy chana dahl was great with the garlic bok choy lightly sauteed in sesame oil. Of course I had to add my obligatory handful of coriander leaves and tzatziki on the side.

Home made chips and Greek salad

The Vegetarian Dinner Diary Project

After a lovely day at the beach we lingered over a bottle of wine whilst these delicious home-made oven roasted herbed chips took a long hour and a quarter to roast to perfection. Crispy, salty and herby – and delicious with a big plate of Greek salad made with organic feta cheese.

• A bunch of polenta, prepared

• 1/2 eggplant
• 1/8 of a pumpkin
• 1 zucchini
• 1 brown onion
• 2 portobello mushrooms
• a few tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 tbsp cumin (ground)
• 1/2 tbsp coriander (ground)
• 1 tsp chili powder
• salt
• pepper

• 1 can of cannellini beans
• 2 small cloves or 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup liquid vegetable stock
• a tbsp or so of olive oil

February is FebFast, a one-month no-drinking challenge. Some people are into it, and some aren’t, but whether you sign up to do it ‘officially’ or not, there are compelling reasons to give up alcohol next month:

• You will sleep better. Even if you are a good sleeper, sober sleeping is of a much higher quality and you’ll get a better rest.
• You will feel better. We forget that alcohol is, above all, a depressant. Yes, it’s fun. But it’s also a downer, even if you don’t feel it at the time.
• You will look better. Not drinking is good for your skin, it’s good for your waistline, and all that great sleep will have you sparkling.
• You’ll have more energy. No hangovers = clearheadedness + restful sleep = more energy.
• You will have more spare time. No one ever has enough time. But think of how many hours you spend a week drinking, and consider how you could productively spend that time. Catching up on work, exercising, sleeping, reading…?
• You will have a lot of extra cash. Seriously, how much do you spend on alcohol in a month? Imagine what you could do if you had that sitting there as a lump sum at the end of Feb.
• You will have support. Loads of people stop drinking in February so there will be plenty of ginger-beer sippers to hang out with. It’s totally socially acceptable and you won’t have to explain yourself to anyone.
• It’s just 29 days. Even if you don’t see any benefits and it’s the total absolute worst thing you’ve ever done in your entire life (note: it won’t be), it’ll be over in no time.
• You can say you’ve done it. When I did sober Feb in 2010, it was the first time I’d gone without alcohol for so long in my adult life. This is not unusual! Taking a break and going sober for a month makes you exceptional and awesome – so it’s worth doing, even just to say you have.
• It might lead to something else. After a (surprisingly!) successful sober Feb in 2010, I decided to moderate my drinking, which I failed miserably at. So I decided to take a year off drinking. Having done a sober Feb and seeing that I could abstain (even if it was hard), I had the courage (a year later!) to quit drinking. If, like me, you want to be in control of your drinking, taking a month off – or any period of abstinence – is a great place to start.
• YOU CAN DO IT. If I can, anyone can – trust me. You’ve just got to commit, tell your friends and family, and take it one day at a time.

How to stop drinking for a month: Sign up to FebFast, check out Hello Sunday Morning’s #12in2012 mission, or ignore all advisory organisations and just make a personal decision not to drink this February.

11 Reasons not to drink this February – click to tweet!

Cherry jam.

The recipe is (loosely) as follows: pitt as many cherries as you can be bothered. Discard any rotting/mouldy fruit as this can cause the jam to spoil. In a large pot over medium high heat add the cherries, grated apple (I used 2 apples for 1kg of cherries) and the juice and grated rind of a lemon. Cherries have very little pectin in them. Pectin is the natural gel stuff that allows jam to set. Adding apple and lemon, which are both high in pectin, means you’ll get a good set on this jam. Add the same weight of sugar to fruit (I added a little less: 1kg sugar to 1.2kg of fruit). Sugar is important because it acts as the preserving agent and prevents mould and bacteria from growing. Stir until the sugar dissolves and let this get to a rolling boil. Skim off any frothy scum that rises.

Place a light coloured saucer in the freezer - this will help you test whether the jam is at setting point (and ready to be bottled). While the jam is boiling, sterilise your jars. I wash the jars and metal lids in hot soapy water, rinsing them well and letting them air dry (NOT towel dry) in a very low oven. They should be completely dry and hot when you add the jam. 

After the jam has been boiling for about 10 minutes and has reduced a bit, spoon a little out onto your cold saucer. Let it cool for a minute then push the jam with your finger. If little ridges appear at the sides and your finger makes a clear channel (the jam doesn’t run back to fill the gap) it’s ready to be bottled. Turn off the heat and carefully spoon the jam into the hot jars. Screw the lids on and wipe away any spills. Let them cool and store for later.

☥The bold bits are the science-y things about making jam that I think are supercool.☥

Ayurvedic lunch.

Spiced chickpeas, beetroot and carrot pakoras with mint chutney, and purple cabbage and sesame coleslaw.

Satay burgers with salad

The Vegetarian Dinner Diary Project

Tonight’s dinner – satay veggie burgers with Persian yoghurt and feta dip and salad.

After eating out a bit lately I really felt like something fresh and simple tonight. This really did the trick – tasty and light.

Just a quick update about the cleanse I did last week. I spent Friday afternoon feeling a little nutty about food (mostly imagining what I would eat on Saturday!) but great overall. On Saturday I woke up feeling full of energy and generally just awesome.

I ate nothing but fruit, veggies and nuts all weekend, and it was fabulous. After drinking juice for a week I really appreciated all the excellent flavours, not to mention chewing. I ate organic stone fruit and berry salads, giant salads with Japanese dressing, baked sweet potato with tahini and green veggies, massaged kale salad… yum. I had a super productive weekend, cleaned the whole house, and got a lot of writing done. Coincidence? I think not!

During the cleanse it was interesting to take a step back and think about how and what I eat. A few things I noticed:

• Every morning that when I woke up I felt like a big glass of water. Usually when I wake up I start planning how to get coffee into me, and I feel like I might have broken that dependency/habit.
• I can’t stomach breakfast first thing when I wake up, but green juice goes down well.
• I tend to want to eat more in the evening, and forget to eat during the day when I’m busy. I was drinking three juices by 4pm then have a further three to drink before I went to bed (!!), but in the last few days I forced myself to stick to a schedule and drink more evenly across the day. And I felt more energetic for it!
• Sometimes I think I mistake thirst for hunger. Once I started drinking the requisite two litres of water a day I never felt hungry again.

Of course, what happens after the detox is the most important thing. I said last week that my eating habits had gotten pretty bad/lazy, and I want this to be the turning point where I start eating well and looking after myself again.

If you’re interested in doing a cleanse, I do recommend Schkinny Maninny (still). They deliver juices to your door every day, it’s not a starvation thing (you get 1700 calories), and it’s all-natural, ie. you don’t have to take any weird supplements or powders. Importantly, it’s pretty yum – I didn’t like the evening soups (but I do like the lentil lunch one), and the green morning juice feels a bit intense the first day, but the rest is tasty. The downside is, of course, that it’s kind of expensive.

(If you’re interested, the 15% off discount code that Schkinny Maninny gave me to pass on still seems valid – Olivia Gao used it recently – so hit me up if you want to try it!)

I’d be interested to hear your experiences of doing detoxes or cleanses!

Mee goreng noodles

The Vegetarian Dinner Diary Project

Last night we ate out (again!) at Ah’Loys Malaysian restaurant in Bay St, Brighton.

We tried this restaraunt a few years ago but hadn’t been back since. I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed my meal, including the lovely company of friends. In fact I was enjoying myself so much I completely forgot to photograph my starter!

This is what we ordered to share:

• tofu goreng (no photo) – a deep fried tofu sandwich stuffed with beanshoots and a spicy satay sauce
• Malaysian vegetable curry with rice
• tofu mee goreng noodles – I love this dish
• mixed vegetables
• chocolate roti with ice cream – this was really delicious

Malaysian mixed vegetable curry

Mixed vegetables

chocloate roti with ice cream

Tomato, basil and mozzarella rigatoni

The Vegetarian Dinner Diary Project

Last night’s dinner – tomato, basil and mozzarella rigatoni.

I make this dish every few weeks and it is always a winner. In summer the roma tomatoes and basil are fabulous which makes it even tastier.

A little forethought is required with this dish as it takes between 1 to 2 hours to reduce the sauce depending on the type of tomatoes used. Late on a Saturday afternoon with a glass of wine though, this is no problem at all. Slow food at its best!

The first time I visited Singapore, in 2009, I hated it. It was hot, humid, shopping-obsessed, shiny, loud, and so clean as to feel sterilised.  All I remember about the food was economical rice for breakfast, and that all the vegetarian places seemed to close at 6.30pm.

This time, I’ve really enjoyed it. Possibily because I’m more travel-seasoned now, possibly because I’ve just spent three months in places where you freeze if you take off your heavy coat, or possibly just because everybody speaks English and the cultures are more familiar to me, which is nice as I’m a bit tired from so much change.

In any case, its been a joy this time around.

William Gibson once referred to Singapore as disneyland with the death penalty, and he wasn’t wrong.

If you haven’t been there, I’ll explain. Singapore is like the rest of region (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Lao, Indonesia and Malaysia) – hot and humid, colourful, a little smelly, and with tropical plants.

The difference is that everyone speaks English, the public transport is safe and reliable, there are footpaths, and you can drink the water. You can get great vegan food, its really easy to get around (although a little time consuming), and the public infrastructure is (in some places) exceptionally good.

On the crap side it is a heavily consumerist society – never will you visit a train station without being surrounded by people holding branded shopping bags – and a very segregated one (in terms of work, at least). Nearly without exception, all outdoor council staff (garbage collection, road works) and constructions workers are Indian or Bangladeshi men. Its also quite strict, with severe penalties for drug offences, and penalties such as corporal and capital punishment still on the books.

Four cultures are intertwined here. It is predominantly ethnic chinese, with a significant number of citizens and temporary workers from Malay, Indian and Bangladesh backgrounds. It shows in the shopping centres, with clothing stores selling short shorts and badly translated printed tee-shirts next to modesty clothing stores for Islamic Malay women, next to a sari store. It also shows in the street scopes, where you can find mosques, temples, and churches. And of course, it shows in the food.

Okay, if you can’t be vegan in Singapore, there really is no hope for you. Between the Indian options everywhere, buddhist vegetarian stalls, fresh fruit and veg, soy bean drink and supermarket fare, vegans are more than covered here.

There are plenty of dedicated vegetarian restaurants, ranging from down at heel to super fancy, but your best bet is to head to a hawker centre.

Hawker Centres and Food Courts
Within walking distance from any housing block there will be a hawker centre – a number of food stalls surrounding a shared seating area. In addition, most shopping centres (and these are everywhere) have a food court, sometimes in addition to a hawker centre.

Most of the food courts and hawker centres will have a dedicated vegetarian stall, whether Indian or Chinese, as well as a number of omni stalls, a dessert stall and a drinks stall.

The Indian option is self explanatory really – ask about dairy, then order off the menu or point at the the buffet options. I love a dosa if we find a south Indian place, Mr loves chenna masala and paratha (when we can get it vegan), but the buffet options are usually fine.

Dishes in a row from an Indian Hawker stall near Changi Village

At the Chinese Buddhist stalls you often have two options. You can order from the menu, or get economical rice. Menus vary, having soups, fried rice dishes, Malay dishes like nasi lemak, mock fish dishes, dumplings, Hainan chicken rice (flavoured rice served with some vegan and some pale, mock boiled-chicken), anything. A meal can range from $2.50 to $9 depending on what you order. The pros of ordering from the menu are that you get a fresh, hot meal, and you know what you ordered.

I prefer economical rice for the variety, even though it is often a little cold. Economical rice is when you get a plate with rice, and you choose a number of dishes-of-the-day from the buffet. The dishes usually include a number of mock meats (fish, roast pork, chicken, squid), some tofu, several vegetable options, and a curry. To get this, ask for rice, then point of self serve from the other dishes. Ask for gravy to get some curry sauce (or other sauce) over your rice. You can usually get brown rice if you want. A price of a rice plate depends on what you choose, but it is most often around $3 to $3.50 for a meal.

Economical Rice

You generally can’t buy a drink from the place you got your food. You need to find the dedicated  drinks stall to quench your thirst. You can always get bottled water, fruit juices, soft drink and beer (with ice in it), but why do that when you can often find home made ais limau, iced tea (Teh O Ice/Ais), rose cordial, water chestnut cordial, Chrysanthemum Tea, cold soy bean drink (thinner and sweeter than Aussie soy milk) or sugar cane juice?

If you want something sweet, you have to check out the dessert stall. Filled with fruits, sweet red beans, ice and (vegetarian) jelly, you can’t go wrong. My favourite is Ice Kechang. Its a bowl with sweet red beans, lychees and jelly, covered with a mountain of shaved ice, three colours of syrup, one sweet corn (admittedly not my favourite part) and sweet milk. Vegans (like me) just ask for it without the sweet milk, and sometimes you can get coconut milk if you’re lucky.

Ice Kechang with coconut milk

The top view

Underneath the Ice Kechang mountain

A note of caution: Beware the omni places at the hawker centers and the food courts. This goes especially for the ones advertising tofu (dofu or Tau Foo) or vegetables. Singaporeans eat tofu and veg, but it is usually flavoured with meat stock, ground pork, mini fried fish, fish flakes, pork floss, chicken skin, oyster sauce etc etc etc. Its up to you, but unless I couldn’t find something else, or my language skills improved, I’d steer well clear of these places.

Coming soon on AroundTheWorldVegan, restaurant reviews, so much soya bean drink, and a guest post by Mr!

The vegetarian Dinner Diary Project

We had a delicious Japanese meal at Kaga in Elsternwick last night.

There were plenty of excellent vegetarian options and we loved everything we ordered. We had a selection of starters and mains and asked them to come to the table in no particular order as were sharing them all. We had:

• seaweed salad
• nasu dengaku – eggplant with sweet miso paste
• vegetable tempura
• vegetable don – rice with seasonal vegetables and sauce
• vegetarian California rolls
• Japanese pickles

Vegetarian California rolls, nasu dengaku, pickles

Vegetable don

Vegetable tempura

Ingredients for veggie Mexican tortillas

The Vegetarian Dinner Diary Project

Tonight’s dinner was one of my son’s favourites – veggie Mexican tortillas.

I prepared all the ingredients than then we filled and rolled our own tortillas at the table. The veggie mince was made with Quorn mince with onion, taco seasoning and coriander. We also had an avocado, tomato, spring onion and cucumber salad, shredded lettuce, cheese and spicy salsa.

A fast and simple meal after a very busy day.

Veggie Mexican tortilla ready to wrap