Favourite things Part 1

Over the last week I’ve been cooking up a storm, using all my favourite ingredients. Some, like lasagne, McVegan breakfast burgers, and caramel topping, I haven’t bothered to photograph.

Others were more fortunate and without further ado, here’s the first batch!

Brussels Sprouts, Pumpkin and Walnut Stir-Fry
Okay, actually I like to make this with hazelnuts, but I couldn’t find any. I also added some Tofutti ricotta because I hadn’t tried it before. It worked pretty well, but it isn’t a necessary ingredient.

Pumpkin, Walnut, Brussels Sprouts

Serves 3 as a side (when two of those people are 6 foot something and hungry)

• 1 1/2 cup cubed butternut pumpkin
• 2 cups peeled and halved brussels sprouts
• olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tsp agave syrup or maple syrup
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1/2 cup halved walnuts or hazelnuts
• pinch nutmeg
• 1/2 cup vegan ricotta

1. In a large, non-stick pan, sauté the pumpkin and garlic for 10 minutes.
2. Add the sprouts, and cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Add the agave and soy, and the nuts, and toss through over heat for another 5 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and quickly toss through the ricotta and nutmeg.
5. Serve immediately.

Orechiette with pesto
This doesn’t need a recipe, really. I was just excited to find herb orechiette pasta. Such a pretty green.

Orechiette with stir-fry

Coconut buckwheat pancakes with coconut, pineapple and banana topping

Coconut pancakes with tropical topping plus cashew butter and agave

I love pancakes, but I can rarely be bothered with them, but I decided to use the opportunity while I am unemployed and have access to non-stick pans.

Coconut Buckwheat Pancakes (Vegan and Gluten Free)
serves 2

• 1/3 cup coconut flour or coconut cream powder (I found it at an Indian grocer)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup buckwheat flour
• 1 tbs ground flaxseeds
• 1 tbs cornflour
• 1 tsp bicarb soda
• 1/2 to 1 cup soy milk (Depends on how thick you want them)

1. In a large mixing bowl mix coconut flour, buckwheat flour, flaxseed, sugar, cornflour and bicarb until well combined and lumps removed.
2. Slowly add the milk, one 1/4 cup at a time, stirring it through before adding more. I like thick pike lets, so if you want thin pancakes you might want to add more milk.
3. Heat a non stick pan and grease.
4. Pour mixture in, swirl, and cook until lightly browned on each side.
5. Serve with your favourite toppings.

Coconut buckwheat pancakes

Tropical Topping
Serves 2 to 3

• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 1 Banana, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped pineapple

1. In a large, dry, non-stick skillet, heat the coconut until it begins to brown. Shake it around a little to get a good coverage, but don’t let it burn. Once beginning to brown, immediately remove from heat, and put coconut in a bowl.
2. Chop the banana and pineapple and place in the bowl with the coconut.
3. Stir through until all the fruit is coated.
4. Serve with pancakes, or ice cream (or pancakes and ice cream).

Tropical Topping

Pancake Fixin's

Sweet Vegan Centerpiece for the White Christmas Challenge

I have never participated in a blog challenge before, not even Vegan MoFo. But there’s a first for everything and this year I have decided to enter the Very Good Recipes’ White Christmas Challenge.

The challenge is quite simple: create a new recipe on the theme of “white christmas”.

I knew immediately what I wanted to do. For a few Christmases now I have been thinking of making a sweet, Christmas table centerpiece out of rum balls. I make rum balls every year, but I always cop out of the presentation part (presentation really isn’t my strong suit), so the challenge was the perfect motivation to finally get around to it.

One of the rules of the challenge is to make sure its a new recipe. Well, there are rum ball recipes everywhere, even vegan rum ball recipes, but I have added my own touch and created four new rum ball-style recipes; Chocolate Balls, Lamington Bites, Ginger Bread and Marzipan Balls, and Coconut White Chocolate Balls.

In keeping with this blog’s theme, I made Lamington Bites, based on the popular Aussie dessert, and the Gingerbread and Marzipan balls were German-inspried.

For the “white” part of the theme, I used coconut, white chocolate, and powdered sugar to give a (hopefully) snowy impression.

So here it is, my four-part, vegan, Christmas centerpiece recipe for the sweet tooth in any family.

Vegan Christmas Centrepiece

Vegan Christmas Centerpiece

I have given amounts based on the number of balls I used, however my tree is a little squat, so if your skill surpasses mine, go ahead and use all the balls. I had about 12 balls left over for pre-Christmas enjoyment.

• 1/2 recipe of Chocolate Balls
• 2/3 recipe of Coconut White Chocolate Balls
• Whole recipe Ginger and Marzipan Balls
• Whole Recipe Lamington Bites
• 1 Tbs vegetable shortening
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar or icing mixture
• about 2 tsp marzipan for decorations (you could use any lolly here)
• 2 tsp soy milk
• Large, decorative plate
• 10-20 toothpicks

1. On a pastry board, roll out a small piece of marzipan to about 7mm thickness, and cut into a star shape. Carefully slide a toothpick vertically through the star, so that about 1/2 the toothpick remains visible, and set aside.
2. In a small saucepan, melt the vegetable shortening.
3. Remove from heat and add the sugar, stirring until all lumps are removed and the two are combined.
4. Add soy milk, and stir to combine well.
5. Pour the mixture in a dollop onto the middle of your plate. Encourage the mixture to spread into a circle, taking up about two thirds of the surface of the plate.
6. Arrange your bottom layer of balls so that they cover the icing mixture. Allow to set.
7. Carefully, place a second layer of balls above the first layer, use toothpicks to secure. Make this second layer in a slightly smaller circle than the first.
8. Repeat until you have one single ball as a pinnacle.
9. Top with the marzipan star, by sliding the remaining end of the toothpick into the top ball

You could decorate with sifted powdered sugar, and/or Christmas themed or sparkly lollies. I didn’t as I cant find vegan lollies, and powdered sugar only comes at a premium (and I ran out of my stock). I think it would look great with some sparkly sprinkles, but I don’t have access to them in Tbilisi.

I make so-called “rum balls”, in various incarnations, every Christmas. When I was a (non-vegan) kid, they had sweetened condensed milk and Marie biscuits. In Melbourne I make my own condensed milk from powdered soy milk, and prefer gluten free biscuits. Mostly I leave out the rum, having half a family populated by children, non-drinkers, and rum-haters. That said, for the other side I the family, I have been known to make them with a shot of any spirit that comes to hand, including vodka, schnapps, and one time, tequila.

Here in Tbilisi I have to cook without vegan candy, food colouring, vanilla, flavourings, margarine, rum or anything resembling soy condensed milk or soy milk powder. This makes these versions extra special, but maybe a little more fiddly than usual.

The bottom layer, on top of the icing

During construction

Chocolate Balls

makes about 20

•    150 g plain biscuits (any kind – tea biscuits, digestive, animals, whatever)
•    1/4 cup coconut milk
•    2 tbs brown sugar
•    1 tbs vegetable shortening
•    1/4 cup cocoa
•    1/3 cup powdered sugar
•    3tbs sultanas
•    about 30g dessicated coconut, for rolling

1. Crush the biscuits, either with a food processor, or in a bowl with the bottom of a cup.
2. Add cocoa and powdered sugar, and combine well. Set aside in a clean mixing bowl.
3. In a small saucepan heat the coconut milk and brown sugar, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
4. Remove from heat, add the vegetable shortening, and stir until melted.
5. Pour the wet ingredients onto the dry, and mix well with a wooden spoon. Add the sultanas and stir through.
6. Roll tablespoons of the mixture into balls with your hands, and then roll them through a small bowl of dessicated coconut, to coat.
7. Set on a plate and refrigerate until ready to use (at least 20 minutes).

Chocolate Balls

Lamington Bites

Makes about 10

• 120g biscuits with a good flavour. I used Louts this time, but tea biscuits work well.
• 1/4 cup jam (you could use any, but here I used cornell jam)
• 2 tbsp soy milk
• about 30g dessicated coconut
• 1 tbs cocoa powder

1. In a small bowl, combine cocoa and coconut and set aside.
2. Crush biscuits very finely, using a food processor, or smooshing them with the bottom of a cup.
3. Add jam and milk to the crumbs, and work into a dough with your hands.
4. Roll the mixture into around 10 balls
5. Roll each ball in the cocoa and coconut mixture to coat, and refrigerate until ready to use.
   

   Lamington Bites

Coconut and White Chocolate Balls

makes about 15

•    80ml coconut mik
•    1/4 cup white sugar
•    1 tbs vanilla sugar
•    3 tbs vegetable shortening
•    70g white chocolate
•    40g dessicated coconut
•    1 1/2 cup crushed plain biscuits (I use animal biscuits)
•    30g coconut, for dusting

1. Crush the biscuits in a food processor, or with the bottom of a cup, and set aside.
2. In a small saucepan heat the coconut milk, white sugar and vanilla sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
3. Remove from heat and add the shortening and chocolate, stirring until melted and combined.
4. Add coconut and biscuit crumbs, stir to combine. Spread mixture on a plate and refrigerate until cool, about 30 minutes.
5. Roll tablespoon sized balls, coat in more coconut, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Coconut-White Chocolate Balls

Gingerbread and Marzipan Balls

Makes 10.

•    1 1/2 tbs brown sugar
•    3 tbs soy milk
•    2tbs vegetable shortening
•    100g lotus biscuits
•    2 tsp ginger powder
•    1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
•    dash clove powder
•    dash grated nutmeg
•    10 marzipan spuds (if you can’t by them, roll small balls of marzipan)
•    1/3 cup powdered sugar, for coating

1. In a small saucepan heat the milk and sugar, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Remove from heat and add the shortening, stirring until melted.
3. In a clean, dry bowl, crush the biscuits finely, and combine with spices.
4. Mix the wet and dry ingredients, then spread on a plate and refrigerate until cool (20 minutes).
5. Divide the mixture into 10 and wrap carefully around the marzipan spuds.
6. Roll in powdered sugar until well coated, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Gingerbread and marzipan balls

I think these ones turned out a little ugly, but you could always roll them in coconut or cocoa instead. I was going for a German christmas cookie look, but I don’t think I got it .

Last but not least, and on a bit of a tangent… The answers for the Christmas Traditions Quiz!

1. Norway
2. Catalonia (so found in Spain, parts of France, Andorra)
3. USA
4. Italy
5. UK
6. Ukraine
7. Georgia
8. Wales

Next up on AroundTheWorlVegan, what do people eat at Christmas around the world?

Go local – Kalamansi

Remember back in Malaysia Week I posted a recipe for Ais Limau (Lime Cordial), saying I had to use the wrong limes?

(sorry wordpress isn’t letting me link at the moment, must be something buggy. It’s here http://roundtheworldvegan.wordpress.com/2010/10/03/devil-curry-and-ais-limau/)

Not anymore! Now we have an abundance of kalamansi lime at our disposal. Awesome.

Kalamansi limes are tiny, green or orange skinned fruit with a light orange centre, that taste limey, but not as tart as the ones we’re used to at home.

They look like this:

Green (and one orange) kalamansi and a small lemon to show size

What can you make with them? Everything!

I have been making Ais Limau, using them to flavour spicy soup (such as assam laksa) squeezing them into sambals and over stir fries, and generally enjoying them in every way I can before we go home and never see one again.

A jug of brown sugar Ais Limau

The best use of kalamansi so far though, would have to be my recent Kalamansi Pie attempt. However, as the pie took several false starts, I don’t have a recipe so much as a story of how not to make pie.

The Making of Pie

I started with the idea that I would make pie exactly as I have many times before: Soak agar in water/juice/sugar, then cook, then set in pie base, then eat.

I set about squeezing all the tiny kalamansi at about 2pm. They are very seedy on the inside, so I squeezed them through our very crap collander.

Dead limes in our crap collander (don't let the photo fool you, its very crap)

Then I added water and sugar, and sprinkled in some agar agar to soak. I left it alone for a good 15 minutes before bringing it to the boil, and cooking for another 10 minutes, allowed it to cool just a little, and poured some of it into the pie shell.

It smelled good, it looked good, but in the words of Miss Clavell, something was not right.

It wouldn’t set. Not in the freezer, not on the bench, not in the fridge. And my pouring seemed to have melted quite a lot of the shortcrust pie shell. Oh no!

So, I poured it back out (shortcrust crumbs included) added more agar, and set about soaking and boiling again.

While this was going on, i notice my pie shell was looking very much worse for wear, so I popped it into the oven to dry off.

I went back to the lime mixture, which still wasn’t thickening, and decided to add more sugar and just keep boiling. In my frustration I forgot about the pie base until I noticed I could smell something caramellish- when I pulled it out the edges were dark brown and the base (where it got wet) was beige. Damn.

Back to the lime mixture, after soaking and boiling for a third, unsuccessful time I had decided to give up and ask the internet – surely soeone would know what I had done wrong?

As usual, the internet knows all. It is thought you need to use more agar when working with citrus – that could be the problem, but as I had already used enough agar flakes to set a small rhino (no, it doesn’t make sense as an analogy, just go with it), that probably wasn’t the problem.

Then I spotted it: apparently some fruits, such as pineapple, mango, kiwifruit and papaya, have an enzyme that breaks the bonds of agar, so no matter how much you put it, it just wont set. Kalamansi weren’t mentioned, but I made the mental leap that it was from the same part of the world as papaya, mango, pineapple, and, well, fuck it, my agar wasn’t setting, and I had to blame it on something.

So, now what? Would I ever save my pie? I turned again to google, and found this recipe at the Gluttonous Vegan (http://www.thegluttonousvegan.com/2009/09/killer-key-lime-pie.html), which uses a corn flour slurry. Of course! I had forgotten about corn flour in my rush to use my special imported agar flakes.

So I slurried the lime, and it thickened nicely, and I poured into my slightly burnt pie case and stuck it in the fridge at around 5pm. That’s right, three hours of pie making later. There was now much too much lime mixture (with the added slurry-bulk) for me to cover it in a layer of coconut cream pudding as I had planned, so I left it to have on the side (as with the rest of the dish, it hadn’t really worked and was lumpy, anyway).

After dinner I pulled it out, wondering if it would be at all edible. To my great surprise it was much better than I could have imagined! The texture was perfect, the extra bulk had quietened down the sour lime so that it was tangy but not over-powering, the crust tasted like heaven with its chewy, caramelised bits, and the coconut lumps weren’t noticeable at all.

Pie!

*sigh of relief* I will be making this again, but next time I’m going straight to the power of corn flour.

Go Local – Karat Banana

One of the most amazing things here is the variety in bananas. For a girl from the land of one variety- that I don’t even know the name of, because they’re just “bananas” – its a little baffling, to be honest.

I don’t know how many varieties there are, I’ve been told around 40, but the shops have 3-10 types on a normal day, and there are posters around educating people on the beta carotene levels in 15 varieties, all grown here on Pohnpei.

The king of the beta carotene bananas is the karat (Kar-arch) banana. It is fat, has red skin and is bright orange on the inside. Like this:

Karat Banana

Karat bananas have 2230 micrograms of beta carotene per 100 grams, which is around 100 times more than white flesh bananas. It has been used as infant food here for centuries, but has fallen out of fashion lately, although there is a campaign to bring it back. In a place where there are a lot of starchy foods available, and much more American imported junk food than fresh produce, vitamin-rich bananas are pretty handy. Also, they make your pee fluorescent yellow., which is almost a plus in itself.

Now, I’m not a huge fan of bananas myself. Mr eats a few every day (even at home in Oz), but I only have them when the mood really strikes me. However, as on of the only regularly available fruits on the island, I’m learning to like them a little better.

Here’s how we’ve been using our karat:

Karat Smoothy

• 1 Karat banana
• 1 scoop protein powder (we are using Sun Warrior, Vanilla flavour)
• Some soy milk

1. Blend.
2. Drink. (easy)

Karat looks like egg yolk

Finished karat smoothy

Banana, Caramel and Coconut Ice-cream Tart

• 1 pre-made pie base
• 1 karat banana
• 1 Akadahn banana
• 2 taiwang or another type of banana
• 1 jar coconut jam
• 1 cup coconut cream
• 1 tbsp cornflour

1. Slice the taiwang and akadahn bananas (or any type) and cover pie base.
2. Smoosh the karat banana and add to other bananas.
3. In a small saucepan heat the coconut jam until it becomes a little runny, then remove from heat and pour onto bananas.
4. In a small bowl, mix the cornflour into the half the coconut cream to form a slurry.
5. Clean the saucepan, then heat the other half of the coconut cream in it.
6. When the coconut cream is hot, add the slurry and it will thicken.
7. Remove from heat, pour over caramel.
8. Freeze pie, and thaw slices slightly in fridge as needed.

Karat-Caramel Tart

Karat Banana Spice Bread

• 2 karat bananas
• 2 other bananas (any variety)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1/2 cup wholemeal flour
• 1 1/2 cup white flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 to 1 cup milk (depending on smooshiness of your bananas).

1. Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees celsius.
2. In a large bowl, smoosh bananas and add sugar, spices and oil. Mix with a hand blender until smooth.
3. Add flours and baking powder, and combine to form a very thick dough.
4. Slowly add milk until you reach a muffin batter consistency (sorry I can’t be clearer, it really depends on how big and ripe your bananas are. Hmm, that sounded a bit off.)
5. Pour batter into a large loaf pan or normal cake pan.
6. Bake for 45-60 minutes.

Banana Spice Bread

Coconut Jam

My new official favourite food is Coconut Jam – a local caramel-like spread made from sugar, glucose and coconut (and sometimes Karat banana, something I’ll blog about later).

It can be eaten straight out of the jar, put on pancakes, scones, or made into tarts, and it is soooo good. Being partial to all things sweet I’m glad to have found it hiding out next to the peanut butter at the Blue Nile, a local supermarket, as there isn’t much here in the way of vegan sweets, especially if the vegans in question are also trying to avoid the evils of high fructose corn syrup and aspartame, which seem to be in every damned thing.

But back to the positive. I’ve made caramel out of coconut before, but its pretty exciting to have all the work done for you, and because it is made right here in Pohnpei it has the added benefit of helping the local economy and agriculture, which could use the boost. Go local!^

Here are a few photos of what we’ve done with it so far, and a recipe (if you can call it that) for banana and caramel tarts:

Coconut Jam is ready for its close up

Pancakes with Kalamansi and Coconut Jam

Scones with (coconut) jam and cream*

Making Tarts

Banana and Coconut Caramel Tarts

Makes 12

• 2 sheets of shortcrust pastry or home made equivalent (I made my own with flour, sugar, coconut oil and ice water, but didn’t measure, however there are plenty of recipe son the net if you want to make your own).
• 3 small bananas (one aussie banana is equivalent)
• 1 jar coconut jam (or home made caramel, or soymilke caramel flavour)

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Lightly oil the cups of a muffin pan, or lay out 12 patty pans/muffin liners on a tray.
2. Cut rounds from your pastry to fill 12 cups of a muffin pan/liners, and gently press to make the tart case.
3. Bake cases until just beginning to colour. (this took me 20 minutes, but as I used coconut oil a marg-based pastry may be different).
4. Turn cases out and allow to cool.
5. Chop the banana/s and place bits of banana at the base of each tart case.
6. Add a heaped teaspoon of caramel/jam to each tart, then put them back in the oven for a further 15 minutes.
7. Allow to cool and serve with vegan cream.
   

   The finished product

Vegan Cream

enough for 20 tarts

• 1 packet of silken tofu (297g, I used Mori Nu)
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/3 cup icing mixture/powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 tsp lime juice

1. Add all ingredients and blend until smooth.
2. Refrigerate for one hour.

Notes

* My photos are a bit sucky and are likely to stay that way while we’re in the FSM as our kitchen/house has bad lighting, and our plates are black. The ones that don’t suck were taken in an apartment we no longer live in.

^Go Local is a campaign of the Island Food Community of Pohnpei, encouraging people to grow and eat local foods in order to benefit health, income, food security and cultural preservation. I intend to blog about the various local foods we try under the Go Local tag.

Malay Feast

The night of our first Malaysian feast, I made “beef” rendang, red cooked “chicken”, and some herbed rice, each Malaysian dishes, according to the book.

Beef rendang is ubiquitous, apparently, although I don’t think I had ever tried it prior to now. It is meat (or in this case seitan-ish stuff) cooked in coconut cream and spices such as star anise, cinnamon, clove, cardamon and lime leaf, until the liquid is cooked off, leaving moist, rich, coconut-flavoured wonderfulness. It is said to have originated in Indonesia, but is famously popular in Malaysia.

I used the recipe for beef rendang from the book, The Food of Malaysia, by Wendy Hutton, with a few minor changes to veganise. I used Fry’s vegan beef-style strips instead of cow-flesh. The recipe calls for a very long cooking time, however mock doesn’t tend to hold up to stewing, and I wanted to avoid ruining the texture, so I cooked the spices in the coconut cream without the strips, to release the flavours, and added the strips only for the reducing stage.

Vegan Rendang Daging, yum!

The rendang was easily the best part of the meal. So rich it was *almost* too much, but clearly the favourite, causing a small, good-natured skirmish over who would get the left overs for lunch the next day.

I’d spent up big with the Fry’s products, and used some of their chicken-style vegan strips to make Ayam Masak Merah (or Red-cooked chicken). This dish is said to be a Malaysian version of Italian chicken cacciatore: tomato-based chicken stew, with sour tendencies and a lot of chillies.

I found this dish at malaysianfood.net, and used their recipe, which you can find here. The only changes: vegan strips instead of meat, and I didn’t add pandan leaves, as I couldn’t find any at the markets.

This wasn’t as successful as the rendang. I forgot my own rule, and stewed the vegan strips for so long that they turned to loosely-held-together mush before I realised my mistake. The sauce was fantastic though, definitely one to try again. Mr ate it anyway, I am pickier, and ate the sauce and sort of avoided the bits with confusing and unpalatable texture. I think Mr ate them off my plate. We are complimentary, that way

Red Cooked mock-chicken

I had intended to serve these main dishes with Nasi Kerabu, or herbed rice, As with the pandan leaves though, I couldn’t find half of the herbs required, like turmeric leaf, zedoary, daun selum and daun salam (?). I don’t know if they’re not available, if I was looking for herbs with different names here than they have in the book, or if they were some of things I just don’t recognise at the market, with no signs, or signs in languages I don’t read. In any case, I made a sort of white-girl version, using corriander, lemongrass, Vietnamese mint, and Thai basil, which was still refreshing and tasty.

Yummy rice

The sour spiciness of the chicken was in contrast to the creamy, rich rendang and the fresh-flavoured rice, and it made for an interesting, satisfying and yummy meal.

Birthday Round Up

It was my Birthday over the weekend, yay!

My favourite part of birthdays is the cake… making the cake! I love making birthday cake, and thinking of new flavour-combinations, decorating, and, of course, the eating.

In a fit of birthday happy, I decided to break from our usual programming and post this birthday cake recipe, which I literally dreamed up. Sometimes I wake up with a recipe ready to go in my head – this is one of those.

Vegan Coconute Ice Cake

Coconut Ice Cake with Strawberry Filling and White Chocolate Coconut Ganache

Cake

• 1 tin coconut cream
• 4 Tbs lite vegan margarine
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp coconut essence
• 2/3 cup dessicated coconut
• 1 2/3 cups flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup soy milk
• a teeny bit of red/pink food colouring

Filling

• 3 Tbs lite vegan Margarine
• 4 Tbs strawberry jam
• Up to 3 cups icing mixture

Ganache

• 4 Tbs Coconut Cream
• 300g Vegan white chocolate
• 1 cup icing mixture

• Strawberries, for garnish

1. For the Cake: Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees, line a large square baking tin with baking paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add margarine, coconut cream, sugar, coconut essence and coconut, and mix together with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes.
3. Add flour and baking powder, and continue to beat with the mixer for another 3 minutes, or until well combined.
4. Slowly add the soy milk and a teensy bit of pink or red vegan food colouring, mixing until well combined, forming a smooth batter.
5. Pour batter into a large square baking tin. Bake at 170 degrees celsius, for 30 to 40 minutes. A skewer poked in the middle will come out crumby but not wet when it is done.
6. Allow to cool.
7. When Cake is completely cool, trim the edges. Cut it in half, so that you have two pieces of equal size. Set aside.
8. For the filling: In  small mixing bowl, whip the margarine and strawberry jam with a fork. Slowly add the icing mixture to form a smooth, very thick icing batter. You may only need 2 cups, I can’t remember precisely how much I used.
9. Place one half of the cake onto your serving plate. Smother with the strawberry filling, the top with the other half of the cake. flatten the edges of the icing with a spatula, if necessary.
10. For the ganache: In a small saucepan add the coconut cream, then add the vegan white chocolate, and stir over low heat until melted and smooth. You could use a double boiler if you have one, but I don’t bother, and it turns out fine.
11. When the chocolate is completely melted it goes an odd yellow colour – don’t worry, that’s normal. Remove the mixture from the heat. Slowly add the icing sugar and whisk to remove any lumps.
12. Allow to cool slightly, then smooth the ganache over the cake using a spatula of a butter knife. If it is very runny, wait longer – it will firm up. If you leave it too long, reheat slightly.
13. Once ganache has begun to firm on the cake, garnish with fresh strawberries.

I was a little worried that this cake was going to be too sweet, but it was just right, and a fun departure from heavy dark chocolate treats we’ve been enjoying while I perfect the recipes for the book.

While I’m here, I also want to put in a mention to my friends and family, for their effort and thoughful presents.

My mum, step-dad, sister and brother gave me some gorgeous new dishes to show off here, which I will do very soon, a pretty apron, and a fabbo recipe binder, which will be very useful, and a lot of fun to use. Along the same lines, my dad and step-mum gave me a notebook for recipe collection (yay!) and some nice pens. My partner’s mum gave me a book voucher and some vegan chocolate, perfect for book recipes, and for pondering new vegan cookbooks! So thanks Mum, Dad, Ralph, Lynda, Katie, Jay, Sue and Wim. Also, thanks to my friend Megan who came all the way from Canberra to visit me on my birthday, and to my Mr. who made my day lovely.

Holding my cake in my pretty new apron

So, it seems from my presents that I have a lot of cookbook writing and blogging to do!

I’ll be back soon, with some yummy food from Malaysia. Til then, hope you enjoy some cake, and I’ll leave with a pic of a very special heart pizza I made recently, for an at-home date-night.

Heart pizza with heart potato

Beans and Bananas

On our third and final night of Tanzanian eating, we tried coconut bean soup and baked green bananas in orange syrup.

The coconut bean soup includes kidney beans, rice, coconut, tomatoes, curry powder and sweet green pepper (I’m starting to detect a theme here). In the information I have dug up about Tanzania, it seems that soups are usually served quite thick if they are going to be used as a meal unto themselves, however the recipes I found for this soup all seemed to be of ordinarily-thin soup consistency.

Just this once, I decided not to muck with a recipe at all, and used this version. I noted though that every version of this recipe is identical, or very close. I don’t know if its a very basic and well-known recipe, or if someone is cheating. If its the latter, I hope credit eventually falls to whom it is due, because this soup was delicious!

Mmm, coconut bean soup

Creamy, gently curry-flavoured, and full of beans and grains, it was just right for another cool and rainy Melbourne night, and filled us up in a way not all soups do.

For dessert, I attempted to make baked green bananas in orange syrup. I say attempted, because while I bought green bananas on grocery day, I then got busy for a few nights and didn’t actually make this dish until they were ripe. Also, I made waaaaay too much syrup. I don’t know if I read the recipe wrong, or if I didn’t boil it for long enough (I recently made accidental toffee due to boiling syrup for too long, and now I’m a little conservative in my syrup-making). In either case, I didn’t quite end up with the desired result. If you’d like to give them a try, this is the recipe I used.

They were supposed to look like this:

But instead they looked like this:

Hmm.

I baked them and baked them, but there was no browning to be seen. Eventually, at 9.30, we just gave in and ate them as they were.

However, they were still pretty yum, and it was a nice sweet treat with soy ice cream following a creamy, hearty soup, and we were both pretty satisfied. And anyway, who doesn’t want more syrup?

How do you say “Epic Fail” in French?

According to the internets, it can’t be translated well, but a literal translation would be, “échec épique”.

In French or in English,those are the best words to describe my attempt at creme caramel.

I had this great idea, to make one with coconut milk and agar agar. It could have been great.

I should have realised I was doomed when my first attempt at caramel turned into a hard toffee that as so hot it cracked my ramekin. but instead of admitting defeat, I slowly cleaed the toffee out of the saucepan, and started again.

I heated the sugar, added the coconut cream, soy milk, agar agar and vanilla. I heated, I boiled, I whisked. I made the caramel sauce, and this time it didn’t trun to glass. I poured it into tea cups, my ramekins having given their lives for the cause. I followed with the cream mixture. I refridgerated, and I crossed my fingers.

When the time came to turn them out, I held my breath. Images of sloppy messes and puddings stuck in their bowls came to mind. Would it refuse to come out? Would it slip out at an awkward angle and end up a pile of mush?

When they slid out neatly, I just about cried tears of joy. Had I only known what was to come.

Innocently looking alright in this photo. It lied.

A little extra caramel was poured on top and it was time for the eating. And that’s when we realised that the creme caramel had separated into three distinct layers.

On top was a sweet but almost inedibly-hard caramel/jelly layer. On the bottom was a layer of semi-translucent, flavourless coconut fat. In the middle was the only truly edible layer, a creamy, slightly sweet coconut mousse.

You can see why I have decided not to post the recipe. My mistake? Using coconut cream instead of coconut milk, over cooking the caramel, not letting the mixture sit before turning into ramekins/tea cups, using too much agar agar, and well, generally attempting to make it without a recipe.

Its a risky game, cooking by the seat of your pants.

And now, a photo for your amusement.

Le creme caramel de fail

Mr ate the whole thing. Bless him.