Monday, January 15, 2007

"Cheese" Sauce

This is a nice replacement for cheese sauce, without using hard fat based fake cheeses.
There is a very low salt yeast extract that should work in this too, but I couldn't get any last time I looked. I think it is stronger tasting so you might want to use less of it.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons plain flour
400ml soya milk
1 teaspoon yeast extract
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 teaspoon onion granules
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder

Method
Heat the oil gently in a small saucepan, stir in the flour and cook for a few minutes.
Be careful not to burn the flour.

Remove from the heat and place the base of the saucepan in a bowl of water to cool it.
Don't get the water in the pan.

Mix in the mustard powder.
Stir in the soya milk a little at a time making a smooth paste before pouring the next bit in, until it is all mixed in nicely.

Return pan to a medium heat and stir continuously as the sauce thickens.
When it starts to thicken, reduce heat to low and add all the rest of the ingredients.
Keep stirring until the yeast extract has all been incorporated and the mixture is nice and thick.


Works well as a pizza topping, lasagne topping, and anywhere you would use cheese sauce.

Friday, January 12, 2007

"Egg" Fried Rice

Someone bought me some polenta and it's been sat in the fridge waiting for me to be brave enough to try it. I've heard tales of it being bland and flavourless and that was putting me off. Then just the other day I wondered how bad it could be. It surely couldn't be blander and more flavourless than tofu. Most places recommend slicing and then frying it, but I was feeling lazy so I sliced it, coated it in olive oil and chucked it in the oven (along with a beanburger and some veggies to roast).

It was actually very nice, a little salty for my taste. But most of all it reminded me of fried egg! It has a very similar texture once it has been crisped up a bit, and the saltyness just reminded me of when I used to have a fried egg sandwich with salt on.

And so was born this recipe for "Egg" Fried Rice

I cooked the rice and polenta while I was crisping some mock duck in the oven.
Then we ate the mock duck in Chinese pancakes (from Asda) with spring onion and cucumber.
Then I stir fried some veg and seitan in a jar of satay sauce while I finished making the "egg" fried rice.

Ingredients
150g brown Basmati rice
3 slices polenta (about 1 cm thick)
1 large clove garlic
1 medium mushroom finely chopped
handful frozen peas
olive oil

Method
Cook the rice until al dente (about 30 minutes for brown Basmati).
Coat the polenta slices in oil and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until just crisping up on the bottom.

Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry the garlic until just beginning to brown.
Add the mushroom and fry for one minute.
Add the peas, rice and heat through.
Add a little boiling water if it looks a little dry.

Roughly mash the polenta, stir into the rice, and cook for 2 minutes.

Serves 2 with a Chinese meal :o)

Monday, January 8, 2007

Lack Of Digital Camera

Apologies for the quality of the pics on this site.

I don't have a digital camera at the moment, or indeed funds to buy a reasonable one, so I have been using the camera on my phone.

Of course, if I did have a digital camera, I would have no excuse for the fact that I would still probably take poor quality pictures. ;o)

Sunday, January 7, 2007

"Fat-free" Lemon Meringueless Pie

This one is soooooo good. :o)

I generally add the oil as I like it to be nice and rich ;o)

Ingredients
One lot of sweet "Fat-free" pastry
75g sugar
35g cornflour
2 unwaxed lemons (or 3 unwaxed limes)
4 tablespoons sunflower oil (optional) - it's not fat free if you use it ;o)
Boiling water

Method
Make pastry and press into pie dish, trying to get it as even as possible and not too thick.
Prick base with fork a few times.
Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes at 200 c (400 f).

Meanwhile finely grate lemon zest from both lemons (or all 3 limes) then juice them. Top juice up to 400ml (3/4 pint) with boiling water, combine with zest and heat in saucepan until nearly boiling.

Meanwhile mix cornflour with sugar to a smooth paste with a little cold water. Pour hot lemon mix over the paste, stir, top up to 550 ml (1 pint) with boiling water and return to the pan. Add oil if using.

Bring to the boil stirring all the time until it thickens nicely (and oil is incorporated if using). The flavour and tartness will develop as you cook it. Check sweetness and add sugar as necessary - it should be pleasantly tart, and not too sweet.

Pour into base, and set aside to cool, then stick it in the fridge to get nice and cold.

This is a pic of an older version with a biscuit crust:

Mince Tarts

Lovely festive munches :o)

Make one lot of sweet "Fat-free" pastry, roll out and cut into small rounds (about 30).
Rub sunflower oil over a bun tray and press the rounds in lightly.
Put one teaspoon of mincemeat filling in to each tart.
Bake at 200 c (400 f) for about 12 minutes. Make sure not to burn the mincemeat.

The tarts may be slightly soft until the cool, when they will become lovely and crisp.

I need to find a palm fat free, hydrogenated fat free, vegan mincemeat filling, though. Or alternatively I should make my own. I used the Meridian brand, which has a some palm fat in it.

"Fat-free" Pastry

This recipe should be enough for about 30 small tarts (see Mince Tarts) or one large tart (see "Fat-free" Lemon Meringueless Pie)

Ingredients
60g unsalted mixed nuts
40g unsalted cashews
75g whole oats

100g wheat flour
25g sugar if making sweet pastry

Method
Grind the nuts and oats to powder with a coffee bean grinder.
Mix the flour and sugar (if using) in well. Rub everything together between your fingers to make sure it is mixed well.

Drizzle a tiny amount of water in at a time until you can make a nice dough ball. Then add a little more water and mix it in well. If it is too crumbly when you roll it out, it needs to be a bit wetter.

For small tarts, roll it out on floured surface to a thickness of about 3mm and press out small rounds.

For a single large tart just press it into the pie dish, as it won't hold up to being rolled that big probably.

So What Am I Avoiding?

In order eat more healthful vegan foods, I will be limiting the amount of processed foods that I will be eating for two reasons; solid fats and too much added salt.

The current guidelines in the UK put the acceptable daily intake of sodium at the equivalent of 6g of salt. In reality the body only needs about 1/10 of this amount, which can be achieved through naturally occurring salt. Be aware when sodium content is listed, the level needs to be multiplied by 2.5 to give the salt equivalent.

So what foods do I specifically avoid:
All Fry's foods (high salt levels over 2.8g salt in one regular sausage!)
Fake cheeses (palm or hydrogenated fat, salt)
Biscuits (palm or hydrogenated fat, salt)
Bran flakes and many other cereals (high salt levels)
Pure and other vegan spreads (palm oil, salt)
Canned veg in brine (salt)
Pasta sauces (salt)

I still eat products with salt in such as baked beans, bread, canned soups, but I have smaller portions and choose the varieties with the least salt in them, and try and reduce how often I have them.