MIA

It has been a while. I have indeed been missing in action, or more accurately missing action full stop.

Two months to the day after I had my idyllic birthday in Chiang Mai, I was whisked off on a hospital trolley into surgery. To say the last five month has been life changing (in not necessarily a positive way) is an understatement.

But this is a food blog.

What has lured me back?

Truffles!

Or rather to quietly bookmark a simple variation from Evan Kleinman.

For a vegan dark truffle base all you have to do is reduce a cup of stout on high heat until the volume has halved, then stir in 225g of dark glossy chocolate. Chill the mixture and roll in the usual way.

Forget the bacon!

(The laughing buddha may be speaking no evil but I think what he's really saying is life's too short to eat crap chocolate)

In other news, the Significant Eater and I have adopted an adorable Burmese cat.

And the cat and I will be decamping Melbourne mid-year to move to Sydney’s inner west.

Now, go back and talk amongst yourselves.

summer of vegan cooking round up

When you live with a Gemini, anything can happen. Eight years ago, when we met, the Significant Eater was a smoking, drinking, caffeine slugging, omnivore. Over the years his eating and living choices have gone through many twists and turns. This summer he’s a clean living, “wholefood” vegan.

Despite being a self-confessed Food Nazi, compared to him I’m a moderate. Though others may not think a diet without meat or dairy inhabits the middle ground, it’s been consistent for well over two decades. So dropping the eggs and fish from the home menu shouldn’t be a challenge, should it?

While I embrace the opportunity to increase my intake of wholegrains, beans, seeds and nuts (the cornerstones of vegan protein) on a daily basis, the biggest issue has turned out to be quantity and diversity, rather than actual ingredients. The SE is an active guy who even at the height of his meat loving could still devour a leafy green salad made from the entire contents of the fridge’s veggie crisper.

It’s been a tough summer for me for entirely different reasons. While I haven’t entirely gone off my tucker, it’s certainly dropped down in my priorities. If ever there was a time when I’d be happy to come home from work and just eat a boiled egg and some lettuce from the garden, this is it. Instead I’ve had to plan ahead to soak beans, cook up pots of quinoa, brown rice and millet, bake/fry/steam tofu and tempeh, and cut, peel, julienne, dice and grate a truckload of vegetables.

So, onto the culinary highlights

Porridge probably shouldn’t be summer highlight but it was – a massive fruit salad with either oat, millet or quinoa/amaranth porridge. Toss in some seeds and nuts and it’s an amazing start to the day.

Heidi’s (not so) wild mushroom tacos. With fresh tacos from Casa Iberica, guacamole and using Asian mixed mushrooms and small cubes of smoked tofu to her chilli/wild mushroom recipe. Made a nice change from beans.

A Japanese inspired broth (1+ litre veg stock, a knob of finely julienned ginger, 2 tsp mirin, 2 tsp tamari – to taste) with soba noodles, tofu, veg (carrot, green beans and zucchini – spring onion would have been good). Simple and nurturing.

Madhur Jaffrey's spiced rice with cashews. An old favourite, still a delight. (There’s an online adaptation here).

Mushroom risotto, like this earlier version but sans butter and booze. Sometimes you just need a little ballast in your gut after all the salads.

Vegan BBQ – whole corn in the husk, portabella mushrooms tossed in olive oil and garlic and a biodynamic soy burger (from Tofu trek, very tasty and didn’t dry out). With a cucumber, tomato, red onion salad – with the dregs of the mushroom marinade and a splash of balsamic vinegar. (Grilled eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes are also lovely. I sometime pre bake jacket potatoes til 2/3 cooked, then slice, toss in oil/garlic/rosemary and grill on bbq)

More salads than you can poke a stick at

The SE’s super salad made from quinoa, grated beetroot and carrot, salad greens, plus steamed spud and pumpkin. Dressed with tamari, toasted sesame oil and lemon juice dressing. When I replicated it I ditched the cooked veg and add fried tempeh. Yum.

Kitchen sink salad with chickpeas – blanched green beans, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, (red onion might have been nice), toasted cashews and itty bitty capers. Dressing made from orange juice and zest, sherry vinegar, walnut/olive oil, a little garlic, mustard and salt. An ok salad uplifted by a stellar dressing.

Seaweed salad with (I found some old wakame in the pantry, it’s hard to get now due to the radioactive contamination around Japan) grated carrot/finely sliced cucumber and celery salad with dressing of rice vinegar (Tetsuya’s nori vinegar)/tamari/sugar/roasted sesame oil/chilli flakes.

Did I document the food I made this summer? Nope...sorry...not sure how this one ended up in the camera

Rice noodles, smoked tofu, grated carrot, cucumber, mint and coriander. Dressing lime juice, sugar, chilli and tamari (I did miss the fish sauce but it was still nice).

Roasted veg salad (spuds, onion, beetroot, pumpkin) with fresh chives and a vinaigrette mixed with cashew butter and garlic.

Carrot/daikon/cucumber salad (adapted heavily from The Asian Vegan Kitchen). Mix the finely sliced veg with toasted sesame seeds. Dressing equal parts rice vinegar and sugar, a touch (or a lot) of green chilli, pinch of salt and 2-3 drops roasted sesame oil. (I made this one a number of times)

Sweet things

Finally cracked Tony Chiodo’s chocolate tart made with silken tofu (it’s the delectable dish on the back of the book). It was a labour of love but worth the effort.

And the more wholesome and happily hippy raw fruit pie.

The winning ingredient of the season?

Kimchi. You’ve got to search for one made without fish sauce or MSG, but it’s worth scrummaging through all the tubs in your favourite Asian grocery store). It got thrown on top of brown rice with other salads and bits and pieces, in homage to Yong Green’s Dragon Bowl. A handy, no fuss meal with lots of zing.

Tempeh and kimchi gyoza

As you know I’m a sucker for a good gyoza and figured kimchi and tempeh would make an inspired filling. And yes it did. I salivate for it now, just writing about. If you don’t know how to make gyoza use this equally delightful vegan version as a template. For the filling use equal quantities of tempeh and kimchi, whizzed up in the food processor for a finer consistency. Serve with the same rice vinegar/tamari/chilli oil dipping sauce.

So what have you been eating this summer?

works in progress 2: garden ready to go

Last weekend, just before the wet stuff fell in bucket loads from the sky, we rebuilt the itty-bitty inner city garden bed.



It took half a truck of mixed mushroom and organic compost, two people and a couple of shovels, to load 50-odd wheel barrows full of the lovely compost to rebuild the depleted bed.



An hour or two later, nicely topped with 4 bales of lucerne, we could sit back and admire the work.


(yes I really will cover the blue board one day, I prefer to garden/cook/eat than undertake DIY projects)

Some of the strawberries went straight back in but stage two of planting will hopefully get done over easter. I have a well established cardamom that will sit in that hard to reach middle spot, atop a sadly growing cat cemetery.

Meanwhile the seed raising experiment is having some success a mere week after starting. The spring onions have sprouted and almost ready to go into the ground. Then I'll start another batch, to stagger the crop. Still waiting for the parsley and coriander to show signs of life but I have faith they'll do their job.

Has anyone grown turmeric? Some uneaten tubers have sprouted in the bowl in the kitchen. Do they grow as big as ginger? Not sure the little patch can take it but I might give it a go.

Next silverbeet (‘cos it’s nutritious, delicious and foolproof to grow), lettuces and the odd brassica.


Speaking of gardens. Take 12 minutes and watch this delightful video about gardening and life.



This woman is amazing. Not sure when the piece was made but considering she was born in the 1880's I'm pretty sure it was shot on film. I loved the calming muted colours and clarity of birdsong throughout.


Parts of this originally posted elsewhere.

if you can't stand the heat - get out of the kitchen

We are sweltering in Melbourne at the moment. Too many days topping 39C (102F). Not quite as extreme as Adelaide, where each day for almost 2 weeks the barometer has hit 35C (95F) or above, and will continue to do so for days to come. This is not a climate to cook in. It is the weather to drink beer (a strange beverage that I can only contemplate imbibing in such heat) and lots of water. It has also been visitor season – so the menu over the last few days have been as follows:

Thursday: Spaghetti Marinara. The Significant Eater’s uncle is not known for his love of vegetables. More than 50% of the time I’ve eaten out with him in the past he’s ordered this dish, so I thought I’d cook it up for him. I cannily picked up over the years that he likes fish and prawns but leaves anything in a shell on his plate. My marinara was made with lots of fresh prawns, a fillet of salmon and some flathead tails. I’d have loved to have just tossed them with a little chilli, lots of garlic and parsley cooked with olive oil and a splash of white wine. Instead I followed his uncle’s sauce – garlic, tomatoes, wine and mint. Yes mint. I couldn’t really detect the flavour, not sure if it really added to the dish. Regardless – everyone was happy – though it irked me to serve a meal without a veggie in sight.

Friday: Hot and tired after work, a very mild change came through which made it perfect weather to sit outside the Kent hotel for a drink and a meal that someone else had sweated over. I couldn’t quite stomach fish and chips (the Uncle did but complained that wedges weren’t “chips” despite the description of what he’d get being clearly written in the menu) but still wanted something seasonal along that line and opted for the calamari and salad. Though the seafood was perfectly cooked, a mix of tubes and tentacles there was just too much salt. I suspect a smoker in the kitchen. How can anyone who loves food blunt their senses with such a habit? It’s a pity – the meal just wasn’t up to scratch but the relative cool of the evening was perfect.

Saturday: Chin Chins on Rathdowne Street was packed but they graciously found us a table upstairs in one of the darker, calmer vibed rooms. It was pleasant and chilled out, though the staff were trotting at a fast pace serving a restaurant running 4 dinning areas at full capacity. We decided on a slow feast beginning with my favourite har gow (prawn dim sum) and spring rolls for the uncle. Then moving onto duck (for the SE), stir fried garlic prawns, vegetarian fried rice and stir fried rockling and vegetables with ginger. A glass of Asahi, some kiwi sauv blanc and a very content belly. I think Chin Chins just keeps getting better. The specials are becoming more diverse and tempting, while the old favourites on the menu stay true to form. I’ve seen the restaurant through it’s various owners (at least 3), since it first opened in the mid-90’s and would say the current crew have really hit their stride.

I am reluctant to talk up the delights of the North Carlton village. The home-grown pizza chain that has gobbled up too many shopfronts can happily suck in the tourists but I get into ‘protective local’ mode when I cautiously mention the quirky delights of Gerald’s Bar, the relaxed professionalism of the Kent Hotel, a plate of homemade beans for a late lunch at North or the joys of having Chin Chins as a great local Asian restaurant. It is very easy to support businesses within this community as most do an above average job. But would I drive across town to eat there? Probably not.

Sunday morning: the still night was sticky and the sun is beating down again. Will do my best to dodge the revellers who will drink themselves stupid at the nearby Irish Pub or stagger post Grand Prix down Lygon Street. The visitor is en route to the airport, heading off to a cooler northern city. I’m hanging out for fruit and salad but have some reluctance to reacquaint myself with the kitchen.