Author Archives: Deb

About Deb

Vegetarian since 17, taught myself to cook as a matter of urgency when my mother had no idea what to give me. That was over 30 years ago. Now a mother of 2, I emigrated from London in 2002 with my Australian husband. After watching Forks Over Knives, reading The China Study, etc, we chose to go plant-based so stopped eating eggs and dairy a couple of years ago.

Pressure Cooker Vegetable Curry

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Don’t worry if you don’t have a pressure cooker (though I seriously recommend you get one!) as you can do this in a regular casserole / large saucepan with a good fitting lid, it will just take longer.  I have this one if you’re interested, which combines slow cooker, pressure cooker, steamer, rice cooker, soup maker etc functions, but I use the pressure option most often.  We actually got ours with Flybuys points!

This cooks for 13 minutes, the same time as my rice cooker took to do the rice so it really does save time!  You can also cook dried beans without even soaking if you are running short on time, which also saves money as well, as bags of dried beans are way cheaper than the canned variety and also avoids the BPA issue.  It’s a big win win!

You can use whatever vegetables you have around, maybe follow mine the first time so you get an idea of the volume required.  Also we often use this tofu in curries as it’s got such a great texture.  Not in this picture though, I just used regular plain tofu, cubed.

This makes a huge amount (I can never make a small amount of curry for some reason…!), enough for us for 2 meals.

If you’re not using a pressure cooker this will probably need to simmer for around 30-40 minutes.

Pressure Cooker Vegetable Curry
 
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Recipe type: Curry
Cuisine: Indian
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • The vegetables you choose are completely up to you, I've made this twice recently with 2 different combinations. To give you an idea of volume, this is what I used yesterday:
  • 2 medium sweet potatoes
  • 4 small potatoes
  • 1 large carrot
  • 1 large zucchini
  • 1 leek
  • 1 large handful green beans
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • Then the other ingredients:
  • 250 g plain firm tofu, cubed, or a packet of marinated tofu pieces
  • 1 can chickpeas, or home-made - 1.5 cups.
  • 1 can chopped tomatoes
  • 1.5 cups passata / canned tomatoes - blended
  • 1.5 cups water
  • 1 heaped tablespoon vegetable stock powder
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
  • 1 tablespoon (mild or to your taste) curry powder
  • ¼ cup raw cashews
  • ½ cup soy /almond milk
  • 1 teaspoon coconut essence
  • To serve:
  • Chopped coriander
  • Low fat plain soy yogurt
  • Mango chutney
  • Dessicated coconut
Instructions
  1. If you have soaked cashews all the better but if not, place them in a small pan and cover with water and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer.
  2. Chop the potatoes and carrot into large pieces. Slice the leek and zucchini into 1cm slices, top and tail the beans and cut them in half. Measure out the peas.
  3. Heat your pressure cooker on the brown function if it has one (mine is electronic, if yours is the old type you can just heat it up!) and throw in the leek, stir it around for a minute or two then add all the other vegetables.
  4. Put on your rice to cook.
  5. Add all the other ingredients, stir thoroughly, close the lid, set the cooker to High Pressure and set for 13 minutes, and Start.
  6. Drain your cashews, place in a high speed blender, add the soy /almond milk and coconut essence. Blend until very smooth.
  7. Once the curry has finished cooking, reduce the pressure, then stir through the cashew cream and the peas. Serve with the rice and necessary accompaniments!

 

 

PPK’s Butternut Alfredo with Penne and Peas

This is just amazing, the sauce is a revelation!  If you haven’t tried any of Isa Chandra Moskowitz‘s recipes, this is a great one to start with!  I think it’s the sage and the wine that makes it so amazing. I’ve made this a few times now and every time it blows me away!  I reduced the sage to half a tsp as it’s quite a strong flavour so wasn’t sure how it would go down with my 2 children. We just bought a high speed blender and it really made the sauce super smooth, I only soaked the cashews for an hour.

Isa’s blog Post Punk Kitchen was one of the 1st ones I found when searching for recipes when I dropped the eggs and dairy a few years ago and she is still one of the most inventive vegan chefs around.  She does use some oil which I try very hard to avoid completely, so some recipes do need to be amended, but that’s easily done.  This one we had with wholegrain penne, a little added roast butternut squash, and topped with some toasted pine nuts.  SO GOOD!

Here‘s link to the original recipe.  All I changed was the miso – I only had a rich red barley one (which might explain the richer colour I got in my sauce) so only used 1 heaped tablespoon, I omitted the olive oil, and just the 1/2 tsp of rubbed sage leaves and I added a cup of frozen peas to the pasta cooking water a couple of minutes before the end.

Here is the picture of my bowl:

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Shepherdess Pie

This one goes back a long way, probably 20 years.  Proper English comfort food, minus the lamb or beef!  I don’t know where the name came from, or why it is necessarily the female version of the dish once the meat is replaced with lentils, but we absolutely love it  – although it serves 6 (there are 4 of us!), it rarely goes into the fridge for the next day..! 🙂

2014-04-06 18.16.58

5.0 from 1 reviews
Shepherdess Pie
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Bake
Cuisine: English
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 6 medium / large potatoes (about 800g-1kg / 28-35 oz)
  • 1 large onion
  • 2 sticks celery
  • 2 large cloves garlic
  • 2 medium carrots
  • A dozen button mushrooms (about 200g/7 oz)
  • 1 cup passata (or pureed canned tomatoes)
  • ½ cup red lentils
  • ½ cup Puy / French blue-green lentils
  • ½ cup frozen corn
  • ½ cup frozen peas
  • 1 heaped tsp vegetable stock powder
  • 2 T tomato paste
  • 1 tsp mixed herbs
  • 2 large bay leaves
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup soy milk (approx.)
Instructions
  1. Peel and cut the potatoes into large chunks, put into a large saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil.
  2. Prepare all the vegetables – dice the onion, celery, carrots, mushrooms into small dice (around the same size as peas and corn), and crush the garlic.
  3. Put the onion, garlic, celery, carrot and mushrooms in large casserole pan, and sauté with a splash of water or stock until tender, about 5 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile measure out the rest of the ingredients.
  5. Add the passata, lentils, peas and corn, stock powder, tomato paste, herbs, water and bring to the boil. Simmer, covered, for around 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to check it isn't sticking on the bottom.
  6. Whilst the lentils are simmering, check the potatoes, and once tender, drain well and mash til very smooth with soy milk (or your preference) and salt and pepper.
  7. Transfer the lentils to an oven proof lasagne-style dish, top with the mash and smooth out.
  8. Bake for 20-25 minutes until bubbling and top crisp.
  9. Serve with steamed green vegetables or roasted cauliflower.

 

Mushroom, Leek and Potato Gratin

These have to be three of my most favourite ingredients, so anything with them all has to be a winner in my book!  I came up with this after trying to decide what to cook for dinner.  A quick look in the fridge, and finding I had both leeks and mushrooms which needed eating, and (I always have) potatoes, so….  After Googling for a while I found this recipe by Bits Of Carey and decided to veganise it, making a couple of other changes.   Was really good and a family hit!

2014-04-01 19.45.41

4.0 from 1 reviews
Mushroom, Leek and Potato Gratin
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Bake
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 6 medium/large potatoes, boiled until just cooked.
  • 2 medium leeks, finely sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • White wine / stock / water
  • 500g brown mushrooms, sliced
  • 500ml soy milk
  • 4 tablespoons cornflour
  • ½ tsp fresh thyme leaves
  • ½ tsp dried rosemary
  • 1 T coconut aminos / soy sauce / tamari
  • 2 T lemon juice
  • Salt and fresh black pepper.
Instructions
  1. Whilst the potatoes are boiling, heat a large frying pan on a medium heat and dry sauté the leeks and garlic for a few minutes until softened. Add a small splash of white wine to stop them sticking.
  2. Add the mushrooms, thyme and coconut aminos, mix in well, and cook until the mushrooms have released their liquid and it has evaporated.
  3. Blend thoroughly the cornflour in a cup with some of the soy milk, then stir it into the pan with the leeks and mushrooms, whisking all the time. Slowly add the rest of the milk bit by bit, then cook off the flour – about 3 minutes. Bring to a gentle simmer, still whisking constantly (I have a wooden whisk which I use in my non-stick pan) to avoid any lumps forming.
  4. Add the lemon juice and test / adjust the seasoning. Turn off the heat.
  5. Once potatoes are just tender, drain and slice into ½ cm slices.
  6. Take a lasagne style dish and place in a very small layer of sauce, (saves needing to use any oil) then top with a half of the potatoes (mine made enough for just 2 layers, but 3 would be nice too!).
  7. Top with another layer of sauce, the rest of the potatoes, then the rest of the sauce.
  8. Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until bubbling and browning on the top. Serve with steamed green vegetables like broccoli and beans.

Warm pasta, broccoli & bean salad with lemon, garlic and basil

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I love a warm salad.  The flavours are so much stronger when the dish is at room temperature rather than chilled, and partly cooking the ingredients allows each individual ingredient to shine.
This is such a delicious and healthy supper, we all really enjoy it and it’s a complete one pot meal so perfect for busy week night dinners.

Warm pasta, broccoli & bean salad with lemon, garlic and basil
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Warm salad
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • A splash of water / stock
  • 350g wholemeal pasta – rigatoni, penne etc.
  • 1 smallish red onion, halved, then finely sliced
  • 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped or microplaned
  • ½ tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 can / 250g cooked cannellini beans
  • 1 heaped tsp freshly grated / microplaned lemon zest
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 6 medium tomatoes, cored and chopped
  • 1 large head of broccoli, cut into small florets
  • Large bunch of basil, finely shredded
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • A dozen or so Kalamata olives, to serve
Instructions
  1. Put pasta on to boil.
  2. Steam the broccoli until just tender, about 6-7 mins. Once cooked, run under cold running water to refresh and retain colour.
  3. Put the onion, garlic and salt in a large heavy bottomed casserole with your choice of sautéing medium, mix thoroughly, and warm through on a low light for 5 minutes – do not COOK! The idea is to take the rawness out of the garlic but leave the onion still with some bite.
  4. Add a splash or two of vegetable stock as required to keep it moist but without stewing it.
  5. Add the beans, lemon juice and zest and continue to warm through for another few minutes.
  6. Add tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and keep on a low light whilst waiting for the pasta to cook. Once ingredients are all hot but not cooked, remove from the heat and tip into a large wide salad bowl along with the broccoli.
  7. Once pasta is cooked, tip into the bowl along with the basil and mix thoroughly. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes for the flavours to mingle.
  8. Top with olives and serve.

 

Sissy’s Soup

2014-03-25 12.31.12

To call this soup thick is a slight understatement.  You could literally stand your spoon up in it, if your bowl or mug is deep enough.  But we like it that way.  It really is a meal in a bowl, all you need is some good bread and maybe a salad.  My daughter gave her name to this soup when we made it together several years ago when she was around 10.  It’s a beautiful way to get plenty of vegetables into small children and the addition of the tomato ketchup is a clever trick to get fussy kids to try it – they love squeezing that in if they’re your kitchen “helpers” when you make this.

Sissy's Soup
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Soup
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • Quick spray oil / water / stock
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 large stick celery, chopped
  • 1 large carrot, diced
  • 2 medium sweet potatoes, diced,
  • 2 large broccoli florets, chopped
  • 1 can peeled tomatoes, put through the blender
  • 1 cup red split lentils
  • 2 large bay leaves
  • 1 tsp mixed herbs
  • 1 heaped tsp vegetable stock powder
  • ½ cup apple juice
  • 2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
Instructions
  1. Sauté the onion, celery and carrot in a large heavy based pan, cover and sweat for 5 minutes
  2. Add the sweet potato, broccoli, cover and cook again for a further 5 minutes
  3. Add tomatoes, lentils, herbs, stock powder and a litre of water, apple juice and tomato ketchup
  4. Stir well and bring to boil. Replace lid, and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking and burning on the bottom
  5. Check vegetables are very tender, blend with stick blender.
  6. Nice garnished with fresh coriander or parsley if liked, and hot toast fingers.

 

Quick Creamy Tomato Tofu Casserole

Creamy Spanish Tofu Casserole

I’m quite happy it’s a bit rainy at the moment.  Apart from the farmers who of course need this all day drizzle so desperately, it means it’s comfort food season and being originally from England, I have a special place in my heart for hearty steamy stews and casseroles.  So here is one!  I’ve sneaked kale into it again, and it’s packed full of other veggies in a lovely rich tomato sauce.  You can throw others in it too, I often add frozen corn and peas as well (you can easily increase the quantities, you might just need to add a bit of extra stock and / or tomatoes), which bulks it out if you suddenly find you have extra mouths to feed and adds a splash of extra colour.  We used regular tofu this time, but often make it with smoked tofu which accentuates the smokiness in the paprika.  We love this brand, it never lasts long in our house…

I’m lucky enough to have a 5-1 cooker which is a pressure cooker / steamer / slow cooker / soup maker etc. and I’ve used the pressure cooker and soup function in this recipe which really speeds things up.  If you don’t have a pressure cooker you can still make this, the speed also comes from the all in one method, so it won’t take ages anyway.

We served this with Rice Plus which is brown rice with added grains and seeds and is totally delicious.

Quick Creamy Tomato Tofu Casserole
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Stew / Casserole
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 400g tofu, cubed (smoked tofu works well too)
  • 1 stick celery, diced
  • 2 carrots, sliced
  • 1 small red, 1 small green capsicum, diced
  • 1 can chopped tomatoes
  • 1 cup passata (sieved tomatoes)
  • 1 T tomato paste
  • 2 cups vegetable stock
  • 1 T maple syrup
  • 3 medium potatoes – about 450g – large cubes
  • ¼ - ½ cup frozen corn (optional)
  • ¼ - ½ cup frozen peas (optional)
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp granulated garlic
  • 4 cups chopped kale
  • 1 cup soy milk mixed with 3 tsp cornflour til smooth
  • Lime juice - to serve - optional
  • Chilli sauce - ditto
Instructions
  1. Place all ingredients apart from soy milk & cornflour mixture and lime juice in a pressure cooker and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes then on soup setting / simmer for another 10 minutes. Stir in the soy milk with cornflour and simmer until flour cooked out and sauce is thickened.
  2. If not using a super-duper appliance, put all ingredients apart from soy milk and cornflour mixture and lime juice in your pot and bring to the boil, and simmer for around 20-25 minutes or until your potatoes are cooked. Then add your soy milk and cornflour, and stir until the flour is cooked out and the stew is thickened.
  3. Serve with rice or other grain or mashed potatoes.
  4. Squeeze fresh lime juice over the top if liked, it adds a lovely piqancy. This also lends itself very easily to being pepped up with chilli sauce for those who like it...

Minestrone

This is traditionally a hearty ‘tomato-ey’ Italian soup which generally contains pasta, beans, potato and pesto plus whatever other left over veggies are to hand.  “Peasant food” at its best!  This is a great way to use up odds and ends in the fridge, kids generally love it as it’s got pasta in it and it’s good and filling.  Served with some good wholemeal bread this is a wonderfully substantial meal that requires little preparation and not much involvement once it’s on the hob.

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Minestrone
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 6+
Ingredients
  • 2 medium onions, diced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 medium carrots, diced
  • 2 celery sticks, diced
  • 1 T tomato paste
  • 1 can chopped tomatoes
  • 1 can cannellini beans / similar
  • 1.5 L vegetable stock
  • 375 g potatoes, diced
  • 140 g small pasta shapes, preferably wholegrain
  • 150g frozen peas
  • 180 g French beans, cut into small lengths (or other veg)
  • 1 small red capsicum (or other veg)
  • 150g broccoli florets (or other veg)
  • Handful baby spinach.
  • 2-3 tablespoons homemade basil pesto * (see other recipes)
  • Fresh parsley
Instructions
  1. Heat a large saucepan or stovetop casserole with a tight fitting lid and sauté the onions and garlic until softened.
  2. Add carrots, celery, tomato paste, tomatoes, cannellini beans, vegetable stock, potatoes, and pasta, bring to boil, place on the lid and simmer for 10 minutes.
  3. Add peas, green beans, broccoli, capsicum or other chosen veg and simmer, covered for a further 10 minutes or until they are cooked to your liking.
  4. Adjust liquid if necessary, add more water if necessary. Stir in the baby spinach, pesto, and serve sprinkled with the freshly chopped parsley.
  5. Like most soups / stews, this is even nicer the next day, or prepared early in the day.

My Buddha Bowl

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Google “Buddha Bowl” and you will be inundated with versions of this.  Basically it’s a bowl of steamed veggies with brown rice or another grain like quinoa, with a sauce over the top.

I’ve already posted my son’s favourite dish, well this is my teenage daughter’s!  It’s the sauce that makes it of course, and this is such an easy weeknight dish you will be tempted to have it several times, just changing the veggies or grains, and adding tofu or tempeh etc.

My Buddha Bowl
 
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The sauce makes enough for 3-4 servings, I haven't given quantities for the rice or veggies so just prepare as much as you need.
Author:
Cuisine: Asian
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
  • Sauce ingredients:
  • 1 T cashew butter
  • 1 T tahini,
  • 2 T vegetarian oyster sauce or other Asian stir fry sauce
  • 1 T sweet chilli sauce
  • 3 T lemon and/or lime juice - either or both, mixed together (orange is also good!)
  • 2 T tamari
  • ½ cup soy milk
  • 1 T sweet soy sauce
Instructions
  1. Put your rice on to cook, or even easier, use packets of ready cooked brown rice which just need warming through! (you can put itin the steamer along with the veggies if you like)
  2. Whilst your rice is cooking, prepare and steam your desired vegetables – broccoli, carrot, capsicum, celery, mushrooms, baby corn etc, and top with a packet of ready marinated and cooked tofu cubes to heat through (if desired - this is optional) – sweet chilli / garlic variety.
  3. Blend all the sauce ingredients in a blender (we use the Magic Bullet for this) or a jug with an immersion/stick blender until very smooth and creamy. Taste the sauce and adjust a little if necessary - different people like it more salty / more sour / more sweet etc. Pour it into a saucepan and heat gently for a few minutes when your rice and veggies are almost ready.
  4. Divide the rice, veggies and tofu between your bowls and pour the sauce over the top. Also nice scattered with fresh chopped coriander / toasted sesame seeds / etc.

 

Spinach and Rice Filo Pie

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I know what you’re thinking – SIMPLE dinner idea?
It looks time consuming but as long as you remember to take out your spinach and filo pastry from the freezer in the morning, there is very little preparation to do, only chopping 1 onion!

We tend not to eat much at all in the way of pastry due to its high fat content, but filo pastry is already extremely low in fat – 3.8g per 100g (and this recipe only used 1/4 of a pack, so less than that in the whole recipe for 4). * We love this with just a simple salad, as it also contains rice it’s fairly filling.  Some steamed asparagus / tomato salad etc would also compliment it really well.

* Since writing this recipe I have learned how to use filo pastry without the oil spray between the layers. Use 1/4 cup plant based milk, with a heaped teaspoon of cashew or almond butter and blend thoroughly until smooth.  Use this instead of oil to brush between the layers.

Spinach and Rice Filo Pie
 
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Spinach and Rice Filo Pie Recipe Type : Pies and Centerpiece Dishes Cuisine: Greek Author: Deb Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 35 mins Total time: 50 mins Serves: 4-6
Author:
Ingredients
  • 350g Frozen spinach portions – defrosted and as much water squeezed out as possible
  • 200g organic silken tofu
  • 2 heaped tablespoons creamy houmous (low fat)
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • 1 tsp dill paste – from a tube, or use ½ tsp dried / fresh to taste
  • Zest and 3 tablespooons of juice of a lemon
  • 1 x 250g bag ready cooked brown rice
  • Salt and pepper
  • 6 sheets filo pastry, defrosted
  • ¼ cup soy or other plant milk blended with 1 heaped teaspoon cashew or almond butter
  • 3 tomatoes, sliced
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
  2. Mix spinach – salt and pepper together thoroughly in a large bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning.
  3. Line a square baking tin with baking paper.
  4. Use a pastry brush to spread a little soy / nut butter mixture on a sheet of filo pastry and place centred in the tin, so that edges hang off the edge. Alternate next sheet so it goes across the 1st piece. Repeat so you have 4 sheets on the base.
  5. Scrape the contents of your bowl into the tin and level out, making sure you push it into the corners.
  6. Top with the sliced tomatoes, and season well.
  7. Spray final 2 sheets, place one folded up on the top to make a lid, then fold in the edges of your base sheets over the top. Place final folded sheet on top.
  8. Decorate if liked with scraps of pastry, then brush the remaining soy / nut butter mixture over the top. Can also sprinkle with sesame seeds, which looks pretty. (Didn’t have any!)
  9. Bake in the oven for about 35 minutes – checking after 20 to make sure it’s not turning to brown too fast.
  10. Let it sit for 10 minute before slicing.