Put a large pot of water on to boil for the noodles.
Whisk together all the sauce ingredients in a bowl.
Prepare the beans, mushrooms and and kale.
Put the shredded kale in to a large bowl and pour boiling water over it.
Heat a large deep frying pan or wok and add the mushrooms.
Once liquid is released add the kale and stir around.
Once noodles are almost ready add the beans to the frying pan or wok and heat through. Cook for a few minutes until the kale is tender and most of liquid evaporated.
Serve up the noodles into individual bowls, top with the vegeables and drizzle over the sauce.
Aromatic stir fry with Thai flavours and green vegetables. Serve with noodles or rice.
Author: Deb
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Thai
Serves: 4
Ingredients
4 garlic cloves
2 green chillies
1 stick lemongrass
2 zucchini
1 green capsicum
200g button / smallish mushrooms
200g snow peas
1 pack marinated tofu pieces
½ cup salt reduced soy sauce
½ cup apple juice
Juice and zest of a lime
1 tablespoon of tahini
To Serve: Rice or Noodles, freshly chopped coriander
Instructions
Put on your rice or noodles to cook.
Peel the garlic, chop and deseed the chillies, peel and slice a finger-length piece of lemongrass and put them in a food processor or mini-chopper and pulse until finely chopped.
Prep the veggies: slice the zucchini into thick half-moons, quarter the button mushrooms, slice the capsicum, and de-vein and slice the snow peas lengthwise.
Rinse the tofu in a sieve with boiling water to remove oily marinade then cut into bite size pieces.
If you are having noodles, check if they are ready, then drain and set aside.
Heat a large wok or deep frying pan with a lid and add the lemongrass, chilli and garlic paste with a tablespoon of water and stir around for a couple of minutes. Add the zucchini, mushrooms, tofu and capsicum; mix well and put on the lid. Whisk together the apple juice, soy sauce, lime juice and zest and tahini.
Add as much of the sauce as you like to the vegetables along with the snow peas and cook until they are bright green and still crisp. Add more if the sauce evaporates too much.
Add the noodles to the pan or serve on top in individual bowls with the rice.
Serve scattered with the chopped coriander leaves.
This has been a long work in progress. Our family loves Mexican food and we usually make burritos or tacos but I have been looking for a dryer taco “meat” which doesn’t make them soggy. After trying lots of variations I’ve come up with a winner! Topped with avocado, salsa and spring onions, these tacos are delicious!
Lentil, Mushroom, Walnut, Quinoa & Black Bean Taco filling
I’ve always loved this spicy Indonesian rice dish but until now I just couldn’t seem to infuse the flavours into the rice without using oil. Finally I seem to have found a solution! Hope you love this as much as my family did.
Brown rice scented with garlic, ginger, citrus and chilli with plenty of mushrooms and finely shredded cabbage.
Author: Deb
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indonesian
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
4 cups cooked long grain brown rice
- SAUCE:
3 cloves garlic, micro-planed / finely chopped
3 tablespoons lemon and or lime juice
2cm piece ginger, finely chopped - a heaped tablespoon
1 tsp lime zest
2 teaspoons paprika
1 heaped teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon chopped chillies - from a jar (add more if you like it really spicy!)
1 heaped tablespoon tomato paste
4 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
VEGETABLES:
¼ green cabbage, cored and finely chopped
400g grams diced mushrooms - about 3-4 cups
2 medium carrots, finely diced
1 cup frozen / canned sweetcorn
To serve:
Toasted peanuts
Chopped fresh coriander
Limes - quartered
Instructions
Put on your rice to cook if not already available. (This may delay your serving time).
Finely chop, crush or microplane the garlic, place in a small bowl and pour over the lemon and or lime juice and stir. Soak the garlic in the lemon juice for 5 mins.
Add all other sauce ingredients then mix well and allow to sit whilst you prep the vegetables.
Sauté the onion, cabbage, mushrooms and carrots in a large deep frying pan with a lid. Once softened - about 5-7 mins - add the paste, stir thoroughly and keep stirring for a few minutes to , thoroughly distributing the sauce through the veg.
Add the cooked rice and mix well, then add a cup of water and the sweetcorn. Stir well and allow to heat through.
Put on the lid, turn the heat down to low and cook for a further 5-7 mins until the carrots are tender and the sauce is absorbed into the rice.
Turn off the heat and allow to sit whilst you get ready to serve.
Serve each bowl with a quarter of lime, and scatter with coriander, peanuts and hot sauce.
You might look at the name of this recipe, or the photo and think you haven't got time to make this, but you'd be wrong! With a food processor and using wholewheat square wraps instead of pasta this can be on the table inside an hour! This is in regular weeknight rotation in our house and everyone always wants seconds! 🙂
Author: Deb
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
4 square wholewheat wraps, cut into ¼ to make 16 squares
1 500g jar pasta tomato & basil style sauce
Topping:
1 slice wholemeal bread, torn into pieces
¼ cup walnut pieces
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
½ tsp salt
Filling:
350g baby spinach
350g firm plain tofu, broken into pieces
1 shallot / very small onion, chopped
75g hummus
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp Italian herbs mix
½ tsp salt
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
Instructions
Preheat oven to 180 C.
Place the topping ingredients into your food processor and pulse until you have a regular crumb with no large pieces. Tip into a bowl and set aside.
Place the baby spinach into a large bowl and cover with boiling water, pushing it down so all the leaves are submerged.
Take your lasagne dish and pour about ⅓ of the jar of sauce over the bottom and tilt the dish so there is an even cover across the whole surface.
Tip the spinach leaves and water into a colander over the sink, and run cold water over the spinach. Taking handfuls at a time, squeeze as much as the water out as you can, then roughly chop each handful into a few pieces, break up the clumps, and pop into the food processor (no need to clean out after breadcrumbs).
Place all the other filling ingredients into the food processor with the spinach and pulse until it is well mixed and in tiny pieces, but not a puree.
Take one square of wholewheat wrap, spoon 1 heaped tablespoon (about the size of a golf ball – around 35-40g in weight) of filling along one side. Roll up to create a sausage shape and place it in a corner of the dish. Keep going until you have used up all the filling and your dish is packed full.
Pour the rest of the sauce over the top of the rolls and make sure all the bread is covered.
Sprinkle the topping over the rolls and bake for 30 minutes. Cover with foil during the last 10
minutes if your breadcrumb topping is starting to catch.
A quick and easy version of shepherdess pie filling. If you do not have a pressure cooker, follow the same procedure in a casserole dish or large saucepan with a lid and either bake in the oven for 45 minutes or simmer on the cooktop for 30 minutes.
Author: Deb
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: English
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
1 large onion - finely diced
2 sticks celery - finel diced
1 very large or 2 medium carrots - finely diced
½ cup Puy (french) lentils
½ cup red lentils
2 heaped tablespoons tomato paste
1 heaped tsp chicken style stock powder
1 cup passata or chopped tomatoes, blended
2 cups water
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp mixed herbs
2 large bay leaves
½ cup frozen corn
½ cup frozen peas
Instructions
Assemble and measure out all your ingredients first.
Sauté the onion, celery and carrot in your pressure cooker, on the sauté or brown function for a few minutes.
Then add the rest of the ingredients and set to cook on high pressure for 13 mins
Release pressure
Stir in the corn and peas.
Close the lid and keep on warm function until potatoes or rice / pasta is ready
I’ve been making these for several years now at Easter, managing to avoid the temptation to buy them in the supermarkets (from February onwards)! Seems to get earlier every year but I like special occasion foods to be just that and so only make these once a year and they are so much nicer – and oil free – and wholemeal – and no preservatives – that its really worth it. I usually am cooking them for a crowd so I want to impress and therefore don’t do 100% wholemeal flour as they are much heavier and take longer to make as the rising time has to be longer. Feel free to go that way if you wish** and in that case add a splash more liquid to the dough and allow an extra 30 minutes or more rising time
You will need: A large mixing bowl, a whisk or fork, measuring spoons, a clean work surface, a large rectangular baking tray, baking paper, digital scales (not essential unless you’re particular about bun size like me!), tiny zip lock bags, small bowl (1/2-1 cup size), teaspoon, cling film, oil spray, pastry brush.
** Update April 2019. I have been making them with 100% wholemeal flour for the past couple of times now and they’re just as good. I do allow a little extra rising time and find best results with bakers flour if you can find it, but if not the supermarket wholemeal flour is fine.
Note the cook and prep times do not include rising times; allow 2-3 hours in addition.
Author: Deb
Serves: 12
Ingredients
230g wholemeal flour +
220g plain flour OR 500g wholemeal flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
50g raw brown sugar
7g instant yeast
270ml warm water
150g mixed dried fruit & peel - any combination you like
extra: plain flour rolling, for making crosses; & sugar for glazing
Instructions
[Dough can also be mixed in a breadmaker or with a dough hook attachment in a food processor or hand mixer - just mix all ingredients from flour to water together then mix in the fruit]
In a very large bowl whisk the dry ingredients all together then slowly stir in the water. It will suck up the water very quickly and seem quite dry but keep mixing until all the flour is incorporated and then add a splash more (tablespoon at a time) until the dough is soft and a little sticky. It should be a little wetter than a regular bread dough. Tip it onto a floured working surface and knead in the dried fruit. Knead for 10 minutes until the dough becomes springy and elastic and all the fruit is incorporated.
Wash out the bowl and place the dough inside, cover with cling wrap and leave in a warm place for an hour or so or until doubled in size.
Tip the dough back onto a floured work surface.
Line a large baking tray (as wide as a regular oven) with baking paper.
Here is where digital scales are very useful. If you're at all like me, you want 12 buns exactly the same size. The only way to achieve this is to weigh each ball of dough. 🙂 So weigh the entire amount, divide by 12 and then pull off balls of dough that weight, roll in to a neat ball between your lightly floured palms and place on the tray. Repeat! You want 3 x 4 on the tray, even spaced. They will grow as they rise so allow a good 3-5 cm between each bun.
Spray a piece of cling wrap with oil (otherwise they will stick and deflate when you pull off the wrap). and place over the buns and return to their warm spot until they have risen sufficiently to be stuck to each other.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Centigrade.
Make the cross paste: Mix 2-3 tablespoons of flour in a little bowl with enough water to make a thick but runny paste (like single cream). Pour it into a little ziplock bag.
Remove carefully the cling wrap and take your bag of flour and water paste. Snip off a tiny corner off of the bag and carefully drizzle in long lines across the middle of the buns, then back the other way. It's easier to do this in one continuous motion rather than individually. Plan your route before you set off! 🙂
Once you've finished, place in the hot oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Make the glaze: Mix 2-3 teaspoons of sugar in a small bowl with boiling water and stir until it dissolves.
Once the timer goes off check that they're cooked by cutting one open (use tongs!), it should be firm and not wet inside.
Brush the glaze over the hot buns and leave to cool - if you can. 🙂
I had a craving for this dish which I used to love as a child when we would very occasionally go to a Chinese restaurant. Of course it wasn’t tofu back then, was probably chicken or pork but it was the way that sweet tangy sauce soaked into the rice that I loved so this satisfies that completely! After trying a few recipes I found on the net, I combined the best of them plus a few variations to make this version. We usually enjoy it with some steamed bok choi or broccoli on the side. You can also add other vegetables such as snow peas or bamboo shoots / beansprouts at the end if you like.
Cooking time may be extended depending on how long it takes to cook your rice. I use a rice cooker and ours takes around 30 minutes.
Author: Deb
Recipe type: Dinner
Cuisine: Chinese
Serves: 4
Ingredients
1 300g pack of firm tofu (we like to use smoked but plain is fine)
2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar
3 tablespoons tomato ketchup
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce or tamari
1 tablespoon lime juice
Juice from 1 400g can pineapple pieces
½ cup water
Pineapple pieces from the can
2 tablespoons brown unrefined sugar
2 heaped teaspoons corn flour
2 cloves garlic, minced / microplaned
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 large red capsicum cut into strips
1 large green or yellow capsicum, cut into strips
1 large red onion, sliced into strips
1 small can water chestnuts, drained - optional
4 tablespoons roasted cashews - optional
Instructions
Put your brown ride on to cook
Mix together the pineapple juice, vinegar, tomato ketchup, soy sauce and lime juice in a small bowl, whisk in the corn flour and water and mix thoroughly until smooth with no lumps. Put the tofu in to a shallow dish and pour the sauce over and leave to marinade.
When then rice is almost ready heat a large non stick frying pan over a medium heat and saute the onion and peppers until softened. Add the garlic and ginger and stir around for 5 minutes, adding a tiny splash of water if any sticking is occurring. Put on the lid and allow to cook on a low heat for a further few minutes until peppers are tender.
Add the tofu and sauce to the pan, along with the pineapple, water chestnuts and cashews. Stir consistently until the sauce thickens and becomes transparent. Add a splash more water as needed to create as much sauce as you'd like.
Serve with the rice and accompanying vegetables as desired.
This is based on a thing I’d kind of throw together for myself for lunch when I was a stay-at-home-mum and one day when I was marvelling at the deliciousness of it I realised I was being selfish to keep it to myself so I made it into a proper family meal and everyone loved it. Better still this is a quick and easy weeknight dinner, whilst not skimping on plenty of veg. It’s kind of like a risotto so should be soupy and not a dry pilaf-type thing. If you like it hot spicy feel free to add chopped chillies or chilli powder at the start. Otherwise this is totally kid friendly. 🙂
2 tsp smoked (or regular if you're' not a fan) paprika
1 bag baby spinach, 2-300g, chopped
1 cup frozen sweetcorn and / or peas
3 cups ready cooked medium grain brown rice
2 cups vegetable stock
2-3 tablespoons tahini (or ½ cup fat free hummus)
1.5 cups tomato pasta sauce
Juice of a (juicy) lime
Freshly chopped parsley
Instructions
Prep all your vegetables.
Heat a large, deep non stick pan (which has a lid preferably)
Saute the onion, capsicum and mushrooms with the spices and cook for 5 minutes until the capsicums are softened a little then add handfuls at a time of the chopped spinach, stirring until it wilts in to the mixture - should take around 5 minutes.
Add in the cooked rice, frozen corn / peas, the stock, the tahini (or hummus) and pasta sauce and stir well. Once it starts to bubble put on the lid and turn down to gentle simmer. After 5 minutes check the vegetables are all done to your liking. Stir in the lime juice, scatter with the parsley and serve!
These were a bit of an experiment which turned into a huge success! We had them for dinner topped with hummus and salsa (or hot sauce or tomato sauce depending on your age!) with some steamed broccoli. Also were a great breakfast the next day sandwiched into some sourdough with avocado and tomato.
Creamy mash and chickpeas blended together with gently sautéed veggies and spices, formed into patties and coated with breadcrumbs. A delicious light lunch with salad or for dinner with steamed vegetables.
Author: Deb
Recipe type: Patties & Burgers
Serves: 14
Ingredients
700g potatoes (peeled weight)
1-2 cups dry breadcrumbs (I used a sourdough crust, pulsed in food processor, toasted in oven, then pulsed again into a fine crumb)
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 T tahini
1 brown onion, finely chopped
1 leek, halved lengthways, washed and finely sliced
2 cups finely chopped cabbage
100g chopped mushrooms
1 medium carrot grated
½ cup frozen baby peas
½ cup frozen sweet corn
1 tsp mixed dried herbs
½ t paprika
½ t turmeric
½ t coriander
1 T soy sauce
5 cubes frozen spinach defrosted and squeezed dry
Instructions
Peel your potatoes and put into a pan of cold water and bring to the boil.
Meanwhile, prepare your other vegetables (and breadcrumbs if necessary.)
Blend the chickpeas with the tahini in a food processor until mostly smooth, a few chunks is ok.
Put the onion, leek, cabbage, mushrooms, carrot into a large nonstick frying pan and cook over a medium heat, stirring frequently until softened, adding a splash or two of water if starting to stick. Stir in the herbs and spices and soy sauce and cook until very soft and most moisture evaporated. Turn off the heat.
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees and line a large baking tray with paper and place inside.
When your potatoes are just tender, drain well and mash until smooth.
In a large bowl combine the potato, chickpeas, the cooked veggies, frozen peas and corn, and the spinach. The mixture should be very thick and quite difficult to stir. Hands are easier if it's too hard! Can be refrigerated at this stage until you're ready to cook them.
Take large spoonfuls and shape into patties, then coat in breadcrumbs.
Cook a batch at a time in a dry frying pan over a moderate heat for a few minutes until crispy on both sides, then transfer to your baking sheet in the oven whilst you cook the rest. Bake them in the oven for a further 15 minutes. I managed to get 14 cakes.
