Cheesy Tofu Pie

July 29, 2015July 29, 2015 / Frankie Mouche / Leave a comment

Traditionally in the UK the summer seems to only last a couple of weeks and then we have lots of rain and a few mild days before it gets cold again. Well at least for the past ten years anyway and they tell us the climate isn’t changing yet! This means we still get to have pies in the summer to keep us warm and fill us up.

I wouldn’t say this is a particularly healthy recipe, but it’s a lot better than it’s non-vegan counterpart.

The best thing about my recipes is that you don’t need anything fancy to make them work. All the ingredients should already be in your house or easily available.

Ingredients:

2 tins of braised tofu (I got mine from Holland & Barrett.)
1 onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, diced
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of vegetable bouillon powder
Half a carton of passata
Water as needed
2 large potatoes
Half a block of Violife original cheese, grated
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1 tablespoon Vitalite dairy free spread
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped

Method:

Get the oven on full whack.
Have a pan of salted water heating up to boil.
Fry the onion, garlic and carrots in an oven proof pan, for about three minutes.
Empty the contents of the tofu tin into the pan, including the juices. Break up the tofu into smaller pieces and allow everything to simmer for about two minutes.
Add the bay leaves, red wine vinegar and passata and turn down the heat. Allow to bubble gently for about 10 minutes until the carrots have softened.
Taste the mixture. Add salt and pepper if desired. Turn off the heat.
Slice the potatoes thinly and boil in salted water for 2 minutes. Drain and place back in the sauce pan where you mix in the Vitalite and any extra salt and pepper you require.
Place on top of the tofu mixture, layering if you need to. Cover in grated Violife and nutritional yeast.
Put in the oven, in the oven proof pan for approximately 15 minutes or until the top has a nice crunch.

Enjoy on it’s own or with some steamed vegetables. It’s very filling!

Stuffed Sweet Peppers

July 24, 2015July 24, 2015 / Frankie Mouche / 2 Comments

I already know what you’re thinking. BORING! Everyone always makes stuffed peppers for vegans and it’s getting really old. Well think again! This is a revamped recipe that you’re not only going to want to eat yourself, but rustle up as a great starter for a main meal. One thing this dish isn’t is pretty. I suppose if you fannied around for a little while with some rocket, you could make a meaningful display, but I don’t have time for that sort of nonsense. 😛

Ingredients:

60 grams cous cous (2 servings)

Half a jar of sun dried tomatoes, chopped

Half a jar of artichoke hearts, chopped

1 vegetable stock cube

Wholemeal bread crumbs

Nutritional yeast

6 sweet long peppers of varying sizes

Method:

Turn the oven on. Slice your peppers down the middle. Season with a little salt and pepper, then place in the oven for 10 minutes to begin cooking.
In the meantime, prepare your cous cous as per packet instructions, mixing in a vegetable stock cube to give flavour.
Now add the sun dried tomato and artichoke to the cous cous. Don’t worry about any extra oil. It all adds to the Mediterranean flavour.
Remove peppers from the oven and fill with the cous cous mixture.
Top with a generous helping of nutritional yeast and bread crumbs for that extra crunch.
Place back in the oven for a further 10-15 minutes so the peppers can soften and the top can go crispy.

Serve as a light lunch with a salad or on it’s own as a starter.

Vegan Poached Egg

April 14, 2015April 14, 2015 / Frankie Mouche / 2 Comments

As someone who has been vegan for near on a decade, I’ve never really missed eggs. It’s only because a newbie vegan said they were missing them, that I even considered making them.

I can’t take all the credit for this. I got a lot of inspiration from the internet on ways to make this actually happen.

Also because of where I live, lots of fancy ingredients just aren’t available here. I wanted to make a poached egg any one, anywhere could make. I’m also unable to eat the Vegg due to production methods. (Made in the same factory as crustacean products which I am allergic to.) With that in mind, here are the ingredients for the yolk:

120 ml water

1 teaspoon of vegetable stock powder

1 teaspoon of cornflour

1/2 a teaspoon of turmeric

2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast

1/2 a teaspoon of English mustard

1/2 a teaspoon American mustard

1 tablespoon of vegan butter (I used Vitalite.)

Blend everything in a food processor, except the butter and pour into a hot pan. Turn the heat off and melt the butter into the mix straight away. Drain into a small bowl and leave to cool.

Ingredients for the white:

600 g of firm silken tofu

3.5 tablespoons of arrowroot powder

2 teaspoons of vegan gelatine powder (I used vegan non-sweetened powder.)

1/4 teaspoon of salt. (If you can get black salt, even better.)

Blend all the ingredients until entirely smooth. Now get your poaching device and fill it with the white mixture. Make a well in the middle and fill with yolk. Depending on the size of your device, 1 or 2 heaped teaspoons. Cover the yolk with white until it isn’t visible and drop device into boiling water.

Cover the pan with a lid so the top is also cooked. (For about 15 minutes.)

The first egg was actually crap. Why? I put the yolk in whilst it was still warm.

The second one I thought I’d cracked (no pun intended) so I served it on spinach, maple bacon and an English muffin. It fell apart because I only cooked it for 8 minutes.

Then I made this little diamond. 15 minutes, gently simmered and lovingly turned onto a plate without breaking.

The yolk is thick and mustardy, just like a chicken’s egg. The white is soft but bouncy. It’s also not as fatty as an egg because you are not adding much fat, but it is still high in protein and B12.

I left some of the 6 I made, in the fridge and heated one up for later. Although it fell apart a bit, it was very tasty with a home grown herby freekah salad.

I hope this helps anyone craving chicken’s eggs as a new vegan and changes the lives of those of us long term vegans who never dreamed this would be possible.

(N.B I know it doesn’t look pretty. What do you want? A perfect vegan egg? Hahahahhaaha! 😛 )

Aubergine Parmigiana (Soy & Gluten Free)

April 18, 2014 / Frankie Mouche / Leave a comment

This is total comfort food for when those spring evenings aren’t quite warm enough yet. It’s also a budget meal with just a few ingredients and herbs that you can make with what you have in a standard vegan cupboard. If you’re not vegan yet, perhaps you should visit http://www.whyveganism.com and get on that shit, right now! 😀

Ingredients:

3 large aubergines

1 glug of olive oil

2 red onions

3 garlic cloves

2 tins of chopped tomatoes

Salt and pepper to season

1/4 tub of nutritional yeast

Method:

1) Slice the aubergine into quite thick slices and rub with salt and pepper. (Aubergine tends to be quite watery and you want it to absorb all the tomatoey goodness.)

2) Place in layers in a a lasagne dish.

3) Now mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl. (Except the nutritional yeast.) Leave to marinate for 10 minutes whilst you heat the oven.

4) Now pour over the aubergine dish and sprinkle all of the nutritional yeast on the top.

5) Bake for 40 minutes.

6) Serve with new potatoes or a crisp salad.

Jerk Tofu With Cucumber “Pesto” Salad

March 23, 2014 / Frankie Mouche / Leave a comment

Sunday lunch has never really been traditionally British in the Queer Vegan household. We very rarely sit down to a plate full of roasted stuff covered in gravy and anyway, if we do it’s normally at the Toby Carvery accompanied by a beer. (We’re on quite a strict diet at the moment due to Tough Mudder training so that’s really not going to be happening.)

Today’s Sunday lunch was much more typical of what we would eat and a hell of a lot healthier too. This dish is ram packed with calcium, vitamin K, vitamin C and protein.

Ingredients:

Half a cucumber.
A large handful of baby leaf spinach.
Three cloves of garlic, crushed.
One tablespoon of pine nuts.
One tablespoon of sesame seeds.
One tablespoon of nutritional yeast.
One block of tofu, drained. (Place the tofu between two plates for about 30 minutes so that as much water as possible is pressed from the block.)
Two tablespoons jerk seasoning.
Two tablespoons breadcrumbs.
Two tablespoons vegetable oil.

Method:

Slice your drained tofu into your preferred shapes. (I like a rectangle shape personally.)
Mix the oil, breadcrumbs and jerk seasoning in a bowl. Then gently cover each piece of tofu with the mixture and place straight into a hot grill pan. (The ones with the ridges that give the tofu a char-grilled look.) Each side will take about five minutes.
In the meantime place the crushed garlic into a large bowl. Grate the cucumber and the spinach either manually (good luck) or use a food processor with the grater attachment. Place these in the bowl also.
Mix around with your hands so that the garlic infuses throughout the salad and then place onto a plate. (This amount should serve two.)
Now sprinkle the pine nuts, sesame seeds and nutritional yeast over the salad and add some dried chili flakes too. (Optional.)
By now the tofu should be cooked. Remove from the hot pan using a spatula and place on top of the salad.
GET THAT YUMMYNESS IN YOUR FACE!

Super Secret Scrambled Tofu Recipe: The Best You’ll Ever Have!!!!

January 30, 2014 / Frankie Mouche / 1 Comment

I think people are a bit lost when it comes to tofu. It’s this white squishy block which doesn’t taste like anything. I saw an episode of Come Dine With Me once and a vegan guy on there served his dinner guests raw tofu and avocado. What the hell was he thinking? YUCK!

The number one rule is flavouring: herbs, spices and marinades are the best but sauces, bread crumbs and oils can also be great too.

On Facebook I’m constantly raving about how amazing Mykey’s scrambled tofu is, so I finally caught him in the act on Sunday morning and took some pictures.

First let’s get these ingredients down:

A large handful of fresh baby leaf spinach (frozen is far too watery.)
6 large button mushrooms
Tumeric
Black salt (not essential but will make the tofu smell and taste more like egg.)
Terriyaki sauce
1 pack of chilled firm tofu (not silken)
A dash of oil
Wholemeal sourdough bread to serve
Nutritional yeast

Method:

Heat the dash of oil in a frying pan.

Slice your mushrooms and place into the pan, stirring every minute or so.

In the meantime, drain your tofu over the sink.

When the mushrooms have begun to soften, add the tofu by squeezing it through your hands so it crumbles. Break any extra bits up with your mixing spoon.

Now add about a tablespoon of powdered turmeric, a glug of teriyaki sauce, two tablespoons of nutritional yeast and two pinches of black salt and mix together.