Spelt Bread - Bread Machine (V. 0.9)

This is almost ready for version 1.0, but still could be better. Some minor variations of mine to this recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/perfect-bread-machine-spelt-bread-298300, so all credit to this for the base. I've never been able to get a fluffy loaf like they describe, but I'm working on improving it.

The first thing I noticed was all the talk about spelt flour having a different gluten structure to wheat, and so I thought that perhaps using a gluten substitute to help might work. It did. My next step was attempting to get a bit more moisture and a bit more lift out of the yeast. Definitely getting there.

Spelt Bread - Bread Machine (V0.9)

Ingredients

4 cups spelt flour (either wholemeal or white, organic or not. I've been using organic white)
1.5 cups of tepid water
3.5 tsp dried yeast
6 tsp of raw dark sugar
2 tsp of salt
3 tbsp olive oil
1.5 tsp xanthan gum

Method

Put water into bread machine, followed by sugar. Give it a stir to part-dissolve. Add yeast. Then leisurely add the remaining ingredients in no particular order.

Set bread machine to medium size, light crust, default (white bread) setting. Should be about 3h12-20 minutes.

Bonza.

Vindaloo Variations (V.0.1)

I went out for dinner last night with my partner and some old school friends (and SOs) to an Indian restaurant in Melbourne called Gaylords. It was exquisite, though I somehow ended up with an extra-hot vegetarian Vindaloo. It didn't list that it included paneer, which was annoying, but it did, so it was not vegan. But it was exquisite. It inspired me to make a vindaloo of my own. I've used other people's recipes, or book recipes, for years now, but I've not tackled a vegan vindaloo yet. To be fair, I'm not entirely convinced it should be called a vindaloo, though of course there is so much variety in these curries that it probably doesn't matter. Anyway… for the base of this recipe I used Madhur Jaffrey's Goan Pork Vindaloo recipe (from her Quick & Easy Indian Cooking, which is written for a pressure cooker, which I don't have!)

I've not tried the original recipe, but it served as a decent basis to build mine off. So I want to acknowledge that source material.

This recipe also differs from, as far as I can tell, a lot of Indian cooking because it is baked in a cast-iron pot (pot-roasted?) rather than cooked on a stove, or a pressure cooker. Also note that this is a recipe designed for bulk cooking so that my partner and I can take food to work with us over the coming days.

Variation on a Vindaloo (V. 0.1)

General ingredients:

1x large potato + 2x medium potatoes, loosely cubed in various sizes
550g firm tofu, cubed
~2-3 cups of (soaked/cooked) chickpeas. I used dried, which soaked for about 12 hours.
Couple of handfuls of green beans, with ends removed.
1 tin of whole tomatoes
1 tin of coconut milk
1-2 tbsp of coconut oil

Curry paste ingredients & method:

1.5 tbsp brown mustard seeds
1.5 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar + more as needed (I used white as I ran out of AC)

STEP ONE: Using a large mortar and pestle, grind the mustard seeds and vinegar into a paste that still has quite a bit of texture.

To this paste, add:

~12 large cloves of garlic
~1 medium red onions, loosely chopped
3 heaped tsp of ground turmeric
3 heaped tsp of ground coriander seed
3 heaped tsp of ground cumin seed
3 heaped tsp of cayenne pepper
3 dried kashmiri chilis
~1 tsp of asafoetida powder
2 level tsp of salt
~9-15 dried curry leaves
~3 tbsp of red wine vinegar

Pulverise until a chunky paste consistency is achieved.

Method:

Preheat oven to 160C (fan forced), with large cast-iron pot (with lid) inside
In a separate frying pan, heat on a hot heat the coconut oil.
Once hot, add about 1/3 of the curry paste and fry until fragrant
Add the cubed tofu and fry until it starts to absorb the colour of the paste

Remove hot pot from oven, transfer contents from frying pan to pot
Add the remaining paste and fresh ingredients
Add tomatoes including juice, then use scissors to chop them up
Add coconut milk and about 1/2 a tin of extra water

Put the lid on and put it in the oven for about an hour and a half, stirring every 30 or so minutes.

Once the hour and a half is up (or the potatoes/chickpeas are nearly cooked through), turn the oven up to 200C (fan-forced) and cook for a further 30-40 minutes until well-reduced and a thick, clinging gravy exists and the tomatoes have basically turned to liquid. Sauce should be a dark caramel colour by this stage.

Serve with basmati rice or whatever you want.

Not Very Experimental Vegan Anzac Biscuits (V.1.0)

This little recipe has been in development for a while now, and is also the first v.1.0 recipe I've posted.

I really need to emphasise that I have borrowed most of the recipe from VeganEasy.org, the recipe is by Jo. However, I have modified it to suit my own taste and cooking style, so I am including my version here. This version is much, much less sweet than the original, but likely more crumbly (which I like).

Not Very Experimental Vegan Anzac Biscuits (V.1.0)

Preheat oven to 180C (FF).

1 cup of oats
1 cup of self-raising flour, gluten free
1 cup of desiccated coconut (or shredded, but des. works better)
1/2 cup of soft brown sugar
2/3 cup of liquid coconut oil
1 tsp of warm/hot water

Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and then form into biscuits (squish into walnut sized balls, then flatten slightly), place onto a baking-paper-lined-baking-tray, and bake at 180C for about 25 minutes or until you think they are suitably baked.

Enjoy.

Buckwheat Soba Noodle Salad (V.0.2)

Buckwheat Soba Noodle Salad (V.0.2)

This thing was inspired by the salad with the same title that Disco Beans in Preston (Melb, Vic) have on their menu at the moment. I am seriously considering doing their cooking class to learn how to make at least the dressing that comes with it. But I thought this would be a pretty tasty lunch on a fairly warm day.

My partner thinks it was too fatty tasting and too strong on the olive oil, but I disagree on both counts. However, if you decide to make it, keep that in mind. In future, I would add some seaweed and avocado, and possibly a sprinkling of crushed chilli on top.

Revision two modifies the dressing a little, and includes avocado and alternative leafy greens.

Salad Ingredients

You could use whatever you want, really. But I used:

5-10 cherry tomatoes, quartered.
The entirety of the inner heart of an iceberg lettuce, loosely chopped OR;
Two big handfuls of mixed greens, OR;
Two big handfuls of baby spinach
1/2 a lebanese cucumber, cut lengthways into small lengths.
1/2 a zucchini grated
1 bunch (about 8-9) spring onions, chopped
1 large avocado, cubed
1 tube of Chinese buckwheat soba noodles (dried, boiled for five minutes, strained, washed with cold water, and left to cool). These have wheat in them.

Dressing

~1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
~1 tbsp of sesame oil
~1 tbsp of black sesame seeds
~1/3 cup of soy sauce
~1 heaped tsp of white miso paste (optional)
~1 tsp of vegan "fish" sauce (made with pineapple juice)
~2 basically juiceless limes, but would use 1 juicy one.
~1 tbsp lemon juice
~1/3 cup of rice wine vinegar
~1 tbsp of tepid, brewed, black tea.

Whisk that all together, assemble salad and toss, pour on the dressing, toss again (I used hands!) and serve.

Needs revision, but it was really good.

Creamy Baked Cauliflower and Broccoli with Basil & Tomato [v. 0.1]

Doing roasts without meat is a pretty fun challenge. The best part, I find, asides the awesome array of flavour, is the complete lack of preparation time and cleaning that is required. I remember in the periods where I've eaten meat (between not), the pre-time for roasting meat is much greater than for vegetables.

So when doing roasts, as I did this evening, finding a fun new centrepiece or side to take the place of the roast meat really presents some fun cooking opportunities. This recipe was served with:

• potatoes & parsnip roasted in olive oil, garlic, onion, rosemary, and black pepper;
• zucchini, carrots, green capsicum, roasted in canola oil, white pepper, dried oregano.

So on to the recipe.

Creamy Baked Cauliflower and Broccoli with Basil & Tomato [v. 0.1]

Creamy Sauce

Ingredients

1.5 tbsp tahini paste

0.5 tbsp margarine (I use the ALDI brand, because it's cheap, but Nutalex is always good)

1.0 cloves garlic

1.0 tsp English mustard

Water to thin

Method

Melt the margarine with loosely chopped garlic, in microwave (I used a mug)

Add tahini & mustard and stir

Add water until a creamy consistency equaling around about 1.2 cups is reached.

Cauli & Broc & Whatnot

Ingredients

1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped into whatever sized chunks you want

1 head of broccoli, chopped into whatever sized chunks you want

Fresh basil, about a cup worth

2 tomatoes, chopped into 8ths

White pepper

Method

Put chopped cauli and broc into a baking dish

Add basil and tomatoes

Top with white pepper to your taste

Pour over the creamy sauce.

Cover with foil (or a lid if using a lidded baking dish)

Bake at 180C (Fan Forced) for about 30-40 mins, then an additional 10-20 mins without the lid.

Sorry I forgot to take a photo. It looked like it sounds like it would look.

Apple and Orange Dessert Tart (v. 0.1)

This post follows on directly from the former, and was made with the remaining 0.8x pastry sheet.

Apple and Orange Dessert Tart (v. 0.1)

Ingredients

0.8x pastry sheet (if making from scratch, just be brave and use a whole one/make a bigger one/whatever)
1.5x valencia oranges
2x granny smith apples
agave/maple syrup
star anise
ground cinnamon
whole cloves
coconut oil
spray oil

Method

Preheat oven to 180C (fan-forced)

Slice the apples into rough slices (not wedges) without the core
Slice the oranges into roughly 12ths, as wedges (peel before hand if you like, or after)

Layer the pastry in a small pie/tart dish after spraying with oil if you want
Place 0.5-1x star anise on the pastry
Layer the apple on top evenly
Add a sprinkle of whole cloves (about 12)
Add the oranges (skin off) in a similar layer
Sprinkle ground cinnamon fairly liberally on top of the oranges
Drizzle agave/maple syrup (I used a mixture of the both, but you could use either)
Drizzle some coconut oil on top of that

Bake for about 50-60 minutes until somewhat reduced and cooked through.

Onion, Eggplant, & Tomato Savoury Tart (v. 0.2)

You have to start somewhere, right?

I did not really want to cook anything tonight, but got inspired by a story about the onion (which was pretty mediocre really) on some news website (either The Guardian or The Age), which in itself is unremarkable, but it made me consider what I could do with the abundance of red onions that my partner and I bought from the market the other day.

This post will also serve as somewhat of an introduction to what this blog is, or will be, if I manage to keep it up.

You see, I am terrible at noting down nice recipes that I come up with. So this serves as my own personal "recipe book", if you like. But I figure that other people might also like them. The difference – I hope – between this and other food blogs is that I will be using this to document the development of recipes, somewhat like the development of music scores, from an early version (0.1) through to a finished version (1.0), and possibly beyond. I have a suspicion that many will stay at 0.1. However! There is an opportunity here for other people to join in the experimentation and suggest changes/etc. So I liken it to "experimental music", where the outcome is potentially unknown (though sometimes anticipated), and may not actually work.

So that's the idea. Now for the first recipe. Remember, this was made up 20 minutes ago, and I have no idea how it tastes.

Onion, Eggplant, & Tomato Savoury Tart (v. 0.2)

Ingredients

1.2x sheets of shortcrust pastry (vegan, in my case) [the remaining 0.8 will be used in another recipe]
3x medium-large red onions
1.5x large tomatoes
0.5x medium-large aubergine/eggplant (split lengthways)
~7 oyster mushrooms
Cracked black pepper
Ground white pepper
Salt
Asafoetida
Olive oil
Dried basil
About 10 dry bay leaves
Spray oil for tart tray (I used canola)

Method

If using frozen pastry, thaw it. Preheat oven to 180C (fan-forced).

Top and tail the three onions, cut them in half, then slice them. Keep it reasonably rough.

With the half eggplant, slice it in half length ways, repeat, and repeat again (for each quarter), then chop the small wedges in half sideways to get ~3-4cm length wedges.

Spray a tart tray/shallow pie dish with oil. Lay the 1.2 sheets of pastry as necessary to fill the dish and neaten the edges if necessary/use the excess to complete the edges too.

Grind some black pepper all over the pastry.

Add the onions in one large layer, remember that they will reduce substantially with cooking.

Add eggplant wedges in slightly layered circle around the outer edge of the onions. Sprinkle salt over the wedges, then drizzle olive oil on top of that.

Trim the stalks off the oyster mushrooms and place them in the centre, and with any extra mushrooms cut them in half and place them every 2-3 wedges of eggplant.

Chop the tomatoes in thin slices. Place on top of the wedges, close-ish together, and then one or two slices in the centre.

Cover with white pepper, basil, asafoetida, and some more olive oil, and wedge bay leaves in/on the top layer.

Place in the oven uncovered and bake for about 80 minutes, making sure that the eggplant is cooked (use your eyes and/or a skewer)

Serve with a side of rocket/roquette lettuce, with a drizzle of lime juice, and a few slivers of avocado. I don't roquette available tonight, so it will likely be a mixed-cabbage and carrot dry slaw, with avocado.

Slaw Side

Given that my avocados were bad, and I lacked roquette, I made this slaw in place.

Ingredients/method

Red cabbage, green cabbage, carrot: all grated, not too much as it's a side.

A squeeze of lemon juice, some ground black pepper and salt, hand mixed and served on the side.

Verdict

Really, really damn good.