Crumbled Tofu Curry & Cauliflower Rice

I have been meaning to try cooking with frozen tofu for absolutely ages! But having no freezer it has proved difficult until my Mum kindly offered me some space in her freezer - thanks Mum!

Frozen tofu has a completely different texture to tofu bought from the cooler section in supermarkets. It almost resembles a sponge. There is no need to press frozen and defrosted tofu as you can squeeze the liquid out of the frozen tofu just like you would a sponge! It doesn't break up like 'normal' (unfrozen) tofu. When you break it up it kind of looks like a sponge too!

I found that there is no need to marinade the frozen and defrosted tofu as it soaked up the flavours of the other ingredients during the cooking time. So in my book its a win win and something worth buying a freezer for!

I have also frozen the basil tofu so I'm looking forward to creating a recipe with that too, watch this space........

I've also been meaning to try cauliflower rice for some time too and this curry was the perfect opportunity to try it out!

Ingredients
1 Cauliflower
1 Block of tofu, frozen & defrosted
1 Tbsp Groundnut oil
3 Tbsp Soy sauce
Knob of ginger, finely grated
2 Cloves of garlic, finely grated
1½ Tsp curry powder
1½ Tsp Tomato puree
1 Onion, finely diced
1 Aubergine, finely diced (using processor)
8 Cherry tomatoes, quartered165ml Coconut milk 

Method
First, break up the cauliflower into florets and add to a blender, pulse until it resembles rice. Transfer to a microwaveable bowl and set aside.

Squeeze out the liquid from the tofu and crumble into a large bowl. 

Mix the soy sauce with the grated ginger & garlic, curry powder and tomato puree to a thick paste and pour over the crumbled tofu. Fold the crumbled tofu through the paste until all the tofu has been coated.

Saute the onion in the groundnut oil until translucent, about 4-5 minutes.

Chop the aubergine into chunks and tip into your food processor, pulse until you have very fine pieces. Transfer to the pan with the onions and saute for another 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring regularly, add a little water if needed.

Add the tofu mixture to the pan and stir to combine and continue to cook over a medium heat for another 5 minutes. Stir regularly to stop the mixture sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Pour over the coconut milk, there is only enough to coat the tofu and thin out the mixture slightly. (I can buy 165ml cans from home & Bargain for 19p, great to stock up on). Cook for another 5 minutes.

Add 4 Tbsp of water to the bowl with the rice cauliflower and microwave on full for 2 minutes, give the bow a shake and microwave for a further 2 minutes.

Serve the crumbled tofu curry atop the cauliflower rice and enjoy!

Sausage Casserole & Colcannon

To celebrate St. Patricks day I put my mind to making a vegan version of the Irish dish Colcannon, which traditionally contains ham or bacon. After a few different trials I decided on this version I'm sharing with you today. The mash was creamy and had some texture thanks to the cabbage. To replace the saltiness that you would get with the traditional meat version I replaced the ham with celery and a little white miso.

To make it different still I managed to pick up a purple savoy cabbage from the farmers market, it almost looked too pretty to cut into! The recipe is very easy to prepare and one that I will come back to time and time again.

I needed something just as tasty to pair with the Colcannon and I decided on sausage casserole. Regular readers know I'm not a massive fan of 'fake meat' but I was pleasantly surprised with this dish. As I hate food waste the casserole I created was based on ingredients that needed using up in my fridge, leeks & tomato passata, but partnered with some fresh herbs from my garden a tasty morsel was born!

I decided to share the recipe with you a few days early in case you want to celebrate St. Patrick's day with these dishes, if you do, I hope you enjoy and happy St Patrick's day!

Ingredients - Serves 4

Colcannon
600g Potatoes
2 Tbsp Vitalite (heaped)
3 Celery sticks, finely diced
½ Red Savoy cabbage, cored & sliced
2 Tsp White miso
Salt & pepper to taste


Sausage Casserole
8 Vegan sausages ( I used Linda McCartney)
3 Leeks, sliced
2 Sprigs fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 Tsp Dried thyme
1 Tbsp Flour1 Kallo Mushroom stock cube
500ml Boiling water
250ml Tomato passata

Method
Colcannon
Peel and boil the potatoes until tender, drain and roughly mash. Add the vitalite and mash until smooth. Add salt & pepper to taste.

While the potatoes are cooking fry the celery in a little olive oil for 3-4 minutes, you're looking to cook the celery but still with a bit of bite.

Add the cabbage and stir fry for another 3 minutes. Add the cabbage and celery to the mashed potatoes and stir to combine thoroughly.

Add the white miso to the potato mix and stir to thoroughly combine.

Sausage Casserole
Place the sausages in an oven proof dish and bake for 15 minutes in a moderate oven. You don't want to cook them completely, but give them a little head start. 

While the sausages are in the oven saute the leeks in a little oil for 5 minutes. Add the fresh rosemary, dried thyme and flour, stir to combine thoroughly and saute over a low heat for another minute.

Add the mushroom stock cube to the 500ml boiling water and stir to dissolve. Slowly pour a little at a time over the floured leeks and stir to make a sauce. Add the tomato passata and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and cook for 5 minutes.

Pour the sauce over the vegan sausage and bake for 20 minutes in a moderate oven.

Serve with the colcannon and a few garden peas.

Shrove Tuesday - The Staffordshire Way

It's Shrove Tuesday - how do you eat yours? Sweet or Savoury? I'm a savoury kinda gal.

We all know that the traditional pancake is made with eggs and while its straight forward to make a pancake without eggs I wanted to do something a little different.

You may or may not know that I am from the County of Staffordshire, and here we are well known for our oatcakes. So to celebrate Shrove Tuesday I replaced the pancakes with oatcakes and Shrove Tuesday - The Staffordshire Way was born.

Oatcakes are 'accidentally' vegan and are very easy to make, but as Shrove Tuesday is a weekday, I thought why not cheat a little. I visited Stone Farmers market on Saturday, which is one of my favourite past times and I bought loads of goodies, including a packet of Foley Oatcakes. My arms were aching from carrying all my bags! Stone is a brilliant farmers market so if you find yourself in the area on the first Saturday of the month, you should go and visit. 

                                                                     Ingredients - Serves 4
12 oatcakes
2 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Tsp Jerk paste
1 Aubergine, diced
1 Red pepper, diced
1 Green pepper, diced
1 Red onion, diced
1 Brown onion, diced
1 Courgette, diced
½ Tsp Herbamare salt
1 Tin tomatoes
1 Tin chickpeas
1 Tsp Paprika
1 Tsp Garlic granules
1 Tsp Cumin
½ Lemon, juice only
Salt & Pepper

Method
First mix the olive oil with the jerk paste in a large bowl. Add the diced vegetables and mix to coat all the veg with the 'jerk oil'.

Spread the coated vegetables onto a tray and roast in the oven for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour the tin of tomatoes into a large saucepan, add the chickpeas, paprika, garlic granules & cumin and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the roasted vegetables to the saucepan with the lemon juice and stir to combine thoroughly.

Serve the mixture in a bowl and three oatcakes per person, they can wrap them up 'fajita style' themselves.

Welsh Rarebit with a Leek & Thyme Garnish

Happy St David's Day! 
Or should I say 
Dydd Hapus Gŵyl Dewi!

We're celebrating in style today with all things Welsh and you can't beat the classic dish of Welsh Rarebit. When I transferred to a vegan lifestyle, I did think that I would miss cheese but surprisingly I haven't. There are plenty of cheese substitutes out there for you to try and my favourite at the moment is the smoked version of the Tesco free from range.

After making the three 'cheese' cauliflower and broccoli bake I found that a combination of three different cheese substitutes gave a winning combination. This recipe incorporates that winning combination to give a really 'cheesy' taste to this famous dish.

Ingredients - Serves 4-6
1 Tbsp Plain flour
1 Tbsp Vitalite
150ml Vegan Beer
80g Vegan 'Mozerella', grated
1 Tsp Mustard powder
2 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
Pinch Cayenne pepper
Good grind of black pepper
35g Smoked Vegan cheese (I used Tesco free from), grated
2 Tbsp Soft vegan cheese (heaped)
Loaf of bread
2 Leeks
1 Tsp Dried thyme


Method

First, melt the Vitalite in a small saucepan, then sprinkle in the flour. Mix until you have a thick paste and cook over a very low heat for a minute. Slowly add the beer stirring continuously to prevent lumps.

Add the vegan mozzarrella and stir until its melted, add the mustard powder and nutritional yeast and stir until combined. 

Add the black pepper & cayenne pepper and the smoked vegan cheese and stir until the cheese has melted. The mixture will be very very thick, a paste rather than a sauce.

Finally add the soft vegan cheese and stir until melted.

Slice 6 pieces of your bread of choice and place under a grill, toast each side.

Spread the 'cheese' paste onto one side of each slice of bread and return to under the grill. Grill for 3 minutes or until the 'cheese' paste starts to bubble.

Meanwhile fry the leeks in a little olive oil for 2-3 minutes or until soft and starting to brown. Sprinkle over the dried thyme and cook for another minute.

Cut each slice diagonally in half and serve with the leek and thyme garnish on top.