As a Vegan…..

I have had this book by Isa Chandra Moskowitz for sometime now and have enjoyed many recipes from it. As it is now finally summer there are lots of great summer dishes to be enjoyed on warm evenings ect. I have already posted about the Fresh Tomato Salsa Dressing p.23 which I find great in this heat hot and yet refreshing.

I made Buffalo Tempeh p.161 a few day ago a simple yet great tasting dish and accompanied it with ‘Prospect Park’ vegan potato salad from Veganomicon. The Buffalo Tempeh has just 5 ingredients that give the tempeh a spicy kick.

Other wonderful recipes that I have tried and tested and enjoyed thoroughly are;

Pasta de los Angeles p177.  A fresh pasta salad with black beans and coriander.

Red Wine and Kalamata Tempeh p157. I have made this a few times now and would definateley recommend marinating the tempeh over night as it really adds to the rich flavour of the wine and olives, great served with mash or rice.

Black-Eyed Pea and Tempeh Beanballs p.191. This recipe makes 12 beanballs so I like to serve some hot as an evening meal with spaghetti and a hot tomato sauce, then have some for lunch cold in salad wraps. A simple recipe and thees beanballs are baked not fried making them much healthier that some alternatives.

Masala Baked Tofu p.146. This is great recipe for tofu that you can marinade the night before and just pop in the oven when you get in from work and then serve with rice or noodles. The Masala Baked Tofu is full of flavour and oven baking gives the tofu extra chewiness.

Buffalo Tempeh p.161

I would highly recommend this book for its ease of use and the interesting flavours. A vast amount of the recipes take under 30 mins or can be prepared the night before, so this book will appeal to those short of time too.

From Mark Reinfield and Jennifer Murray the authors of “The 30-Minute Vegan”, this book has tasty, healthy, vegan recipes inspired by the cuisines of China, Japan, Korea, India, Thailand, and more.

Having received this book as a gift a few weeks ago, I thought I would share my experiences of it. I have tried lots of the recipes and I have found them all easy to prepare and delicious. The book features recipes from Indonesia, Nepal, Vietnam, Korea, Tibet, Iran, and Afghanistan and everything I have made so far has been enjoyed by both my partner and myself.

So far my favourite dishes have been the Kung Pao Tempeh p.123 which involves baking the marinated tempeh in the oven, then it is sautéed with bok choi and cashews yummy!

The Tibetan Noodle Soup, p.202, prepared by my partner was delicious, a very warming, enjoyable soup, however I would probably prefer soba or udon noodles in it rather than the recipes spelt ones.

Peking Seitan A.K.A Dafy's Relief page.129

The ‘Peking Seitan A.K.A. Daffy’s Relief’ which also involves baking in the oven giving the sauce a lovely texture and making the seitan melt in the mouth.

And, pictured below, ‘Seitan and Broccoli’ which was really simple and quick to prepare, I added soba noodles to the mix at the end and served, delicious.

Seitan and Broccoli page.125

I would highly recommend this book to both those who need to prepare meals quickly and those who enjoy cooking as the books ease of use and easily sourced ingredients I’m sure will appeal to all.

*A quick update to this post, I have now tried the Seitan with Black Bean Sauce and it was really tasty too. It says on the recipe to marinate the seitan in spices and I would highly recommend doing so as it really adds flavour.

Seitan with Black Bean Sauce page. 118

Strawberries from my Dad's garden.

I love making vegan cupcakes they are so quick to make and delicious too. The recipe I use is from  “Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World‘ by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero page 37. The Russian Doll cup measures from my previous post really help with this recipe.

I made the vegan frosting up using;

My Dad’s home-grown strawberries

3/4 cup unrefined powdered sugar

3/4 cup vegan margarine

1/8 cup  soy milk

1tsp vanilla extract

I used the basic chocolate cupcake recipe on page 37.

It does seem that most the vegan cookbooks I own are full of USA measurements and it is such a pain to keep converting, even with an iphone app. Some of my favourite authors of cookbooks are Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Terry Hope Romero, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau and Sarah Kramer, all of which recipes require cup measurements.

I decided to find some cup measures to hopefully make life easier in the kitchen and found these Russian doll cups at Find Me a Gift for £9.99.

Since I purchased these Russian doll cup measurers following recipes has been easier, more fun and the cups look great displayed in my kitchen and take up very little space. I highly recommend them to those attempting American recipes.

Russian Doll Measuring Cups.

http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk