Jerk Sweet Potato Chips

Things have been quiet here lately, as I've had so many things going on. I've been hanging on to this very special and very easy recipe for some time (since Jamaica month) so that I still had something absolutely delicious to share with you at a time when I have no time to cook or photograph food! These baked jerk sweet potato chips, inspired by Jamaica's ubiquitous jerk seasoning, were simply superb. I couldn't stop eating them and they were all gone very quickly!

They're great for when you're entertaining, because you can chop up your sweet potatoes and have them coated in your jerk seasoning and ready to go nice and early. Then just spread them out on a tray and stick in the oven for just 20 minutes or so before serving. If you're making for a group though, I advise making plenty because they were so very popular when I made them.

You can play around a bit with the quantities of the seasoning mix, according to your personal preferences. Make all the teaspoon and tablespoons nice and generous though :)

Jerk Sweet Potato Chips

Ingredients
2 tsp allspice  
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp thyme leaves
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 clove garlic, very finely minced
1/2 scotch bonnet chilli, very finely minced (substitute 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, if you like)
3 tbsp olive oil
2 large sweet potatoes

To Make
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
2. Combine the allspice, cinnamon, thyme leaves, brown sugar, garlic and chilli and mix well. Add the olive oil and stir into a smooth paste. 
3. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into chip shapes, keeping them all roughly the same size (otherwise they will all need different amounts of cooking time). Toss the sweet potatoes in the jerk seasoning, coating well. At this stage to can put them in the fridge, and cook later.
4. Spray a baking tray lightly with cooking spray and spread the chips out evenly. Try not to crowd them too much, you may need two trays. 
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until soft on the inside and a darkish caramelised brown on the surface (see picture). Serve hot. 

Check out my other Jamaican recipe posts:

Jamaican Rum Punch

Jerk Tofu & Pineapple Skewers

Jamaican Peanut Punch

Gizzada (Coconut & Brown Sugar Tarts)

Old-time Jamaican Lemonade

Jamaican Ginger Cake

Pineapple Salsa

Callaloo

Jamaican Patties

Vegan Jamaican Patties

If, like me, you spend all winter dreaming of being in the Caribbean instead, you can do what I do and enhance your dreaming with delicious Caribbean delicacies.

Jamaican patties are quite different to what we call patties in Australia (and many other parts of the world). We use the word patty to refer to the meat or veggie fillings in burgers, but in Jamaica a patty is more like what we might call a pasty - a savoury pastry with filling. The pastry of a Jamaican patty is golden yellow from turmeric and curry powder, and the fillings can vary. They're most commonly filled with meats of various types, but can also be filled with vegetables or cheese. Tofu isn't a traditional filling, but the curried crumbled tofu and potato in these ones are so delicious, they were a huge hit (even with traditional tofu-phobes).

In Jamaica, it's common to eat a patty sandwiched in a bread roll as a full meal. I find that the pastry and bread together might be a bit of overkill, so just ate mine as they were. But if you'd like a traditional Jamaican lunch, grab yourself a bread roll (in Jamaica it would be coco bread).

Jamaican Curry Tofu Patties

Ingredients
Pastry:
3 cups plain flour
1 tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
100g vegan margarine/butter
3/4 cup ice water (give or take a bit)

Filling:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
375g hard tofu, as much liquid pressed out as you can
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 scotch bonnet chilli (optional)
1 potato, peeled and diced into small cubes
1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
2 tsp dried or fresh thyme
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 cup chopped shallots

To Make:
1. To make the crust: combine the flour, curry powder, turmeric, salt and baking powder in a food processor. Chop the vegan margarine up and add it to the food processor, pulse it until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Gradually add in the ice water while you're processing until the dough starts to clump together into a ball. Turn it out onto a bench and dust with flour. Wrap the ball of dough in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. To make the filling - heat the oil in a large frypan (or wok) and add the onion. Sauté for about 5 minutes, until the onion is cooked. While it's cooking you can crumble up the tofu with your hands into a 'mince-like' consistency. Once the onion is cooked, add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds or so. Add the crumbled tofu, curry powder, chilli, potato, and the herbs and spices along with  1 1/2 cups water. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until all the liquid is gone and the potatoes are cooked through. Turn off the heat and allow the filling to cool and then stir though the chopped shallots. 
3. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. 
4. Get the dough out and divide it into 12 equal pieces. Roll out each piece to a circle about 1/8 inch thick. Each circle should be about 6 inches diameter. Place a generous amount of filling in the centre of each circle. Moisten the edges with a bit of water and fold them in half, crimping the edges together to seal them well. Continue with the remaining pastry and filling. Poke a couple of holes in the top of each one to allow the steam to escape while cooking. 
5. Line a baking tray with non stick paper and bake the patties for about 20-25 minutes, until golden. 

Makes 12 patties. 

Check out my other Jamaican recipe posts:

Jamaican Rum Punch

Jerk Tofu & Pineapple Skewers

Jamaican Peanut Punch

Gizzada (Coconut & Brown Sugar Tarts)

Old-time Jamaican Lemonade

Jamaican Ginger Cake

Pineapple Salsa

Callaloo

Jerk Sweet Potato Chips

Lumpiang Prito with Vinegar Dipping Sauce

Any excuse to make spring rolls is good with me! These veggie spring rolls are particularly good and the vinegar dipping sauce was sensational! I tend to always have my spring rolls with sweet chilli, sweet and sour or chilli dipping sauce, so I wasn't sure how this vinegar sauce was going to turn out. It was so delicious, I think I'll make it for all my future spring rolls and rice paper rolls!

Lumpaing Prito
Ingredients
2 tbsp. oil
1 onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups diced sweet potato
2 cups diced carrots
2 cups sliced celery
1/2 cup finely chopped peanuts
1 tbsp. Soy sauce (or vegan fish sauce)
1 cup sliced green beans
2 cups shredded green cabbage
20 spring roll wrappers
Lots of vegetable oil, for deep frying.

Vinegar Dipping Sauce

Ingredients
1 small red onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
Pinch of chilli flakes (optional)

To Make
1. Heat the 2 tbsp. oil in a wok and sauté the onion and garlic until just softened and translucent. Add the sweet potato, carrot and 1/4 cup water. Simmer for a few minutes and then add the celery and peanuts. Once the sweet potato and carrot are just tender (they can be just slightly undercooked), turn off the heat and add the soy sauce, green beans and shredded cabbage. The residual heat will just slightly cook them.
2. Cool the filling (while it's cooling, you can make your vinegar dipping sauce) and then roll up the spring rolls. Use about 2 heaped tbsp. per roll.
3.Once your rolls are all done, clean out the wok and then fill generously with oil. Heat the oil and then test it by throwing in a corner of spring roll wrapper - if it floats to the top and look like it's fizzing then your oil is hot enough.
4. Deep fry the spring rolls in batches until golden brown (if you prefer, you can shallow fry them and make sure you turn them while cooking to cook both sides). You will probably need to turn them over to cook both sides as they'll float on the surface. Once golden brown, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a bit of paper towel to absorb excess oil.
5. Serve hot with vinegar dipping sauce.

Vinegar Dipping Sauce:
1. Combine all ingredients and mix well until sugar is completely dissolved.

Makes 20 medium sized spring rolls.

This month I'm featuring lots of delicious food the Philippines.

Check out my other Filipino recipe posts:

Tofu Adobo with Pineapple & Bamboo

Lumpiang Sariwa

Coconut Mango Float

Pancit Canton

Jamaican Pineapple Salsa

I had so many dishes from Jamaica month that I just couldn't get around to posting them all last month, so I've got a few stragglers to share with you. I'm a huge fan of fruity salsas, and I wanted to share this one with you before pineapple goes completely out of season! Enjoy the last of the lovely warm weather with a Jamaican cocktail and some gorgeous fresh and tangy pineapple salsa.

I think the jalapeños have the loveliest flavour for this dish, but if you want it even more brightly colourful then chopped red chilli would look lovely.

Jamaican Pineapple Salsa

Ingredients
2 cups fresh diced pineapple
1 jalapeño chilli, finely minced (I like to leave the hot bits in, but you can remove them first if you prefer)
2 tbsp. finely chopped mint
2 tbsp. finely chopped coriander
3-4 shallots, sliced
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 tsp brown sugar
Salt and pepper

To Make:
1. Combine all ingredients. Store in the fridge for 20-30 minutes to let the flavours deepen.
2. Serve.

This month I'm featuring lots of delicious food from Jamaica.

Check out my other Jamaican recipe posts:

Jamaican Rum Punch

Jerk Tofu & Pineapple Skewers

Jamaican Peanut Punch

Gizzada (Coconut & Brown Sugar Tarts)

Old-time Jamaican Lemonade

Jamaican Ginger Cake

Callaloo

Jamaican Patties

Jerk Sweet Potato Chips

Kale Pesto & Sun-dried Tomato Toasts

Things have been a bit quiet around here you may have noticed. I hope you haven't minded the lack of recipe posts, but I've had some big things happening being the scenes. Firstly, you may have noticed that the blog design is in the process of changing around a bit. I felt it was due an update, but it is currently a work in progress and will get a few more tweaks - what do you think? You can be honest, is it too blocky and black?

Secondly I've been squirrelling away recipes here and there for my upcoming cookbook, which will be released later this year. Thirdly, I may have been caught up in organising a rather large event in which I'll get to wear a spectacular dress.

But I'll get back on track posting recipe soon, and in the meantime have this lovely recipe. It's a simple and easy finger food recipe which is never the less bursting with flavour and will have people going back for another one straight away. It's a very easy to prepare recipe, you can make the pesto the night before and even toast the bread in advance too. So that all you have to do when you want to serve them is spread some pesto on and place a sundried tomato on top - too easy!

I reccommed using a home made pesto on these, but if you're really not keen to make your own then you can also use a good quality store bought pesto. However, it won't have the same fresh taste or the bright green colour. I've used my home made kale and macadamia pesto, but you can use any pesto you like. For a bit more of a kick, try my rocket and chilli pesto, or if you're a traditionalist you can just stick with good old basil and pine nuts. Or for a different take on basil pesto - try my broad bean pesto.

Enough chat, though! Here is the recipe:

Kale Pesto & Sun-dried Tomato Toasts

Ingredients
1 jar kale & macadamia pesto
1 baguette (French stick)
1 jar sun dried tomato slices

To Make
1. Make the pesto first, you can do this up to a week in advance.
2. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celcius and have it on the 'grill' setting (meaning the oven is hottest at the top).
3. Slice the baguette as thin as you can without it starting to break up (about 1 cm thick is usually about right). Arrange your slices on a tray and place in the oven. Keep watch over them, as they won't take very long to cook. Once they are slightly golden on one side, remove the tray and flip all the pieces over. Return to the oven for another couple of minutes, or until that side is a nice golden brown too. Remove and cool. You may have to do this in batches.
4. Once the toasts cool, they should have hardened up nice and crispy. No more than 20 minutes before you want to serve it, you can assemble them. Do so by spreading a generous layer of kale pesto on each of the toasts and topping with a slice of sun dried tomato. Serve and watch them disappear in minutes!

I've entered this dish in the Vegan Virtual Linky Potluck.

Hearts of Palm & Olive Empadinhas (Brazilian Empadinhas de Palmito)

I've saved my favourite recipe until last this month, to end the year with a really awesome dish! Have you eaten empanadas before? They're pretty popular all over South America, and I made a couple of different types when I featured Argentinian food - Pumpkin Jalapeño Empanadas and Sweetcorn Empanadas, they were both amazing. These aren't empanadas though, they're Brazilian empadinhas. A bit like empanadas but they're in cut little pies which is even better because you can stuff more filling in!

I'm not even exaggerating when I tell you that these were to die for. So tasty!!! Make your new years resolution to make these in 2014! Happy new year everyone!

Hearts of Palm & Olive Empadinhas (Brazilian Empadinhas de Palmito)

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups wholemeal flour
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbsp vegan margarine
1/2 cup oat or soy milk

Filling:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 onions, diced
3 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups oat or soy milk
1 can hearts of palm, drained and chopped
1/3 cup chopped black olives
Salt and pepper to taste


To Make
1. In a large bowl mix together the flour and salt for the dough. Melt the margarine and set aside to cool down a bit.
2. When cool, stir the melted margarine through the flour with a fork. Gradually add the oat milk until it all starts to come together in a dough. Get it to a consistency which holds together as a dough, but doesn't stick to your fingers when you knead it. You may need to add a little more flour or a little more milk to get it to this.
3. Knead the dough for a few minutes, until it is smooth and stretchy. Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for 40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
4. Meanwhile you can make the filling. Heat the oil in a large pan and then add the diced onions. Sauté until they are soft and then sprinkle over the flour. Stir well to form a thick paste and cook this paste for about a minute. Gradually add the milk, stirring well each time, until all the milk has been added.
5. Add the chopped hearts of palm and the black olives and stir through. Remove from the heat and set aside.
6. Grease a muffin tin well. Roll out a piece of the dough nice and thin (it should be about 2-3mm) and use a glass to cut out 12 little lids (use a glass that is about the same size as the top of your muffin pans). Divide the  remaining dough into 12 equal pieces (approximately equal, don't get out your scales or anything). Roll out the pieces nice and thin into a circle and line the bottom and sides of the muffin tin. You're circle will fold up about around the sides of the tin, don't worry about that, it just makes it look lovely and rustic. Trim any edges that stick up too high and use the remaining pastry to patch any gaps that spring up.
7. Divide the filling evenly amongst the 12 pies and top each one with a lid. Use a fork to press the edges together around the top and then poke a couple of holes in the top so they don't explode when you cook them.
8. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Makes 12 empadinhas.

This month I'm featuring lots of recipes from Brazil!

Check out my other Brazilian recipe posts:

Avocado Cream & Passion Fruit Mousse (Creme de Abacate & Mousse de Maracujá)

Bolinhos de Arroz (Brazillian Fried RiceBalls) with Orange, Olive & Brazil Nut Rice

Chocolate Coconut Kisses

Pizza de Brigadeiro (Chocolate Pizza) with Strawberries & Cream Cheese

Black Eyed Bean Acaraje

Hearts of Palm & Rocket Pizza

Peri Peri Hummus Cucumber Bites (Easy Healthy & Vegan Appetiser)

Sometimes you just need appetisers to be quick, easy, delicious and healthy. Because who wants to fiddle around with tiny things when you're in a rush (or just not in the mood). This is the perfect healthy appetiser to whip up quickly - you can even use store bought hummus! Use home made if you feel like it of course. It has a bit of a kick with the addition of some Peri Peri Spice blend from my spice rack. You can substitute peri peri sauce or even just a pinch of dried chilli flakes if you don't have access to either. Start with just a little peri peri and then gradually add  more until you get to the level you like it. If you or your guests don't like it hot at all, just substitute a little cumin or garam masala instead.

Peri Peri
Peri Peri is just chilli really, but it's a chilli blend which is used extensively in South Africa. The term Peri Peri (or Piri Piri) is used loosely to describe chillies in India and South Africa. Both peri peri spice powder and peri peri sauce are simply made from a blend of chillis, generally being quite hot. If you want some interesting facts about chilli that you probably didn't know jump over to my Spicy Chickpea Salad with Olive Hummus Dressing where I've written up some info about chilli :)

Reference: Hemphill, 2006

For my month of spices I'm using Spice Notes and Recipes by Ian Hemphill as my reference tool to learn about spices and for all the information above. Thanks Ian for writing such a great and informative book! 

Peri Peri Hummus Cucumber Bites

Ingredients
1 tub store bought hummus
1/2 tsp peri peri spice blend (or 1 tsp peri peri sauce), add more or less to taste
2 cucumbers
1/2 cup black olives, sliced in half and pitted.

To Make
1. Stir the peri peri through the hummus.
2. Slice the cucumbers about 1 cm thick and arrange on a plate.
3. Top each cucumber slice with 1 tsp of hummus and half a black olive. Serve as soon as they are made (preferably).

Chinese Five Spice Chocolate Cupcakes

It's day 3 of Vegan Mofo and thus far I'm managing to keep up with posting! My theme this year is My Spice Rack. I've got so many spices piled up in my kitchen that I thought I had better start thinking of ways to use them all up! Yesterday I posted a Spicy Chickpea Salad with Olive Hummus Dressing which used 4 spices from my shelf. Today, only one, but it's an interesting one!

Chinese Five Spice
Chinese Five Spice is a blend of star anise, fennel seeds, cassia, black pepper and cloves. It is used in many Asian recipes but usually in combination with meat, although it can be added to stir fried vegetables. In place of the meat, it could be used as a rub or a marinade for tofu or other meat substitutes. But I wanted to do something a bit different with it. So I made dessert, a bit unusual! The zing of the Five Spice gives these Chocolate Cupcakes something pretty special and a couple of my friends went pretty crazy over these babies. Start of adding just a 1/2 tsp of five spice to the mix and then taste it. If you can't really taste the Chinese Five Spice then add some more and taste again. I ended up using a whole teaspoon, but it's something you can make to taste.

Reference: Hemphill, 2006

For my month of spices I'm using Spice Notes and Recipes by Ian Hemphill as my reference tool to learn about spices and for all the information above. Thanks Ian for writing such a great and informative book! 

Chinese Five Spice Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients
1 cup oat milk (or soy milk)
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup wholemeal plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice (or to taste)

To Make
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the oat milk, sugar, canola oil and vanilla extract.
3. Add the remaining ingredients and whisk until all combined.
4. Fill your cupcake baking tray with liners and fill them 3/4 full of batter.
5. Bake for 23 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool. To serve, dust with icing sugar or ice with a chocolate buttercream icing or a chocolate ganache - whatever you feel like!

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Chinese Five Spice Chocolate Cupcakes pictured here with my

Lemon and Orange Cupcakes.

Crunchy Kale Chips

If you haven't tried kale chips already, then you're in for a treat. They're so easy, they take about 10 minutes to make and you won't have any difficulty eating the whole bowl. I've loved kale for a long time, but these chips were inspired by my friend Catherine from Farmhouse Home who wrote this great post about kale - both the recipes look so good on this post. So the next time I got my hands on a bunch of kale I made kale chips. Then I made them again the next time I had kale. You get the picture, they're awesome.

This is only a "sort of" recipe - you don't really need any quantities. Just grab a bunch of kale and rip it into rough pieces. Toss it in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil and a light sprinkle of salt and pepper. Toss well so that the pieces are all evenly coated. Spread on a baking tray and bake at 180 degrees C for 10 minutes. Allow to cool and serve with a light sprinkling of salt. 

Hope you enjoy this little "almost" recipe while I'm away. As this post goes up I'm hanging out in Northern Denmark before catching the ferry to Norway to start exploring fjords. I hope it isn't too cold and rainy where you are!

Lemon and Orange Vegan Cupcakes

Sunny citrus cupcakes always brighten my day in winter. Mid July is windy, rainy and miserable in the Blue Mountains in general - so if you're living somewhere equally cold then I recommend light and fluffy citrus cupcakes to warm you from the inside! As this post goes live I'll be exploring castles in Denmark, and since it's summer over there it shouldn't be cold, rainy or miserable! But I'm thinking of you all back home in the cold (suckers!) so have some sunny cupcakes :)

Ingredients:

The Cupcakes:

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil

1/2 cups of oat milk (or other non dairy milk)

1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

The zest from 1/2 an orange and 1/2 a lemon (TIP: do this before you juice it!)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp orange extract

1 1/3 cup of plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda

The Icing:

1/2 cup nuttelex (or other vegan margarine)

2 2/3 cups soft icing mixture

2 tsp lemon juice

The rest of the zest from the other half of the orange and the lemon

To Make:

1. Preheat the oven to a moderate (about 180 degrees C) temperature.

2. Combine sugar, oil, oat milk, orange and lemon juice, zest, vanilla and orange extract in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.

3. Sift in the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly with a whisk again to combine.

4. Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 of the way bake for 22 minutes, at which point a skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean. Remove from the oven and cool completely before icing.
5. Mix the nuttelex, lemon juice, zest and icing mixture together in a bowl using either an electric mixer or a knife and some good old elbow grease (nice workout).

6. Once the cupcakes are cool, pipe the icing on in a spiral generously on the top of the cakes and decorate with sugar flowers if you like.

Makes 12 cupcakes, and enough icing to ice generously.

Lentil and Sweet Potato Hummus

I rarely ever make the same dip twice. There are so many wonderful opportunities for delicious combinations! Making dip is easy, quick and a nice safe place to experiment if you're creative but not sure about your flavour combining abilities! It's also lovely to share communal food with friends. Bringing a home made dip when you visit a friend is cheaper than bringing bought food, more fun and shows that you thought they were worth a bit of effort (even if it was just a little bit!)

Dip can also be a great way to use up ingredients if you don't know what to do with them! Got a quarter of a cauliflower languishing in the fridge? Dip it. A ridiculously small amount of lentils left in the bottom of a packet after you made something else? Dip it. A tin of beans at the back of your cupboard? Dip it. A spice which you have no idea what to do with? Find a vegetable that fits it's flavour profile and DIP IT!

If that isn't enough - here are something else awesome about dips. You can use leftover dips to smear on your burgers, sandwiches or wraps. You can use this leftover dip to add thickness and flavour to a vegetable soup or a lentil soup. You could even mix it up with some fresh herbs and olive oil and make a salad dressing out of it. Endless possibilities!

How do you use up leftover dips when you entertain?

Lentil and Sweet Potato Hummus

Ingredients

1/2 cup red lentils

2 carrots

1 medium sweet potato

1 cup vegetable stock

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tbsp tahini

4 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp lemon juice

Sumac, to sprinkle on top

To Make

1. Dice the carrot. Peel and roughly chop the sweet potato.

2. Place the lentils, carrot and sweet potato in a small saucepan. Add the cumin and vegetable stock and bring to a simmer over a medium heat. Simmer, covered for 20-30 minutes, or until the vegetables and lentils are all well cooked. Set aside to cool slightly.

3. Combine the lentils and vegetables (including any cooking water remaining), tahini, soy sauce and lemon juice in a food processor and process until smooth consistency. 

4. Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle liberally with sumac.

Can be served warm or at room temperature.

Happy Australia Day! Are you celebrating anywhere this year?

Nem To-hu Sap (Cambodian Vegetarian Summer Rolls)

I think I love summer rolls even more than I like spring rolls. I think it's the freshness and also the fact that you don't have to cook them - which saves time! I'm sure other factors include that they're not dripping with oil and that I don't have to buy a litre of oil in order to cook them.

These Cambodian Vegetable Summer Rolls are the last recipe I have for this month from Cambodia. I've had a pretty busy month this month (organising my trip overseas!) so actually haven't had the chance to blog all the recipes from Cambodia that I wanted to. That means that I might sneakily add a few more later in the year and link them back so that I can share the rest of them with you!

Cambodia has been such a delicious country that there are so many more wonderful things I could have tried! It was hard to cut it down to just the 10 or so dishes that I made, most of which made it up onto the blog. The last is these lovely and simple summer rolls with sweet soy dipping sauce. I hope you've enjoyed Cambodian Month as much as I have (it has inspired me to start thinking about travelling there!).

Ingredients
300g hard tofu, drained and cut into strips (about the size and shape of carrot sticks)
1 x 2cm knob of ginger, peeled and finely grated
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 packet of rice paper rolls
1 1/2 cups cooked rice vermicelli noodles (cook according to the directions on the back of the packet)
2 cucumbers, cut into strips
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander
Approx 2 cups shredded cos lettuce

To Make
1. Place slices of tofu with the ginger, garlic, soy and sesame oil and leave to marinate for about an hour. Mixing or shaking every so often so that they all get nice and tasty.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan or skillet and fry the tofu on each side for 4-5 minutes or until nicely browned and crispy. You can pour the marinade into the pan at the end if you like to add even more flavour. Drain on paper towel.
3. Get all your pre chopped ingredients around you and you're ready to roll.
4. The packet of rice paper rolls will most likely have instructions on the back on how to use them, you can follow these (and skip ahead to step 6). If yours doesn't - here is what you do:
5. Get a deepish dinner plate and fill it with boiling hot water. Carefully slide your dry rice paper roll under the water (don't just place it on top - this will make it curl up) and leave in for about 5-10 seconds. Carefully pick it out and spread it out on a board ready to roll. You will find that as the water in your plate cools down a bit you will need to leave them in for longer to cook properly. You will probably have to replace the hot water after every 5-6 rolls.
6. Now you have your rice paper ready add a piece of tofu to the middle of the bottom edge. Add a small amount of vermicelli, a piece of cucumber and a sprinkling of the mint, coriander and lettuce.
7. Roll the bottom of the paper over the filling and then fold in the sides. Continue to roll until it is all together (like you would roll a spring roll, or a cigar - because we all roll cigars all the time!).
8. Repeat until you start to run out of ingredients! Serve dipped in sweet soy dipping sauce,

Sweet Soy Dipping Sauce (Trik Sa-ieu Chu P'em)
4 tbsp hot water
2 tbsp sugar
Juice of 2 limes
2 tsp Sambal Oelek
2 tbsp soy sauce

To Make
1. Dissolve the sugar in the hot water.
2. Add all other ingredients and serve with the summer rolls.

Makes about 20 rolls.

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing recipes from Cambodia!

Check out my other Cambodian recipe posts:

Hot and Sour Mushroom Soup

Kho Manor Nung To Hu (Pineapple and Tofu)

Cambodian Spiced Eggplant

Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Parfait (Borbo Skor La-Pov)

Num Chet Chien (Banana Nuggets!)

Khmer Lemongrass Vegetable Curry

Tirk Salouk Swai (Mango Chilli Salsa)

Cucumber & Vermicelli Salad

Jalapeño Chocolate Truffles

Truffles are a deliciously simple way to add the flavours of anything you love to chocolate, and that is pretty much a recipe for success. Still unsure? Check out some of our other flavours of truffles -  including smoked paprika, tahini and sesame and strawberry gum (an unique Australian spice). This post is part of the Eat the Alphabet Blog Hop - which is featuring the letters I and J this month. I and J are particularly difficult letters, I think. I could only think of 4 things: Iceberg Lettuce, Jerusalem Artichokes, Jackfruit and Jalapeños. I wish I could have used Jackfruit but sadly I don't live in South East Asia where it is readily available :( I also would have loved to try something new with Jerusalem Artichokes, but I couldn't find them anywhere so I assume they aren't a winter vegetable. So - Jalapeños it is!

I love the combination of chilli and chocolate, however, I don't always love how it's done. Often chilli chocolate just involves adding some chilli powder to anything chocolate. This ok, but gives the chocolate a bit of a powdery aftertaste and the chilli tastes more like that "stale-spice-jar-chilli-powder-that-has-been-sitting-in-my-cupcoard-for-years" type of chilli. So, I wanted to infuse a spicy fresh chilli flavour which wouldn't only be hot in your mouth but actually showcase the unique flavour of jalapeño chillis.

They were perfect- the first flavour you get is the rich and creamy ganache truffle followed by a fresh heat that spreads through your mouth. So neither of the flavours dominate over the other and you get to appreciate the chocolate and then the fresh chilli hit - I couldn't have asked for them to work out better. If you are a chilli lover, then you're a fool not to try these!

Ingredients:
250g of dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
¼ cup of soy milk
1 fresh jalapeño chilli
Cocoa powder for dusting

How to make:
1. Roughly chop the jalapeño chilli and soak it in the milk for about 15 minute or so (you can shop your chocolate up while you are waiting). Strain the milk and discard the pieces of jalapeño.
2. Heat the soymilk in a small saucepan until small bubbles appear and steam rises off the pan.
3. Take off heat, add chocolate and stir vigorously until the chocolate has melted and the ganache is smooth.
4. Place in a container and leave to chill in the fridge for 8 hours or overnight.
5. Time to roll some truffles!

6. Remove ganache from the fridge. Place about ¼ cup of cocoa powder on a small bowl, and using a teaspoon or a melon baller (these are perfect!), place a spoonful of the ganache into the cocoa, tossing it in the cocoa until covered. Then dust your palms with some of the cocoa and roll the ganache piece into a ball, and place on a serving plate/whatever plate you like. Repeat until you run out of ganache.

Makes about 30 truffles (depends how big you roll them)

Poppy Seed and Almond Kolache (Croatian Pastries)

Welcome to Croatian Month on Gormandize with A-dizzle and K-bobo! We're both pretty crazy about world food and about discovering new dishes, new ingredients and new cooking methods, so a couple of months ago we decided that, starting in 2012, we would feature the cuisine of a different country each month in addition to our regular recipes so that we could learn more about countries whose cuisine is less celebrated internationally. We asked readers for suggestions and came away with a great list of countries to feature over the upcoming months. If you'd like to suggest a country for us to add to the list just visit this blog post and post us a comment!

So, we begin with Croatia. Firstly I'd like to point out that neither A-dizzle nor myself have ever been to Croatia (YET!), therefore we have done our best to research Croatian cuisine from our computers mostly (and from talking to people who have been to Croatia!). So, if you are Croatian or know a lot about Croatian food please feel free to comment or contact us with feedback on the food that we post or with ideas for recipes we can include. My first post of Croatian delights is Poppy seed Kolache - which I made yesterday to serve to my NYE guests. They were delicious and were quite popular with the guests. My version is, of course, vegan and ever so slightly modified :)

Ingredients

Pastry:

3 cups flour

1/2 cup ground almonds

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp tapioca flour (arrowroot)

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp lemon zest

1 cup nuttelex (or other non-dairy margarine or butter)

2 tbsp lemon juice

6 tbsp water

Filling:

1 cup poppy seeds

1/3 cup apricot jam

3/4 cup soy milk

1/3 cup chopped dates

1/2 cup chopped almonds (chop and then measure!)

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp maple syrup

To Make:

1. Preheat the oven to about 180 degrees C.

2. Mix the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, salt, sugar, arrowroot and lemon zest well in a large bowl.

3. Add the nuttelex in small pieces and then rub into the flour mixture using your hands until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs.

4. Make a well in the centre and add the lemon juice and 4 tbsp water. Mix well (probably easiest to keep using your hands). Add the rest of the water a tablespoon at a time. The pastry should make a stiff dough which stays together in a ball when kneaded. Turn onto a floured surface and knead briefly. Put aside.

5. Combine all the ingredients of the poppy seed filling except the almonds and maple syrup in a small saucepan.

6. Put on a low heat and bring to a simmer. Simmer until all the liquid is absorbed and the mix becomes a stiff paste.Remove from heat and stir through the almonds and maple syrup.

7. Cut yourself a piece of paper into an 8cm by 8cm square to use as a template (this is optional, but it is good to ensure that all your kolache end up the same size).

8. Roll out 1/4 of the pastry dough to about 1/2 cm thick and cut it into squares using the template. There should be plenty of dough so you shouldn't need to scrounge extra squares out of tiny left over bits.

9. Pace 2 tsp of the filling along the centre of the square diagonally (see pic):

10. Bring the two corners over the top and press down gently on them to form a cylinder (see pic):

11. Repeat with using up the rest of the filling mix (you may have a bit of pastry dough left over - you can save this and make another batch of filling sometime or you can use it up by using anything you like in the fillling - such as fruit [fresh or canned], nuts or chocolate).

12. Place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and bake in the oven for 20-22 minutes (you will need to turn the tray around about 15 minutes into the baking time to ensure even cooking).

13. Cool on the tray before serving. You may like to dust them with some icing sugar for prettiness before serving (I didn't have any!!).

Makes about 20 kolache (plus some left over pastry dough)

Check out our other recipes for Croatia Month:

Yumuşacık Poğaça 

(Savoury buns filled with creamy potato and pickles!)

Paprenjaci

(Cracked Pepper Biscuits)

Posna Sarma

(Rice-filled cabbage rolls)

Makovnjaca

(Poppy Seed Strudel)

Croatian Pizza

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Vegan Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes with Lemony Cream Cheese Icing

These delicate little cakes are something I created to celebrate the end of an era - the end of my 6 year double degree!! That's right I have finally finished my first 2 degrees and now I am free to a) earn proper money (a concept very foreign to me) and b) spend more time cooking and blogging! Hurray! 

Nothing could taste sweeter than freedom but these cupcakes come pretty close.

Ingredients

The Cupcakes:

1/4 cup soy milk (or almond milk)

1 cup raw sugar

1/3 cup canola or rice bran oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup cooked pumpkin, mashed finely

1 1/4 cups plain wholemeal flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarb soda

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tbsp lemon zest

Extra cinnamon, to sprinkle on top

The Icing:

1/4 cup nuttelex (or other vegan margarine)

1/4 cup vegan cream cheese

2 2/3 cups soft icing mixture

2 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp lemon zest

To Make:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

2. Combine the soy milk, sugar, oil and vanilla essence in a bowl and use a whisk to combine. Add the pumpkin and mix well.

3. Sift in the flour, bicarb, baking soda, lemon juice, zest and spices. Mix well to combine.

4. Fill a cupcake pan with paper liners. Fill liners just over half way full and bake for 17 minutes. Test that they are done by ensuring a knife comes out clean when stuck into the middle of them.

5. Mix the cream cheese, nuttelex, lemon juice and zest and icing mixture together in a bowl using either an electric mixer or a knife and some good old elbow grease (nice bicep workout).

6. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before icing. To ice, pipe the icing on in a spiral on the top of the cakes and sprinkle with cinnamon to prettify.

Makes 18 small cupcakes or 10 large cupcakes.