Big Fat Veggie Burger Bowl

I've decided to make November a healthy month on the blog, so I'm going to give you lots of colourful fresh healthy foods low in fat, low in carbs and low in sugar! I've been craving fresh healthy foods this month, because I did a fair bit of (wonderful) indulging last month.

I love a good veggie burger, but often I don't feel like eating the bread so it's become less common on our weekly dinners. This week I wanted a burger so I thought I'd make it into a big fat salad bowl instead. It was just as filling but minus all the bread, and I felt really great after I'd finished it (as opposed to over full and slightly ill which is how I often feel after a big fat veggie burger).

You can make this salad using any patties you like. I used chickpea and cumin patties which I bought from the supermarket, which made this a super quick and easy dinner. You can use any bought veggie or bean or lentil burgers, or you can make your own burger patties from the millions of great recipes out there on the internet :) You can also adjust the other salad ingredients to be what you like to have on your burger, I've chucked in some marinated artichoke hearts here which are not traditionally on a burger, but which I happened to have lots of in my fridge. Add or subtract what you like! If you like your burgers Aussie-Style then you might want to whack some tinned beetroot in with it (yum!).

Big Fat Veggie Burger Bowl

Ingredients
2-3 handfuls of torn iceberg lettuce (you can sub fancier stuff if you like, but for burgers I like the crunch of iceberg)
1 carrot, grated
1 large tomato, diced
2-3 marinated artichoke hearts, chopped (optional)
1 large dill pickle, thinly sliced
1 ripe avocado, sliced
2 veggie patties of your choice
Burger sauce of your choice (I used BBQ, you can use tomato, sweet chilli, mayo or anything you like)
2/3 cup hummus
Sumac or smoky paprika for sprinkling on the hummus

To Make
1. Distribute the lettuce, grated carrot, tomato, artichoke hearts, pickle slices and avocado evenly between two bowls.
2. Cook the burger patties according to the instructions on the packet - you can usually pan fry in a little oil (I like this method, as is makes the edges nice and crispy) or heat in the oven for a slightly healthier, oil-free option. Once cooked chop roughly into pieces and add to the bowl.
3. Drizzle the chopped veggie patties with your choice of burger sauce and then dollop about 1/3 cup hummus on top of each bowl (you can be more generous - of course!).
4. Sprinkle some sumac or smoky paprika on top of the hummus and you're ready to go!

Serves two.
Part of the VVLP.

Blueberry & Avocado Salad with Candied Walnuts

Living in Australia, trips to Europe are a big deal. It's the other side of the world - the flights are long, exhausting and expensive! But I was adamant to make it over there last year to visit a dear friend. I was thrilled to escape the Sydney winter and spend my time strolling around beautiful cobblestone streets in a European summer. I've already posted a few post from my travels, you can check them out here:

Sweets in Sweden - A Photographic Diary
Wild Blueberries on the Stockholm Archipelagoes
A Day in Riga - Buildings, Berries & Black Balsam

You might notice a recurring theme - loads of fresh berries! We were so spoilt for fresh berries throughout our trip. Check out these gorgeous berries piled high in stalls on the side of the streets in Riga (Latvia):

In Australia punnets of blueberries or raspberries are always an expensive treat - even when they're in season. So it's no wonder that I ate them to my hearts content and came home with a mind full of berry inspiration! Now, Northern Europe is heading into winter and sunny Sydney is almost in summer, which means blueberries here are about as cheap as they'll ever get. So I took my inspiration from these gorgeous pictures and the memories of all those yummy berries & picked up a couple of punnets of blueberries to experiment with. 

Blueberry & Avocado Salad with Candied Walnuts

Ingredients

4 tbsp brown sugar

4 tbsp water

1/2 cup walnut halves

2 cups baby spinach

1 large ripe avocado

1 punnet blueberries

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

Cracked black pepper

To Make

1. To make the candied walnuts - combine the brown sugar and water in a small saucepan and heat over a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved to form a simmering syrup. Add the walnut halves and stir continusouly while the syrup simmers. Cook for at least 5 minutes, or until the liquid has all cooked away and you are left with the coated walnuts. Transfer the walnuts to a sheet of non stick baking paper, breaking up any clumps, and place in the fridge to harden.

2. Line a salad bowl with the baby spinach leaves. Top with cubes of the avocado and then the fresh blueberries.

3. Combine the olive oil, soy sauce, lemon juice and vinegar and whisk well until combined. Drizzle over the avocado & blueberries.

4. Top with candied walnuts and a generous amount of cracked black pepper.

Serves 2-4 as a side salad or as part of a buffet.

Also featured in the Vegan Virtual Linky Potluck.

Avocado, Rocket and Almond Salad

I made this salad as an accompaniment to some fried tofu a while back and I couldn't believe how special it was with so simple a set of ingredients. The key is, of course, beautiful fresh ingredients. It's a very quick and easy to make and it's texture is fantastic, chewy & bitter rocket with fresh crisp cucumber, creamy avocado and crunchy flavourful almonds and pepitas. Use fresh lime juice for the dressing, bottled stuff just really doesn't cut it!

Avocado, Rocket & Almond Salad

Ingredients
2-3 cups fresh rocket (you can sub baby spinach, if you prefer)
1 large lebanese cucumber
2 ripe avocados
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup dry roasted almonds
2-3 tbsp pepitas
Cracked pepper, to taste

To Make
1. Arrange the rocket in a wide serving bowl. Roughly chop the cucumber and spread over the rocket. Dice the avocados and arrange on top of the cucumber.
2. Combine the lime juice, soy sauce and olive oil and then shake or whisk to combine well. Sprinkle over the top of the chopped avocado.
3. If the almonds are already dry roasted, simply sprinkle them on top. If they're not, dry roast them in a pan for a minute or two until just golden, shaking the pan often to ensure they don't get burn't spots. Sprinkle on the salad.
4. Dry roast the pepitas over a medium to low heat until they start to pop, shaking the pan regularly to prevent burning. Once they start to pop you can remove from the heat and sprinkle on the salad.
5. Garnish with cracked pepper if you like.

Serves 2 to 4, depending on what you're serving it with.

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

How is December treating you all so far? I love December, it's summer, life is busy and fun, and Christmas is just around the corner. Apparently some people hate Christmas, but I don't see the point of hating a reason to get together with family and friends over food and wine! Christmas goes on regardless of whether you love it or hate it, so you might as well love it :)

December is also Brazilian Food Month on the blog, the last World Food Challenge country for the year. I hope you've enjoyed the range of countries I've featured this month, I've had a great time! I've learn't so much and tried lots of things I've never done before. Each year I look back and I feel happy to know that I'm becoming a better & more experienced cook with every new cuisine I delve into, so a big thank you to all the readers who have suggested wonderful countries to feature and also to my friends who are more than happy to turn up every month with a bottle of wine and be my guinea pigs.

Brazil is a bit of a challenge from a vegan point of view, but with a bit of digging around I found plenty to please the palate. It's an espescially fun country for dessert, so you'll see plenty of those. Also, despite the international reputation for serving up predominantly meat on swords, I found some really special savoury dishes to share with you. So, sit back, I think you're going to enjoy this month.

Being December, I'll also be sharing with you some fun Christmas gift ideas. At the moment I'm sharing with all my facebook followers the "12 Days of Edible Xmas Gifts" - 12 ideas for easy edible gifts which are a bit different to the ones you might have thought of before! You can check them out by liking Gormandize on facebook.

I'm starting Brazil month off with this absolutely spectacular dessert. I'm not exaggerating, it really was spectacular. It was so popular at my Brazilian dinner party that I was sad to have no leftovers! I made it by combining 2 Brazilian desserts - Avocado Cream (Creme de Abacate) and Passion Fruit Mousse (Mousse de Maracujá). They're not traditionally combined, to my knowledge, but they complimented each other perfectly to make a light but special dessert. Don't let the idea of an avocado dessert put you off, you will love this!

Avocado Cream & Passion Fruit Mousse

Ingredients

Avocado Cream
Adapted from easybrazilianrecipes.com
3 ripe avocados, skin & stone removed
6 tbsp castor sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp vegan condensed milk

Passion Fruit Mousse
Adapted from flavorsofbrazil.blogspot.com
1 can coconut cream, left in the fridge for at least 24 hours
3/4 cup vegan condensed milk
5 passion fruits
2 extra passion fruits for garnish

To Make
1. To make the avocado cream: place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend into a smooth cream. Divide amongst 8 individual serving glasses.
2. To make the passion fruit mousse: When you open the can of coconut cream, you'll see that most of the can has solidified into a thick white cream. Scoop this out and place in a bowl & discard the liquid in the can (or save it for use in another meal, like a curry or a smoothie). Whip the coconut cream solids with electrci beaters until light and fluffy, just like whipped cream. Add the condensed milk & the pulp of 5 passion fruits.
3. Divide amongst your 8 serving glasses evenly on top of the avocado cream.
4. Top each glass with fresh passion fruit pulp and chill in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.

Serves 8. Can be made the night before & kept in the fridge.

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

Check out my other Brazilian recipe posts:

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

Hearts of Palm & Olive Empadinhas (Empadinhas de Palmito)

Chilli Tofu Lettuce Wraps

You saw that last post I did about all the cake I ate in Sweden right? So it shouldn't come as a surprise to hear that now I'm back home I am on a serious health kick! I've been very strict and serious since I got back - absolutely no desserts or sugary things and severely reduced carbohydrates in general. I'm living on a diet of vegetables, fruits, beans, pulses, tofu and healthy fats (such as coconut oil and olive oil).

Just before I left for my trip overseas I received an exciting package in the mail. Bertolli sent me some bottles of their different types of olive oil so that I could experiment with using different types for different uses. I'll confess, I have never in the past given thought to which type of olive oil was better for different styles of cooking. So, although I went overseas immediately afterwards and didn't actually get a chance to use any of it, I was really looking forward to trying it out when I got back.

In a healthy eating plan such as the one I've put myself on over the past couple of weeks it is really important to make sure you're getting some good fats and some proteins into your diet to help you feel full. If you just live on little salads and veggies you're going to find it hard to feel satisfied and you're more likely to fall off the wagon because you're feeling so hungry! Coconut oil, olive oil and avocado are real winners to help you feel satistied after your healthy meal. Olive oil is also a really important element in a vegan diet - because vegans don't get any fats from animal sources (meat, butter, cheese, yoghourt etc.) sometimes vegans actually find themselves in the position that they need to consciously add more fats into their diet. I can tell you though that eating more cake and sugar isn't the healthy way to do it! Try to pick naturally occurring and unprocessed fats!

Bertolli sent me three different types of their olive oil - Extra Virgin, Classic and Light. I had a hankering for a tofu and salad wrap for lunch yesterday but I didn't want to eat the actual bread of a wrap so I went for a lettuce wrap. They fall apart a little bit sometimes but they do the job pretty well and I felt much better after this lunch than after eating the wheat and starchy carbs of a traditional wrap. To add some protein and healthy fats to my lunch I wanted to fry up a bit of chilli tofu.

I fried my chilli tofu in the Light Olive Oil, because it's ideal for frying. It has a light flavour which doesn't detract from the flavour of the chilli tofu and the tofu came out crispy and not oily at all. Even though I used plenty of olive oil in my pan, the light olive oil cooked the tofu without actually coating it all in oil. So most of the oil remained in the pan (and I used this chilli oil to cook something else in later than night), which meant my lunch tasted fresh, healthy and not doused in oil!

Chilli Tofu Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

300g hard tofu, drained and squeezed (just squeeze as much of the liquid out of it as you can)

2-3 tbsp Bertolli light olive oil (I used 2 tbsp in a non stick saucepan, if your pan isn't non stick you may need more)

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 small zucchini, sliced into ribbons (use a potato peeler)

1 ripe avocado, sliced

1 medium carrot, grated

Alfalfa sprouts

2 tbsp pepitas

6-8 big iceberg lettuce leaves (you'll need the big softer outer leaves of the lettuce - if you use the crunchy inner leaves your rolls will split apart the moment you roll them)

To Make:

1. Slice the tofu into 1 cm thick slices and pat away any moisture with a paper towel.

2. Heat the light olive oil in a frypan and when it's hot sprinkle the chilli flakes over the oil. Let fry for about 30 seconds.

3. Add the tofu slices and fry until crispy, turning once or twice during the cooking to ensure they're cooked on both sides. Once crispy and golden set aside on a plate (I didn't need to drain mine on paper towel as they were not oily at all - but if your seem a little oily then you can place them on paper towel after frying).

4. In a small saucepan dry fry the pepitas over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes so that they pop and become round. Remove and set aside to cool down.

5. Assemble your wraps: take a big lettuce leaf and add zucchini, carrot, alfalfa, avocado, tofu and pepitas to the middle of it. Roll up as best you can (you may need to employ some toothpicks if they don't hold together well enough).

Makes about 6-8 rolls (this will depend on how much you stuff them).

Making the lettuce wraps is mildly fiddly - so if you can't be bothered doing that then you can always just toss all this together in a salad instead, it's also pretty delicious (although without the added fun/mess of eating the lettuce wraps!). You can make yourself a simple dressing of extra virgin olive oil, soy sauce and lemon juice to go with it. 

A quick note on this post: I received free olive oil from Bertolli to use on my blog, however, I am not being paid for this post nor am I an ambassador for this brand. 

Jus Alpukat (Indonesian Avocado Milkshake)

It's time again for the fun of the sweet adventures blog hop! This month's theme is possibly the best theme ever - desserts which use vegetables. Or rather, desserts that use foods which are traditionally considered savoury. I clarify this because, of course, things like tomatoes, cucumbers and avocados are actually fruits. 

The possibilities of this theme made me incredibly excited, however, I had to curb my enthusiasm slightly because I am desperately trying to bake less cakes and eat less desserts. Immediately a hoard of cupcake and brownie ideas sprung to mind - and maybe if I was a fatter person I would have gotten carried away with them. But I exercised a little self constraint and set to thinking of something a tad healthier. I decided I wanted to steer clear of vegetables that I would normally put in desserts - beetroot, sweet potato and pumpkin mainly. Carrot was definitely out - I've already posted carrot cake, carrot pudding and carrot jam!

I decided it would be tomato - a challenge! Discarding my initial idea of tomato basil cupcakes (I will make these one day though!), I set to it and made some Watermelon Tomato Ice Pops. Quite simple - fresh watermelon, fresh tomato, a dash of rum and a touch of sweetener. I thought surely I was onto a winner! Here is how they looked:

Sad news though, they tasted weird. Not awful. Just not that nice. I was very disappointed! I also have a policy on this blog that I don't post things which don't turn out - nobody wants a recipe which is average to bad right? So, out the window they went (not literally), though I'm sure the idea still has potential!

Luckily, I had a backup plan. In my archives ready to go was my creamy Indonesian Avocado Milkshake. Phew, avocado saves the day. You might already know this, but November is Indonesian Food Month on my blog. I put out the feelers on twitter at the start of the month to see if anybody had any suggestions as to which Indonesian dishes I should try and the answer came back - Avocado Milkshakes. I can't argue with that so I went out to buy myself some avocados and set to work. 

I wasn't sure how much I would like it, but I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not going to lie to you, the first sip I thought it was a bit weird but then I finished the glass and went back for more straight away. If you hate avocado, then this is not your shake. If you like avocado, then you really should try this! Avocado is naturally very sweet, and it's rich creaminess makes it perfect for milkshakes.

Ingredients

2 small ripe avocados

2 cups almond milk (or you can use other non dairy milk)

2 tbsp sweetener of your choice (you can use maple syrup, agave or just plain sugar)

2 cups ice

Chocolate sprinkles, for serving.

To Make

1. Scoop the flesh out of the avocados and put in a blender. Add the milk, sweetener and ice. Blend well.

2. Serve sprinkled with plenty of chocolate sprinkles.

Serves 2.

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

Check out my other Indonesian recipe posts:

Gado Gado

Triple Threat Coconut Cake

Acar Kuning (Hot, Sour & Sweet Vegetables)

Lontong Paris 
Rujak (Spicy Fruit Salad)
Lawar Ayam (Coconut and Bean Salad)

Rendang Tofu

Wasabi-fried Eggplant and Avocado Sushi Rolls

Sushi is the perfect party food - it's pretty, colourful, filling and adaptable to whatever you want to put in it! It's also a very fun thing to make with friends. It's lovely to spend some quality time with friends, one prepares the sushi rice while another prepares all the fillings. Then you can roll them up together while another fried slices them up and arranges them on a plate. Easy and great fun, after all, cooking with people is much more fun the cooking for people!

I've been experimenting with new and delicious sushi fillings recently, and this is the first of several you'll be seeing from me. Sushi just feels like perfect spring fare, so I've been having a hankering for good sushi lately. This one didn't disappoint. Now, I know that wasabi isn't everybody's cup of tea, so to speak, but don't fear that. Honestly, I'm not much keen on it myself, however, the wasabi in this is not too strong, and I personally loved it. So if you're not a wasabi lover, don't be deterred - you will still love this! If you are a wasabi lover on the other hand, then I encourage you to double the quantity of wasabi!

Wasabi-fried Eggplant and Avocado Sushi Rolls

Ingredients:

1 quantity sushi rice

6 sheets nori seaweed

4 thin asian-style eggplants, cut into strips

1 tbsp oil

2 tbsp sake (optional)

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp sesame oil

11/2 tsp wasabi (use 2-3 if you love wasabi)

1 avocado, cut into strips

You will also need:

A sushi rolling mat

A bowl of water with a dash of rice vinegar

To Assemble:

1.  Heat the oil in a frypan and add the eggplant strips.

2. Combine the soy sauce, sesame oil, wasabi and sake (if using) in a small cup or bowl and mix well to completely dissolve the wasabi. Pour over the eggplant strips and fry for 5-7 minutes, turning frequently. The eggplant slices should be soft and slightly charred. Remove and drain on some absorbent paper towel.

3. Lay a sheet of nori seaweed on your sushi rolling mat. Wet your hands in the bowl of water (this stops the rice sticking all over your hands) and grab a handful of rice (about 2/3 cup worth, but you don’t need to measure it out). Spread it over the nori sheet evenly, making sure you spread it out to all the edges as well but leaving about an inch or so at one end.

4. Place a couple of pieces of eggplant and some slices of avocado along the middle of the rice.

5. Lift up the edge of the mat (not the edge with the inch of nori left bare) and, rolling away from you, roll the mat over once whilst gently pressing on the ingredients in the centre with your fingers to hold them in place. You should have rolled over all the rice and only have the bit of nori you left bare showing. Press gently on the roll to make the sushi roll neat and firm.

6. Wet the edge of the nori with a bit of water (to make it stick easier) and roll the sushi that last little bit (being careful not to roll the mat up with it). Press again gently into either a circle or square shape.

7. Repeat steps 3-6 until all ingredients are used up (should be about 6 rolls).

8. Use a very sharp knife to cut each log into eight equal pieces, dip the knife into the bowl of water to prevent it sticking to the rice as you cut. Serve immediately with soy sauce to dip.

Makes 6 sushi rolls, feeds about 4.