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

Corn & Tofu Soup

About a week and a half ago we flew home from holidaying in The Maldives, which looked like this:

Back home now and it's officially "unseasonably cold". Sad face. There is only one upside - for the last week or so we have been having soup for dinner most nights. It's perfect on four fronts - warming, easy, cheap and healthy! We overindulged a lot while travelling (of course) and although I have absolutely no regrets, it doesn't hurt to have a healthy couple of weeks now that we're back.

I made this delicious Corn & Tofu Soup when we had people over for dinner the other night and it was incredibly popular, including some people saying they 'don't usually like soup' (causing me to question why I'm friends with such people) but loved this one. A few asked for the recipe, so I've made sure I blogged it nice and quick.

It only takes about 15 minutes to make, which it another point in it's favour. You could also opt to puree it at the end, if you like creamy soups, but then you'll loose the nice texture of the pieces of tofu.

Corn & Tofu Soup

Ingredients
1 onion, diced
1 tbsp margarine
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2-3cm fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 tomato, finely diced
200g hard tofu, cut into small cubes
500g corn kernels (use fresh, frozen or canned)
1 x 400g can of creamed corn
1 litre vegetable stock
Salt and pepper, to taste

To Make
1. Heat the margarine in a large soup pot and saute the onion until translucent. Add the garlic and grated fresh ginger and give it about another minute.
2. Add the tomato and the tofu and cook for a further 1-2 minutes. Then add the corn, creamed corn and vegetable stock and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 10 minutes, and then season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot. 

Serves 4. If you're big soup lovers, make a double batch and eat it for lunch as well!

Lumpiang Hubad

 

 

You might have noticed a lot of lumpia on the blog this month - here is another! Lumpia are Filipino spring rolls and they come in all varieties. I've already shared fresh (lumpiang sariwa) and gorgeous fried (lumpiang prito) spring rolls, you can find links to those recipes at the bottom of this post. Lumpiang hubad is essentially the filling of the rolls and the sauce, but without wrapping them up into rolls. Same great flavours, but a 'lazy' version which doesn't involve taking the time to roll them. The peanut sauce all over it is just delicious.

 

I've chopped my veggies bigger than I did when making the lumpiang sariwa and prito, because I knew I wouldn't be rolling it up. You can also just make a double batch of lumpiang filling and use half for rolls and half with peanut sauce like this for another meal.

 

 

Lumpiang Hubad

Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
400g hard tofu cut into cubes
1 cup sweet potato cut into cubes
1 large carrot, cubed
1 cup chopped celery
2 tsp vegan fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 cup sliced green beans
1 cup cabbage
Shallots, for garnish

For the peanut sauce:
2 cups water
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup finely chopped peanuts
1 clove garlic, finely minced
2 tbsp cornstarch

To make:
1. Heat oil in a large frypan or wok and add the onion and garlic. Sauté until translucent and then add the tofu and sweet potato. Cook for about 3 minutes and then add the carrots, celery and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring often.
2. Add the fish sauce and soy sauce. Once the carrot is tender, turn off the heat and stir through the green beans and cabbage. The residual heat will cook them just enough. 
3. Set the filling aside to cool a little, it can be warm but not hot when you wrap up the rolls.
4. To make the sauce: Combine 1 1/2 cups water, soy sauce, brown sugar and salt in a saucepan over a medium heat. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Once all the sugar is dissolved add the peanuts and garlic and simmer for 3-4 minutes. In a cup, combine the remaining 1/2 cup water with the cornstarch and stir until smooth. 
5. Stirring the sauce continually, add in the cornstarch. Stir continuously over a low heat until the mixture thickens up a bit. Remove from the heat. 
7. Arrange lumping hubad in a bowl and pour the peanut sauce over the top. Garnish with chopped shallots.

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

Lumpiang Prito with Vinegar Dipping Sauce

Pancit Canton

 



Lumpiang Sariwa

In the Philippines, spring rolls (or lumpia) come in many varieties with many fillings. Often it's ground meats, but can also be a mixture of vegetables. The rolls can be fresh, fried or even absent (I'll explain this in a later post). I love spring rolls in any form, so I took the opportunity to make several different types of Filipino Lumpia. These ones aren't so much Spring rolls as they are Summer rolls, as I've used easy rice paper rolls as a bit of a cheat. Usually Lumpiang Sariwa refers to spring rolls which are not deep fried and are made with a special kind of egg wrapper (halfway between a spring roll wrapper and a thin crepe?) . You can make your own wrappers, or you could use fresh spring roll wrappers (or indeed, frozen spring roll wrappers - just defrost and use them as they are without frying). The drawback of using spring roll wrappers is that they're usually square, and lumpiang sariwa are made with round wrappers which allow you to leave one end open so the lettuce can poke out and you get a glimpse of the yummy colourful veggie filling. If you want to try making your own wrappers, just google it. There are lots of websites with recipes and instructions. If you want to take the easy road, improvise with what you've got! Like this lovely rice paper version. 

Lumpiang Sariwa

Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, finely diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup hard tofu cut into small cubes
1 cup sweet potato cut into small cubes
1 cup julienne carrots
2 tsp vegan fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup thinly sliced green beans
1 cup cabbage
5 lettuce leaves
10 rice paper rolls (or fresh spring roll wrappers)

For the peanut sauce:
2 cups water
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup finely chopped peanuts
1 clove garlic, finely minced
2 tbsp cornstarch

To make:
1. Heat oil in a large frypan or wok and add the onion and garlic. Sauté until translucent and then add the tofu and sweet potato. Cook for about 3 minutes and then add the carrots and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring often.
2. Add the fish sauce and soy sauce. Once the carrot is just slightly cooked, turn off the heat and stir through the green beans and cabbage. The residual heat will cook the cabbage just enough and finish cooking the carrots. 
3. Set the filling aside to cool a little, it can be warm but not hot when you wrap up the rolls.
4. Cook each rice paper roll wrapper according to the packet (usually by immersing in hot water for 30-60 seconds). Lay 1/2 lettuce leaf in the top middle of the wrapper and add about 1/10th of the filling. Wrap the bottom upwards and then roll the two sides over it nice and tightly, leaving it open at the top. Continue with the rest of the filling and wrappers.
5. To make the sauce: Combine 1 1/2 cups water, soy sauce, brown sugar and salt in a saucepan over a medium heat. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Once all the sugar is dissolved add the peanuts and garlic and simmer for 3-4 minutes. In a cup, combine the remaining 1/2 cup water with the cornstarch and stir until smooth. 
6. Stirring the sauce continually, add in the cornstarch. Stir continuously over a low heat until the mixture thickens up a bit. Remove from the heat. 
7. Arrange lumpiang sariwa on a platter and drizzle the peanut sauce over the top.

Makes 10 large rolls.

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

Check out my other Filipino recipe posts:

Tofu Adobo with Pineapple & Bamboo

Coconut Mango Float

Lumpiang Prito with Vinegar Dipping Sauce

Pancit Canton

Filipino Adobo Tofu with Pineapple and Bamboo Shoots

March is Philippines month on the blog, and I'm looking forward to sharing a lot of new dishes with you. As with a lot of Asian nations, the Philippines has a long history of association with a lot of different countries - all of which have influenced their cuisine. The resulting cuisine has Malaysian, Spanish, Chinese and even American influences which have contributed to their unique cuisine. Generally, I have to say, it's a very meaty country! They love eating their pigs over there and most of the recipes I found contained several part of the pig. But I found a smattering of lovely vegetarian dishes hidden amongst all the meat and have more than enough to share a month's worth of recipes with you.

I'm going to start with some Adobo Tofu. You might think of Spain when you hear the word adobo, and infact the adobo is quite well known and well used in America thanks to it's large hispanic population. But what you might not know is that when the Spanish explored the Philippines in the 16th Century, they discovered that the Filipino population had a very similar method of cooking with vinegar. Because it was so similar to the Spanish method, they named it adobo, despite the fact that it was indigenous to the region.

Filipino Adobo Tofu with Pineapple & Bamboo Shoots

Ingredients
500g hard tofu (sometimes called extra firm tofu)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
6-8 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1 small pineapple (about 1 1/2 - 2 cups chopped)
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup white vinegar (I used white wine vinegar, you can use palm vingear, coconut vinegar or any other variety of white vinegar)
1/3 cup light soy sauce
2 bay leaves
Generous grinding of black pepper
1 small can (220g) bamboo shoots (if you can find fresh shoot, even better!)

To Make
1. Squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the tofu and cut into cubes or triangles. Heat the oil in a wok and fry pieces until lightly browned on both sides. Remove and set aside.
2. Peel and chop your pineapple and set aside. Peel and slice your garlic and lighty fry in the remaining oil in the wok (you may need to add more if there is not much left) until just starting to go golden. Then add the pineapple and cook for about another 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the vegetable stock, vinegar, soy sauce, bay leaves and black pepper. Bring to a simmer.
4. Add the tofu and drained bamboo shoots. Simmer for about 15 minutes. 

You can serve with rice and steamed vegetables. 
Serves 4. 

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

Check out my other Filipino recipe posts:

Lumpiang Sariwa

Coconut Mango Float

Lumpiang Prito with Vinegar Dipping Sauce

Pancit Canton

Jerk Tofu & Pineapple Skewers

The cornerstone of Jamaican savoury food is Jerk seasoning, used on just about anything (although mostly meat!). I've made some jerk tofu to get us started on Jamaican month and made it into BBQ skewers with pineapple. The photograph here is from before they were cooked, because after they were cooked they were gobbled up immediately :)

Jerk Tofu & Pineapple Skewers

Ingredients
375g hard tofu, drained and pressed and cut into cubes
1/2 fresh pineapple, cut into cubes
2-3 shallots, cut into 1 inch lengths

Jerk Marinade:
2 shallots, chopped
2.5 inches of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp thyme leaves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 scotch bonnet chilli (if you don't like it hot, use only a quarter)
3 tbsp lime juice
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp oil

To Make:
1. Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a food processor (or mortar and pestle) and purée into a smooth paste.
2. Pour the marinade all over the tofu cubes and mix well. Marinade overnight, or for at least a couple of hours. Mix or toss the tofu every so often to make sure the marinade is coating all the tofu.
3. If using wooden skewers, soak in water while you get all the ingredients ready to thread.
4. Cut your pineapple and shallots and thread these onto the skewers with the tofu. Once finished drizzle any marinade left all over the skewers.
5. BBQ until the tofu is browned and starting to go crispy and the pineapple is golden brown and starting to caramelise. You may need to add a little oil to the BBQ if it is too dry. Eat straight away while they're hot.

Makes approximately 17 skewers.

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

Check out my other Jamaican recipe posts:

Jamaican Rum Punch

Jamaican Peanut Punch

Gizzada (Coconut & Brown Sugar Tarts)

Old-time Jamaican Lemonade

Jamaican Ginger Cake

Pineapple Salsa

Callaloo

Jamaican Patties

Jerk Sweet Potato Chips

Vegan Ohn No Khao Swe (Burmese Noodles) with Chickpea Tofu

The first dish I'm sharing for Burmese food month is Ohn No Khao Swe, one of the countries most common and popular dishes. It's traditionally made with chicken, but I've substitited another Burmese food staple, chickpea tofu. I made my own chickpea tofu according to this recipe from a blog called Girl Eats World. I followed the recipe to the letter when I made it, so rather than reproduce her hard work I've linked to her original recipe. It was delicious and surprisingly easy to make! If you don't feel like doing it, you can substitute some bought tofu, although it won't have the beautiful flavour of the chickpea tofu.

The soup that these noodles and tofu are immersed in - oh my goodness - I don't think I have adequate words to express it! It's the tastiest curry soup I've ever made, no exaggeration! Really something special! It utilises my lovely home made fish sauce, as does many of the Burmese recipes I'll be sharing over December.

Vegan Ohn No Khao Swe with Chickpea Tofu

Ingredients
2 tbsp peanut oil
1/2 inch fresh ginger, peeled
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 shallots, sliced
2 onions, 1 sliced and 1 diced
2 tbsp chickpea (besan) flour
3 cups "chicken" stock (use a veggie based chicken stock or substitute with vegetable stock)
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp paprika (optional)
2 tbsp vegan fish sauce (plus more to taste, if you like)
1/2 batch chickpea tofu
300-400g Thin rice or wheat noodles 
Lime, cut into wedges to serve
Fried shallots, to garnish (optional)
Fresh coriander, to garnish (optional)

To Make
1. Heat oil in a large frypan or wok and cook the sliced onion until golden. Combine cooked onion, fresh ginger, garlic and shallots and make a paste (i.e. in a food processor or a mortar and pestle, add 1/3 of a cup of water if using a blender or food processor).
2. Cook the diced onion in the remaining oil in the pan for 2-3 minutes and then add your paste and cook for a further 1-2 minutes. Mix chickpea flour with 1/4 cup cold water and add to the pan along with the 'chicken' stock, coconut milk, turmeric, chilli flakes and paprika. Bring to a simmer and then add the vegan fish sauce.
3. Cook your noodles according to the instructions on the packet. Once cooked, distribute evenly amongst four bowls (or, serve in one large bowl like in the picture above) and top with cubes of chickpea tofu. Ladle the hot soup/sauce over the noodles and tofu and garnish with lime wedges, fried shallots or coriander. Drizzle additional fish sauce over the dish to taste.

Serves 4.

This month I'm featuring vegan recipes from Myanmar (Burma).

Check out my other Burmese recipe posts:

Vegan Fish Sauce

Burmese Tomato Salad

Gin Thoke (Ginger Salad)

Burmese Sticky Rice Cake

Beetroot & Vegan Feta Cheese Fugazza (Focaccia)

Good afternoon all! Today is a very special day, it's the biannual Vegan Virtual Potluck! It's so much fun to see what everyone has brought to the potluck, even though it takes me a good couple of hours to sit down and go through all the blogs that participate each time. A big shout out to all the great bloggers, especially Lidia & Annie, who work really hard behind the scenes to get such a huge logistical event working! I'm happy to be a volunteer on this potluck, doing my little bit to get it all together.

A quick note before I get onto potluck business! If you're new to my blog - welcome! I hope you'll really enjoy yourself, there are more than 200 recipes to browse through. You can use the recipe index above, or the labels on the side to look for particular ingredients or ethnic cuisines. You can also follow me on Twitter, or on Pinterest or by liking my page on Facebook. Today I'm starting to share with you a special "12 Days of Easy Edible Xmas Gifts" series on my facbook page, each day will be a new & interesting idea for a vegan home made edible gift and I promise you that there will be some you've never through of before :)



Enough of that though! On with the potluck. The potluck is split into categories, and I've been trying to go in a new category every time. This is my third potluck, my first potluck I went in 'Desserts' and made this Choc Banana Ice Cream Pie (Vegan & Sugar Free!). My second potluck I thought I'd try my hand at 'Beverages' so I made a Turkish Delight Martini.  For my third time around I've signed up for 'Breads'.

In hindsight I don't know why I signed up for breads, because I've been recently eating a lot less bread and have managed to lose 3kg because of my healthy kick. So, I realised that if I was going to make a bread-y thing for this potluck I would have to invite some friends over to help me eat it! I did, and they loved it!

This recipe was inspired by the Argentinian Caramelised Onion Fugazza which I made for Argentina Month on the blog. It's a symbol of the strong Italian influence on Argentinian cuisine, because it's essentially a focaccia. I was so happy with how my Caramelised Onion Fugazza turned out that I knew I would be experimenting with in the future. For this special Virtual Vegan Potluck Version, I've used marinated beetroot and my special home made Vegan Feta Cheese.

Beetroot & Vegan Feta Cheese Focaccia

Ingredients
1 cup warm water
2 tsp yeast
2 tsp sugar
2 2/3 cup plain flour
1 tsp salt
8 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 large beetroot, peeled and chopped into wedges
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 onion, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
3-4 sundried tomatoes, cut into strips
1 cup Vegan Feta Cheese cubes (unbaked)

To Make:
1. Combine the warm water, sugar and yeast in a bowl and set aside for 5-10 minutes, until the mixture is frothy on top.
2. Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add 5 tbsp olive oil and the yeast mixture and mix to form a dough. It should be soft and pliable, but not sticking to your fingers. If it's too wet add a bit more flour, if it's too dry to hold together add a little more water.
3. Turn the dough out onto a floured benchspace and knead for 10 minutes (set your oven timer and put on some good music to sing along to).
4. Lightly oil the mixing bowl and return the ball of dough to it. Cover with cling wrap or a tea towel and leave in a warm place to rise for 45 minutes (or until doubled in size). In the meantime you can preheat your oven to 180 degrees.
7. While the dough is rising, boil the beetroot slices until just tender, and place in a bowl with the mustard and balsamic vinegar. Toss well and set aside until you need them.
6. Once risen turn the dough out and punch down into a smooth ball. Oil a round pan with 2 tbsp olive oil and place your ball of dough in the centre. Gently flatten the ball out into a disc with your fingers. You'll get to a point where you can't stretch it any further without it springing back. When you get to this stage just set is aside and let it rest for 10 minutes (while it's resting you can chop up your onions).
7. After 10 minutes the dough should have relaxed, allowing you to spread it out further. Keep doing this until the dough covers the whole pan and reaches the edges (you may have to rest it again before you can get it the full diameter).
8. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a fry pan and saute the onions until softened. Add the sugar and vinegar and cook for about 5 minutes.
9. Spread the onions over the the base and top with the beetroot slices, sundried tomatoes and the cubes of Vegan Feta Cheese. Drizzle with a bit of the oil from the jar of sundried tomatoes.
10. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the edges become golden brown. Remove from the oven, slice and serve up.

This is the virtual vegan potluck, which is so much fun so make sure you check out everyone else's posts too!

To start from the beginning and work your way through head to the very first blog in the chain by clicking right....... here. If you've already worked your way through all the recipes before me then I hope you're enjoying all the dishes. I can't wait to sit down with a cup of tea and go through them all!

What's next in breads? Time to move on to the next Potluck Offering. 

Hit this button to go to the previous post by Bite Me, I'm Vegan, or click here:

Hit this button to go to the next post by In Pursuit of More, or click here:

Vegan Tofu Feta Cheese Recipe

I invented this simple but very tasty Vegan Feta Cheese recipe quite a while ago, but I thought I would post it now as a reference recipe, because it is so versatile. This tofu feta is just like eating a firm salty feta, like the kind most people eat in Australia - I don't know much about the history of feta, but we call this type of feta Australian feta and it's my favourite type. Much lighter and tangier than the thick and creamy Danish feta, it's perfect for salads, wonderful in pies and divine sprinkled on pizza.

My vegan version is quick to prepare and you can make it either in cubed form or in crumbled form. I found that baking the tofu after marinating really brought out the tangy flavour and gave the tofu a really great chewy cheesy consistency, so I've included instructions for baking. If you're putting it on a pizza or a focaccia, you don't need to bake it first. Just put it straight on and it will bake when you're cooking the pizza anyway.

This recipe makes a big batch, so you can halve it if you like. Or you can keep half of the tofu marinating in the fridge and then just bake it on the day you want to use it. In fact, I have some unbaked tofu feta sitting in my fridge right now just waiting to be baked and tossed in a salad.

Ingredients
600g hard tofu
Juice of 1 lemon
4 large cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp salt

To Make:
1. First, gently squeeze as much liquid out of the tofu as you can.
2. If you want to make cubed feta, chop the tofu up into cubes and place in a bowl. If you want crumbled feta then crumble it roughly with your hands into a bowl.
3. In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice, crushed garlic, and salt and mix well. Add the the tofu and toss to coat. Now you can taste and decide if you think it needs to be more salty or more sour - if you think it does, add more salt or more lemon juice accordingly.
4. Set aside to marinate, stirring or tossing regularly. If you're making cubed feta, you'll need to let it marinate for about 20 minutes, if your making crumbled then 10 should do.
5. Spread it out on a lightly oiled baking tray and grill or bake in the oven for 5-10 minutes at 170 degrees.
6. Remove and cool. Use however you like!

This tofu feta will keep, baked or unbaked for several days in the fridge.

Recipes using my Vegan Tofu Feta Cheese:

Bosnian Spinach and 'Cheese' Plait

Pasta & Feta Salad with Balsamic Mustard Dressing

Croatian Pizza with Spicy Vegan Sausage & Vegan Feta

Marinated Beetroot & Vegan Feta Focaccia

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. 

Vegan Sapasui (Tofu & Broccolini Chop Suey)

At first when I was challenged to feature Samoan food I was a bit unsure if I would find enough recipes to feature. I wasn't sure until I read about Sapasui. Yep, it doesn't look very Samoan. Infact what is it is "Chop Suey". You might think I'm clutching at straws by featuring this as a Samoan dish, but I have been told that chop suey is so popular in Samoa that it is now considered something of a traditional dish.

Most websites will tell you that chop suey is prominent in Samoa because of Chinese influences, but this confused me because I'd always thought that chop suey was an American Chinese dish. I can tell you that I lived in China for a year, and they don't eat chop suey there! I never saw chop suey anywhere I travelled in China or even in South East Asia. The only time I've ever seen it on the menu is when I was travelling in Sri Lanka - they often had it in the 'foreign foods' section of the menu along with the spaghetti bolognese. 

So I was confused as to why chop suey made it's way into Samoan culture, and then I read about the American influence in Samoa. Infact, one of the islands that makes up Samoa is called "American Samoa". So, it'd like to dispel some internet misinformation and let you know that chop suey is not a Chinese dish! It's an American Chinese dish, and, apparently - a Samoan staple!

However it got to Samoa, it was nice to find it because it made a bit of a change from the coconut everything I was making for every other dish. Traditionally chop suey is made with minced pork or beef and a variety of vegetables with noodles. In the place of mined meat, I've used a delicious "minced" tofu - which came out strikingly similar to the real thing and was a big success. 

One more quick note before I get to the tasty point - recipes vary as to whether or not you should chop up the noodles into shorter lengths before cooking. Some day do it, some say definitely don't do it! I didn't chop mine up, because I like long noodles, but then I cooked them for a minute or two too long and they broke up a bit anyway. So I guess it is all means to the same end!

Ingredients

Tofu 'Mince'

400g hard tofu

1 tsp vegan beef stock powder (such as Massel)

1/4 cup hot water

2 tbsp soy sauce

Sapasui
150g mung bean vermicelli (sometimes also called cellophane or glass noodles)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2cm piece of ginger, grated
1 celery stick, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1/2 Chinese cabbage, sliced
1 bunch broccolini, cut into 2cm lengths
1/2 cup vegan beef stock
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp ketcap manis

To Make
1. Crumble the tofu into a bowl. Stir the stock powder into the 1/4 cup hot water and add the soy sauce. Stir this through the crumbled tofu and set aside to absorb the flavour.
2. Remove the noodles from the packet and soak in cold water (for about 10-15 minutes, while you get the rest of the dish together).
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a large wok. Add the onion, ginger and garlic. Sauté until the onion is cooked.
4. Add the marinated crumbled tofu and any remaining liquid in the bowl. Cook until any liquid is dissolved, at least 5 minutes.
5. Add all the vegetables and the beef stock, soy sauce and ketcap manis. Simmer until the vegetables are just tender and the liquid has reduced to about half.
6. Drain the noodles that you've been soaking in cold water and chuck them in the wok. Stir well and cook for 2-3 minutes until the noodles are cooked and hopefully by this stage you shouldn't have too much liquid left in the wok. I recommend serving immediately - if you leave it hot in the wok the noodles will overcook and break up a lot (not that this matters very much!).

In other news, I've been nominated in the Australian Writers' Centre People's Choice Award in the Best Blogs 2013 competition! Unfortunately it is very much a contest in social media popularity - so I really need your help!

To vote hit this button to the right and then click the "vote here" button. Then scroll through the 5 pages of nominated blogs, Gormandize is on the second page. You 'll need to scroll through all the pages and then fill out your details at the end to make your vote count. Thank you for your support! 

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

Check out my other recipe posts:

Paifala (Pineapple Turnovers)

Creamy Coconut Rice (Alaisa Fa'apopo)

Coconut Bread Rolls

Koko Rice

Sweet Potato in Creamy Coconut Sauce

Vegan "Fried Chicken" and Waffles - A Southern USA Classic!

Despite the fact that Southern USA month was last month, I had a few loose ends to tie up so I'm carrying a couple of dishes through to this month. I know you'll look at this and think that it's weird, to be honest I'd agree. Fried chicken and waffles is not the kind of dish I'd normally go for. But when I featured USA, I asked some readers to suggest what they'd most like to see featured. Since the majority of my readers are American, I got quite a lot of suggestions. One of them came up often - Fried Chicken (Kentucky style) with waffles. Apparently this is a speciality of Southern USA and the enthusiasm to have this dish "veganised" was resounding. How can I say no to that?

It took me a while to get to this one, for a few reasons. Mainly because I had to get my hands on a waffle maker! To my great fortune a friend gave me one which she didn't want anymore, which mean't all I had to do know was to find the right mix of herbs for the batter.

I will confess that I'm not in the best position to replicate the exact flavour of true American Fried Chicken - chiefly because I've never eaten such a thing! Indeed, I've never even eaten the fast food franchise Kentucky Fried Chicken (although I've been told that even if I tried to replicate that flavour, I wouldn't be able to without getting my hands on some MSG). There are a lot of recipes on the internet, all of them use different herbs and spices, so I don't really know whether or not this tastes like 'authentic' Southern Fried Chicken. I'll look forward to some Americans trying the recipe and telling me what they think!

You can also make this recipe with seitan or with a commercial chicken substitute. I don't have any available that don't have egg in them, so I just used tofu.

Ingredients

The Fried Tofu

400g hard tofu, drained and squeezed gently to get as much liquid out as possible

3 cups soy milk

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Vegetable or peanut oil, for frying

Batter

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp sweet paprika

1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

1 tsp vegetable stock powder

1 cup of the soy milk used to marinate the tofu

Seasoned Flour

1 cup flour

1 tsp vegetable stock powder

1/4 tsp cracked black pepper

2 tsp sweet paprika

1/4 tsp hot paprika (or chilli powder)

1 tsp celery seeds

1 tsp marjoram

1 tsp oregano

The Waffles

1 1/4 cups wholemeal flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

3 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 cup soy milk

2 tbsp canola or vegetable oil

To Make

1. Whisk the soy milk and apple cider vinegar together and set aside to thicken. Slice the tofu into eight equal pieces and submerge them in the soy milk. Marinate for 2-3 hours, or longer if you have the time (you can marinate overnight).

2. Combine all the ingredients for the batter in a bowl and set aside.

3. Combine the ingredients for the seasoned flour in a separate bowl and set aside.

4. Mix the dry ingredients for the waffles together in yet another bowl. Make a well in the middle and gently stir in the soy milk and oil. Heat up your waffle iron (be sure to spray with oil to prevent sticking) and make the waffles according to the instructions of your waffle maker. This batter should make 4 waffles, although this may vary slightly depending on the size of your waffle maker. Place the cooked waffles on a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.

5. Heat about a cup of peanut or vegetable oil in a fry pan (you can also use more oil and deep fry instead of shallow fry). Take a piece of tofu and dip it in the batter, coating liberally. Then coat in the seasoned flour and drop into the hot oil. Cook for a few minutes and then turn over to cook both sides (if you deep fry, you don't need to turn them over). Remove and drain on a piece of kitchen paper. Repeat with the remaining pieces of tofu.

6. Serve the fried tofu on or next to the waffles, with maple syrup to taste.

Serves 4.

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

Check out my other Southern USA recipe posts:

Mint Julep

Peach and Bourbon Cobbler

Vegan Chili Pone (Chili Cornbread Casserole)

Succotash

Pecan & Molasses Pie with Spiced Pumpkin Whipped Cream

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Mushroom and Bean Jambalaya

Home Made Smoky BBQ Sauce