Chocolate birthday cake (the best)

I had a friend's birthday to bake for and then Isa at the Post Punk Kitchen came out with this recipe for Chocolate Yoghurt Bundt Cake. It had to be done! I didn't have enough chocolate for both icing and putting in the cake, so I left out the chocolate chips. I also cut out some of the sugar, because I often find Isa's baked goods too sweet. The result was a very dark chocolate cake, which I quite enjoyed. But I think in this instance the sugar amount given is justified, especially without the chocolate chips. I did take inspiration from a Sacher torte, covering the cake in apricot jam and then a rich chocolate-based ganache.

This is a good cake if you want quick and easy without sacrificing fancy. With all the yoghurt, it's not even all that unhealthy. I think it might be the perfect cake. A cake's cake.

Things do do with chick pea flour (besan)...

I love chick pea flour! It is nutritious, tasty and gluten-free. However, I sometimes find myself looking at it in my pantry and thinking - what will I do with all this chick pea flour? Here are some answers...

1) Make gravy. Chick pea flour makes an excellent base for a roux. For an emergency dinner I made a white-sauce style gravy with a chick pea flour base to pour over pasta and beans. It means you don't get that wheat flour sauce on wheat pasta vibe.

2) Make a besan cheela (an Indian pancake a bit like an egg-free omelette)

3) Make an omelette.

4) Make pakoras (Manjula's Kitchen has a lot of pakora recipes, but me I'm dying to try her bread pakoras some time)

5) Make spicy Indian crackers!

6) One day I will try this amazing looking vegan cheese recipe.

Guacamole

People put all kinds of things in their guacamole. My mum puts fresh basil and tomatoes in. I've heard that certain Central American countries put celery in. I like it with lots of garlic and lemon juice. But this is just a quick note to say that the other day we accidentally chucked a whole bunch of dried sage into our guac instead of black pepper. And actually, it was very tasty. Something to try if you want something savoury and unusual. I think we ate it with some kind of Oaxacan mole. That is all.

Post Punk bouillabaisse

I really wanted to make Isa's latested creation - vegan bouillabaisse. I wanted to make it so much that I couldn't wait until I had a chance to buy the ingredients (not having nori and fennel on hand all the time). But, despite a lot of needs must substitutions, it still came out delectable. I'm still keen to try it as written some time, but it's good to remember that this version will more than do in a pinch:


As the linked recipe, but with celery instead of fennel, fried zucchini instead of roasted squash, dried thyme rather than fresh, no nori, and tomato paste instead of tinned tomatoes, with some fresh cherrry tomatoes chucked in for texture. I also upped the spice.

Lovely for a winter's evening - hearty, brothy, and a bit fancy with the spice and the orange zest. Not your run of the mill lentil soup.

Wonton soup!

Tonight I wanted wontons (I wonted wantons?). Nice sloppy wet ones in a soup. Despite the fact that we had very little of the stuff I consider essential for a wonton soup. We did, however, have wonton wrappers.

We filled them with:

Finely chopped onion, broccoli, garlic and ginger root, lightly fried.
Cooked brown lentils
Very hot sweet mustard
Hoisin sauce
A splash of vinegar

And cooked them in a broth made of stock, soya sauce, sesame oil, a little sugar and lemon juice (as out of rice wine vinegar), together with thinly sliced carrots, celery and ginger root.

(No amounts for you... Just go with what tastes good. Add a little at a time till it gets to the yum place.)

And it was goo-ood! Sure bok choy or kai-lan and some Chinese noodles would have been awesome, but all in all I was more than satisfied.

Wonton folding instructions abound on the internet, or you can be lazy like me and just fold them into triangles. Just be sure to seal them tightly.

Easy morning waffles will make your Sunday better

No pics because they were delicious and we ate them all. We ate them with orange squeezed over them. We ate them with Tofuline vanilla ice cream. We ate them with syrup. Yes we did.

Also, Sarah's pro-tips for no tears waffle-making:
- grease your waffle iron between each waffle! Obviously spray is good, but we used a pastry brush.
- you can tell when the waffles are not ready, they sort of glue the waffle iron together. When the waffles are ready, it should want to open.
- don't burn yourself.

Recipe from Vegansaurus (best name ever! Check out their adorable T-Rex pic), except with less sugar because I prefer to put sweet stuff ON my waffles/pancakes. Also I used half oat milk and half water, because I am a cheapskate. Still delicious, and I think water makes things even crispier.

No Tears Waffles

First, preheat your waffle iron, because the batter comes together in a jiffy.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups flour
1 cup wholemeal flour
2 Tbsp brown sugar (or white if it's what you've got)
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
 2 ½ cups plant milk (or sub half water)
2 Tbsp canola oil

METHOD

1. Using a fork, mix together the dry ingredients in a big bowl.
2. Add the wet stuff. Mix it all gently together with a fork or a whisk till a smooth batter forms.
3. Make the waffles! Pour some batter into your greased, heated waffle iron (not too much - better too small a waffle than overflow madness! Test your way forwards carefully!). Cook till done (i.e. golden brown and delicious).

Serve with pretty much anything - fruit, vegan cream, ice cream, chocolate sauce, syrup, etc.


No idea how many waffles this makes because we just kept eating them. Recipe doubles well. Any spare waffles can be frozen and reheated later in a toaster.