Lemon Chick'n and Mango Fried Rice

This is delicious authentic Asian take-away food exactly like the kind you find anywhere except Asia...
Lemon chicken was always one of my favourites when my family got Chinese take-aways, and this is my Mum's recipe for making it at home. I've used Fry's chicken-style strips here, but you can do it with cubes of tofu too, fried salt and pepper tofu style. It makes a pretty fast, impressive and delicious dinner when paired with fried rice, tonight served with a winter vegetable riff on Isa's Mango Fried Rice (with red cabbage and cauliflower and green capsicum, and sans basil).

Chinese Take-away Lemon Chick'n

For the batter, mix together cornflour, salt, pepper and some baking powder (about 1 tsp per 4 Tbsp cornflour). No-Egg is good if you've got it. Add water, one teaspoonful at a time and stirring after each, until a loose batter is formed. Dip your (defrosted) chick'n strips in the batter and fry on each side in hot oil until puffed and golden, and keep warm until ready to serve. You can also deep fry 'em.

For the lemon sauce, combine the following ingredients in a saucepan:
grated rind and juice of 1-2 large lemons (can sub oranges for some or all)*
1/4 - 1 tsp of vege stock powder (be careful here, as stocks vary in strength. Start with a little).
1 Tbsp cornflour
1-3 Tbsp brown sugar (depending on how tart you want it, and if you've put in orange or not)
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
1/2 - 1 cup water (again, depending on how concentrated you want it)

Stir until the cornflour has dissolved, then heat until clear and thickened (saucy). Serve the fried chick'n strips with the lemon sauce poured over, and chopped spring onions. Serve with plain rice and fried/steamed vegetables, or for a fancier meal, serve with a dish of fried rice and veges like the one linked to above.

* I like to combine the juices of both fruits so I can cut down the added sugar. It still works out very lemony if you don't put in the orange rind. Obviously, if you sub orange for all, you will have Orange Chick'n, not Lemon, but that's ok. That's a take-away thing too.

The strips:

Potatispizza with smoked tofu crumbs

I don't know where potatispizza (potato pizza) comes from, but I will always associate it with a Swedish friend of mine, and vegan mentor, Markus. I have made many variations, with additions of leek or shallots or spinach, but the basic combination of potato, pizza dough, garlic and olive oil is pretty hard to beat. It's sort of garlic bread, pizza and chips in one. I'm not claiming it's healthy, but it's comforting, delicious and pretty easy to make.

To make it, prepare pizza dough using wholemeal wheat flour, or a mixture of rye flour and wheat flour (to make it more Swedish). When risen and all that, roll out thinnish to your desired pizza shape. Put it on a lightly greased oven tray or wherever you usually cook your pizza. Sprinkle with finely chopped garlic, and cover with thinly sliced rounds of potato. They should overlap so that the dough is covered. I usually press down slightly too. Top with extra toppings - spinach, thinly sliced leeks or shallots, herbs (oregano is best), and this week's delicious offering - crumbled smoked tofu which crisped up into crunchy succulent bacon-like morsels. Drizzle with olive oil and top with salt (nice salt if you've got it, table salt if not) and a little pepper. Bung it in the oven at about 250 degrees Celcius and bake until ready (dough is lightly browned, everything else done), about 15 mins maybe?

Pizza served here with lettuce, roasted broccoli and roasted asparagus (in the same oven as the pizza).

Cajun Chickpea cakes with Spicy Tomato Jam

Vegan Dad's Crispy Cajun Chickpea Cakes

Pretty much just followed his recipe, but subbed carrot for capsicum because that's what we had. Subbed cumin for the paprika for the same reason. Also left out the parsley. Ours came out less crispy - possibly an oil temperature/amount issue. But still delicious.

Tomato Jam

Combine the following in a saucepan (measurements are a guide, I usually just dump stuff in according to taste):

500g crushed tomatoes
80mL finely diced onion
1 tsp finely chopped rosemary (or a little less if dried)
30mL sugar (or 1 Tbsp pomegranate molasses)
2/3 tsp salt
pinch black pepper
pinch chilli flakes
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice

Simmer on a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 30-60 mins till reduced and jammy.

Fika for a group

We had a casual flat-warming last Sunday afternoon, with people dropping in and out. With uncertainty over exactly how many would be coming, when, and how hungry they would be, figuring out what to prepare was initially a bit daunting. Also, we still had a lot of sorting out to do to get the place ready for visitors, so I didn't want to spend all day in the kitchen. In the end, the spread was easy, cheap and delicious:

My never-fail wholegrain bread, freshly baked
The potato and spinach bake from Vegan Brunch
Home-made hummus
Store-bought ajvar
Home-made tapanade (recipe below)Quinoa tabbouleh with roasted eggplant and pomegranate molasses dressing (recipe below)
Afghans
Watermelon mocktail (recipe below)
As well as ubiquitous chips and fizz

Plenty to go round, plenty left over (and we weren't complaining), good at any temperature.

Green Olive Tapande

Basically you need green olives (with or without pimento stuffing), capers, and garlic. Blend it all up in a blender with a little olive oil and a little water until a chunky dip forms. I added parsley, a little nutritional yeast, a little lemon juice and a little sriracha chilli sauce. Tapande is pretty much ground up olives with add-ins, so start with olives and test your way forwards.

A little goes a long way, so don't feel like you have to make a whole lot. Excellent on crackers, toast, or fresh bread. For some reason right now I want to dip celery sticks in it, but that could be just me. (Gluten-free)

Quinoa Tabbouleh with Roasted Eggplant and Pomegranate Molasses Dressing

Um, this one isn't really a 'recipe' either. Basically, roast your eggplant according to how you usually do it, and let it cool. Chop it into little bits, along with finely chopped cucumber, tomato, and plenty of chopped parsley, and add everything to cooked quinoa. Dress with olive oil, a little minced garlic, a little pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Serve cold or room temperature.
(Gluten-free)

Watermelon and Mint Mocktail

Blend de-seeded watermelon flesh till liquid (pulpy ok). Mix with a decent amount of lime juice, some freshly squeezed orange juice if you want it sweeter, and some chopped mint leaves. Add sparkling water or ice if desired. Serve cold.

Wilted Spinach and Chick Peas

This is quintessential Mum's cooking - easy, simple, healthy, quick, and tasty.

It makes an excellent lunch paired with wholemeal cous cous or pasta. Rice or bulgur or polenta or any of that would probably be excellent too. Roast potatoes? A fresh salad? It's really flexible, and works well as a flavourful and nutritious side-dish as well.

Basically, fry diced onion and plenty of finely sliced garlic in olive oil until softened. I chucked some sliced celery in there too, because upping the vege count never hurts and I had celery that needed eating. Carrots would probably be awesome as well.

Then add a good amount of cumin, and some ground coriander seed, paprika and chilli (powder, flakes, or sauce - if you've got fresh chillies then slice 'em fine and chuck 'em in with the onions instead). Add some chopped nuts (not heaps, just enough for some crunch), and continue frying until browned.

Add cooked chick peas and some chopped spinach (leaves direct from freezer ok). Stir together until spinach wilts. Squeeze lemon juice over generously and add salt (or extra chilli sauce or oil) to taste. Serve it hot or cold or at room temperature.

Chinese soup base

Very happy to have finally produced a more-ish Chinese soup base. Chinese clear soups usually have quite a subtle soup base that sets off all the delicious goodies floating around in it (like noodles, wontons, thin slices of mock duck, pak choi, carrots etc). It's not like Vietnamese pho or Thai tom yam soup, but it shouldn't taste of nothing either. In fact, the subtlety is something I've found quite difficult to recreate at home, especially without MSG. I usually end up putting in too much of something, it really requires a bit of patience - a little of this, a little of that, till you get something you like.

First you want a nice simmering pot of stock. Then add some Chinese five spice and some thinly sliced ginger root and shallots. Add a little soya sauce (I used dark mushroom soy, which makes the soup darker but adds a nice depth), some sesame oil and a small squirt of sriracha - you don't want it spicy (or just some chilli flakes if you don't have it, but you might need a little of something acidic as well). Taste and add salt and more of any of the other stuff if needed. When you've got your soup base delicious, add noodles, wontons, pak choi, sliced carrots, etc. Today I chucked in cooked rice and brown lentils, carrots and pak choi. Cook till everything is tender. To serve, top with thinly sliced shallots and garlic, lightly fried together.

Edamame polenta cake with fried tomatoes and herbed yoghurt dressing

This was inspired by a delicious lunch served at a conference I attended recently at Handels Högskolan in Gothenburg. As a vegan I wasn't sure what to expect - some conferences I've been to have had an entirely vegan buffet for all guests, while others have offered non-meat eaters simply a pile of unadulterated chick peas. This lunch was catered by the restaurant there, and I was pleasantly surprised when the staff handed everybody with dietary requirements (nut-free, vegan, gluten-free) a plate of perfectly prepared polenta studded with edamame beans. This was topped with fried tomato slices and fresh herbs.

Here is my recreation, with the addition of herbed yoghurt dressing:

1) Prepare polenta according to instructions on the package, using a good amount of stock and adding dried or fresh herbs if desired - I used thyme and oregano. (Sometimes I prepare my polenta fairly bland, if I'm using it as a base for spicy sauces. Here you want it to taste good on its own. No stocks are created equal, but I used 1.5 cubes in about as many litres of water.) About 10 mins before the end, add edamame beans. Not too many, you just want enough to stud the polenta and provide some protein. I used about 1.5 cups.

2) When polenta is done, pour into a lightly oiled casserole dish and leave to set (in the fridge once cooled enough). Can do this overnight.

3) Prep your herbed yoghurt dressing. This is in no way an exact science - pretty much just bung nice tasting things in thick soy yoghurt and you'll be good. We added what we had on hand: fresh dill, some chilli flakes, a little mustard and minced garlic.

4) Now fry your polenta. Cut into the set polenta into squares and fry each side in a little oil over medium high heat. Polenta can be a bit tricky to fry, so maybe have a go on a practice piece first. The golden rule is to have a high enough heat that it doesn't just go soggy (it should sizzle when it hits the pan), and you want to let it sit long enough to develop a proper crust, so don't try flipping it too early. I think Isa's instructions for frying tofu apply here too.

5) Top the fried polenta slices with fried/seared tomato slices and the yoghurt dressing. Serve with salad for a bright, delicious and reasonably healthy lunch.