Kayanas!

So, today's offering is Kayanas - This is a traditional Greek dish of scrambled eggs and tomatoes, cooked in olive oil, with herbs and seasonings.

Obviously, I've made a key change to this dish by replacing the eggs with scrambled tofu, and if you make it well, people genuinely don't notice the difference. This is tried and tested!

It's best to use firm Silken tofu for this, as it has a creamier texture than other types of tofu. I just mash it up and add salt, pepper and plenty of turmeric, so it even looks like egg (kinda)!

 

They key to making this really good is to use a good quality olive oil (and it must be olive oil!)

Another tip to making this perfect is to use a really good quality oregano, and copious amounts of it! I use the kind that you buy by the bunch, instead of in a jar. It was actually brought back from Greece when my parents went there, but you can buy it like that from a lot of Greek and Turkish food stores.

Essentially, I then fry the tofu, along with chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, finely chopped garlic, and lots of oregano.

I serve it on some nice brown toast, with a little margarine, and a sprig of basil.

I'm crap with recipes as I hardly ever use them. I essentially just guess how to make things & throw-in an amount that looks right! But let me know if you ever want me to try and make a recipe for one of these, or give advice on how to make it and i'll gladly oblige :)

Jen x

Stir-fry!

More food already!

As I don't eat microwave ready meals (not that many of them are vegan anyway!), my closest equivalent to a 'lazy' meal is probably a stir-fry!
It's quick and simple, but multicoloured and nutritious!

Today, I made a mixed vegetable stirfry, with organic marinated tofu and water chestnuts, and made it extra special with purple sprouting broccoli.
The trick to an awesome stirfry, or fried rice/noodle dish, is definitely toasted sesame oil. It makes all the difference! Another neat little trick I figured out is, along with plenty of FRESH garlic and ginger, a little ground cinnamon adds a pleasant sweetness to a stirfry. But when I say a little, I mean a little - a pinch will do!

I served it with quinoa.
If you haven't tried Quinoa, you must! It's a grain-like seed around the same size as couscous, that can be used in much the same way, except that it has a nice crunch to it. It's also a complete protein, providing a nice, balanced, range of essential amino acids.
It's easy to cook too - just boil it in water with a stock cube or two, depending on how much you're cooking.

I then had an equally lazy desert - Cantaloupe melon, with mixed raisins.

Simple food, but good food!

Jen x

Cupcakes!

Hey all!
I'm Jen.
I'm an avid vegan cook and have become fed-up of listing every single ingredient when people ask 'what do you eat?'...as they often do. So i've made this blog as an attempt at a response :P

So let's dive right in with today's addition; Vegan Cupcakes!

There are some vital ingredients needed for vegan cupcakes, namely non-dairy margarine, such as Pure or Vitalite, and some kind of egg replacer. In this case, I used a commercial egg replacer, which is a strange white powder that forms a sticky goo when mixed with water. But you can also use mashed banana (half a medium banana = 1 egg), or even a relatively flavourless oil, like sunflower or vegetable oil, but you'll find the cupcakes are a little more crumbly.

Today, I made two varieties; Chocolate-Orange, and Vanilla with an apricot jam filling.

To make anything chocolate flavoured extra rich, I always add pure chocolate extract as well as the cocoa. This can be hard to find, and pretty expensive, but it's worth it if you can your hands on it.

I topped the Chocolate orange ones with chocolate-orange buttercream (non-dairy margarine cream?) icing, then dipped them in grated chocolate. mmmmm...

 

For the grated chocolate, I used both 'milk' and white varieties of non-dairy chocolate by Organica. It's organic and fairtrade, as well as rich and creamy...and otherwise delicious!

 

For the Vanilla-Apricot cupcakes, I put a layer of vanilla cupcake batter in a case case, put a teaspoon of apricot jam in the middle, then added another layer of cupcake batter. I topped them with a vanilla 'buttercream' icing, and covered them in cute little star-shaped sprinkles.

 

P.s. Never underestimate the power of doilies. Laying one on a plate before adding the cupcakes makes them look approximately 200% more delicious :P

Just let me know if you want any recipes or anything :)

Jen x