Pumpkin curry wattaka kalu pol (Sri Lanka)

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 medium red onions, finely sliced
2 sprigs curry leaves
4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
3 long green chillies, sliced
½ tsp black mustard seeds, ground
½ tsp fenugreek seeds
1 kg pumpkin, cut into cubes, skin left on
1 tsp seeded mustard
2 tbsp dark roasted curry powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric
1–2 tspsalt
500 ml (2 cups) coconut milk
2 tbsp short-grain rice, plus extra, cooked, to serve
⅓ cupdesiccated coconut

Cook's notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Instructions

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onion, curry leaves, garlic and green chilli. Fry briefly then add the mustard and fenugreek seeds and continue frying.

Quickly toss the pumpkin in a bowl with the seeded mustard, ground spices and salt and add to the pan along with the coconut milk. Bring to the boil and cook over high heat until the pumpkin is tender.

Meanwhile, heat a small frying pan and dry-fry the rice and coconut until brown and fragrant. Grind to a powder in a mortar or blender.

Add the rice and coconut powder to the curry and cook for a few more minutes. Serve with rice.


Sri Lankan recipe featured on SBS Food Safari Sri Lanka

Walnut Mushroom and Bean Burgers

Walnut mushroom bean burgers

(Approximates as I was just using up what I had)

3/4 cup walnut pieces
10 button mushrooms, halved
Handful (20?) Greenbeans, trimmed
2-3 shallots / 1 small onion, quartered
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup wholemeal breadcrumbs
1 Tablespoon miso paste (I used rice miso)
1 Tablespoon vegan worchester sauce
1 teaspoon thyme
....then to bind....
1 smallish steamed potato, peeled and smashed
2 Tablespoons vital wheat gluten

Put all first group of ingredients in a food processor and whizz until quite consistent texture. Transfer to large bowl with potato, mix together then sprinkle over gluten and mix that in last, with hands if needed. Shape into patties. This made 10 small patties. Could be put in fridge/freezer or cooked straight away.
Fry a couple of minutes each side to brown then place on ovenproof tray and bake at 180 for...some time while you look after kids / housework and just get them before they're too dried out! So, another 15 minutes? Check on them...
I used vegan mayo and Indian pickle for sauces but use whstever you think would go well. Something like a garlic vegan aioli or a smoky chipotle sauce or ajvar?
Let us know if you try and have improvements!

Vegan Tuna Salad

Making sandwiches for a picnic. My omni husband is a big fan of the white bean spread (like vegan tuna salad). White beans, vegan mayo, lime juice, red onion, little gherkins, flat parsley, shredded nori, salt and pepper.

Asian coleslaw

It's the dressing that's Asian inspired. I was never much of a fan of the mayonnaise version. So to make the dressing it was something like: Add to a screw top jar: small red onion finely diced, clove of garlic crushed, big handful of either Thai basil or cilantro/coriander chopped. Third of a cup each of palm sugar (I used less), vegan fish sauce or salty alternative like soy sauce (I added a good spoon of accidentally vegan paste to make beef pho soup, as well as tamari), lime juice. 1 tablespoon of oil (I added a bit of sesame oil and the rest a neutral veg oil). 1-2 Thai chillies julienned. Close lid and shake it all up until ready to use (can add up to an hour before if using Savoy cabbage or longer with erm, normal cabbage as it stays crisp better. I have chilli hating kids so kept it separate for those who wanted to pour on. The kids just prefer raw unseasoned veg!

Potato Gratin ~ vegan

It's getting cold and everyone in France seems to be getting into their baked cheese dishes in a big way. Well I love comfort food too so had a go making my own potato gratin (flavoursome potatoes are key).
Ingredients listed by quanity, but not exact quantities, are as follows :
Good waxy potatoes
Cashew cream (or other thick cream may work)
Nutritional yeast
White Miso
Dried shallots
Sea salt
Garlic powder
Cumin powder
Turmeric powder
Drizzled with olive oil and scattered with walnuts.
There were no leftovers; I scoffed the lot!

Carrot Cake ~ vegan

Recipe by Alison Andrews (Loving it Vegan). Photo of my first attempt. Tasted wonderful, great texture. Pity icing curdled a little with lemon juice. 

For the Carrot Cake:

• 2 cups (250g) All Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
• 2 and 1/3 cups (255g) Grated Carrot
• 1 and 1/2 cups (300g) Brown Sugar
• 2 Flax Eggs (2 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed Meal with 6 Tbsp Water)
• 1/2 cup (120ml) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 cup (100g) Chopped Walnuts (Optional)

For the Lemon Buttercream Icing:

• 3 and 3/4 cups (450g) Powdered (Confectioners) Sugar
• 3 Tbsp Vegan Butter
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
• 3–4 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice

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INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to  180°C (350°F).
2. Grease cake tin / tins and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into a mixing bowl.
4. Add the grated carrot and the brown sugar.
5. Prepare the flax eggs, by mixing 2 Tbsp Flaxseed Meal with 6 Tbsp Water and allowing to sit for a minute.
6. In the meantime, add the oil, vanilla and apple cider vinegar to the mixing bowl.
7. Add the flax eggs.
8. Mix everything together in the mixing bowl. Have a little patience and let the batter sit for a minute or two so that the carrots can release more water into the batter to enable you to mix it all together.
9. *If your batter is still too dry to mix after letting it sit for a couple of minutes (and only if it’s too dry to mix after sitting for a few minutes) then add in a little non-dairy milk, only as much as you need to get the batter to a wet enough consistency so that it can mix properly.
10. Lastly add the chopped walnuts if you want to add them.
11. Divide the mixture between the two small cake tins or leave in one larger tin.
12. Place into the oven and bake for 30 minutes for small cakes, up to 50 mins for large cake, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
13. Allow the cakes to cool completely on a cooling rack.
14. While the cakes are cooling, prepare your icing.
15. Add the powdered sugar, vegan butter, vanilla, apple cider vinegar and 3 Tbsp of lemon juice to an electric mixer bowl.
16. Start mixing on low speed.
17. If your icing is too thick then add in more lemon juice a drop at a time as needed to get your icing mix to the perfect consistency. If your icing ends up too thin, add more powdered sugar.
18. Add icing to the top of one of the layers.
19. Add the other layer on top and complete the icing of the top and sides of the cake.
20. Sprinkle crushed walnuts on top of the cake and serve.

Spinach and potato gozleme ~ vegan

for the pastry but I cheated and used a rolled out pizza base we had - we are here on holiday with limited kitchen supplies. Filling is sauteed leek, frozen spinach heated to evaporate some water, dried dill weed and yesterday's boiled potatoes, peeled and smashed, salt. Served with squeeze of lemon. Simple but good thanks to good quality vegetables.