Vegan Quiche

So this is what I'm making the husband for dinner tonight, he loves it but it's not quick dish so he doesn't get it very often. (the amounts here are for a fairly large quiche!)

For the Pastry
200g plain flour
100g vegan marg
2-3 tablespoons olive oil mixed with 2-3 tablespoons of water
pinch of salt

Sift the flour into a bowl, add in the salt and marg and rub until all the lumps have gone.
Add the oil and water mix to bowl and mix until it forms a dough
Wrap the dough in clingfilm and put in the fridge for a while to chill.

Bake the pastry in a flan dish for 15-20 mins at 200c/gas 6

For the Fillling
1 chopped onion
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 packet of tofu
1 crushed garlic clove (I'm using smoked garlic today as I really like it)
around 100g of whatever veg you like - I'm using broccoli, mushroom and probably some pinenuts.
1 table spoon of soy sauce

Fry the onions gently and then liquidise with the garlic and tofu.
Fry the mushrooms and boil the broccoli for 4-5 mins until tender
Mix together and add in the soy sauce, and if you have to hand fresh herbs, salt and pepper
Spread the mixture into the pastry case and bake for c20 mins at 180c/gas 4

Can be served hot or cold.

vegan products & ingredients

I thought it might be useful to list some of the products & brands that we use on a regular basis in our cooking. We don't have the benefit of a good health store near us, so most of our shopping is done at the supermarket, unless we have time to go into town. Thankfully most of the mainstream stores have got a lot better at catering for dairy free diets.

Milk: we usually use soya milk - most supermarkets do their own brand versions now, which are generally cheaper, as well as selling the big brands like Alpro. Some people prefer rice or almond milk, which is less regularly sold in the big stores.

Marg: We tend to buy Pure - which again is available in most supermarkets. The husband prefers the sunflower version. http://www.puredairyfree.co.uk/

White Fat (for pastry): I usually buy Trex, which again you can get at the supermarket.
http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/tesco-price-comparison/Butter_Margarine_And_Spreads/Trex_Vegetable_Fat_500g.html

Pesto: Morrison's sell a vegan nut free pesto, amazing! It's called Florentino Basil Pesto and is available in the specialist diet section.  http://www.seedlingshowcase.com/db/product.asp?id=43148

For more specialist products & treats for the serious vegan, I recommend Redwood Foods - they do good vegan cheeses, various 'meat replacement' products & vegan fudge!
http://www.redwoodfoods.co.uk/

Vegetable Bryinai

This is yum!! I love this meal, it takes a bit more work than the curry I've posted, but it's good for a dinner when  you're keen to make something a bit more special. The spices used in this smell amazing, I love cooking it for that reason alone.

Ingredients

• 500g of basmati rice
• 2 large onions, sliced finely
• Fresh ginger (a good sized knob) chopped finely
• Curry paste (1-2 table spoons)
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 cardamom pods
• 3 star anise
• 250g potato, diced
• 1 small cauliflower, chopped into small florets
• 250g soya yogurt
• 200g frozen peas
• soya marg for greasing.
• Fresh corriander.
• Oil
• 300ml water

Method

• Rinse the rice very well and then soak in cold water for about half an hour, to ensure you've removed the starch (although as with many of these things I have short cut around this before without too much harm!)
• While the rice soaks fry the onions until soft and then add the chopped ginger and fry for another couple of minutes. Then stir in the spices (star anise, caramom & cinnamon sticks). 
• Add the potatoes and cauliflower and water, cover and boil for 5 mins or until the veg are tender.
• Stir in the soya yogurt and peas.
• Drain the rice, tip into a pan of boling water and boil for about 5 mins, then drain again.
• Use the soya marg to 'butter' the bottom of an oven proof dish (use one with a lid). Spread the curry sauce over the base then spoon the rice on top. Cover with foil and then put the dish lid on. At this point if you're preparing early you can put this in the fridge until you're ready to cook.
• Put in the oven at 180c/gas 4 for 3/4 of an hour to an hour.
• Sprinkle with fresh corriander.

Butternut squash & sweet potato curry

This is good stable main course for us. Easy to make, quick and tasty. Good for dinner with friends.

Ingredients
this is a meal that I usually just chuck together, so the amounts/measurements are fairly vague! It's hard to do wrong though.

• 1 tin coconut milk (low fat if you're feeling good)
• stock (c450ml)
• 1-2 table spoon of curry paste
• 1 tea spoon tumeric
• lime leaves (optional, it doesn't really matter if you don't have them)
• lime juice (to taste, I like quite a lot) 
• 1 table spoon sugar
• sprinkle of soy sauce
• 1 butternut squash - chopped to medium sized pieces
• 3-4 sweet potatoes - chopped to the similar sized pieces to the squash
• corriander
• pak choi or spinach.

Method:

• Add the top layer of the coconut milk to the pan with the curry paste and tumeric and simmer for a minute or two.
• Add the rest of the coconut milk, the stock, the sugar, soy sauce and lime juice (and lime leaves if using) to the pan
• Chuck the squash and sweet potato in to the pan, and simmer for about 20 mins or until cooked. Be careful because it very quickly goes from nice and soft to falling to bits!
• Just before serving add the pak choi or spinach and allow to wilt
• Serve with chopped corriander

Chocolate Tart

In November we celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary, my those two years have flown, I still think of us as newly weds, but I guess we can't really say that any more. We didn't want to spend a fortune on going out so I decided to surprise the husband when he got home with a meal made of dishes we had at our wedding.

We started with a nice humous, with rocket and freshly baked squash bread (which I've posted previously) followed by pumpkin risotto and then dark chocolate tart. The tart is a new one for me, so it was a risky experiement but turned out to be lovely - I'm going to experiment with different flavours with it - maybe orange or caramel.

Chocolate Tart
I made a few small tarts, but this could also be used to make one large tart.

Pastry:
150g cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons cold vegan marg
3 tablespoons cold water
 
Cut the cold marg into the flour, salt and sugar until it has a crumb like texture. Sprinkle with water and toss until the mixture forms a ball. Seperate into small balls and squash slightly then put in the fridge in clingfilm for a few hours. Once chilled put in dish and bake at 190 for c20-25 mins.
 
Filling - dark chocolate ganache
450g dark dairy-free chocolate, coarsely chopped
400g can light coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Break choc into small bits, heat milk in pan until just boiling, pour over choc and leave for 5 mins without stiring. then stir in the vanilla extract and stir until goes silky. Then pour into pastry cases and chill.

Eat - yum. The husband enjoyed it, I keep promising to make it again.