blue <---> wednesday <---> red

lazy.long.weekend

Vegan Custard Parcels

I made these custard parcels over the weekend to satisfy my obscene craving for pastries. It's pretty simple to make, the most time-consuming part being the coating of the filo pastry with the margarine. It was so yummy and so rich and I felt so ill after I scoffed the whole thing down. Give it a try! 

Ingredients:

• 1 packet vegan filo pastry (defrosted)
• 1/2 cup vegan margarine (I use Cardin)
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs (optional)
• 500 ml soy milk
• 3-4 tbsp sugar
• 3-4 tbsp Moir's Custard Powder

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. 

Mix together 50ml of soy milk, the sugar and the custard powder until it forms a smooth paste. 

Bring 450ml of soy milk to the boil on the stove and proceed to add the custard paste to the milk. Stir continuously until the paste is dissolved into the milk (whisk the mixture if necessary in order to get rid of any lumps). Bring custard mixture to a boil and once it starts to thicken, remove from the heat. 

Set the custard mixture aside to cool slightly while you prepare the filo pastry. 

Place margarine in a microwave-proof cup and microwave for about 30 seconds or until margarine is melted. 

Place one sheet of filo pastry on a clean surface and brush the one side of the sheet with the melted margarine. Sprinkle some breadcrumbs over the filo pastry sheet (to stop the sheets from sticking together) and layer a second filo pastry sheet over the first. Repeat process for second, third and fourth layers of filo pastry. 

Cut the layered filo pastry sheet into four equal squares. 

Oil four mini oven-proof ramekins and proceed to line each ramekin with a filo pastry square. 

Spoon the thick custard into the filo pastry squares and fold sides of filo pastry in to form a parcel (it should look like a bigass wonton when you're done with it). 

Place in oven and allow to bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. 

mushy custard goodness.

*NOM*

otherwise.engaged(!)

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Ra Ra Riot

Madre's "chicken" surprise

My mom has this really delicious recipe which I've converted to be vegan friendly. Be warned, people who like lemon, and a lot of it, will love this. People who like olives, and a lot of them, will like this. Ric doesn't love lemon or like olives so he doesn't particularly care for this dish. But you just might...

Ingredients: 

• 1 packet cherry tomatoes washed and halved
• 1 packet fresh parsley washed and chopped
• 1 packet Fry's chicken / meat strips
• juice of 2 (or 3 or 4)lemons 
• 1 packet / can green olives stuffed with pimento 

Pre-heat the oven to about 180 degrees celcius. 

All that you do for this dish is to combine all of the ingredients (but for the lemons) in an oven-proof dish. Then proceed to juice the lemons and pour the juice over the mixture. Grind some salt and pepper over the mixture and then place in the oven for about 30 - 40 minutes (and mixing half-way through). 

The dish will be ready when the tomatoes have become soft and juicy and the "meat" strips are crispy 

Serve and enjoy! (Or not).  

Mantel (Peace)

Chanson du jour - Love's Dart

Django Django

Tofu and Chinese Rice Salad

This has to be one of my favourite meals ever. I think I could eat it every single day. Every. Damn. Day. *drool*

Ric and I have spent the weekend coming up with a meal plan for the week to ensure that 

1) we eat healthily; 

2) we stop spending so much damn money on food we never end up eating and 

3) we (i.e. I ) don't have to prepare anything that takes longer than 30 minutes during the week. 

This recipe comes from the Ultimate Book of Vegan Cooking which is my go-to book for amazingly simple and delicious meals. I think I must have made every recipe contained in it by now. 

I've made some changes to the recipe to allow for a quicker preparation time insofar as the rice is concerned but you're welcome to replace the ready-made rice with half a cup basmati rice and half a cup wild rice. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 packet Tastic "Simply Delicious" ready to eat Chinese Fried Rice 
• 250g firm smoked or plain)tofu
• zest of 1 lemon
• 20g fresh chopped parsley
• 1 red pepper

For the dressing: 

• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tbsp Agave syrup
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small red chilli (or) a pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp harissa paste (optional)
• ground black pepper

Cut the tofu into cubes and set aside. Prepare the dressing by whisking all of the ingredients in a small bowl. 

Pour the dressing over the tofu and leave to stand for about 10 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.  

Prepare the Tastic rice as set out in the instructions on the packet (difficult, I know). 

Mix the tofu, dressing, lemon zest and parsley into the rice and serve immediately.