Marinated Tofu in Pastry Floret Cups

Marinated Tofu in Pastry Floret Cups

Another recipe from our dinner party there the other night

(as was Vegan Bailey’s‘Cheesecake’)

Ingredients

Approx. 330g firm tofu Filo pastry 6 slices cucumber 1/3 carrot: very thinly sliced (see picture) 1 spring onion finely chopped Marinade (overall about 1 cup): 1/3 cup sesame oil 2 tbsp paprika 1½  tsp soy sauce 1 tbsp each of: cumin, thyme, garam masala 1 vegetable stock cube

Sauces: 1 pea size drop Wasabi paste 2 spoons houmous 1/3 cup dairy free cream 1 tsp chopped mint (or dried) 2 tsp chopped dill (or dried) 1 tsp garlic powder

Tofu:

1. Cut up tofu into pieces about 2.5cm squares and 1cm thick (or however big you want them depending on the size you want your cups). Put into a box or other container.

Mix up the marinade ingredients mentioned above and pour over the tofu. Leave overnight.

2. Take the tofu out and fry it gently on a medium heat until it browns. 

For pastry cups:

1. Preheat oven to 200°. Pregrease a cuptake tray and cupcake liners.

2. Cut filo sheets into squares about 10cm squared (or however big you want it).

For each cup cut 4 squares. Put one square on top of a second one, and do the same with the last two squares (so you have two squares overall each is 2 sheets thick).

3. Overlay them at angles to each other. Coat them in some melted (dairy free) butter.

Put in oven until slightly browned.

Make the sauces:

1. For first one: mix the houmous and wasabi paste.

2. For second one: mix the cream, mint, dill and garlic powder.

Arrange:

1. Once the pastry cups have cooled, remove the cupcake liner off them.

Put about 1-2 tbsp of the creamy minty sauce into the bottom of each cup. Place the tofu squares on top.

2.Cut a small triangle out of the cucumber slices. Put the cucumber on top of the tofu squares and cover with a good dollop (about 1tsbp) of the houmousy sauce.

3. Place the thinly sliced carrot pieces in as shown.Sprinkle the finely chopped spring onion.

(Sprinkle some sesame seeds on if you wish too, I’d say would be nice)

Vegan Bailey’s ‘Cheesecake’

Vegan Bailey’s ‘Cheesecake’

I’ve wanted to make this for ages, especially as you see it so much in cafes here in Ireland!

So as we were having a fancy dinner party, finally my excuse to take some time out of my study schedule to cook again! (Conor’s been so good to me - he’s been doing most of the cooking in the house as I’m so busy)
This recipe is based off our previous creamy 'cheesecake' like cakes: Lemon Macaroon Cream Pie 
and Strawberry Tofu 'Cheesecake' 
(and was served at the same dinner party as Marinated Tofu in Pastry Floret Cups)

Baileys: 3/4 cup whiskey 2 cans coconut milk 1.5 tbsp instant coffee  (mixed with a little hot water) or about 3/4 cup strong coffee 1/2 cup brown sugar Base 1 packet biscuits crushed (we used Oaties - basically like Hobnobs) 3tbsp butter 2.5 tbsp golden syrup

Filling: 6tbsp cornflour 1/4 cup whiskey 3/4 cup brown sugar 1 block firm tofu (I guess you could use silken, but this works better for me I’ve found) 1/4 cup oil 1 tbsp vanilla essence

Makes 2 cakes: (so half it if you want one!)

1. Make the “Baileys”: put all the ingredients except the whiskey in a pot, then boil off for about 15 minutes until it thickens to a more cream like consistency (if you happen to get the thick ones from Aldi it won’t take long)

2. Preheat oven to 200°. Make the base: crush the biscuits. Then add the butter and golden syrup.

Line a cake tin with baking paper and grease it. Put the base mix into it and press it evenly on the bottom. Put in the oven for about 15mins. (it may harden in the oven or when you take it out and let it cool. If it doesn’t harden when it cools, put it in again at 5-10min intervals until it does)

3. Make the filling: put all the ingredients in a blender. Add 3/4 of the bailey’s mix to the blender mix- keep the rest for yourself ;) Pour the mixture in the blender over the cooled base.

4. Put in oven for about 30 mins or until very very slightly browned.

If I was to make it again though I’d probably just add the ‘Baileys’ ingredients directly to the filling… So this recipe may be getting an update sometime ! :)

  

Chocolate coated Palmiers

Chocolate coated Palmiers

Myself and Conor celebrated 6 year anniversary together yesterday. So we made some chocolate coated palmiers and snuggled up watching Paris, je t’aime (a lovely film by the way).

Ingredients

- 1 pack puff pastry (I know, I know: you can make your own I guess. But it’s so cheap and widely available here you might as well. Otherwise follow same recipe except with your own homemade)

- ½ bar chocolate

- Cinnamon (1-2tsp)

- 2 tbsp Icing sugar (or normal sugar I guess)

- Soya milk (to glaze)

Preheat oven to 180°

1. Roll out the puff pastry. On one side, sprinkle half the icing sugar all over it. Flip the pastry over.

Sprinkle the rest of the icing sugar and the cinnamon on this side.

2. Going from each opposite sides, roll the pastry inwards towards the centre (or, basically, roll one edge until you reach the middle. Then roll the other edge.). Cut about 0.5cm chunks off the roll to make the biscuits. 

3. Glaze with some soya milk. Put in oven. Bake for about 20mins or until slightly browned.

4. Once done, melt some chocolate in a bowl. Dip the bottom half of each palmeur (or alternatively, get a spoon and coat the bottom half) with the chocolate and leave to cool. (I find a few mins in the freezer does this nice and quick personally). 

 This here is probably my favourite short film of the ones featured in Paris, je t'aime:

Christmas Seitan Log

Christmas Seitan Log

We were having a Christmas get-together with some friends and I thought to do something special for dinner. Upon talking to my mother about Christmas dinner, I thought it’d be funny to have a dinner themed to  Seitan (pronounced Satan) for Christmas.
Anyway, seitan is yummy and it’s fun to try different ways of making it :)

Ingredients:

1 kg flour

1 cube vegetable stock

Oil

Spices: pepper, cumin, garlic powder (2tsp), curry powder (1 tbsp), oregano, chilli flakes

(to taste, but be liberal)

1. Make seitan as per our recipe here: http://vegannyomnom.blogspot.ie/2012/06/broccoli-seitan-stir-fry-in-ginger.html up to the stage where you’ve it in a ball and ready to be boiled.

2. Cut in two (optional – but only if you’ve got a big enough pot!). We flattened it here somewhat and made it log shaped. You can make it into any shape you want here.  Microwave them for 2mins to remove some water.  Preheat oven to 200°

3. Boil in a pot with 1 cube vegetable stock and the above spices.

4. Put on a baking tray and cover with some oil (enough to cover the top and the bottom of the plate, sprinkle some flour on top of the logs, then the spices. Put in oven for about 1 hour or until browned.

They were lovely! We were trying to figure out how to incorporate stuffing into the recipe, which is hard to do as the shape sets when you boil them and if you try stuff pre boiling…

A challenge for later it seems : )