A Two-course Vegan, Asian-Inspired Feast

Asparagus Tempura

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Miso Tofu with Asian Salad

Asparagus Tempura

Miso Tofu

I tend to not use tofu very often, as it has eggy/wibbly tendencies which I'm not too sure about, but this version being roasted in the oven after being simmered in a marinade firms it up no end. The recipe was originally from Good Food magazine (read it here), but was a non-vegan version containing egg.  I used more tofu to compensate for the egg which, handily enough, also corresponded with the pack size of the most readily-available brand of tofu (Cauldron).

I felt very virtuous while doing the supermarket shop for this one, as many of the ingredients are available in seasonal British versions right now - radishes, asparagus, even yellow/orange and green peppers.

These two courses are both completely vegan and are intended to be relatively quick and easy to whip up. For that reason I've suggested using a ready-made sweet chilli sauce rather than making your own dipping sauce, but feel free to make your own if you're not in a rush. This recipe, for example, sounds dead nice.

You may notice in the picture of the tofu that only one piece of it appears to have any miso glaze on it. This is because I ignored the pan while watching telly, and let it reduce too much into a thick, burnt-ish jam - so don't do that.

Serves 2

For the tempura

What you need

50g plain flour
Half a tbsp cornflour
75ml lager or fizzy water
1 bunches of asparagus
any flavourless oil for deep-frying e.g. sunflower oil
sweet chilli sauce for dipping (or a dip of your choosing!)

What to do

Snap the woody ends off the asparagus, and get a pan of water onto a rolling boil. Drop the asparagus in and let it cook for 2 minutes, then drain. Blast with cold tap water to stop the cooking process, or better yet drop it into a bowl of iced water. Leave to one side.

Add enough depth of oil to deep fry into a wok or deep frying pan - you need less than you think, a couple of inches should do it - and put it onto a medium heat while you make up your batter.

Sift the flour and cornflour into a mixing bowl. Grab a balloon whisk and gradually pour in the beer or fizzy water, whisking all the while with the other hand. Get a friend to do the pouring if you're not terribly ambidextrous.

Check whether your oil is up to temperature - they say until a cube of bread browns in 30 seconds. I didn't have any bread, so a beansprout had to do, but the effect was much the same. When you're happy that the oil is hot enough, get a plate ready with a layer of kitchen roll on and grab a slotted spoon. Coat each piece of asparagus with the batter one at a time before dropping it in.

I would suggest doing the tempura in small batches - each should only take around 3 minutes to start browning. Fish them out as they're done with the slotted spoon, before transferring to the kitchen roll plate to soak up any excess oil.

Serve with your dipping sauce.

For the tofu

What you need

400g firm tofu (I used a 396g block of Cauldron tofu, close enough)

1 tbsp miso paste

150ml mirin

75ml soy sauce, plus 1 tbsp for the dressing

150g beansprouts
6 radishes, thinly sliced

half an orange or yellow pepper, deseeded and sliced

1 spring onion, finely sliced

handful of pea shoots

handful of plain roasted peanuts

1.5 tbsp rice vinegar

half a tbsp caster sugar

a nubbin of grated ginger - about half a cm

1.5 tbsp sunflower or rapeseed oil
1 crushed garlic clove

What to do

First of all, press the tofu to squish some of the liquid out of it - take it out of the packaging, wrap it in some layers of kitchen roll and put it under a biggish book or two. Leave it to press while you prepare the salad, as you do want it quite firm for this recipe.

Next, prepare the salad. Blanch the beansprouts in boiling water for two minutes, then drain and flush with cold water to stop them cooking. Transfer to a large bowl with the sliced spring onions, radishes and peppers.

For the dressing, whisk together the rice vinegar, 1 tbsp soy sauce, the ginger, garlic and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Then pour in the oil in a steady stream, whisking all the while so it combines properly without separating (emulsifies, if you want to get technical). Stir the dressing into the veg and pop it in the fridge until you're ready to serve.

Unwrap the tofu from its kitchen roll, and cut into 8 triangles - cut once width-ways down the whole block so you have two thinner halves, then cut each half into 4 triangles.

Now you can start preparing the glaze for your tofu. Put the tbsp of miso paste in a mug and add 2 tbsp of boiling water, then stir with a fork until smooth. 

Get a large, deep-ish frying pan and pour the miso 'stock' in. Stir in the mirin and soy sauce, then bring it to the boil. Once boiling, add the tofu in a single layer. Let it cook for 15 minutes, turning the tofu over halfway through.

Turn the oven on at 200 degrees and line a baking tray with parchment. Fish the tofu out of the cooking liquid with a slotted spoon - but don't turn off the heat - and transfer to the baking tray. Pop in the oven for 15 minutes. While it's cooking, keep the heat on under the miso until it reduces and becomes syrupy - this will be your glaze! Keep an eye on it as it easily reduces down too much - which is exactly what happened to me! Just take it off the heat when it looks like the consistency you want.

When the tofu is done cooking, allow it to cool slightly and spoon the glaze onto each triangle, spreading it with the back of the spoon.

Pile the beansprout salad onto each plate, with the tofu slices arranged on top. Scatter over the peanuts and pea shoots.

Serve and enjoy!

Spiced Butternut Squash and Rice Noodle Broth (vegan)

Sorry for long silence - I've been working between Yorkshire and Hampshire so I feel like I live on a train at the moment, and feel a teeny bit fried.

Although I normally don't bother with recipe books with too much meat going on, there are some proper gems in Jamie's 15 Minute Meals. He's got his detractors, sure, but I find myself quite fond of him, especially now he's stopped saying 'pukka' all the time.

I haven't actually managed to produce anything edible in the stated 15 minutes, but that's more because I split my kitchen time evenly between actual cooking and dancing around to David Bowie with my spatula guitar rather than anything else. 

This broth is a veganised version of the Thai Chicken Laksa recipe in the book - ex-chicken, fish sauce etc. A note on fish sauce - I'm aware that there are veggie alternatives but have never come across any in a shop... I did for one brief moment of madness consider using Henderson's Relish instead, but decided to just omit it in the end. 

Anyway, this is coconutty, warming and quick (even if not 15 minutes quick) so I hope you give it a try.

Serves 4!

You pretty much can't get out of having a food processor for this one. If you don't have one, you can get one for about £15 quid in Asda (a pants one, but you know) and they're dead handy.

What you need

About 800ml vegan stock e.g. Marigold Vegan Bouillon

Half a butternut squash, peeled and grated - use food processor!

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

a nubbin of ginger

1 red chilli (remove seeds if you don't like too much heat)

1 tsp turmeric

About 4 spring onions, topped and tailed

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp peanut butter (original recipe says a teaspoon - I misread it and used a tbsp - much better!)

1 tbsp soy sauce

300g rice noodles - choose your thickness, I used fine

400g tin of coconut milk

Juice of a lime 

a big handful of fresh coriander

Bunch of asparagus - none in the picture you may notice, as I didn't have any in. Such is fate

What to do

Bring the stock to the boil in a large pan. When at a rolling boil, tip in the grated squash.

Bung the garlic, ginger, chilli, turmeric, spring onions, sesame oil, peanut butter, soy sauce and most of the coriander (reserve some leaves to sprinkle over) into the food processor, and whizz it all together until it's a fine paste. Tip it in with the stock/squash. Add your rice noodles.

Cut the asparagus in half and add to the pan, along with the coconut milk. Bring it to the boil and let the asparagus cook to your liking - couple of minutes at most really - then add lime juice and more soy sauce to 'balance the seasoning', as Jamie puts it (very cheffy). 

Turn the heat off and serve, sprinkled with the reserved coriander leaves.

Done! 'Pukka!' *groan*

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Griddled Polenta with Roasted Tomatoes

If you have never tried polenta before, please allow me to inform you that it is THE BOMB. Compared to other carb-type stuff, it's pretty low calorie, it's as cheap as 'owt, it's a complex carbohydrate which is apparently a good thing (something something glycaemic index??) and it's gluten free.
It also needs very little adornment other than stock and garlic or herbs to flavour it. Intrigued? Good.

You can buy polenta from major supermarkets (definitely Sainsburys) and health food shops, either in its ground form or even as a ready-made block. Italfresco sell a ready-made version in Sainsburys which is all ready to be sliced and griddled, and costs 75p. Ground polenta is occasionally called fine cornmeal, but it amounts to the same thing. The main thing to check is the cooking time - some grades of polenta/cornmeal apparently take up to 45 minutes of stirring - no thanks. For this recipe, I used Suma's polenta (health food shop) which only needs stirring for one minute.

I've added cheese to the polenta here but it's dead easy to veganise - just omit the cheese and make sure your stock is vegan (for example, Marigold vegan bouillon).

This recipe only really has 2 main ingredients so, apart from beans on toast, it's one of the cheapest and easiest meals for two I can think of.

If after this you're in my club of Polenta Enthusiasts, try some different stuff - add different things to the polenta as it's cooking, eat it in its gloopy porridge-y form, use it as a hotpot topping, as a pizza base...

Anyway. I shall stop enthusing about cornmeal products because it's getting a bit sad. Have fun!

Serves 2

What you need

100g quick-cook polenta
500ml water
2 cloves of garlic,crushed
a good vegetable stock
250g cherry tomatoes - a mix of colours is nice if you can get them
olive oil
50g grated cheddar cheese (optional)
fresh basil
salt and pepper

What to do

Boil the kettle. Add a tiny drizzle of oil to a deep saucepan and add the crushed garlic - just heat it through to take the raw edge off, no need to brown it.

Add 500ml of the boiled water into the pan with the garlic and turn the heat up high to bring it back to the boil. Crumble in a vegetable stock cube, or if you've got 500ml of home-made vegetable stock hanging around then use that instead (if you're fancy like that).

When the pan has reached boiling point, pour in the polenta slowly in a thin stream, stirring all the while. It's easier if you pour the polenta from a jug.

Keep stirring for 1 minute (or however long the packet advises) - watch out because it will bubble like a crazy volcano, but that's normal. When the polenta has thickened, season it generously with salt, pepper and anything else you like (e.g. fresh or dried herbs if you have any knocking around) and add the cheese if using. Stir to combine, then pour into something with a wide, flat base like a roasting tin.

Leave it to cool a bit, then refrigerate it for about half an hour - it will solidify and you'll be able to slice it.

While the polenta is cooling, slice your cherry tomatoes in half and transfer to a roasting tin with a slug of olive oil. About 15 minutes in to the polenta-cooling time, put the tomatoes in the oven at 160 degrees. They need to be in for half an hour, so when the polenta comes out of the fridge you'll have another 15 minutes to slice and griddle it - tweak the timings as you like.

Bring the polenta out of the fridge when it's had its half an hour, and slice it into wedges. Brush a heavy griddle pan with a little bit of olive oil - if it's non-stick, this isn't always necessary - and put it over a high heat until it's outrageously hot.

Add the polenta slices and griddle for a few minutes on each side until they have nice char marks.

Serve the polenta slices with the roasted tomatoes, then scatter with a torn-up handful of fresh basil.

Spiced Aubergine and Lentil Filo Pie

We're still riding the healthy-eating horse, and doing pretty well too, but one of the things I've really been missing is pastry. Big, fat, buttery pastry. Definitely one to avoid for the moment. BUT there's hope yet - thank heaven for filo! At about 100 calories a sheet it means a pie is still a pie, but one that won't make me as wide as I am tall. So I've been doing some experimenting, and this recipe is one of the results.

This crispy, flaky, spicy aubergine and lentil offering came out at under 250 calories per serving if made with the dreaded Fry-Light (I've stated oil in the recipe because I don't hate you all, should only add about 350 cals for the whole recipe though if you measure out the 3 tablespoons). Pretty good going, and it's damn tasty as well. It goes well with Middle Eastern-type accompaniments - a tabbouleh or a fattoush salad for example, but equally well with just some green leaves out of a bag if you can't be bothered. And a glass of red.

It's also vegan! Check the packet of the filo pastry just in case, but most brands I've seen are suitable for vegans, including many supermarket own-brands.

Serves 4 - don't forget to leave time for the filling to cool! 

What you need

1 large aubergine
1 400g tin cooked brown or puy lentils
As many sheets as you like of ready-made filo pastry - I used 6
2 medium sized onions (chopped)
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
thumb-sized nubbin of ginger (grated or just bunged through the garlic crusher)
1/2 tbsp dark brown sugar
3 tbsp olive oil (or other weapon of choice)
2 tsps fennel seeds (plus extra to scatter over)
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cayenne chilli powder
salt and pepper to taste

What to do

Turn the oven on at 180 degrees. Chop the aubergine into smallish cubes, toss in 1 tablespoon of the oil and transfer to a baking dish. Put in the oven to roast while you carry on with the rest - it will want to be in for about 20 minutes, but keep checking it.

Heat the other tablespoon of olive oil in a large saucepan, and add the chopped onion, garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin and chilli powder. Put the lid on so that it all just sweats together rather than browning too  much.

Grab a frying pan and put on a high heat. Add the fennel seed to the dry pan and dry-fry them for a couple of minutes until they're brown and smelling all fennel-y, then add to the onion and spice mixture.

Once the onions etc. are translucent and starting to brown in places, add the chopped tomatoes and the lentils, having poured off the liquid from the lentil tin. Your aubergine will probably be roasted enough now, so slap that in too. Add the brown sugar, and season with salt and pepper.

Allow the pie filling to cook down over a medium heat until it's thickened. You can mainly just go off and do something else at this point, just come back every once in a while to give it a bit of a stir. It will probably take about 15 minutes for the mixture to reduce to pie-filling consistency. Once it's done, the filling will need some time to cool down. If you add the hot filling straight to the pastry, it will just go into a soggy mush. Spread it out on something so it cools quicker and it should be alright after about half an hour.

Grab a shallow baking dish and layer up 3 (or more if you like) sheets of filo pastry, brushing each sheet with some of your remaining tablespoon of olive oil (or spray with you-know-what). Spread over the filling, then finish up with a further 3+ layers of filo to form the top layer, still brushing each one with oil.

Scatter some fennel seeds over the top, and put in the oven for 25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato and Rosemary Soup

Depending where in the country/world you are, you may have experienced some ridiculous levels of snow and ice recently. Team this with everyone still trying to get over the financial apocalypse of Christmas and it all starts to get a bit miserable. My proposed solution - soup!

This soup has so few ingredients that it ends up being really cheap which, in these frugal times, can only be a good thing! It's really warming and comforting, and incredibly easy to make. Apparently sweet potatoes are very good for you (something something beta carotene..?), and if you don't follow our pictured example and include a big wodge of bread and a cheese scone, this is overall quite a healthy meal. And it's vegan!

I based this on one of Annie Bell's recipes from her book Gorgeous Greens - which can be found here http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gorgeous-Greens-Annie-Bell/dp/185626839X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359925315&sr=8-1 - not an exclusively veggie book but definitely enough meat-free offerings to make it a worthwhile purchase.

Serves 4, or 3 hungry people
What you need

olive oil (just a tbsp for frying)
3 medium-size sweet potatoes (cut into chunks)
1 onion
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
chilli flakes
a bay leaf
a few sprigs fresh rosemary (or dried will do if not!)
900ml vegan stock

What to do

Chop the onion, then fry in the olive oil over a medium heat until soft but not yet brown (7 minutes ish). Add the garlic and a pinch of chilli flakes, and cook for a further minute or two.

Add the sweet potato, bay leaf, rosemary and stock. I like to leave the rosemary in whole sprigs and then fish it out at the end, so that the flavour infuses but you're not chewing on the woody leaves.

Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 20 minutes, until the sweet potato is completely cooked through. Fish out the bay leaf and the rosemary sprigs. Then blend - either a liquidiser or a stick blender thing. Leave some chunks in if you prefer.

Enjoy!

Beans 'n' Greens Stew

It's cold outside, it's Monday tomorrow... let's dilute the misery with a stew. This one is dead easy and is pretty adaptable to whatever you've got in the fridge. It's also vegan!

I made it with dumplings this time - 50g veg suet, 100g flour and some water - but it's just as good with a hunk of bread, or even on its own.

Serves a generous 2 (or 2 normal portions with leftovers)

What you need

an onion
a clove of garlic
a carrot
a stick of celery
a leek
250ml veggie white wine
250ml veg stock (vegans double check for sneaky lactose)
a bay leaf
a tbsp tomato puree
3 tbsp puy lentils/green lentils
a small tin of whatever beans you want - I used cannellini
100g-ish of leafy greens - I used curly kale but spinach, winter greens etc. would be fine

What to do

Start heating up a couple of tablespoons of oil in a saucepan, chop the onion and pop it in. While it's softening, chop the carrot and celery into small chunks and slice the leek. This always takes me forever as I'm a very slow chopper so if you're the same put the onion on quite a low heat!

When the onion's soft but not brown, add all the veg you've just chopped, and the garlic (crush or chop it first!). Leave it to cook for a bit - 5 or 7 minutes - on a medium heat then add the bay leaf, wine, stock, tomato puree and lentils. Give everything a good stir and leave it to simmer for about 20 minutes.

Finally, add the beans (get rid of the can water first) and greens. Leave it to simmer for 5 more minutes, for the beans to heat and the greens to wilt down.

Done! Bowl it up and enjoy :)