Tofu Temptress

Bruschetta

July 31, 2015 by Tofu Temptress 1 Comment

Easy, quick, yummy, hardly any ingredients and the ones there are, are easy to get hold of anywhere. This recipe has it all. Plus, you’ll kind of feel like you’re in your own little Italian restaurant by the time you’re finished.

Ingredients

500g (approx.) tomatoes, cut small (I quarter baby plum tomatoes, ooh, Mediterranean!)

4 tsp (or as much as you like) dried basil (although if you have fresh 4tbsp would be grand.)

Salt – just a touch

Olive oil – a couple of tablespoons or so

Four cloves of garlic, minced (depending on how garlic-y you like it)

Onion, diced

4 Fresh ciabatta or other yummy bread that’s easy to balance on a grill

Toast your bread on the side you're not going to cover in topping — Toast your bread on the side you’re not going to cover in topping

Here’s how I do it:

Preheat a medium grill.

Small tomatoes like cherry or baby plums work well

In a bowl, put your tomatoes, basil, salt oil, garlic and onion and give them a good old mix around. If you’re feeling fancy you could even add a few chopped olives or roasted peppers.

Cut your bread into thick, wide slices, big enough to accommodate a fair amount of topping. Place the slices either directly onto the grill if you’re feeling confident, or do as I do and find a baking tray that fits on top of your grill and toast them that way.

I put them on a baking tray in case bits fall off!

Once the bread is slightly browned on one side, take them out and flip them over. Spoon some tomato mixture onto each until they’re covered to the edges (see the need for the baking tray?) and pop them back under the grill.

Once they’re nicely toasted, place the slices carefully onto some plates using a spatula and devour, as the gorgeous smell will be driving you crazy by now.

Roast Pepper and Avocado Sushi

July 30, 2015 by Tofu Temptress Leave a Comment

If you thought sushi was all about raw fish, then you’re clearly living in the eighties. In the twenty first century it’s all about the plants, so although I’ve used peppers and avocado here, you can fill your sushi with anything you fancy really. Asparagus is great, as is carrot or anything else you can cut into long strips. Marinated tofu works really well, and if you can’t be bothered marinating your own, Cauldron make a fab pre-packed version. All my sushi stuff is from the Yutaka range, because it’s readily available in supermarkets and is easy to divide up into portions. Experiment with fillings and combinations and you’ll soon have your own go-to sushi recipe.

Ingredients:

One ripe medium avocado

Two peppers, whatever colours you like

Half a packet (250g) of Yutaka sushi rice

One pack (5 pieces) of sushi nori

Soy sauce and pickled ginger to serve

Special equipment – Sushi Rolling mat (found in supermarkets next to the sushi stuff)

Here’s how I do it-

First of all, roast your peppers. To do this, slice up a couple of peppers into four (getting rid of the seeds and stalk) grab a roasting tin (or baking try, whatever you have) pop a bit of water in it (enough to just cover the bottom) and place the pieces shiny side up onto it. Now, some people use oil, but I figure, water is free and if you wet the tops of the pepper pieces it stops them from drying out. It basically does the same job, minus the fat. Stick them into a pre heated oven (150 degrees/Gas mark 3) for around 30 mins.

While the peppers are roasting, measure out the rice. You’ll need to wash it, so what I normally do is just put it in a sieve and run it under the cold tap till the water goes from cloudy to clear. Give it a good swoosh around to make sure. Put the rice in a pan that has 330ml of water in it and bring to the boil. It’ll bubble and froth a bit when it’s boiling, but don’t take the lid off, just turn the heat down and let it cook for ten minutes. Once ten minutes has gone by, turn off the heat and let it sit for half an hour WITH THE LID ON.

Once your peppers are roasted (they’ll be browning slightly) take them out of the oven and let them cool.

When your rice is ready, take the lid off and let it cool too.

Prep your peppers and avocado by slicing them up into long thin strips, as shown.

Once the rice has cooled a bit, I normally divide it into five sections using a wooden spoon, just so I know I’m going to put equal amount of rice onto each nori.

Take your first sheet of nori and place it onto the rolling mat. Take a fifth of the rice and smear it on, leaving gaps at the top and bottom, as shown. Next, take a few strips of filling and line them up horizontally on the edge of the rice that’s nearest you (see picture.)

Now, there is a diagram on the back of the nori packet on how to roll the sushi. I generally just take up the nori and the mat in my hands and, with my fingers, squash the filling in as I roll so the rice surrounds it. At the edge, I moisten the remaining nori with water, and sort of ‘glue’ the two layers together. Seriously, just follow the diagram or just roll it any way that works for you – it won’t impair the flavour!

With the filling in place, you're ready to roll — With the filling in place, you’re ready to roll

Repeat this process until you have five long rolls. If you like you can put them in the fridge for a while to make them more solid and easier to work with, but if you’re starving then line them up and with a sharp knife (I find a bread knife works best) slice them into eight. The ends won’t look too pretty, but unless you’re serving a dinner party, this doesn’t matter much. The middle sections should be scrummy little morsels of yummy-ness.

Serve arranged on a plate with soy sauce for dipping and some ginger to refresh the palate.

This recipe makes 40 pieces, which should serve two to four people, depending on how hungry you are!

Crussh – Kensington Olympia, London

July 22, 2015 by Tofu Temptress Leave a Comment

Well, there I was, sweating away at the London Film and Comic Con (you weren’t expecting that were you?) when I realised I needed nourishment. I’d had Pizza Express on the previous day, which is fine and has at least one fully vegan pizza (it is so refreshing not to have to say ‘Can I have this, but without that, and maybe replaced by this other thing instead, blah, blah, blah…’) so I was resigning myself to having another filling, if not overly healthy lunch at the Kensington Olympia. Then, as I emerged from a crush between a life-sized Lego Batman and a sweaty Wonder Woman (don’t ask) an oasis of health greeted my eyes.

Before me lay a health food-style takeaway called Crussh. Their salads looked healthy from afar, but would they be filling? Their sandwiches looked tempting, but would they all have chicken and fish in them? They also had snacks, but would the crisps contain the dreaded milk? Well, I needn’t have worried, because although there was a bit of tuna around and some cheesy crisps, most of their offerings were at least vegetarian and there was a good choice for the hungry vegan.

They called their salads ‘healthpots’ as well they might. There was a red kale, quinoa and french lentil one, a butterbean, cherry tomato and parsley one and a char-grilled cauliflower, pomegranate with tahini dressing one, as well as other healthful options like the superfoods healthpot or the detox healthpot.

vegan sandwich - hurray! — vegan sandwich – hurray!

All very tempting, but I wanted a sandwich. It is so incredibly rare to encounter a vegan sandwich in one of these fast food places that I simply had to experience the novelty. I went for the Veggie 5-a-day sandwich, which had houmous, avocado, peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, beansprouts and spinach. I must say it was really tasty. I added some Kettle chips, of which there was a good vegan choice and finished things off with a Nakd bar, yum. But what to drink? I try to avoid cola and such things, but wanted something more exciting than water which I’d been chugging down all day (it really was crowded and hot in there.)

There was a staggering array of fresh made juices, so I decided to splash out on a ‘love juice’ which, despite the dodgy name, was pretty lovely. It was basically just blended fruit although I think their menu on this occasion was an ‘events’ menu and not their run of the mill one. Beware smoothies as it seems milk is in all of them. Beware also their add-ons such as boosters and wheatgrass, as strangely some appear not to be vegan, but there is a fine selection of vegan-friendly juices.

I was very happy with my choice of lunch and even went back later on for a snack as they had plenty of muesli bars, crisps, popcorn and so on to keep me going when I was flagging. It wasn’t cheap, but what sandwich bar is? It was simply nice to encounter somewhere that knows what a vegan is. Everything of their own production was clearly labelled with a ‘Ve’ symbol for ease of choosing and their processed offerings were labelled as you would expect in a shop. All in all a tasty, hassle-free experience. Who could ask for more?

looks healthy, doesn't it? — looks healthy, doesn’t it?

Crussh stores are all over London, so if you’re a local check them out.

For anyone visiting the capital, they will provide an oasis of veganness (is that a word?) and a welcome break from whatever boring meeting, crowded visitor attraction or um, massive space full of Boba Fett impersonators that you might be attending.

V Deep, Leith, Edinburgh (Now closed.)

June 10, 2015 by Tofu Temptress 3 Comments

I only discovered V Deep a few months back as we were meeting up with a couple of mates who were living in Leith. Just around the corner from the institution that is The Plumed Horse, VDeep is an Indian restaurant with a tapas-style menu.

On our first visit, there were three of us ordering vegan dishes and so the owner, (comedian, TV presenter and panellist Hardeep Singh Kohli) wandered over to our table to make a few inquiries. Moments later, as we were tucking into our yummy lunch, he came back to announce that he’d decided to host a vegan evening. We were thrilled to hear that, as he’d just put it up on twitter, he was receiving bookings already as we sat munching.

And so it was, that on 1st June we attended V Deep’s inaugural vegan night. The restaurant has an understated entrance, so when you swing open the door the colourful interior and buzz hits you rather unexpectedly. The walls are adorned with spray painted art and the bar, which is filled with beers from many independent breweries, is central to proceedings. This is generally a good thing for vegans as small concerns tend not to filter beer with isinglass and other nasties as much as the big boys.

V Deep prides itself on providing beer for connoisseurs, so there’s always plenty of choice and probably a few you haven’t tried before. Above the bar there is a depiction of Mr. Singh Kohli himself, complete with trademark beard and brightly coloured turban.

The drinks menu on this particular evening was all vegan friendly, so as always on this type of occasion, the stress was taken out of ordering. I was driving but my other half went for Williams’ alcoholic ginger beer with was very pleasant.

The food had been so great last time off the main menu my hopes were high this time. I wasn’t disappointed.

We had the Chilli Tofu Fry (which was probably my favourite) the Chickpea Masala (which my companion favoured over the rest) Bharli Wangi (stuffed aubergine, lovely, as recommended by the waitress) Haggis Samosa, Coconut rice and the biggest Naan I’ve ever seen (specially veganised for the evening.)

Both being vegan we dipped and shared and piled the food high on our plates, a vegan luxury.

Spicy and satisfying, we were both stuffed by the end of the meal, but somehow, after a pause in proceedings, managed to make room for dessert. There was only one offering, Jalebi, a wheat based dessert which was sugar coated, deep fried and served on top of a little pot of rhubarb. The rhubarb was a little tart for me, but then I have a legendary sweet tooth. It looked attractive and was a nice finish to a meal as I always like to try something new.

The loo signs could get confusing when you've had to many craft beers... — The loo signs could get confusing when you’ve had to many craft beers…

I’ll definitely be going back as the food is fantastic, the atmosphere light and welcoming and like us, you might get to chat to Hardeep himself (he was busy in the kitchen on the vegan night) or some of his lovely staff.

Being a relatively new restaurant, VDeep is always looking for new ideas for its vegan menu, so tweet them here if you have any sudden inspiration. They are to be found in Henderson Street in the Leith area of Edinburgh and there’s on street parking around and about.

Bristol Vegfest 2015

June 4, 2015 by Tofu Temptress Leave a Comment

Where on earth do I start with Bristol Vegfest?

Vegans don't have to miss out — Vegans don’t have to miss out

Over the weekend of 23rd/24th May this year, over 14,000 people passed though the Amphitheatre venue in the Harbourside area of the city to experience, celebrate and discuss all aspects of the vegan lifestyle.

The emphasis this year was on the environment, to coincide with Bristol being the European Green Capital, as we all know what a devastating effect animal agriculture has on our environment.

In addition to promoting a vegan lifestyle to combat this, the Vegfest also had countless recycling bins for waste and measures in place for a festival that was low in environmental impact. Everything from the posters and flyers to the generators and marquee build and breakdown was sustainable – even the loos were environmentally friendly!

The number and range of stalls was certainly impressive. This is the biggest vegan festival in the country after all. Walking in at opening time on Saturday, it was easy to feel overwhelmed by choice. It was a hot day and perfect for the outdoor venue, but I did feel for those stallholders in the marquees, as they chugged down water and wiped their brows.

vegan cake, you can't go wrong — Vegan cake, you can’t go wrong

Many major and also some lesser known animal and environmental charities were represented. Amnesty International was there, as well as Greenpeace and Population Matters. There were vegan lifestyle stalls that sold everything from shoes to perfume, make-up and clothes. However, the sheer range of food stalls and catering options on site was enough to turn one’s head. I mean, in the ‘real world’ as a vegan I’m not normally given much choice. It’s normally a case of ‘Can I have that but without the cheese?’ or ‘What, not even your bread is vegan?’ but here, well, as George Takei might say ‘Oh my…’

So, I began with the animal charities, as I’m a sucker for a good cause and it also makes me feel virtuous about spending money. Cruelty Free International were there, having now merged with the BUAV to become one large anti-vivisection charity.

Among the well known charities represented were Viva! who are one of my favourites. You could sign up for membership at the stall, as well as obtain all sorts of useful literature. I got a leaflet on going dairy free for my friend who is doing just that at the moment following medical advice. Their leader Juliet Gellatley gave a few of talks on why you don’t need dairy, how a vegan diet can help with menopause symptoms and the one I attended, how to become a school speaker. Their food and cookery co-ordinator Jane Easton also gave a talk and cookery demonstration – she is the author of the Viva! cookbook, which I can thoroughly recommend.

Animal Aid were also a presence, not only doing talks, but they also had a stand with loads of goodies on it (I may have spent a bit too much, but a lot of it was on presents…) Have a look at their gift range here. An additional stall was present on behalf of their education department, so it seems school speaking is a real growth area for these charities. Get them while they’re young.

The League Against Cruel Sports was also present and they were of course highlighting the proposed lifting of the fox hunting ban by the new Tory government, as were the Hunt Sabs.

It was lovely to see several smaller charities do talks and have stalls, among them Wood Green Animal Sanctuary. Wood Green has four centres in England, which re-home every type of animal, from dogs and cats to farm animals. Their particular focus at the moment is on unwanted pets and the importance of rescue over buying. They are particularly concerned with puppy farms which supply pet shops, and irresponsible sellers on websites such as Gumtree and those who sell dogs in newspaper ads or even down the pub. Lisa Mitchinson gave an insightful talk on this in the Campaigns and Lifestyle tent. It’s a great issue to be highlighting and I support them fully.

Another charity I noticed who was working on this issue was Protect a Pup, who work on free microchipping, low cost and free neutering and doggie food banks.

An exciting area was the Vervet Monkey Foundation, who were trying to recruit volunteers to help in the care and rehabilitation of rescued monkeys in South Africa. As long as you have the means to get to them, they supply vegan food and accommodation for a small fee and you’d get the pleasure of feeding baby monkeys. Seems like the dream job to me.

The Dean Farm Trust are a relatively young charity that I urge you to look up. I thought Fin Fighters was a fabulous idea, working specifically to end the use of shark fin. Marine conservation was very much in evidence with groups such as Sea Shepherd and The Black Fish both having stalls.

Fleecehaven rescue sheep and give them a loving home

By far the cutest stall (and I don’t mean to be patronising, only wildly complimentary) was that of Fleecehaven, the sheep sanctuary. They rescue sheep for all sorts of reasons and give them a loving home for life. Sponsor a sheep here.

Of course we have to remember that plenty of non-vegans visit VegFest so there were plenty of stalls to show them how great the lifestyle can be. Veganuary are a great organisation who challenge people to go vegan for the month of January each year and it’s amazing how many who take part choose to remain vegan. The Vegan Lifestyle Association also supports those who wish to test the waters, as well as supporting more established vegans. The Vegan Society was of course present, being the oldest charity to provide vegan outreach, existing since the term was coined by their founder, Donald Watson, in 1947. I attended a great talk on activism by Dorset Vegan Lizzi Shaw, who has shown that if vegans don’t have much outreach in their own area, they can always create some for themselves! She is truly inspirational.

There was also an opportunity to see how vegan shoes (courtesy of Wills and Bella Storia) can be just as smart as leather ones, so you can look good with none of the cruelty. All my shoes now are non-leather ones and I enjoy the look of surprise when friends find out that you don’t need to kill a cow to get something waterproof and breathable on your feet.

Bohemian Chic Minerals have a fantastic range of make-up that’s not only cruelty free and vegan, but very suitable for even the most sensitive skin. This was great for me, as eczema has come and gone my whole life and this is the gentlest make-up I’ve ever felt.

Eden Perfumes give you a cruelty free version of top brands

Eden perfumes give you a list of famous brand perfumes and list an equivalent they have made without any of the harsh chemicals. Their stand was very busy during the show with lots of wrist sniffing going on.

Mount Purious have a range of skincare using various oils that I was very impressed with, as I tried some and my skin felt nicer instantly.

Clothing was everywhere too. Many of the charities sold t-shirts and so on, but there were also specialist designers, such as Hempish and Viva la Vegan, both of whom had apparel that was lovely and softly wearable.

Harsher in style, if not necessarily fabric was Vegan Cross, who are normally located near Kings cross in London. They were popular for their merchandise declaring legends such as ‘I Love Vegan Junk Food’ and also the vegan cheese and ham toasties they produced at the side of their stall. This was perfect for light hearted fun, in common with Vegan Sidekick’s satirical comics which you can view online, although of course it all does have a serious point to make.

The array of caterers and food stalls was, as I have said, phenomenal. It would take forever to list them all (but if you’re interested, the list of all the stalls is available here) so I’ll simply highlight a few. By far the prettiest stall belonged to Paradise Unbakery, a purveyor of raw cakes and other delights.

Coming close in the looks stakes were Rawsome cakes and chocolates, and of course the ever-welcome Ms Cupcake.

There were many free samples by Life Food, Nectar Foods, Pulsin, Aduna, Sheese, Ananda Foods, Nakd, Koko, Beech’s and countless others. Needless to say, I partook of a fair few vegan cheeses and chocolates, but also foods which I’d never heard of before and was pleasantly surprised by.

Aduna foods' samples of Moringa and Baobab, which I'd never tried before — Aduna foods’ samples of Moringa and Baobab, which I’d never tried before

The caterers were flawless and on the Saturday it was so hot that it came as no surprise to find the Pimms tent and the Ice Cold Lemonade stall had healthy queues all day. The vegan ice cream and ice lollies disappeared as well and personally, I headed for the beer tent.

Says it all really... — Says it all really…

Pitfields had a rather groovy set up with a record player – dare I say, rather a hipster vibe. Being in Bristol, there was also a healthy amount of cider provided by the bars.

Of course I’m not one to drink on an empty stomach (no ‘eating’s cheating’ for me) so I was forced to choose from the many and varied caterers onsite. Well, my first choice was a good ‘un as the pizza, baked before your eyes in a wood-fired oven, provided by Pandemania Wood Fired Pizza was sublime. Although not a vegan company, all their ingredients are fresh and veganising their superb product is easy.

I also managed to fit in some macaroni cheese from The Spotless Leopard van which was fab. Before the weekend was over I managed to sample some of Bangwok’s glorious Pad Thai, which was heaven in a cardboard container.

There were of course plenty I didn’t have time, or indeed room in my stomach, to try. Everything from paella, sushi and subs to curry, churros, kebabs and seitan sandwiches was available and certainly appreciated by the stream of hungry vegans (and non-vegans) who populated the festival on both days.

On the main stage, a variety of acts performed during the day, and after many of the stalls had shut down around 5pm the music kept going till 9pm, creating a real party atmosphere. I must admit I felt the funnest act was The Captain’s Beard on Sunday, who had the crowd in the palm of their hand from their rendition of Whisky in the Jar to the ever popular (and appropriate, given their pirate costumes) What Shall we do with the Drunken Sailor?

The Captain's Beard got everyone dancing — The Captain’s Beard got everyone dancing

Kids and adults alike were up dancing and as the day wore on and I sipped on my can of Red Stripe, I couldn’t help but reflect on what a friendly, positive and hopeful vibe had been created. Looking out at all the people having fun and not feeling restricted at all by their choice of lifestyle was a happy sight indeed.

Ice lollies were needed on the very warm opening day

Who ate all the - never mind. — Who ate all the – never mind.

If you’ve never been to a vegan festival then chances are you might be worried it might be populated by terribly worthy people having intense discussions over a bowl of kale and some herbal tea, but nothing could be further from the truth. We like food, we like booze, we like fun. Living the cruelty free life shouldn’t make you miserable, it should give you joy. Vive le Vegfest!

(Apologies for the quality of some photos. There was a mark on my camera sensor which I didn’t discover until it was too late. Hope you enjoy them anyway.)

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