Golden Potato Salad

First some news! I have finally caved in and set up a facebook page for maplespice :-) It's something I have held back doing for many years now as I just felt it would have been *too* much social media to handle, haha - I had this blog, the daily blog, twitter, pinterest and I am quite active on my personal facebook account and felt another one would be too much. BUT, now that I'm not doing the daily blog and really don't use twitter anymore I feel it will be a great way to interact with everyone, especially since I've not been having much luck with the commenting system here on blogger....so please do like my page, share it, come and say hello....I'm hoping I'll use it for much more than just posting links to new recipes on the blog, like what I'm experimenting with, product/restaurant reviews, random photos of Ireland, trips we take, what I'm up to in life etc...anything and everything :-) Hope to see you there!

Now, I whipped this up the other day when I had some new potatoes to use up and as we are approaching potato salad season felt it was as good as time as any to blog :-) I was inspired by this Lemony Potato Salad recipe on BBC Good Food but made a few changes - I omitted the chilli as I wasn't after anything spicy here, increased the turmeric to get it really golden in colour, (and also added turmeric to the water to boil the potatoes in) omitted the ginger - but really, only because I didn't have any, swapped the black mustard seeds with regular as again that's what I had on hand, and reduced the lemon juice a bit.

It's a lovely light and lemony potato salad with just a hint of cumin and turmeric to give it a lift and would be a wonderful side dish to summer barbecue meals.

Golden Potato Salad:

450g new potatoes, preferably fingerling, halved lengthwise, skin on
½ tsp each toasted mustard seeds and toasted cumin seeds
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp lemon juice (I was lazy and used bottled!)
1 large clove of garlic, minced
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper - about 6 grinds
Bunch of fresh chives, chopped

Bring 1.5 litres of water to the boil, add 1 tsp of turmeric and 2 tsp salt. Boil the new potatoes for 15 mins or until tender, drain then plunge into a bowl of ice water just so they are cool enough to handle. Remove from the water and if the skins are falling off then go ahead and remove the skins, if not, just leave them on. Transfer to a large bowl.

Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, turmeric and pepper. While still warm, gently toss the potatoes with the dressing, seeds and chives. It may seem like it's swimming in dressing but it'll absorb more as it sits in the fridge. Cover and pop in the fridge to fully cool, giving it a stir once or twice.

Nutritional Information: for the whole recipe, serves 4 as a small side dish.

Calories: 614

Protein: 10.1g

Fat: 29.1g

Sat Fat: 4.2g

Fibre: 10.6g

Carbs: 84.2g

Sugar: 4.4g

Sodium: 1201mg

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♥

Portobello Mushroom Katsu Curry with Japanese Rice

Back in my vegetarian days I used to order this "vegetable katsu curry" from a Japanese restaurant back in London. It was mixed vegetables, breaded and deep fried served over steamed rice with a thick curry sauce and oh my word, I loved it! I've been wanting to have a go at making my own for awhile now and am so glad I did. Here, I've opted for just mushrooms instead of mixed veg - in this case portobello mushrooms mostly for their good size when sliced and because they are simply one of my favourite mushrooms!

What I am most excited about is the breading recipe here, I used to do my breading with cornstarch then my homemade egg replacer, then the breadcrumbs. I decided to try replacing the egg replacer with straight up unsweetened soy yogurt and wow! This makes the absolute BEST breading for deep frying. Tasty and SUPER crispy, with a nice thick breading that does not fall off. It's just perfect.

The sauce took a couple of goes to get right, my first attempt just wasn't very good at all! I then saw this recipe on allrecipes and decided to try it (with a little adapting to my personal tastes) and thankfully it worked perfectly! Great flavour altogether, in fact, I couldn't stop "testing" it while I was waiting for the mushrooms and rice to cook :-)

For the rice, when I first made this I simply used boiled white basmati rice and it was fine but as this is a Japanese curry dish I felt it should really be with sushi/Japanese rice. I've always had problems getting sushi rice just right when I'm not using it for sushi, in other words when I'm not adding sushi seasoning afterwards. Thankfully, The Kitchn has come to the rescue with their tutorial on "How to make Japanese Rice on the Stove" - finally I'm getting it right everytime - tender rice with just the right amount of stickiness. I'll post the recipe here for my quantities but do click on the link for their full tutorial if this has been an issue for you as well.  

Portobello Mushroom Katsu Curry with Japanese Rice

Breaded & Fried Portobello Mushrooms:
2 - 3 Portobello Mushrooms
½ cup or so of unsweetened soy yogurt
2 cups breadcrumbs or panko
¼ cup cornflour (cornstarch) to coat 
Vegetable oil to fry
Salt

Coat the mushroom slices in the cornflour, tapping off any excess flour. Turn over in the yogurt until coated and then coat in breadcrumbs. Note: it may seem difficult at first to coat them in the yogurt but just keep turning them in the yogurt - they will coat eventually :-) Set aside. Heat the oil to 350F and deep fry until golden brown – ensure mushrooms are cooked through by testing one. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels and sprinkle with a little salt.

Curry Sauce:
1 tablespoon extra virgin coconut oil
1 onion, sliced
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
½ large red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
½ tsp finely chopped fresh ginger
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 tablespoon plain flour
2 teaspoons curry powder
¼ tsp turmeric
300ml vegetable stock – I made mine with 1 tsp Marigold Vegan Bouillon Powder
1 teaspoon light sweet freedom syrup (or light agave)
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 small bay leaf

Heat the oil in a saucepan until melted, add the onion and carrot and cook on low heat for 10 minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli for the last couple of minutes.

Add the flour, turmeric and curry powder; cook for 1 minute. Gradually stir in the stock, I added about a quarter of the stock, stirred well, then another quarter etc..until all added. Now add the syrup, soy sauce and bay leaf. 

Bring to the boil then turn down heat and simmer for about 15 minutes or until sauce thickens but is still of pouring consistency. Pour the curry sauce through a sieve and discard the vegetables. Return the sauce to the saucepan and heat on low heat until it thickens a little more. If it seems a bit runny just remove from the heat and set aside for 5-10 minutes. It'll thicken up a bit without getting cold, stir it now and again to keep smooth.

Sauce adapted from: allrecipes: Chicken Katsu Curry.

Japanese Rice:
125g sushi rice (1/2 cup)
140 ml water (1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp)
1/8 tsp salt

Wash the rice really well, several times until the water runs clear. Place in a non-stick pan with a tight fitting lid with the water and salt and let sit for 10 minutes. Set timer for 10 minutes then turn the heat on to high. When it is boiling, reduce to the lowest heat to simmer. When the time is up, remove from the heat and let sit for 10 minutes – do not lift the lid! Toss the rice with a rubber spatula to loosen before serving.

Rice method source: The Kitchn - How to Make Japanese Rice on the Stove.

Spoon the rice onto plates, spoon over most of the sauce, lay the breaded mushrooms over top and drizzle some more of the sauce over the mushrooms. (Don't put all the sauce over the mushrooms like I did here or you will lose all of the crispiness!)

♥

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Vegan Parmesan

Why has it taken me so long to make my own vegan parmesan style cheese? This stuff has transformed our lives, well, our culinary lives anyway! I actually made this ages ago and I've been using it in EVERYTHING - so much so that I feel like I should go back and update a lot of my recipes! I furthermore have so many recipes to blog that call for some of this stuff that I had to hurry up and blog this one so I can clear the backlog, haha! So yes, expect this to feature in a LOT of upcoming blog posts :-)

Now there are a lot of recipes out there for vegan parmesan cheese and they are all pretty much based on the same formula - nutritional yeast, nuts and or seeds and salt/seasoning. I didn't follow any other recipe here, I just kept experimenting with different ratios until I was happy with the outcome. In the end I found simple was best - just 3 ingredients with a nice balance of flavour. 

I absolutely LOVE the taste of this and while I am not going to say it tastes "just like parmesan" (because it doesn't, although close!) I will say that it works as a perfect replacement for parmesan in pretty much any recipe. You know all those risotto recipes that call for "1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese"? Yup, just use this instead - it's perfect for risotto, sprinkled over pizza, pasta (of course!) but we even love it stirred into baked beans to make them cheesier and creamy. Loads of possibilities here! 

The other great things about this recipe? Only 3 ingredients and no food processor or blender needed! Simple.

Vegan Parmesan:

2 Tbsp ground almonds

2 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes

1/4 tsp salt

Grind up the nutritional yeast flakes in a mortar and pestle until they are a fine powder. If you don't have one you can easily just powder the flakes by hand or by placing in a zip-lock bag and running a rolling pin over. Add the ground almonds and salt and mix. That's it!

Notes:  Recipe makes just 1/4 cup of parmesan which I find is the perfect amount for meals that serve 2-3 people. If I am making say, just a pasta for myself I will make up half this recipe to throw in. If you want a large jar of this then simply double, triple, quadruple or more! Personally, I tend to just make this up as I need it as it's so easy to do :-)

....and for another variation - Smoked Vegan Parmesan! This stuff is gorgeous thrown into anything you want to add a cheesy, smoky, almost dare I say, "bacon-y" flavour to? ;-)

Smoked Vegan Parmesan:

2 Tbsp nutritional yeast, ground

2 Tbsp ground almonds

1/2 tsp smoked sea salt

1/4 tsp smoked paprika

Make as instructed above.

....there will be a dedicated pasta blog post coming up featuring some of my favourite simple recipes using the parmesan!

♥

Nutritional Information: full recipe

Calories: 102

Protein: 6.0g

Fat: 7.2g

Sat Fat: 0.5g

Fibre: 3.0g

Carbs: 5.5g

Sugar: 0.5g

Sodium: 586.4mg

Vietnamese Mushroom Balls with an Apricot-Ginger Dipping Sauce

I was going over some old blog posts with the intention of deleting some of them. You see, in the early days I would blog almost everything I made - successful recipes and the experiments. I would always state in those old posts when something didn't quite work out and what I would do next time, etc...Of course for the past few years that has not been the case - I only post tried, tested and perfected recipes but I was simply more casual in the start. 

I came across this post for "Vietnamese Mushroom Balls with Plum Sauce" from October 2008 and while reading the post remembered that although they tasted great it just wasn't a very successful recipe and decided to delete it but then noticed that it has been pinned over 600 times!!! What the frack?!?! I really have no idea how that could have been, it's a terrible photo and I even mentioned in the write up that it was a bit of a botched up experiment. I mean it's appreciated of course but baffling! :-)

Well, I decided I couldn't very well delete a post that's been pinned that many times but I could definitely get in the kitchen, experiment some more and get this one right! 

Originally this recipe came from "The Asian Vegan Kitchen" cookbook and called for some pretty obscure ingredients like dried wood ear mushrooms and straw mushrooms. I decided to make them with just regular ol' mushrooms to make things easier and also changed the process quite a lot to get the texture just right (they were like raw dough balls before!) Now, I am very happy with this recipe and am so glad I returned to it - these things taste incredible - packed with flavour, crispy on the outside and soft inside... So good, in fact, my husband boldly claimed that these are the best savoury things I've ever made! I think I have to agree with him :-)

For the dipping sauce, the old post just called for store bought plum sauce and I thought I could probably do a bit better than that now :-) Apricots actually go really well with mushrooms and I just happened to have a jar of apricot jam in the fridge not doing anything so I thought about making a plum-style sauce but apricot flavoured instead. I found a recipe for plum sauce that called for plum jam and based this one on that. 

OMG - I can safely say that I will never buy plum sauce or even Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce again. It is incredible: sweet and spicy with a good flavouring of ginger - it is the perfect accompaniment to these balls and best of all - incredibly easy and only takes 10 minutes to make.

Recipe Notes

• If you can't find white rice flour you can use cornstarch (cornflour in the UK/Eire) but I do find the rice flour gives both a better texture and taste.

• I did try baking these as well as I know a lot of people are not keen on deep frying and basically, I can't recommend it. A lot of the breadcrumbs fall off, they don't get that crisp shell which is so important and the filling goes a bit chewy. Just fry them and enjoy these at their best! Fried they have 53 calories each and 3.2g of fat. Baked they have 38 calories each and 1.5g of fat. Really, it's not so much to worry about! Treat yourself :-)

Vietnamese Mushroom Balls:

1 Tbsp peanut oil
200g mushrooms, diced small
1/2 carrot, diced small
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 inch cube ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 fresh hot red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
1/2 tsp sweet freedom syrup (or light agave)
6-7 grinds of fresh black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup white rice flour
30g breadcrumbs or panko
~a little more peanut oil to coat the balls
~vegetable oil to fry

Heat the peanut oil in a wok. Add the mushrooms carrot, salt and pepper and fry until cooked and any liquid is gone. Add the garlic, ginger and chili and fry a few minutes more, until fragrant. Add the soy sauce and syrup and fry until most the liquid is gone, it’ll be wet looking but you don’t want any pools of liquid. 

Transfer to bowl and refrigerate until cool, about 1 hour. Remove from the fridge and sprinkle over the rice flour, toss with a fork until everything has a coating of flour.

Have a little bowl of peanut oil ready. The best way to make the balls and ensure they stick together is to press the mixture into a tablespoon (a measuring tablespoon, not a cutlery tablespoon) once it's pressed in, scoop it out then take some of the peanut oil to grease your hands and press and shape into a ball, ensuring that the ball is coated lightly in the peanut oil (this will help ensure the breadcrumbs stick). Repeat until all the mixture is used up - you should get 12 balls. 

Note: photo is from when I made a half recipe, hence only 6 :-)

Wash and dry hands then roll each ball into the breadcrumbs, pressing the crumbs lightly into the ball. Repeat until all the balls are coated.

Heat a pot of vegetable oil to 350F. I use a large pot and about 1 litre of oil, make sure the oil is only about halfway up the pot. Carefully lower 6 of the balls into the oil and fry until crisp and deeply golden brown – this should only take a few minutes maximum. With a deep fry safe slotted spoon, scoop them out and place in a paper towel lines bowl to drain. Repeat with the other 6 balls. Let cool slightly and serve with the Apricot-Ginger dipping sauce.

Apricot-Ginger Dipping Sauce:

113g apricot jam (¼ cup + 1 Tbsp)
½ Tbsp rice wine vinegar
¾ tsp dark brown sugar, packed
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
½ teaspoon finely grated ginger
2 Tbsp water

Place everything into a small saucepan and slowly bring to a boil, whisking all the while until smooth. Once it just comes to a boil, turn off the heat. If you want the sauce right away then transfer the sauce to a bowl and place the bowl into another bowl of ice water (with ice cubes) to cool quickly. Give it a whisk now and again while cooling to keep it smooth and even. Serve at room temperature or chilled, cover and refrigerate leftovers. After chilling you may have to add a splash of water if it's gone a bit too thick.

♥

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Creamy Almond Feta, Tomato and Basil Shells

Well, after the Baby Spinach Salad with Sage Roasted Sweet Potato, Walnuts and Almond Feta recipe consider this part 2 of things to make with leftover almond feta!

I actually have a LOT of really simple, easy pasta recipes that I make quite often but are not on the blog...I guess I always think that they are far too simple to publish, but now, I've decided that's crazy - I mean who doesn't like an easy recipe?!?

This one in particular, is one of my favourites - I will almost always whip this up whenever I have some of the almond feta in the fridge.  It involves minimal chopping, only uses one pot, the sauce is made while the pasta cooks and is absolutely wonderful :-)

Creamy Almond Feta, Tomato and Basil Shells

(serves 1)

• 75g shells

• 1 large clove garlic

• 2 medium tomatoes, cored and chopped

• 1-2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil

• about 30g almond feta

• salt and pepper to taste*

* I love to use ¼ tsp of Spike seasoning in this dish instead of salt - I believe you can only buy it in North America, I brought some home last time I was in Canada. It's a seasoned herbal salt and just goes perfectly with tomatoes! If you have some, do try it in this, if not regular salt will be just fine :-)

Bring 1 litre of water to the boil with 2 teaspoons of salt. Add the shells, stir and boil according to package instructions.

Meanwhile, add the chopped tomatoes and garlic to a mortar and pestle and pound them until them are all mushed up. Add the basil and seasoning and give it another mix.

Drain the pasta well and return to the pot. Add the tomato, garlic and basil mixture and simmer on low heat until it's less watery, stirring all the while - you don't want ALL the liquid gone but it should reduce a little bit. Crumble in the almond feta now and stir until it's all mixed in and creamy. Taste and season as need be.

♥

Nutritional Information:

Calories: 437

Protein: 14.9g

Fat: 14.5g

Sat Fat: 1.6g

Fibre: 5.8g

Carbs: 63.9g

Sugar: 7.3g

Sodium: 537mg

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Baby Spinach Salad with Sage Roasted Sweet Potato, Walnuts and Almond Feta

So, I had some ingredients leftover from Easter dinner, for those who don't know I always make the Eggplant Rollatini with Marinara Sauce over Spaghetti from Veganomicon. Such an amazing meal - there are some photos from last year on the now defunct daily blog. I do make a few changes to the recipe in the cookbook though - mainly I fill the rollatini with basil almond feta and use my own vegan parmesan recipe in the breading mixture. In the end I had a big bag of spinach and half a recipe of the almond feta in the fridge so came up with this salad for dinner the next day.

This is really another variation of a couple salads I already have on the blog: the Roasted Sweet Potato and Pecan Salad with Mixed Leaf and Beetroot and a Maple Balsamic Dressing AND the Warm Roasted Butternut Squash and Pecan Salad but still unique in it's own right and absolutely delicious! 

This was also inspired by someone on twitter who contacted me saying they made a dish using roasted sweet potato, sage and the almond feta (possibly walnuts too but I don't think it was a salad). Unfortunately I can't find the tweet as it was so long ago so I can't give credit or thanks - if it was you let me know! 

The flavours of sweet potato, sage and walnuts go so well with the almond feta and while I was debating what kind of dressing to put with this it dawned on me that with all those strong flavours all this salad really needed to finish it off was a simple drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil. Perfect.

Baby Spinach Salad with Roasted Sweet Potato, Sage, Walnuts and Almond Feta
(serves 1 as a main dish)

• Good handful of baby spinach leaves
• 1 small sweet potato, peeled, about 130g prepared weight
• ½ Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp dried sage
• 5 grinds of black pepper
• 20g unsalted walnuts, roughly chopped
• about 30g Almond Feta, crumbled
• extra olive oil to drizzle
• fresh chives, snipped

Preheat the oven to 200C. Chop the peeled sweet potato into medium size dice and place in a small roasting tin. Whisk together the olive oil, sage, salt and pepper. Drizzle this over the sweet potato then toss with your hands until the potato is all coated in oil. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes, tossing the potato a couple of times. Add the chopped walnuts, give it a stir and pop it back in the oven for another 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Toss the spinach with a small drizzle of olive oil and place on a plate. Top with the warm sage roasted sweet potato and walnuts, crumble over the almond feta then give it a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Snip over some fresh chives and enjoy :-)

♥

Nutritional Information: 

Calories: 509

Protein: 9.4g

Fat: 40.4g

Sat Fat: 4.6g

Fibre: 7.4g

Carbs: 32.4g

Sugar: 6.4g

Fibre: 7.4g

Sodium: 723mg

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Asian Style Soy Mince and Avocado Wrap with Spicy Peanut Sauce

So, this has become an absolute favourite wrap for my husband and me. I first made it with store bought frozen soy mince then when I couldn't buy it anymore, with my own homemade soy mince (in photo). Both versions are equally as good.

Garlic, ginger and soy mince are fried with a splash of soy sauce, tossed with spring onions and placed in a large wrap with shredded iceberg lettuce, avocado slices sprinkled with lime juice and topped with a good drizzle of delicious sriracha peanut sauce. 

Seriously one of my new favourite wraps!

Asian Style Soy Mince and Avocado Wrap with Spicy Peanut Sauce:

Makes 2 wraps.

Filling:
1 tsp peanut oil
1 fat clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger
Freshly ground black pepper – 4 grinds
100g frozen soy mince
50ml water – omit if using my homemade mince
1 tsp soy sauce
2 spring onions, chopped

Sauce:
1 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sriracha 
1 tsp water

Plus:
1 avocado, sliced
Fresh lime juice
Shredded iceberg lettuce
2 x large wraps

Make the sauce by whisking everything together until smooth. Set aside. 

Heat the peanut oil in a large skillet then add the garlic, ginger and black pepper. Fry for a couple of minutes on a gentle heat until fragrant. Add the frozen soy mince and the water (if using store bought mince) and fry until the mince is cooked and all the water is gone. Stir in the soy sauce and fry a minute more then stir in the spring onion, give it a good stir then turn off the heat.

Slice the avocado, place in a bowl and sprinkle generously with fresh lime juice, toss well. 

Heat a large wrap in a dry frying pan until just warmed and pliable, transfer to a plate then top with a good handful of shredded lettuce. Top with half the soy mince mixture, half the avocado slices and drizzle over some of the sauce. 

Wrap up burrito style, cut in half on the diagonal and eat!

♥

Nutritional Information: based on 1 wrap

Calories: 398

Protein: 17.4g

Fat: 16g

Sat Fat: 3.3g

Fibre: 9.2g

Carbs: 42.9g

Sugar: 5.4g

Sodium: 726mg

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Homemade Frozen Soya Mince

So I was puzzled as to what to call this recipe. I've always found it confusing that the dry soy mince you see in the picture there is called the same as the bags of cooked and seasoned frozen soy mince you can buy....so just to be clear, this is a recipe for those frozen, cooked and seasoned bags of soy mince, not on how to make dried soy mince granules :-) Also, is it soy or soya?? I've never known and use both interchangeably here, gah - confusion!
*Update - The dry soy mince that I've used to make this (the bag you see in the photo there) is also known as TVP or textured vegetable protein in the US.

Anyway, I came up with this recipe out of necessity as I cannot seem to buy the frozen soy mince here in Ireland anymore :-(  My favourite was always Tesco's own label soy mince as I felt it had the best texture but I can't even find Linda McCartney's anymore. 

Since I have quite a few recipes that call for frozen soy mince: goulash, stuffed jumbo pasta shell lasagna, chimichangas, burritos and enchiladas, chilli and rice, wontons, gyoza, oven baked mini wonton rolls, grilled cheeseburger wrap and most importantly our traditional Christmas dinner main dish of Tourtiere, I committed myself to creating a recipe to replace it.

I had a look at the ingredients for Linda McCartney's Mince and basically just based this on that. The onion and garlic are basic flavourings here, the malt extract, a sweet syrup, was also in hers and adds a sweetness which is important as dried soy mince can have a slight bitterness, then I've tried to create "meaty" flavours with the soy sauce, Worcester sauce and mushroom stock.

Altogether, I am SO happy with this recipe that even if I could buy the store bought stuff again, I wouldn't. I have so far used my homemade version in my recipes for the goulash, burritos, enchiladas, the grilled cheeseburger wrap and a new favourite wrap which will be blogged next, and I haven't been able to tell the difference. Further bonus - my son, who was never too keen on the store bought soy mince, LOVES my version! 

You can use mine as you would the store bought stuff, the only difference I have found is that my version doesn't need as much water added (if any) while cooking. For example, in my goulash I would add half a can of water when I added the frozen soy mince and with this mince, I don't need it.

Homemade Frozen Soy Mince:

1¼ cups dried soy mince/ TVP (100g)
1 x Kallo mushroom stock cube
450ml water
1 tsp each: soy sauce, vegan Worcester sauce and malt extract
½ tsp each: garlic and onion granules (powder is fine too)

Measure the soy mince into a bowl.

 In a small saucepan add everything else. Whisk while bringing to a boil. 

Pour over the soy mince, cover and let sit for 5 – 10 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Fluff it with a fork.

Spread out onto a large plate or paper lined baking sheet (whatever will fit in your freezer) cool to room temperature then place in the freezer. 

Every half hour or so, remove from the freezer and crumble and separate the granules with your hands so you don't end up with a large frozen sheet of mince. I first use a spatula to life the mince off the tray then crumble it with my hands. Return to the freezer. When the mince is completely frozen and separated, transfer to a freezer bag and keep in the freezer.

Recipe makes 470 grams of soy mince.

Use from frozen, as you would store bought frozen soy mince. Mine has always been eaten up within a month of making it but I imagine it should keep in the freezer fine for 6 months or so :-)

♥

Nutritional Information: based on 100g

Calories: 100

Protein: 13g

Fat: 0g

Sat Fat: 0g

Fibre: 4.3g

Carbs: 9g

Sugar: 4.1g

Sodium: 507mg

Singapore Noodles

This has become one of our favourite stir fries lately, it just has wonderful flavour with curry, garlic, spring onion, spicy chilli, ginger and tamari; loads of crisp vegetables with green beans, red pepper, carrot, sweetheart cabbage and shiitake mushrooms and your protein coming from both chickpeas and a turmeric and toasted sesame oil tofu scramble all mixed in with rice vermicelli noodles. Yum!

I've based it on Felicity Cloake's recipe, featured in her Guardian article on How to make perfect Singapore Noodles. I opted to keep most of the vegetables the same but added some thinly sliced carrot and omitted the peas and water chestnuts; kept the flavourings the same and obviously had to completely change the protein aspects!

Here, I opted to add chickpeas as they go perfectly with curry flavours and swapped the egg with a scrambled tofu flavoured like in my egg fried rice (coincidentally, also based on a Felicity Cloake recipe!) For the 'egg', a soft tofu is scrambled with turmeric, toasted sesame oil and some salt and pepper. This is then tossed in at the end of stir frying. As a result you just get small specks of tofu egg throughout the stir fry, with some larger pieces, which I think is nice.

Recipe Notes

The "mystery" chilli I used :-)

♥ Original recipe called for a green bird's eye chilli, every time I have made this I've used a mystery yellow chilli and have found the heat level perfect. It came in a bag of mixed chillies and described as having a 'medium' heat. Bird's eye would be hotter than what I used, so just use what you can take! I also de-seeded mine.

♥ I had wanted to add Chinese cabbage but had trouble finding it so I used sweetheart cabbage, simply because I love the mild taste of it. Again, you can use any cabbage you like here.

♥ Any of the vegetables can be swapped with your favourites but try and keep the quantities the same.

♥ I love the subtle coconut flavour which comes from the coconut oil here but you can swap that with peanut oil if you prefer.

♥ Original recipe stated that this serves 2 but I would find that quite excessive! We get 3 comfortable servings out of this...but hey, if your starving, go for it!
♥ For gluten free, use tamari in place of soy sauce and a dry sherry in place of the Shaoxing Rice Wine which I understand is hardly ever gluten free. Please also double check your ingredients for things like the rice noodles and curry powder as your products may differ from mine. Also - Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry is vegan as far as I know but you'll have to check any other brand. 

 Singapore Noodles

• 150g rice vermicelli noodles (dry weight)
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin unrefined coconut oil
• 2½ tsp mild curry powder
• 1 Tbsp finely chopped garlic, about 2 large cloves
• 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
• 1 finely chopped chilli - see notes above 
• 2 spring onions, sliced thin on the diagonal, white and green parts
• ½ red pepper, sliced thin (about 100g)
• ½ carrot, sliced into matchsticks
• 100g fresh or frozen green beans
• 100g sweetheart cabbage, sliced (about 2 cups)
• 100g fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• ½ cup/ 88g chickpeas, from a tin - drained and rinsed
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce (use tamari for gluten free version)
• 2 Tbsp Shaoxing rice wine (use dry sherry for gluten free *see recipe notes above)
• 1/8 tsp sugar
For the "egg":
• 100g soft tofu, not silken
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1/8 tsp salt
• some freshly ground black pepper

As with all stir fries, you'll want to get everything chopped and measured and ready to go before you start cooking!

First, soften the noodles: bring a pot of water to the boil, add the rice noodles, cover then turn off the heat and let them sit for 2 minutes. Drain, rinse them with some hot water and set aside to drain. Give them a toss now and again to stop them sticking together.

Next, make the tofu scramble: Crumble the soft tofu into a dry frying pan and add the turmeric, sesame oil and salt and pepper. Turn the heat on to medium and fry, stirring the mixture until well mixed and heated throughout - about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Prep all the vegetables and seasoning's, measure out the chickpeas and mix together the tamari or soy sauce, rice wine and sugar.

To Cook: Heat the coconut oil in a large wok until very hot. Tip in the garlic, ginger, chilli, curry powder and spring onion and stir fry for about 30 seconds (the smell at this point is gorgeous!!)

Now add all the vegetables and chickpeas and stir fry until well mixed. After a couple of minutes I sometimes add a tablespoon or two of hot water if I find the curry powder sticking to the wok - it all depends on how much water comes out of the veg. 

When the veg has softened and in particular the cabbage is wilted, then add the tamari/soy sauce, rice wine and sugar. Give it a good stir then add the rice noodles. I like to turn the heat down to low at this point and stir fry until everything is well mixed and there is no more liquid. Now, stir in the tofu scramble until well distributed.

Serve immediately! This is really lovely with a light refreshing lager like Cobra, Tiger or Asahi :-)

 ♥

Nutritional Information: based on 1 serving out of 3

Calories: 386

Fat: 10.4g

Sat Fat: 4.9g

Protein: 12.7g

Fibre: 7.7g

Carbs: 59.6g

Sugar: 5.5g

Sodium: 1033mg

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