Friday 28 September 2012

Dragon Bowls.


Okay so my house mate made this for me after I'd come home raving about the Yong dragon bowls.
I was all "oh my god you can not top it, it was so good! Need it in my daily life!"
She was like "eat this" *presents home-made dragon bowl*
I eat it, along with my words.
NOTHING TOPS THESE BOWLS!
They are that rare combination of epic deliciousness AND healthiness...
They own me.
The soft rice, the crisp salty garlic tofu, the fresh salad, the warm citrusy miso dressing... perfection.

Ingredients - serves 4;

Bowl
 • Grain of choice (I use brown rice but quinoa or even noodles would work well also)
• 1 block of firm tofu, diced
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• Shredded greens of your choice (I used iceberg lettuce this time for some crunch but spinach, cabbage, rocket would all work)
• 1 large or 2 small carrots, grated
• 1 large beetroot, grated
• 1 packet of alfalfa
• Sesame seeds, for serving

Dressing
• 1 orange, juiced
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 1/2 cup miso soup
• 1/2 cup oil of choice (I used peanut)
• 2" piece of ginger, minced


Method

• Cook your grain, set aside.
• Fry tofu in soy sauce until golden (about 15mins on a medium heat).
• Add garlic and fry for a further 5mins. I am known to continually add more dashes of soy sauce to keep the pan from being too burny/dry (also I am addicted to salt). Once sufficiently browned, set aside. 
• Blend all dressing ingredients together and set aside.
• Assemblage time! Layer grain, then greens, tofu then veggies. Pour over dressing and top with sesame seeds.
• NOM TIME! 

This is creepy good you guys, like, almost my favorite thing to eat in the entire world and we ALL know how much I love eating... :D

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Wednesday 26 September 2012

Gurkhas.


We tried out Gurkhas Nepalese the other night in Brunswick.
It was tasty but the servings were quite small which was a bummer (don't let the tiny plates fool you!)
We had the smokey BBQ tofu skewers (with magical sauce) but the Asian greens never turned up on the plate.
We also had wok flashed mushrooms, cauliflower and potatoes and a side of saffron rice.
So glad we over-ordered (3 mains for two people) cause we polished the plates off.
The food was delicious and I really enjoyed adding Nepalese to my cravings list.

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Sausage rolls and relish.


 
I'm cooking a few dishes for a friend's wedding soon and spent the weekend as a test run.
Recipe SUCCESS!
Sausage rolls were insanely good and were scoffed down by three meat-eaters that day!
The reviews assured me that the rolls were super meaty-tasting but I had doubts (tofu, walnuts... oats!), way too hippy for my liking.
Still I gave it a go and am seriously glad I did as this meal is going straight to the pool room.
I also made relish to accompany, as I'm fancy.

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Monday 10 September 2012

Epic food times.

So, there has been a lot of eating of tasty things lately...
The food pics in my phone are getting a little out of control (and I've been consciously trying to NOT photograph everything I eat) so it's time to offload them all here.
Being vegan in Melbourne is too easy, I kind of miss Brisbane's lack of dining out options.
I'm getting poorer and rounder but as of this week, more home-cooked meals and I actually have to use my gym membership!


Amazingly cheap and tasty potato and leek curries with biryani rice from my new local, Madino. The dry-style leek curry with coconut and chilli is life changing.


Miso and bento from Tomoshibi. They even made me a special batch of vegetarian miso (no fish flakes!)


One of (too) many trips to Casa Del Gelato - home of hazelnut and chocolate flavoured soy gelato! Hazelnut FTW.

Birthday treats baked by the boy.

Went to see LORD for the best "chicken" nuggets of all time.

Finally got around to seeing what all the fuss was about at Laksa King. BELIEVE THE HYPE! (and make a booking) Best laksa of my life and the melting chunks of eggplant were pretty unbelievable.

 Many visits to Lentil As Anything at Abbortsford lately, always tasty (but not always pretty) curries to be devoured!



Actually cooked at home last night, dad's AMAZING Thai green curry recipe. Kind of a big deal. Seriously looking forward to leftovers tonight.


This other time I cooked at home too, a basic tofu/Chinese broccoli/chilli sttir-fry with brown rice and sesame seeds. Drowned in so much soy there is no taste of tofu in sight (WIN).

Okay so this photo does not do Mankoushe any favors but OH MY EFFING GOD their felafel wraps are a new level of awesome. I actually had a moment when eating this. Bread BAKED TO ORDER with moist felafel and magical tahini... hands down NO CONTEST the best felafel in Melbourne. Go there, got there now.


It was a freezing winter night and I baked Linda McCartney country pies along with steamed greens, garlic sauteed sprouts, creamy mash and onion pepper gravy - like eating pure happiness.

After eating Mankoushe, my idea of the humble felafel wrap changed forever. I had to up my game with home-made wraps. Here I made felafel balls with cos lettuce, tomato, Spanish onion and sweet chilli but the secret was the fresh baked wraps and hommus that I bought from a Lebanese bakery (goodbye Coles/Woolies wraps/hommus forever). It was no Mankoushe but was by far the tastiest home-made wraps I'd made.