Vegetarian Dishes | Finding Feasts

Tofu San Choi Bao w/ Dipping Sauce

Can you believe that there are 18 top ranking ways to spell San Choi Bao so I have decided to use the very top one. This is Tofu San Choi Bao w/ Dipping Sauce.

This is a much loved dish for many people as it’s very mild in flavour so appeals to those who don’t go out of their way for asian food. It’s also a hit with kids as they get to play with their food… and who doesn’t love doing that?

For a strong flavour punch then make a dipping sauce, or three. One can be a blow-your-head-off chilli one, another can be a sweet chilli and other can be this soy, lime and ginger one.

If you have never had tofu this way then you are going to be in for such a surprise. It’s a game changer, really. If you are looking for tasty, meat-free alternatives then this is your saving grace as the tofu ‘mince’ can be used in replacement of meat mince in recipes that use it in loose form such as spaghetti bolognese or chilli con carne to name a couple. It’s has the same texture and soaks up all the flavours making tofu mince extraordinarily versatile.

The surprising trick to getting the texture right is freezing it. This process alters firm tofu slightly giving it a bounce or slight chewiness that so closely resembles meat mince. So do as I do now and always keep a slab of firm tofu in the freezer.

Happy eating! Blondie 🙂

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Zucchini, Spinach & Dill Fritters

Zucchini, Spinach & Dill Fritters are a delicious pancake style dish that perfectly compliments a light salad or as a side dish to a curry buffet.

My family is still on our alternative day meat free lifestyle, which is going really well. Maybe more so for me as it now gives me a guideline to work with. There really is something to be said about having restrictions to help motivate and encourage new ideas and strategies; whether it be needing to include an ingredient for your diet or remove an ingredient due to allergies, or perhaps it’s even a budget necessity but each one means putting more thought into what you actually eat and stock your fridge and cupboards with.

I was thinking about this recently, as I was going through my ever growing cookbook library, about how, in our mother’s time they would have had two maybe three cookbooks. Cookbooks that would have been worked through thoroughly, family discussions about what was liked and what didn’t really work. Favourite family meals would have be discovered and made often – Sausage Casserole Tuesdays for instance. If you wanted to change it up you would open one of your favourite cookbooks (out of the three) and pick a recipe to make, it was certainly an easier time.

Now, everyone has so many books, so many recipes in printed form, most books of which would be lucky to get one recipe made from it … Perhaps I’m feeling the loss of the simplicity and romance of times gone by… perhaps I need to do a cookbook cull?

This recipe has probably been around in some form or another for many decades. It is full of flavour, especially with one of my most favourite herbs, dill, and can easily accommodate more herbs and spices depending on the style of meal you are serving.

Enjoy, Blondie 🙂

PS: I would never/ could never get rid of my cookbook babies… I think I just need a coffee!

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Coriander Egg Curry

Coriander Egg Curry … Here is a quick-ish meal that is delicious and full of flavours that can be made as a side dish to go along with a buffet of Indian meals or eaten on the couch with some rice or a scallion pancake for dipping.

Enjoy – Blondie 🙂

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Wild Mushroom Mini Arancini

Wild Mushroom Mini Arancini or mini deep fried mushroom rice balls for the uninitiated are such a great food to have on hand in the freezer.

Not only are they a great ‘fast food’ to pad out a salad but they are also fantastic to have for emergency nibbles when friends or family pop around.

This volume makes about 60 arancini but this will depend on how big or small you make each ball. To freeze the remaining arancini you simply take the recipe up to the breadcrumb coating stage and then place them on a lined baking tray so they aren’t touching each other and freeze overnight. You then place them into a ziplock bag till required. Cook them from frozen, do not defrost.

Serve them with a garlic aioli and a harissa paste or similar spicy, hot sauce.

… would love to be serving these out of a food truck. You know what they say, put the wish out there, the dream may come true – Blondie 🙂

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Roast Vegetable Salad w/ Black Sesame Gomasio

Roast Vegetable Salad w/ Black Sesame Gomasio is a scrumptious salad that is on high rotation at our house. This salad is chock full of flavours and textures that will appeal to everyone… there’s the creaminess of the avocado, the zing and bite from the pickled beetroot, sweetness and softness the from the roasted vegetables, a mild earthy bite from the brussel sprouts, then dressed with a salty sesame seed sprinkle.

As a family we are currently into week 3 of our new lifestyle of going meat free every second day; one day on, one day off. I enjoy the challenge of coming up with delicious meals that will appeal to an almost 10 year old son, a hubby and myself. I’m very fortunate though that hubby regards salads as a dinner, I can happily serve a big plate of leaves and colourful additions knowing that it will sate his evening appetite … but man cannot live on salads alone, and most certainly not a 10 year old boy!

One trick that serves us all well at dinner time – especially since it’s now winter is to make a couple of dishes to go with it, such as a Potato Dauphinoise – this adds a real comfort food element to this salad (or any salad for that matter) with it’s warm, soft, creamy and cheesy potato layers, or a Broccoli and Cauliflower Mac’n’Cheese.

Another trick is to have some emergency foods ready to use at a moments notice such as mini Wild Mushroom Aranchini Balls, meat free dumplings or potstickers. Make a big batch of them when you do actually make them, then freeze. This way you can pull out what you need when you need them. Have them reheating while you make up the salad.

This ain’t no rabbit food, enjoy! Blondie 🙂

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Carrot & Ginger Cake w/ Pineapple Flowers

Carrot & Ginger Cake w/ Pineapple Flowers is a cake I designed for Mother’s Day. Yes, this post is a little late for this years Mother’s Day but lets think of it as getting in early for next year and it doesn’t even need to be just for Mother’s Day, this cake can fit all types of celebratory occasions. What could be more occasional than edible flowers strewn across the top of a delicious carrot cake? It looks impressive and tastes divine.

Designated with doing a dessert I knew instantly what I was going to do. The cover of the April’15 Gourmet Traveller magazine had a picture of what I originally had thought was a hummingbird cake, but on closer inspection realised it was in fact a carrot cake, a deliciously moist looking layered cake that I knew would be the perfect platform for some edible flowers and crunchy nuts, which I had been eager to do for quite some time – not unlike a hummingbird cake.

I’m not a cake construction type person so if I can pull it off, anyone can (and I was so impressed with myself, which is why the following paragraph is all about how fabulous a job I did)

Once completed and placed on a rightfully deserved pedestal it was a breathtaking piece of sweet art. I had achieved what I had planned to do and that was to deliver a beautiful looking centrepiece for mum and nana for Mother’s Day. Now I fear I may have set a benchmark to what could be years of trying to one-up myself.

There are alot of steps in the preparation of the cake but you start doing elements of it in the days prior so you aren’t rushed off your feet; the candied nuts and flowers can be done before hand.

Happy whichever day it is you are celebrating… Blondie

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Preserved Lemon, Fennel & Cumin Marinade

Preserved Lemon, Fennel & Cumin Marinade, is one of those workhorse recipes that can be used with anything from red meats to chicken, even brushed over vegetables for an extra flavour boost when grilling. But for me, it is when it’s partnered with pork that it really shines.

There really is nothing more to say as it really does stand on it’s own and will most definitely be one that you will return to over again.

Enjoy, Blondie 🙂

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