Plum a la Crumb

Classic pudding here. I like it best served with vanilla Swedish Glace or custard. Plums were on offer at a pound yesterday so I thought it was time to whip out my baking dish and make...

Plum a la Crumb!

(or plum crumble to boring people)

• 4 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 tbsp water
• 500g plums, with the pip taken out and sliced thinly
• Tinned apricots, sliced (entirely optional, I only used them because they were lying around)
  
• 75g plain flour
• 25g oats
• 50g chopped cashew nuts (optional but they make it so nice and crunchy!)
  
• 50g brown sugar
• 50g soya butter

1. Put the sugar, water and plums in a pan and cook until nice and soft

1. While the plums are cooking, put the flour, oats, cashews, sugar and butter into a bowl and rub the butter into the mixture with your fingers, until it's nice and crumbly.

1. When the fruit is cooked, pour into a large oven proof dish. Sprinkle sliced apricots on top if you're using them and then top with the crumble mixture

1. Heat the oven to 180C and bake for 30 minutes
2. Serve on its own or with custard/ice cream/whatever you fancy
   

The Amazing Flour Sifter, and Homemade Naan

Two very exciting things for today. I'll begin with the flour sifter.

This is possibly the best invention I have ever come across. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is fed up of getting the tired arm from sifting flour. It was one of the biggest downsides to vegan baking. But now there are tired arms no more! A few quick squeezes of the handle and I have a pile of beautifully sifted flour.

And only £3.99 at Ikea!

Sifter of Amazingness

Now onto the recipe...

I finally got myself a pizza stone, and what do you make the moment you have a pizza stone? Why Naan bread of course!

• 2 cups of plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• Pinch of baking soda
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 1/2 tbsp soya yoghurt
• 1 tsp dry active yeast
• 3/4 cup lukewarm water
• 2 tbsp melted dairy free butter
• Extra plain flour for rolling

1. Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water and let sit for around 10 minutes. It will go frothy when it's ready
2. Sift the flour, sugar, salt and baking soda together
3. Add the oil and yoghurt to the flour and mix until it is a crumbly dough
4. Add the yeasty water to the dough and use your hands to knead until the dough is smooth
5. Let the dough sit for 3-4 hours covered. It will double in volume
6. Heat the oven to 260C with the pizza stone inside for 30 minutes, as it needs to become hot.
7. Turn the oven on to high broil
8. Knead the dough for another few minutes before dividing into 6 equal pieces
9. Roll each shape into a ball and dip into the flour until it is covered. Roll the ball into an oval like naan shape.
   
10. Place the naan onto the pizza stone and let cook for 2 -3 minutes
11. When done, brush the naans with melted butter and serve!
    

Lovely flat Naan

For a first attempt it didn't go too badly, I think I made a few mistakes which is why it didn't rise how I wanted it to. It still tasted great though and I'll definitely try it again.

Stuffed Naan

I stuffed one of the naans with a lentil-chickpea mixture that was made out of lentils cooked in water with turmeric, garam masala and dried coriander, which were then added to chickpeas and given a whizz in the food processor until smooth. I then fried some onions in cumin seeds and oil and blended that into the mixture too. I spread that between two pieces of dough and cooked it in the oven. Was delicious.

Chick'n in a Mustard Sauce

It looks like I'm going a bit mustard crazy at the moment, but I was in Lidl today and a cheap jar of wholegrain mustard was begging to be bought. I also got some new things to review and thought it would be best to try one of the items with my mustard. So here we are...


Chick'n in a Mustard Sauce

• 3 shallots, finely chopped (or a small onion if you prefer)
• 1 1/2 cups of mushrooms, chopped
• 1 cup of chick'n pieces, chopped (I used realeat chicken style pieces)
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp soya butter
• Splash of oil
• 4tbsp wholegrain mustard
• 3 tbsp tofutti sour creme
• 1/2 cup chick'n stock (or vegetable)
• 1/2 tbsp agave nectar
• Salt and Pepper (I use lots of pepper)

1. Melt together the butter and oil in a large pan. When hot enough, add the shallots and fry until soft and golden
2. Add the mushrooms and fry until soft before adding the garlic and frying for 2 minutes
3. Add the mustard, sour creme, stock, agave and chick'n pieces. Stir and heat through.
4. Season with salt and pepper and serve on a bed of rice (or whatever you prefer).

The Realeat chick'n only had to be heated through before eating, make sure you check the instructions on the chick'n you use! I definitely recommend using these chick'n pieces in this kind of cooking as they were pretty good. They gave the dish a nice texture that you don't really get with vegetables, reminded me of a dish my mum used to make. Not tried them without saucey stuff though, so will update when I do.

Mushroom Mustard Pasta

I was feeling a little bit experimental yesterday when I made this dish so the measurements aren't very precise. I thought I'd post it up anyway, it can easily be altered to your individual tastes.

This was really quick and easy. I would definitely keep mushrooms in because they taste great with the mustardy sauce but feel free to use whatever veg you want. I have a feeling this would be great with chopped vegan sausage too!

It also doesn't have to be used for pasta. This would taste great on top of mashed potato I reckon. Anyway, go crazy with it, I loved it. Add more/less mustard depending on your tastes, I kept adding some and tasting before adding more.

Mushroom Mustard Pasta

• 1 handful of mushrooms, chopped
• 1 handful of broccoli, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped finely
  
• A few 'chick'n' nuggets chopped (this is totally optional, I only chucked them in because they were lying around)
  
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1-2 tbsp dijon mustard
• Splash of soy milk
• 1-2 tbsp soy yoghurt (optional)
• Squeeze of agave nectar (or maple syrup/sugar)
• Flour
• Oil
• Salt and Pepper
• Enough pasta for 2
  

1. Fry the onion, broccoli and mushrooms in some oil until nice and soft. Add the garlic and fry for a few more minutes
2. Add the mustard, agave, soy milk and yoghurt and cook through. Add a wee splash of water if you need to.
   
3. Add flour until the sauce is as thick as you want it to be
4. Season with salt and pepper and stir into cooked pasta

World Day for Animals in Laboratories

Just a quick post to let people who don't already know about World Day for Animals in Laboratories.

Visit the link above for all the information. I'm 90% sure I'll be there and will probably do a write up about it on here as it'll be the first march I've been to. Very nervous but looking forward to it as well.

I'll be going alone and have no idea what this will be like, so if you're as equally nervous or more experienced and want to give me some tips, please leave comments on here for email me: sophie@hastalavegan.com

Please come if you have the time!

[Review] Laura's Idea Calzone and Seaweed Salad

I was in Kingston early this week and popped into Food For Thought to get something quick and easy for dinner. As I was looking in the fridges I came across the Laura's Idea range, which had everything from vegan breakfast pots to sushi rolls (which I avoided just because they were so big!). Unfortunately not all of their products are vegan, but they definitely offer a lot to choose from and the labelling is very clear to read.

After a lot of umming and ahhing I decided to go for the Vegan Calzone and the Seaweed Salad, which were both priced at £2.50 each. It does sound quite expensive but they were large portion sizes and it's premade food, so it's bound to cost more than if I made it myself.

I didn't fancy having a cold Calzone so I popped it into the oven for 10 minutes. I thought it was delicious, even though the majority of it was grated carrot. A bit more tomato and other vegetables would have been nice. It didn't have cheese in it, and didn't taste cheesy but it did have a nice gooey texture to it, which reminded me of the Calzone's I've had in the past. The only thing that I found a bit odd was that the filling wasn't wrapped inside pizza dough but inside a pancake. Don't get me wrong, it tasted nice inside a pancake, but pizza dough would have been even more tasty and perfect comfort food. Mmmm dough.

Laura's Idea - Vegan Calzone

The Seaweed Salad was really good, definitely my kind of salad because it wasn't full of leaves! There was lots of seaweed in there, which you're probably thinking 'well duh' but I can't count the number of salads I've had where I've ended up playing 'spot the main ingredient' because it's practically non existent. It had plenty of carrot (yes more!) and a little bit of rice too. It was different to normal plain, boring salads and it was nice and filling too. Both the products also looked delicious, which is always a bonus.

Laura's Idea - Seaweed Salad

After doing a little bit of research online (which took me a while because their website doesn't have much information on it at all) it seems that this company only has products in the London area, but if you can prove me wrong let me know. I've only seen these products in Food For Thought and the Whole Foods in Clapham. There also appears to be a lot of mixed reviews on these products. I've seen a lot of complaints about the cakes and deserts but a lot of positive reviews on the savoury dishes. Try at your own risk!

I can only say positive things about Laura's Idea so far and look forward to trying more things, even though Laura seems to be slighty obsessed with grated carrot. It was a nice change to veggie burgers and falafel and definitely a far healthier option than the street of takeaways right by my house! Worth a shot if you want something quick and tasty when you're in a hurry.