Tempura Salt & Pepper Watermelon

I haven't been very inspired of late, feeling pretty worn out and looking forward to a holiday next month and a bit of a break. Sometimes you just get in a rut of cooking the same old quick dinners. But, I did have a flash of inspiration today and decided to try making tempura watermelon. When I told the Beloved I would be making this he didn't seem very enthused, and thought it was a bit weird. Well, I am weird. How would any culinary masterpiece have ever been born if someone didn't make something that everyone else thought was weird?! To be honest I didn't know if it would work with such a high water content, but it did, I have a trick or two to share with you in how to make it work. Since making tempura mix from scratch never quite works for me I decided a packet option was probably best. While I was frying them the colour reminded me of crab sticks but without the terrible smell! Obviously they taste nothing like crab...

Ingredients

Approx 4 pieces per person of watermelon cut into thick fingers about 6-8cm long 

1 packet of tempura mix ( I used Trident, its vegan)

salt and pepper to your taste

Oil for deep frying

Method

Cut the watermelon and leave on a tea towel to mop up excess liquid. Pat just before dunking to dry as much as possible, or the mix will not stick to the melon.

Make up the mix according to packet directions, but add water a little at a time to get a nice thick batter, too thin and it won't stick. I found the best consistency after trial and error was like pikelet batter, quite thick, but runs off the spoon like treacle rather than cream. Whisk in plenty of pepper and a bit of salt. 

Heat oil in a deep fryer or small deep saucepan at (I have a fryer but used a saucepan as easier to clean). If you use a saucepan the oil should be no less than 4cm deep and no more than a third deep of your pan - safety people!  If you are unsure about temperature I suggest dropping a little batter in to see how quickly it bubbles to the surface. If it turns golden in 30 seconds you're ready.

Dip the dried off watermelon into the batter and coat as much as possible (no need to be too picky) and drop into the oil quickly. Fry until golden and then remove with a slotted spoon and leave to drain on paper towel. Sprinkle with a little more sea salt and cracked black pepper.

If you find the pan spits it is probably because you have not patted the watermelon enough and there is water getting into your oil! therefore it is essential to work quickly so the watermelon doesn't seep again before you batter and fry.

We had ours tonight dipped into some lime mayonnaise, but they were good without it. You cna use soy mayonnaise or egg mayonnaise whisked with some lime juice to your taste. Serve with a side of fried rice.

I really like the sweetness of the watermelon with it's firm light texture,  and the crisp peppery batter. Don't knock it til you've tried it!

A New Baby for a New Year

Yep. The Sprouts have adopted  a baby. Which is part of the reason I've been so slack over the last month, because a new baby takes up a great deal of time to settle in. I've also not been very inspired, so hopefully with a new year I'll feel like posting  a bit more. What? I hear you say. No, we haven't changed our minds about being child free, we just have another furbaby is all.  Not any ordinary baby either, but a beautiful three year old red fawn greyhound by the name of Twiggy.  If we had more room, I suspect we might end up with a few more of them, but for now one is enough. There are many many dogs that need a home, being peak kitten and puppy season most shelters are bursting, and after Christmas, many more are dumped as unwanted gifts. I personally feel giving an animal as a gift is one of the most stupid and irresponsible actions to make. They aren't toys, and they aren't things - they are living beings that need a full commitment for life - much like human babies!

We have wanted to give a dog a home for quite some time, and we really thought a lot about what kind of dog would suit our lifestyle and home. We don't buy our furry companions from pet shops or breeders, so we knew whatever it was it was going to be a rescue. Mrs Bean's sister in law suggested a greyhound - and we, like most people, thought that would be a lot of work! The truth is, having a greyhound is a lot like having another over sized cat. He only needs short walks (although we try to do at least 20- 30 minutes twice a day), and spends most of the time sleeping! He sheds less than the rest of the four cats put together, has very little doggy smell, and loves a cuddle. And just like cats who are connoisseurs of comfort, he finds the best spot to sleep in, including our bed!

During our research on these charming pooches, we came across Greyhound Rescue NSW, run by a retired couple Peter and Janet. They do an amazing job and give up a lot of time and money to these dogs who are treated terribly by the racing industry. A hound that isn't fast enough is shot, dumped in the bush with its ears cut off (to remove the tattoos that can trace the owners), left at the pound (which is basically a death sentence anyway), or put down by a vet. Twiggy was left at the pound, and picked up by Greyhound Rescue. The number of ex racers that find homes is something like 5% of all that are bred. Others are shipped to China, only to die there anyway. This is a terrible thing, because as we have found, they are very loving, easy going dogs. If you had children, they would be great with them. Unfortunately a lot of people think they are viscous due to NSW law which states greyhounds must be muzzled in public. Although small furry things certainly might get a nip depending on the prey drive of the dog, they are very friendly to humans. Which brings me to the next point - we had to find one that got along with cats. And chooks. And ducks.

We are very lucky that Twiggy isn't interested in chasing any of them. In fact, we think he's a failure as a racer because he wouldn't chase. I fancy he's the sort that would have flopped down, and thought "I'll just wait until that rabbit comes back around and then I'll try and get him."

Although initially the cats weren't too keen and he did give a bit of chase if they decided to run, now nearly everyone is settled or resigned to each other so the house is in good order. I feel happy to let the chooks out in the back yard with him running around, a they don't scatter now they are used to him. All in all, we were rather lucky Twiggy just fit right in.

As a result greyhounds have become very dear to our heart and educating people about these animals has become very dear to my heart.

If you are interested in adopting a dog, or would like to learn more about these beautiful hounds, or would even like to make a donation, please go here. There are other  rescue groups in Australian states, and of course, if you don't live on our island continent, your own country is sure to have similar organisations. For the UK, try here or for the US try here.

Happy New Year!

The Twelve Posts of Christmas: Mushroom Pate

My  mum used to make chicken liver pate at Christmas. I used to eat it until I found out what it actually was. The thought of chicken livers didn't sound too enticing. When I gave up meat, I looked for something with the same deep smooth flavour. While everyone else is tucking into chicken liver pate, you can be rest assured your mushroom pate is tasty and cruelty free. Slip it onto a platter and don't tell the meat eaters, the hearty flavour is a winner.

Ingredients

500 gr of assorted mushrooms - swiss brown, buttons, and shittake work well. 

two or three dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in brandy

200gr vegan margarine or butter

2 garlic cloves

1 large brown onion

fresh thyme sprigs

Method

Soak porcinis in 1/4 cup brandy.

Chop onion and garlic, and saute over low heat in olive oil, a tablespoon butter, and tablespoon of balsamic vinegar until very soft. 

Chop mushrooms.

Deglaze onions with soaking brandy, and add butter and sliced mushrooms, chopped thyme.

Saute until mushrooms are well cooked, and set aside to cool.

Put in blender or food processor and puree until smooth. 

The Twelve Posts of Christmas: Quinoa & Sweet Potato Pie

This bright multi layered loaf was inspired by two things - a barley and pumpkin pie recipe, and Mrs Bean's favourite sweet potato and quinoa soup. It is definitely a good thing to have on the Christmas table, and wasn't too time consuming. I did the unthinkable and used ready bought shortcrust pastry. Don't tell Mrs Bean, she will throw her hands up in horror -or possibly wave and point a knife in my direction to emphasise her point in exclaiming my foolishness. In any case, it was a winner with or without vegan gravy.

Ingredients
3 sheets of shortcrust pastry
100gr quinoa
Chicken style veg stock for cooking quinoa
200 gr approx sweet potato
500 gr baby spinach
150 gr beetroot chutney this recipe is very good (or you can be lazy and buy it)
2 large zucchini thinly sliced
1/2 cup semi dried tomatoes, coarsely chopped
cracked black pepper
pinch of chilli powder

Method
1.Cook quinoa according to packet directions in vegetable stock with chilli powder. Drain, and set aside to cool.
2. While quinoa is cooking, peel and cube sweet potato and cook in boiling water until cooked but still firm. Drain and set aside to cool.
3. Gently wilt baby spinach in a pan with a tablespoon of water, and set aside.
4. Line your tin with baking paper, and arrange pastry to fit, reserving a sheet for the lid.
5.Layer the fillings, and put lid on, pinching around the top.
6. Bake in a 180C preheated oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Allow to cool slightly before removing from tin and cutting into slices.

Raw Vegan Banana Ice Cream Cake

 

Ahh! It's that time of year again, November has been and gone, and while I am still going strong with my raw vegan endeavours its definitely time to think about Christmas. This year will at our house, and I've decided putting up pictures of snow and mistletoe and singing about reindeer and being white is ridiculous when its hot, hot, hot. So this year it's all about Australia. Even my mum, being a pom thought it stupid to be sitting down to a heavy English dinner with baked ham and turkey when all she could think about was a salad - but Dad can't do without. I do believe one year she cooked christmas lunch in her swimsuit it was so hot!

Anyway, to kick it off this year how about a raw vegan ice cream cake? It is such an easy dessert and nice and cool for a hot Christmas Day. It took me about 15 minutes to put together from start to finsish and I didn't have to use the oven.

Ingredients
Crust-
150gr raw macadamias
100gr soaked dried apricots (water reserved)
50gr dessicated coconut

Filling

5 large frozen bananas

1 1/2 cups mixed berries

1 vanilla bean scraped

meat of a young coconut (or 2/3 cup best quality coconut cream, but this is not raw)

Method

1.Using food processor, pulse macadamias and soaked apricots until coarse large crumbs

2.Add dessicated coconut and a little of the apricot soaking water to bind it together.

3.Press into the bottom of a cling wrap lined spring form or loose base tin (I used a 20cm loose base deep tin). The cling wrap allows you to get it out more easily, but I like to live on the edge ie I forgot until i was pouring the filling. If you have a really good non stick tin yo should be ok if you gently use a palette knife around the edge to get it started.

4. In food processor or blender, puree coconut meat, banana, and scraped vanilla bean. If you can't get a good quality vanilla bean don't use the artificial stuff, try and get the real vanilla paste instead. I didn't add any sweetener because my bananas were slightly overripe when I put them in the freezer and were sweet enough. You could add a little agave nectar but I don't think it needs it.

5. Pour half the mixture over the crust, gently sprinkle berries evenly over the top, and then pout the other half of the mixture over the berries. Tap the side of the tin gently and give a little shake to even out the top, and place in the freezer to set. Since I used frozen bananas to start with mine set in about an hour. 

6.Before serving leave out for 10 minutes on bench to soften slightly. If it is really hot put it in the fridge for about 20 minutes so it doesn't melt too fast. Top with cherries or other fruit of your choice.

You could use unfrozen bananas, just make sure they are really ripe so they are very sweet. when my bananas are getting a bit too ripe I put them in the freezer to use in smoothies, in their skin. To peel frozen, I top and tail, and cut in half before running a sharp knife down the side.

Rawmazingly Good

So I haven't been posting a lot of raw recipes, but mostly it is because this time around I decided to keep it simple. Last time I tried to improve my health by going raw I ate a lot of nuts and seeds, and although I felt really good afterwards, I felt there was too much dehydrating, sprouting...waiting basically! I  also felt that I didn't really need all that stuff. So this time, I've been following a mostly fruitarian approach. Whoa! I hear you say. Is that safe? Is that sane? How can you possibly be full? How can you possibly get all that you need? 

Well...

I read a LOT about nutrition first. Yes, you can get enough nutrients, and yes you can get enough protein, if you eat enough. At the moment I can't quite eat that much, but I am increasing day by day. Calorie for calorie spinach has more protein than meat. Who knew?!For anyone interested in this approach I highly suggest doing research first and checking with a nutritionist if you can't work it out. If you are very overweight or have lots of health problems definitely check with a professional. That being said, many doctors will not approve of the approach (my doctor doesn't approve of vegans let alone raw vegans).  

The first few days were hard. I cut out sugar, soymilk, and tea as well. I did have some nut based meals such as the raw chilli burritos, becasue I was so hungry, and this filled me up longer. I only ate some nuts a couple of times the following week. All the smells from people heating up their lunches were driving my cravings into overdrive for toast and pasta and such. I also had some pretty bad headaches and felt ridiculously tired. Had a few mood swings too poor husband! I tried to workout a couple of times but in hindsight this was a really bad idea because I was going through detox. I can't imagine what it would feel like for someone who eats a lot of meat and dairy, and processed or fast foods. It would be hell! I was lucky my symptoms weren't too bad and disappeared after two days. 

This week I have been having juices, smoothies, and fruits. I am absolutely craving more and more fruit. Breakfast has typically been fruit salad with all fresh fruits of course. Mango, pineapple, watermelon, rockmelon, mixed berries, passionfruit, and bananas. I might eat another banana mid morning, and lunch is usually a smoothie - three or four fruit varieties, and some greens. I have at least a litre, if not more, and another one or two pieces of fruit. I have more smoothie in the afternoon. My boss bought a juicer for our kitchen at work this week and we've made a couple of juices this week as well. Woot!

Dinner has been salads, lots of fresh tomato, cucumber, carrot, celery, capsicum, and avocado with greens. I did have gluten free cooked meals twice, quinoa and sweet potato soup with heaps of chilli, and corn pasta with a fresh vegetable sauce. I actually didn't feel like I needed to eat cooked meals, so perhaps by next week I won't bother with them at all. 

By the second week I am typically eating on average 16 serves of fruit a day, plus another 6 serves of vegetables. That is triple the recommended minimum, and I am eating more and more all the time as my body is adapting! I feel pretty great, and this week I powered through my workouts. I increased the resistance on the bike and wasn't really huffing like the guy next to me.

Weekends I eat more freely, but with interesting consequences. We had Chinese take away last weekend and I felt really awful through the night and the next day. A kiwi fruit smoothie fixed the problem - apparently they are really great for stomach upsets! I made pizza last night and feel a bit sluggish this morning, all I want is some fruit. My cooked cravings are just about gone, and although I will continue to eat some cooked foods I feel I don't really need to. 

And what about the weight? A weigh in last night and I've lost almost 5kg. I know this will mostly likely from fluid retention but I feel very hydrated as my skin is lots better, so therefore the excess fluid is no longer needed. It has actually been harder eating ENOUGH rather than cutting down. I am so full from all this great fruit and veg, so I have been tracking what I eat with my fitness pal so I make sure I'm getting enough calories. The Beloved noticed I was smaller which was nice because as with a lot of men he often puts his foot in it without intending to e.g. "it's ok sweetie, there are plenty of people fatter than you." LOL

It will be interesting to see what my next blood test shows, as I'm hoping the thyroxin will be absorbing better and maybe the dose can be reduced for once. That would be nice! I do believe this is something I can sustain long term. It isn't a diet, it's a lifestyle, which is so important if you want to stay healthy!

Sarah's Super Smoothie Juice

Someone I know has been a little under the weather this week. If I could make her a batch and delver it I would, but since I can't I'll post a recipe and hope some kind soul can make it for her :) This should give anyone's immune system a boost,  and most importantly, keep you hydrated to flush out the baddies. It contains Vitamins A, C, E potassium, calcium, zinc, iron, magnesium...just trust me, this is super juice. Because only the carrot and celery is juiced and everything else is pureed into a smoothie, the fibre slows the release of the sugars, and helps keep you full. And count the serves of fruit and veg in there! you got em all in a smoothie!

Makes about 2 litres of smoothie juice.
3 carrots juiced
2 large celery sticks juiced
1 cup watermelon pieces
1/2 cup dried apricots soaked
1 cup pineapple pieces
2 oranges
2 kiwi fruit, skinned and chopped


Soak apricots in water until soft - warm water for 15 minutes should be enough, you can chop up everything else while you wait.
Juice carrots and celery.
Put carrot and celery juice in blender with all other ingredients and blend until smooth.