It doesn't hurt to have a basic vanilla sponge recipe under your belt. It's a useful starting point for any type of celebration cake you might wish to make, or for packing in other flavours (e.g. lemon, mixed spice, coconut etc.). The essential thing is to have a fluffy, light texture and a decent rise. No one wants to chew on a dense sponge. This recipe I'm sharing is foolproof, and turns out great every time. It's egg-free, dairy-free and will leave your tasters wondering just how you achieved it.
Ingredients
- 250g self-raising flour
- 150g caster sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 100ml sunflower oil
- 200ml almond milk
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Sift the self-raising flour into a large mixing bowl. Mix in the caster sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
In a separate bowl/jug, add all the wet ingredients - sunflower oil, almond milk and vanilla and whisk together with a fork.
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and fold gently with a spatula until you have a smooth batter. Be careful not to over mix or you risk knocking all the air out (which you need to make the cake nice and fluffy).
Bake in a pre-heated oven, gas mark 5, for 25 mins, or until a knife/skewer comes out clean. Avoid opening the oven mid-way through cooking or the cake will collapse!
Hope everyone's having a great month so far. Mine has been absolutely packed. Between work and trying to write a novel in a month (because life isn't hard enough...), I haven't had much time to play around in my food lab.
Thankfully, I received some products to try out from a company called Dee's Wholefoods, which gave me the opportunity to have a little fun and come up with this recipe.
What I like the most about Dee's products is the fact that everything is made using natural, wholefood ingredients - many of them organic - and each one promises to be low in salt, sugar and fat, high in fibre and protein, and gluten-free. Each bite feels guilt-free, and there's no better feeling than that.
The Quinoa Pot with Thai Spiced Vegetables was my favourite to try. It was warming, tasty, creamy and convenient to prepare (only 4 minutes in the microwave, which, after a long day, is music to my ears). The portion size is wonderfully generous and it made a filling dinner on its own. There are more flavours in the range which I look forward to trying out soon, including Quinoa with Moroccan Spiced Vegetables, and Quinoa with Hot Mexican Peppers.
I also got to try the Roast Garlic & Mushroom Sausages, which are featured in today's recipe. I lightly fried them in some coconut oil, but found that it stuck to the pan too easily and so I would recommend baking or grilling (which is actually what Dee's recommends for the best results). Rather than go for the typical mashed potato and sausage combo, I decided to make a herby sweet potato, aubergine (a.k.a. garden egg; a.k.a. eggplant), and green bean mash. This, along with the sausages, was topped with a rich yellow pepper relish. Because Dee's sausages are low in salt and are delicately spiced, I feel as though they make a good base for more intense flavours on the plate, which is where the relish comes in. I am keen to try the other sausages in the range, and I would recommend them to anyone who is after a healthy, soy-free alternative to what's already out there!
To find out more about Dee's Wholefoods and where you can get their products, visit their website www.deeswholefoods.com and follow them on social media @deeswholefoods! :)
Recipe time...
Ingredients
- Dee's vegan sausages
--
- 1 sweet potato
- 1/2 aubergine
- handful green beans
- fresh parsley (finely chopped)
- fresh basil (finely chopped)
- fresh dill (finely chopped)
- fresh thyme
- salt to taste
--
- 1 yellow pepper (de-seeded and roughly chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic (peeled and roughly chopped)
- 1/2 red onion (roughly chopped)
- coconut oil
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- salt and pepper to taste
To make the relish, place the yellow pepper, garlic cloves and red onion on a lined baking tray. Coat with a little coconut oil, sprinkle with dried thyme, salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins, gas mark 6, or until all the veg is cooked and soft. Take out of the oven and place all the ingredients in a food processor. Blend until you have a thick purée consistency.
To make the herby mash, place the sweet potatoes, aubergine and green beans in a pot of boiling, lightly salted water and cook until the vegetables are tender. Blend in a food processor until you have a nice mash. Place in a bowl and stir in all the chopped fresh herbs. Season to taste.
To make Dee's sausages, follow the instructions on the pack. As I mentioned earlier, grilling or baking will give you the best results.
Assemble your plate: start with a bed of mash, then place the sausages on top and serve with a generous helping of the yellow pepper relish. Garnish with some fresh parsley.
Enjoy! :)
Note: This review has been organised by the Vegan lifestyle Association. It has not been paid for and the products were sent free of charge. This is my unbiased review of the product.
You've been warned. If you're after a classic ratatouille recipe then Google has done you wrong and you need to go ahead and hit that back button on your browser. Otherwise, if you're here intentionally or if I've remotely piqued your interest, then stick around for my Nigerian interpretation of this well-known French Provençal dish.
My co-worker and I were recently discussing how much we love the Disney Pixar movie 'Ratatouille', which is about a rat with some mad cooking skills. It's got the perfect blend of humour, sentiment and drop-dead gorgeous animations of food (and Paris...but mostly food). If you haven't seen it yet, stop everything you're doing and go watch it! Or watch Remy the rat in action in the short clip below:
My coworker and I plan to recreate the traditional version at work one of these days, but I couldn't resist putting my spin on it first.
If you follow me on Facebook and Twitter, you'll know that I'm tackling NaNoWriMo again this year and making this dish provided a much needed break from the novel I'm working on. Not to mention that cooking never fails to inspire me and aid my thinking process.
Hope you have as much fun making this as I did. And don't forget to leave me a comment if you like what you see :)
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 small red onion (finely chopped)
- dried thyme
- curry powder
- salt to taste
Blanch the sweet potato slices in a pot of boiling hot water for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside with the rest of your thinly sliced vegetables.
To make the red sauce, blend the tomatoes, red bell pepper and garlic until you have a thick, chunky sauce consistency.
Heat some olive oil in a saucepan and add the red sauce, chopped red onion, tomato paste and a generous pinch of dried thyme and curry powder. Season to taste. Simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.
Grab a small oven dish and spread about 3/4 of the red sauce over the base. Arrange the vegetable slices in an alternating and overlapping pattern all the way around the dish, working your way around the edge and into the centre. Take the remaining red sauce and spoon that over the top of the vegetables.
Cut out greaseproof paper to match the shape and circumference of your oven dish and use it to cover the entire arrangement.
Bake in a pre-heated oven, gas mark 6, for 25 minutes until everything is cooked and tender. Peel off the greaseproof paper and bake for a further 5 minutes just to add some colour to the top.
Serve on its own with sauce drizzled around the plate and extra thyme to garnish, or serve with a few slices of wholegrain bread.
Earlier this month, I was invited to the exclusive blogger launch for the new, hotly anticipated range of vegan products by leading meat-free company, Quorn.
The event took place at The Ampersand Hotel in South Kensington on Thursday 15th October. As soon as I arrived, I was greeted by the Quorn representatives and offered a drink, along with a selection of mouth-watering vegan canapés. Aside from the great opportunity I had to try the new vegan range that evening, the event was also wonderful for connecting with other bloggers based in and around London - something I have mostly failed to do since my move to the city one year ago.
The atmosphere was laid-back and informal, and I had some really interesting conversations about veganism, food and blogging in general.
After the drinks reception, a presentation was given by Jen Shepherd, Digital and PR rep for Quorn Foods. It was highly informative and I found myself learning a lot about the origins of the company, as well as the reasoning behind their decision to launch a range of vegan products (which has been 3 years in the making).
The Vegan Society estimates that there are around 300,000 vegans in the UK - a diverse group who follow the lifestyle for a number of ethical, health and environmental reasons. Following growing demand for vegan alternatives across digital channels (and a total of four petitions!), Quorn decided to develop the Quorn Vegan Range, offering consumers two exciting 100% vegan products. The first is the Quorn Hot & Spicy Burger, which will be available at Asda and Waitrose from October 2015. The second, also available at Asda, is Quorn Vegan Chicken-Style Pieces. Both products have a recommended retail price of £2.49, which sounds pretty reasonable to me.
The presentation was followed by the opportunity to sample both products, which had been cooked up into delicious meals by the chefs at Quorn. My absolute favourite of the night was the hot & spicy chicken-style burger, which had a fantastic texture and my seal of approval on the level of spice. The Mediterranean socca (flat-bread 'pizza' with tomatoes and olives) was also a highlight. I was less sure of the stir-fry and did find the texture slightly too crumbly. However, as far as meat-free alternatives go, Quorn has certainly developed a strong product that rivals what is already out there in the market. Compared to another brand of chicken-style pieces that I have tried in the past, Quorn gets my top vote.
I am looking forward to seeing the range expand to other leading retailers in upcoming months. Although I tend to shy away from using meat alternatives in my regular day-to-day cooking, I am excited to test out the stack of recipes they were kind enough to send me.
If you would like to find out more about the products, be sure to check out www.quorn.co.uk/vegan.
Two years ago, I shared a ginger and chilli spiced hot chocolate recipe. Today, I've gone for peanut and ginger, a combination that seems odd at first, but one that works to a tee. I discovered that I liked this combination while experimenting with some raw, vegan energy bites. Along with freshly grated ginger, dried fruits and dessicated coconut, I decided to add a dollop of peanut butter and was left with a deliciously moreish mixture. I've taken that as the inspiration for this recipe, but gone a step further by adding a smooth, silky marshmallow cream topping and pieces of soft marshmallow.
The method for making the hot chocolate is easy as pie. The marshmallow is also pretty simple too but involves more processes. To create the marshmallow cream, you'll need to start off with aquafaba vegan meringue (which I used for my mango macarons recipe). The tutorial video below will show you exactly how the meringue is made. To that, you will need to add one tablespoon of xantham gum, which is what gives it the gooey marshmallow consistency.
Ingredients
For the hot chocolate:
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1/4 cup dark chocolate pieces
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 1 tbsp unsalted peanut butter (organic if possible)
- coconut sugar or brown sugar to sweeten (optional)
For the meringue cream and meringue pieces:
- 1 batch of vegan meringue mixture (see video above for recipe)
- 1 tbsp xantham gum
- extra vanilla extract
Start by making the marshmallow cream. The base is vegan aquafaba meringue. Add the xantham gum and a little extra vanilla extract while whisking in order to get a soft marshmallow consistency. It should look like this...
Place about a quarter of this mixture into a piping bag and pipe small marshmallow pieces onto a baking tray lined with baking paper...Place in the oven on the lowest setting and allow it to dry out slightly for about 10-15 mins so that it is still soft and spongy, but able to hold its shape. Leave to cool before peeling off the baking paper.
Next, make the hot chocolate by adding all the ingredients to a saucepan. Heat up the coconut milk, add the dark chocolate pieces, peanut butter and grated ginger, and bring to a boil...
Strain to get out any ginger pieces. Pour into your mug or glass, filling up 3/4 of the way...
Place the rest of your marshmallow cream mixture into a piping bag and pipe over the hot chocolate, working your way up and around in a swirl pattern...
Take a few of the baked marshmallow pieces and dot it around your swirl. Dust with a generous helping of grated dark chocolate to complete the drink!
As I mentioned in a previous post, I was billed to do a cookery demo at this year's London VegFest on Saturday 10th October. As it was finalised all the way back in April, I had six whole months to get used to the idea. Six months to tell myself that it's always good to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. Somehow, along the way, I succeeded in convincing myself of this. The day finally came and went and shock horror (!) I am still in one piece. The world is still spinning, the sun will continue to shine and life goes on.
In all seriousness, I have to say that the experience is definitely high up there on the list of cool stuff I've had the opportunity to do as a result of this blog.
I've always hated giving presentations - I dreaded every single one I had to give during my academic career - but the strange thing about this particular one is that I actually felt excited in the build-up to the event. Not a drop of nervousness. Not until the very last minute before I was about to start anyway! (And then I had my amazing older brother there to knock some sharp sense into me and provide the extra boost I needed to just get on with it).
I had a wonderful time cooking at the festival. The crowd was kind, responsive and encouraging - I couldn't have asked for more. Whenever I looked out and saw someone smile or nod in agreement or actually look interested, it made me feel as though I wasn't talking complete nonsense lol. It made it easier to share anecdotes and tidbits of information specific to Nigerian cuisine. As an aside, I have so much respect for professional food presenters who manage to engage so well with their audience! Serious props.
My presentation was far from perfect, but I have absolutely no regrets. Sometimes in life, you just have to give yourself a pat on the back for trying. I had fun, the feedback on my jollof rice was absolutely ace and I got to meet some lovely individuals in the process. If I get a chance to do a similar presentation in the future, I will totally learn from this experience and improve my technique where necessary.
Here are a handful of pictures taken by my brother, along with a video with clips from my demo (unfortunately the camera ran out of memory half way through so we couldn't film the whole thing...my fault for forgetting to free up enough space the night before!)
*Thank you to VegFest for the opportunity*
Unpacking all my ingredients and equipment...no such thing as over-preparing!
Printed some flyers for the audience.
About 20 minutes before the demo starts. Big bro helping put flyers out on chairs.
Still unpacking; silently wondering 'what the heck am I about to do?!'
My name on the cookery demo poster. Cool!
Also in the festival program. Yay!
Throwing on my chef coat. Bro cracking some joke.
Actual people turning up to watch!
My favourite shot. I actually look comfortable up there. Strange.
Plantain taking forever to brown. Quick...think of something to say.
VegFest crowd growing in the auditorium.
Audience trying the jollof rice/plantain/coleslaw, and asking questions. Great feedback!
Homeward bound. Obligatory sibling photo at the station before parting ways. Thanks, Tola!
