Saturday, October 24, 2015

Mushroom Roulade

I got this idea from here:

http://mouthwateringvegan.com/2012/12/07/lentil-mushroom-spinach-spicy-nut-roulade-your-perfect-sunday-roast/

This is an incredibly time consuming and fiddly dish whose taste does not reflect the effort to put it together.


INGREDIENTS
4 Tbsp olive oil
6 large mushrooms, chopped into small pieces
1 400g can brown lentils, washed and drained
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cups cooked spinach
6 to 8 sundried tomato halves
1 tsp hot curry powder
¼ tsp corianderpowder
salt to taste
the zest of a small lemon
2 Tbsp tomato paste
¼ tsp onion powder
1/8 cup water
EXTRAS
¾ cup hazelnuts, 10 halved walnuts finely chopped (you can process them in a food processor, but don’t make powder of them, they still need to be in small pieces).
1 cup vegan melting cheese 
2 Sheets short crust pastry  


METHOD
    1. Fry the mushrooms and garlic in a large frying pan, mixing all the time.  Then, after a few minutes of letting them sweat, add the tomato paste, the curry powder, and the onion powder, and mix. A minute later, add the cooked lentils, and stir.
    2. Add the spinach, and the remaining ingredients, except for the ‘Extras’ – those are for later.  Cover, and allow to simmer gently for 20 minutes – the mixture should be thick, rich and very aromatic.  Remove from heat, and allow to cool for 15 minutes or so.
    3. Next, place your thawed pastry sheets on a clean, baking paper, and roll the pastry sheets together in such a way that you create one sheet approximately 10 by 7 inches.
    4. Now spoon thick spinach and lentil mix onto the pastry sheet – if the mixture’s still too hot, you may have to wait a few more minutes for it to cool down further – it should be no more than lukewarm.
    5.  Once your mixture is ready on the pastry, flatten and evenly distribute it using the  back of a large spoon (see picture).  Then add the grated vegan cheese, and top with the roasted nuts – leave a few nuts for dusting the sides of the roulade at the end.
    6. Now start slowly rolling the mixture away from you, until you reach the end.  You might feel you need an extra hand, so if anybody is around at home, do not hesitate to give a shout.  No panic, if any bits fall out of the side, just gently finger them back into place.
    7. Wash your hands at this point, dry them thoroughly, and dust the remaining nuts on the open sides of each end.  Brush the roulade with vegan milk, then make horizontal ‘surface-cuts’ at half inch intervals on the surface of the dough, but don’t put any weight on it whilst you do this.  These will be your markers for each slice once cooked.
    8. Preheat your oven to 200ÂșC. Then line a suitably sized oven-proof dish with grease proof paper from end to end, and then grease it just the same.  Lift the roulade up gently using the baking paper trim the excess.
    9. It should take 20 minutes to turn golden brown, remove and slice.
The recipe really didn't work for me. It was way to watery and simply didn't roll up well. I think it might work well as a pie but as a roulade it did not. 

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Vegan Massaman Curry (?????)


Why the question marks?

Because I think any time faux meat is used is dodgy. So here goes.

Fry 2 tbsp massaman curry paste (Maploy brand)

Add 400mls coconut cream

Add 300 gms frozen faux beef meat ( This is the dodgy bit, I don't know what is in it)

Meanwhile cook 300 gms of potato (cut to prefered size, in this case small)

Combine with:

1 sliced bell pepper150gms sliced capsicum
1 block fried tofu, cubed
150gms  fried baby corn

Simmer for 20 minutes and serve with rice (jasmine)