Cauliflower buffalo wings

I’ve been vegan for a while now, more than 8 years in fact. So I can easily go a month only cooking things I’ve cooked before. (This is why I hardly ever post on this blog, especially now that travel is impossible.) But I’ve been meaning to try to make cauliflower wings for a while, and I often end up with half a head of cauliflower left over after my partner makes a vegetable curry. Finally, this week I made cauliflower wings: specifically, Cauliflower Buffalo Wings from BOSH.

One reason why I chose to make this particular recipe is that there’s no deep frying involved: the wings are cooked in the oven. I don’t prefer this for health reasons, I’m just scared of hot oil and so I don’t enjoy deep frying! Instead, after coating the cauliflower in batter and rolling it in breadcrumbs, melted vegan butter mixed with hot sauce is drizzled over the partly-baked cauliflower, then returned to the oven to bake until golden brown. Yum!

We had these for lunch and we all thought they were delicious. Kid #2 said “Chef’s kiss!”. I also made the ranch sauce to go with it, but sadly I didn’t have any fresh parsley in the house, so the sauce was plain, but nice. I’ll definitely make this again and make sure I’ve got fresh parsley on hand.

Balila Lebanese Cuisine, Huntingdale VIC

Back in February, I visited Monash University, Melbourne. I stayed with good friends who live in Huntingdale, and they took me to dinner at Balila Lebanese Cuisine and Cafe.  It’s an omni place but with lots of amazing vegan options. I had the vegan mashawe, and everything on my plate was delicious. I particularly liked the white fluffy garlic sauce (so strong! so tasty!). 

I hope that I will have a chance to eat at Balila again one day.

Flashback: lunch at the Green Lion

Back in mid-March we went to lunch at the Green Lion, Rozelle.  This was our first trip to the Green Lion, which is an all-vegan bistro above a pub.  (I recommend that you avert your eyes from the taxidermy lion at the base of the stairs.)  I think it was kid #2 who ate the bean beef taco, pictured above.

Kid #1 had lasagne and chips.

My partner sampled the crumbed chicken burger…

… and I couldn’t go past the “Chicken Schnitty”, which was very tasty.

During this shutdown period, the Green Lion is selling vegan ready meals out of its warehouse in Lilyfield, Sydney.  I’m sure I’m not the only person looking back longingly at lovely lunches at the Green Lion.

The Ship Inn, again

When we visit my in-laws in the UK, every second Christmas, I like to take advantage of the fact that they live just outside Newcastle upon Tyne, home of the Ship Inn, Ouseburn. I ate there for the first time during my last visit, and made sure to return this time.

Deciding what to eat was not easy but I ended up choosing the jackfruit shawarma. Everything tasted really fresh and delicious.

I also enjoy the decor and general atmosphere.

So many choices on this menu that I want to eat.  Why, oh why did we only come here once during our stay?  Why is this place on the other side of the world from where I live? (I know, it wouldn’t do me much good to be there now, since we’re all staying at home all the time for the foreseeable future.)

Nice kingfisher too.

Two more Amsterdam meals

After a lovely weekend with my friends in Amstelveen, I moved into a cute hotel in Jordaan for a week of work.  I had most of the day to myself on the Monday, and took myself to Meatless District for lunch.  I had a Tofu Hollandaise, served with asparagus and rocket.  It was very tasty and satisfying.

On my last evening in Amsterdam, a Thursday evening, I had dinner here with my work colleagues.  It was really busy, with people at the bar and lots of people eating. We had a good meal (I had a burger) but sadly, no photos.

On my final breakfast in Amsterdam I walked down the street to a place called Healthy Belly, and had these pancakes with coconut cream.  Delicious.

Afternoon snack with “Just Add” pepperoni

Last Saturday afternoon I wanted a substantial snack.  Here is what I ate:  some homemade hummus, some carrot sticks, roast chickpeas (marinated in leftover marinade from making carrot hotdots, then roasted) and the star of the show, sliced and fried pepperoni from Just Add Vegan Products.

Just Add is a new venture by my sister Leigh Drew, author of vegan cookbooks including Veganissimo! and Greenilicious.  Her aim with Just Add is to provide dry mixes in sustainable biodegradable packaging. To turn the dry mixes into delicious food, just add liquid and follow the instructions.  To make the pepperoni, you tip the Just Add dry mix into a bowl, add oil and vegan stock, knead for a couple of minutes, shape into two logs, wrap up in alfoil and steam:  the usual process for making seitan.

The pepperoni is very tasty with a good amount of heat.  So far I’ve enjoyed my pepperoni slices in sandwiches and on its own, or in snack bowls like this one.  Other Just Add products include hot dogs, burgers, a ham that I can’t wait to try, and a cheesecake (base and filling).  Look out for Just Add at vegan markets in Melbourne (and sometimes Sydney!) and follow Just Add on instagram to get sneak peaks of upcoming products currently being tested.

Shenkin, Enmore

It was hard to decide what to eat when I visited Shenkin at Enmore.  In the end I ordered the Forest bowl, with cauliflower, broccoli, pumpkin, chickpeas, carrot and hummus. Everything was beautifully prepared and the combination was very tasty and satisfying.

Trip to the Sydney Vegan Market

Last week we went to the Sydney Vegan Market at Moore Park. We got there around 11am and it was already quite busy… by lunchtime it was absolutely packed.  So many great things to eat, it was hard to choose.  I had two corn fritters with a tomato quinoa salad.  In fact, mine also had a scoop of avocado mash on each fritter, but I was so keen to eat it that I forgot to take a photo!  So I went back to the stall later and took a photo of someone else’s order (with permission).

There were also lots of yummy sweet treats to choose from.  I managed to get the very last slice of raspberry-topped cheesecake from Rhubarb Bakes.  Mmm, happy tastebuds.

A big reason why we went to the markets last weekend was to see my sister Leigh, who was there selling products from her new business Just Add.  I’ll do a post on Just Add products separately, when I’ve prepared a couple more of her products at home.

Vegan san choi bow

I made this recipe for vegan san choi bow from delightfulvegans.com . The mixture includes some carrot, baby corn and water chestnuts fried with tofu and lots of yummy flavourings.  My kids are normally not that keen to eat lettuce but they both really enjoyed these.  I accidently added the fresh mint early, during the cooking stage: next time I would wait and add it at the proper time, right at the end for maximum flavour.

Vegan in Vancouver

I just got back (well, on Monday) from two weeks in Canada.  I spent the first week in Vancouver, where I found some yummy things to eat.  I had some time to kill on my first day before I could check into my hotel, so I walked to Kokomo in Chinatown and ate a Breaky Bowl, featuring tofu scramble, spicy tempeh crumble, roasted squash, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, rice and seeds.  A very healthy and tasty start to the day (and a nice change from airplane food!).

The next day I planned a walk specifically to grab brunch at Edible Flours, a vegan bakery in Kitsilano.

So many vegan treats, both savoury and sweet, and several gluten free options. Not a great photo (below) because of the reflections, but you get the idea.

I had a spinach, tofu and artichoke roll (right) and a cinnamon roll (left) with a coffee: from memory, an oatmilk latte.  All were delicious.

Then it was time for the conference which I had come to Vancouver to attend.  Imagine my joy when I noticed that there was a hole-in-the-wall selling vegan puddings, just across the road from the conference venue!

The people at Vegan Pudding & Co are really onto something. I had a strawberry pudding, topped with whipped coconut cream and double-chocolate sauce.  It was rich and creamy and I wish I could eat another one right now.

My last lunch in Vancouver was at Nemesis where I had the vegan version of the Raddest Cauli Hash.

My friend had the non-vegan version and she was jealous:  I got avocado on top of mine and a really fresh pesto underneath. This dish was a really nice mixture of flavours, colours and textures.