Lentil Greek Salad

This is a filling, fresh and tasty version of Greek Salad. Perfect for a quick lunch. I topped it with some vegan feta. My two favourite brands of vegan feta in NZ are Angel Food Cheese and Zenzo.

Ingredients (serves 4)

2 cans lentils, drained and rinsed
250g cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cucumber, chopped
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 block vegan feta
Optional: 1/2 cup olives, chopped

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 lemon juice
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp maple syrup
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Salt & pepper to taste
Pinch oregano (optional)

Method:

Mix all salad ingredients together in a bowl. In a jar, mix dressing ingredients and shake to combine. Pour over salad and mix then serve.

Vegan Thai Peanut Curry

Anything peanut flavoured is always a winner and this curry is no different! A tasty meal for the whole family with wok fried vegetables and tofu to top the delicious coconut, peanut sauce.

Ingredients:

4 portions rice, cooked

Marinated tofu:
600g tofu, chopped into bite-sized cubes
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp sesame oil

Vegetables:
1 carrot, sliced
1 broccoli, cut into florets
1 can baby corn, drained

Thai Peanut Curry:
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, diced
1 chilli, chopped
1 inch ginger, grated
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp paprika
500ml veg stock
3 tbsp peanut butter
1 tsp coconut sugar (sub brown sugar)
1 tbsp soy sauce
Optional: 1-2 tbsp vegan fish sauce (I used Culley’s )
400ml coconut milk
Salt to taste

Method:

First marinate your tofu by placing marinade ingredients in a container, adding the tofu and shaking until tofu is coated. Set aside.

Add onion, garlic, chilli and ginger to a large fry pan and fry until soft. Add spices and fry for a minute or two. Add stock, peanut butter, sugar, soy sauce, vegan fish sauce (if using) and coconut milk and simmer for 15 minutes. Season with salt.

Meanwhile cook rice and fry veggies and tofu in a separate pan until golden. Once golden add any remaining marinade to the veg/tofu.

Serve curry, rice and veggies together topped with sesame seeds and coriander.

Eggplant Spaghetti Bolognaise

This is seriously the best best best spaghetti bolognese I have ever made. A super tasty meal that you can make for the whole family.

I found some tins of already fried eggplant in tomato sauce at Moore Wilson’s which you can use instead. Just replace the eggplants and 1 x can of tomatoes with 2 x tins of Tamek Fried Eggplant 380g.

Ingredients

3 eggplants, sliced into strips and fried with salt and pepper to taste until they’re soft
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
3 cans of crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 can lentils, drained and rinsed
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp maple syrup
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
Salt & pepper to taste

4 portions of spaghetti

To Serve
Cashew Parmesan
Parsley

Method

Heat olive oil in a fry pan (you can reuse the one you fried your eggplants in) and add in the onion and garlic. Fry until translucent.

Add spaghetti to a pot of boiling water and cook for 20 or so minutes until soft.

Add fried eggplants and the rinsed lentils to the frypan. Cook for a few minutes then add in the rest of the ingredients and simmer until reduced. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Serve with the cooked spaghetti and some parsley and vegan cashew Parmesan.

Enjoy!!

The Ultimate Vegan Bagel

This is my absolute favourite bagel filling combination. I just had it four days in a row for lunch, I’m so obsessed! You can also add hummus to this bagel for something extra, but it is also good as is.

Ingredients:

1 block tempeh, cut into slices

Vegan cream cheese

Tomato slices

Balsamic glaze

Basil

Salt & pepper

Bagels

Tempeh Marinade:

3 tbsp tamari

1 tsp maple syrup

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

A few drops of liquid smoke

Method:

Place tempeh slices in a container and add all marinade ingredients. Close the container and shake it until the marinade has spread throughout evenly. You can either place this in the fridge to marinate further or cook tempeh straight away.

Cut your bagels in half and toast. Spread cream cheese over both halves (or one half hummus, if using, and one half cream cheese). Top one half of the bagel with tomato, salt & pepper, balsamic glaze, the cooked tempeh and basil then place the two bagel halves together and enjoy.

Pumpkin & Caramelised Onion Ravioli

This is hands down the best ravioli I have ever eaten! I highly recommend making this for a date night at home.

Ingredients

Pasta Dough

1 cup flour

1 cup semolina

2/3 cup water

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

Filling

1/2 medium sized pumpkin, cut into bite size chunks

1 onion, caramelised

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

Salt & pepper to taste

Butter Sage Sauce

Large bunch sage, chopped

1/4 cup margarine

1/4 cup pine nuts

Method

To make pasta:

Mix flour, semolina & salt together in a bowl. Make a well in the middle then pour in water and olive oil. Mix until a dough forms, knead into a ball, cover and refrigerate for 30 mins.
Divide dough into four and feed through a pasta maker until about 3-4 mm thick. If you don't have a pasta maker, hand roll out until you have the above thickness. You may have to work with smaller amounts for this. Using a cookie cutter or jar cut out your ravioli from the dough, can be any shape you like.

To make filling:

Roast pumpkin with olive oil, salt & pepper. While this is roasting caramelise onions in a fry pan. Add pumpkin then mash or blend pumpkin and onions together. Doesn’t have to be too smooth. Small lumps are fine. Add soy sauce, paprika, garlic powder, salt & pepper and fry for a few more minutes. Make sure you taste and adjust seasonings to what you think is good!

Spoon a little of the mixture into half of the ravioli cuttings and place the other half of the cuttings on top, sealing the edges well with water.

Bring a pot of water to the boil and cook ravioli.

To make sage butter:

Melt margarine in a saucepan on a medium heat and add sage stirring until fragrant. Add the pine nuts and take off heat once the pine nuts start to brown.

Serve ravioli on a plate and drizzle over sage butter. Enjoy!!

Vegan Mini Pizzas

These mini pizzas are super delicious and perfect for dinners, freezing and snacking on throughout the week or taking to a picnic. They are sure to impress anyone you make them for!

Ingredients

Pizza Dough

1.5 cups warm water

1 tsp dried yeast

4 cups plain flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup olive oil

Toppings

Pizza sauce - my favourite it Mamia’s Ethiopian sauce

Spinach

Sunfed Chicken-Free Chicken (optional)

BBQ Sauce

Olives

Vegan cheese of your choice

Method

For the pizza dough, combine the warm water and the yeast in a bowl and leave for 5 minutes until foamy. In a separate larger bowl mix the flour and salt together then make a well in the centre. Add the oil and yeast mixture and mix until combined then get your hands in and knead for ten minutes until a smooth dough forms (or knead in an electric mixer with a dough hook attachment). It’s a good sign if the dough is a bit sticky.

Brush another bowl lightly with oil then place the dough in the bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rise in a warm area for an hour or until the dough doubles in size. 

Preheat oven to the highest temperature possible. 

Sprinkle a surface lightly with flour and knead the dough for another minute. Then divide the dough into as many pizzas as you like. You want them to be at least 10cm in diameter when you roll them into pizza shapes. Keep them slightly thick if you want puffy pizzas but they will rise slightly. Roll each one into a disk then place on a lined baking tray slightly apart from each other. 

Add your toppings then bake in the oven for 7-10 minutes. Enjoy hot or freeze and eat as snacks throughout the week!