Author: Clare

Cruelty free cook, crafty lady, obsessive reader, animal babysitter, and mistress of lego

Review: Bombay Express Veganuary Menu

On By ClareIn Torquay2 Comments

All the month long our local Indian take away and restaurant Bombay Express is serving up a four course Veganuary special. Some of the dishes are taken from their usual menu, some of them are brand new, all of it sounded delicious, and with members of the local Vegan Facebook group planning a meet up we thought we’d eat in for a change.

After popadoms for the table the vegan menu gives you the choice of vegetable spring rolls or vegetable samosas. Which was a little disappointing. Kate got the spring rolls and I got the samosas and aside from the shape there wasn’t much difference.

The pastry was nice and crisp but the filling was pretty standard. The salad garnish of crisp lettuce, tomato, cucumber slice and lemon wedge is fine when it comes with your take away but looks a little plain on the side of your starter.

There was more choice for the main. Kate went with her all-time favourite: saag aloo. I had channa masala. Both of these dishes are on our regular order and Bombay Express make them well. I especially like the channa masala, the sauce is silky and the chickpeas are cooked just right. We each got a side of aubergine bhajee, naan bread and a rice.

I wasn’t expecting to be that excited by the naan but I was. I love a plain roti but there is something special about naan which I didn’t realise I even missed before I bit into it. The aubergine was lovely too. The sauce was flavourful and it was the high point of the meal. So I stole Kate’s portion while she wasn’t looking. We really enjoyed our main. It was a struggle to leave room for the dessert. But we did. Because we knew what was coming.

Coconut Chocolate Tart. It’s gluten free, it’s vegan, it’s delicious. It’s everything you want in a tart. The chocolate filling is smooth and light. You barely know you’re eating it. Then you realise you have no more chocolate left, sob a little and hope it stays on the menu past the end of January.

Bombay Express is at the top end of Belgrave road and their Veganuary Menu is available for the rest of the month.

Recipe: Oregano and Lemon Chicken wraps with Linda McCartney Pulled Chicken

On By ClareIn recipeLeave a comment

I was thinking up ways to turn a bag of Linda McCartney Pulled Chicken into lunch other than making tacos. I decided that this time I’d go a little Mediterranean and use seasoning inspired by Greek food. Although we used wraps this time this would also make a great stuffing for pita breads or even those folded flatbread thingies. Add in the salad of your choice — here we’ve gone for rocket — and you’ve got yourself lunch. This recipe makes enough filling for two.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 clove of garlic crushed

2 teaspoon dried oregano

Half a bag of Linda McCartney Pulled Chicken

A pinch of salt

Juice of half a lemon

A wrap and some salad, to serve

Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the garlic when hot. When the aroma of the garlic is released, after about 30 seconds or so, add the chicken and a pinch of salt.

Cook for four minutes, stirring every now and then to prevent sticking.

Add the lemon juice and a tablespoon of water to help plump up the chicken. Cook for a further three minutes.

Wrap it all up.

Review: Fat Gay Vegan, the book

On By ClareIn booksLeave a comment

I’ve followed Fat Gay Vegan for… well much longer than I’ve been vegan. I’ve always admired his commitment to creating an open, inclusive vegan community. One where everyone is welcome. As at tubby, bi, working class girl I can occasionally feel shut out, and I know others have it worse. I was excited to receive a copy of the book Fat Gay Vegan in January’s Vegan Kind box, and after two days of reading I can tell you I wasn’t disappointed.

Just a reminder: I only turned vegan myself back in May, so to me the first couple of chapters, ‘Why Vegan?’ and ‘Vegan 101’ were super useful. Not because I don’t know what a vegan is, or why I am one but because it’s always nice to hear these things from someone who is a bit better at the articulate thing then I am.

The book starts to delve deeper in the chapter ‘Vegan Means Vegan’. And I think any vegan, new or old, is going to love this bit. And learn from it. Life skills like how to politely, but firmly decline things that aren’t vegan (and why it’s not social suicide) lead us into the next chapter: ‘Ethical Vegan’.

This chapter stops you in your tracks, and points out areas you could be doing better. It asks if your veganism is respectful of humans as well as non-human animals. It’s a blueprint for an intersectional veganism that respects all life. But it’s not preaching, it’s not insulting, instead it gently invites you to do better. Encourages you to do better. And if you are wondering how the next chapter on ‘The Importance of Community’ might give you a few tips.

After that the book touches on travelling as a vegan and lays out a hopeful vision of the compassionate future we could create. And overall this book is hopeful, it’s positive. Yes, it’s about the necessary changes we need to make both in the world and the wider vegan community but I’m left feeling like we can make those changes. We can create a world where no animals suffer to feed us, and people aren’t exploited bringing crops to harvest. We can create a vegan community that welcomes all people, that doesn’t use othering to sell its point to a wider audience, that doesn’t exploit others trauma for cheap comparisons. Fat Gay Vegan isn’t a step-by-step guide as to how we’ll manage all that but it gives you a good starting point.

Fat Gay Vegan by Sean O’Callaghan is published by Nourish Books

Offshore 2, this time it’s breakfast

On By ClareIn Devon, TorquayLeave a comment

I’ve written about Offshore, their vegan menu and their surprisingly meaty burger before but I’m a bit of a completist so I wanted to go back for breakfast. We had the chance over Christmas when it was one of the few places open that were dog friendly. Well it’s dog friendly outside but with the mild climate of the English Rivera, heaters, and our coats on it was good enough for us.

For me it was avocado and lime on a split English muffin. Took a bit of explaining when the chap taking our order thought I wanted the version with the poached egg but we got there in the end. Now I’m going to say something controversial. I think there was a bit too much avocado on this one. It was heaped on. So for the first time I’m going to recommend the avocado be spread a bit more finely. That felt odd to say.

Kate was onto a winner though. She ordered the vegan version of the full English. I think this is the best vegan full English in the bay. As much as I like home made beans and vegetables instead of sausages sometimes I just want Heinz. To everything there is a season, sometimes you have to go with the classics. Here they have done the classics really well. That sausage was meaty and perfect. The beans came out of the tin. There were hashbrowns. Best full English in the bay.