Category: Veganmofo17

Secret Ingredient: Vegan Mofo Day 10

On By ClareIn products, Veganmofo171 Comment

I couldn’t pick just one so here are my top five flavour enhancers:

Liquid Smoke

liquid smoke

Can someone tell me why liquid smoke is not more readily available in the UK? If you haven’t tried it then all you need to know is that liquid smoke is smoke that is collected in condensers. Smoke in Liquid form. It’s that simple and using it is simple too. You can throw it into chills, sauces, marinades. And we all know smoked things taste better.

White Miso

miso

White miso is a star. As well as using it in Japanese cooking you can also use it to make things taste creamy and cheesy. I use it in my Tomato Rissoto. If you are in the UK stay away from Clearspring. It’s gross.

Smoked Salt

cornish sea

Smoked Salt is way more accessible in the UK than liquid smoke. Obviously it’s salt that has been smoked. Use it where you would use salt. I like to put it on veggies before steaming them.

Toasted Sesame Oil

tso

Use as a finishing touch. I like to think of toasted sesame oil as the magic ingredient that makes stir fries and fried rice taste incredible. One step that can really elevate your cooking.

Worcestershire Sauce

ws

Regular Worcestershire sauce has anchovies so look for the veggie version. When you you find it though you’ll never be happier. Here in England we use it to give simple meals a bit of pep. Shake it into your baked beans, or on cheese on toast. Or try it in a veganised Yakisoba.

Go, go, gadget: Vegan Mofo Day 9

On By ClareIn Kitchen, recipe, Veganmofo173 Comments

This week vegan mofo is focusing on what happens behind the scenes in our kitchen. Our first prompt is about gadgets. This presents me with a problem: I have never met a gadget that I didn’t want to buy. I have the instant pot and the vitamix and I love them both. But better people than me have written about them, written books even. So I’m going back to basics. I’m going to tell you about the one appliance that no self respecting English woman would be without. Meet my electric kettle.

kettle
Fancy Pants Kettle

Like any kettle our kettle boils water but it also has a few special features. You see we are serious about our tea. Not serious like we’ll only drink one brand of tea bags. Serious like we’ll only drink loose leaf. And it needs to be brewed right. That means the water has to be the correct temperature. This is very important. If you put boiling water on your tea you’ll just get a cup of tannin which is useful for dyeing but awful for drinking. You can set our kettle to heat water to different temperatures depending on what type of tea you are drinking. I love it.

pots
Various Tea Pots

The other thing we use our kettle for is making hot chocolate. Hot chocolate is best, of course, when you heat your milk on the hob before adding you chocolatey stuff. Sometimes, though, you are on holiday. Or guide camp. Or you’re up in the middle of the night coughing your guts up. Then you need instant. As I’ve never seen a vegan instant hot chocolate I’ve started to make a mix up myself. It has coconut milk powder, which isn’t the most neutral taste but it does go well with chocolate.

hotchocolate
instant chocolate

Instant Hot Chocolate Mix

1 part caster sugar
2 parts hot chocolate powder
3 parts coconut milk powder

Mix all the ingredients together and store in an airtight jar.

When ready to make you hot chocolate put the kettle on to boil, while it’s warming up place 2 tablespoons of in a mug and cover with an equal amount of water. Whisk together to make a slack. Carry on whisking as you pour the boiled water into the cup.

Enjoy (once it’s cool enough)

You do make friends with salad: Day 8 of vegan mofo

On By ClareIn Veganmofo171 Comment

Well I survived trekking to Wembley arena with a group of teenage girls and a case of bronchitis. And I use the word survived very loosely. I’m shattered. And hungry. I needed to make a salad for mofo. Let’s go!


If I need to cook something guaranteed to be awsome then I’m going to flick through my collection of trusted recipe books. If it’s salad I’m after then I turn to Salad Samurai. After checking through my fridge I found I had the ingredients for BBQ Tempeh ‘n’ Dilly Slaw Bowl. Gorgeous raw vegetables in a refreshing ranch dressing, packed with punchy dill and topped with succulent BBQ tempeh. A salad to make friends with.

I’m going back to bed now.

Original Vegan: Vegan Mofo Day 7

On By ClareIn bento, Veganmofo171 Comment

Today is all about food that is naturally vegan, that is food that does not imitate products that come from animals. I’m out on a trip today so I’m doing that through the medium of bento boxes. This is what I’ve got packed for lunch today.

Top layer: Mixed grapes. Onigri with peas. 


Bottom Layer: A couple of these itsu Vegetable Fusion Gyoza. Carrots, peppers and kale stir fried with a little soy and mirin. 

Those gyoza are amazing. They come with a little dipping sauce and cook in three minutes. You could be snacking on them within five minutes of realising you are hungry. They make a perfect addition to the bento stash. 

Bentos are a great way to show off naturally vegan food because you can have lots of little servings of different veggies. I’m a little out of practice, looking at it now I can see where I could have squeezed some edememe or veggies on a bento pick. But I have to get up at 3:45 so we’ll leave it at that.