Wednesday 11 January 2012

Felafaaaaaay…

Firstly, I wanted to share with you the name suggested to me by L-whack for the name of this blog. I went around to his place last night and boldly announced that I had started a blog!! He looked a little surprised but then I told him a bit about it (and that he is known as L-whack), and read out my first post and he complimented me and said I had written very well. I smiled bigly J

He then asked me if I’d named the blog DJ VegStar Raw….. DAMN IT!! Why didn’t I think of that?!!!?!

Anyways, after our gym workout last night, we headed to Coles to pick up some dinner. We’ve tried Australian Eatwell vegan burgers (which are YUMMY!) and we wanted to try Papa Nut head (as L-whack calls it). We had these burgers on some fresh cape seed bread with some salad – I added some sweet chilli sauce (I am totally addicted to sweet chilli – tell me ONE thing that doesn’t go with it) and away we ate. To be honest, I prefer Australian Eatwell burgers. They have a nicer consistency, a better flavour and they don’t leave an unpleasant taste in the mouth after… Even the Boost chocolate bar I consumed afterwards didn’t get rid of the taste………

I’m going to attempt to make my own vegan burgers – I just need to find the time to do so!! They’ll be easy I’m sure – just whack it all in the food processor and whizz away. Just like the falafels I made on the weekend (see below).

I came across a super yummy recipe today – apple sharlotka – and I’ll bookmark it to attempt in the next couple of weeks. Although it’s not a vegan recipe, I’m going to ‘veganise’ it. Instead of 3 large eggs, I will add ‘No Egg’ which is an egg replacer. Sounds odd, and I was a little unsure at first but after baking a couple of cakes using it, it totally gets the thumbs up! My friend Shannon has told me a couple of other egg alternative combinations, but I keep forgetting. Stupid brain.

For Christmas, I bought myself my mum gave me two vegan cook books – Veganomicon and Appetite for Reduction. There are some seriously tasty looking recipes in both these books (and most definitely some seriously scary ones too!!). I decided to make a quick and easy Saturday night meal for L-whack and I, and as I had bought some multigrain tortillas during the week, I decided to have a go at making my own hummus and falafels (or felafay as L-whack called them on our first date!).

I started with the hummus. Chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice and a little bit of cumin. Easy. I followed the recipe (one from online, not the books) and whacked it all in the processor, but the juice of one lemon was waaaaaaaay too much. So I added another tin of chickpeas and a little more oil. Let’s just say that L-whack appreciated the fact that I had made my own hummus, but we both felt the recipe lacked balance and that it needed some improving. Onwards and upwards – I shall attempt another batch this weekend!!

(Did I mention that during our first date, L-whack had a piece of spinach stuck in his teeth the whole time –I just didn’t know how to tell him, so I didn’t mention it… muhahahaha!!)

Anyway, the felafel recipe came from Appetite for Reduction, and bloody hell they were tasty. Instead of frying them, I oven baked them – hmmmmmmmmmmm. The only thing I would change next time is that instead of hand mashing the chickpeas with a fork (what the eff was I thinking?!!), that I would just throw everything into the food processor and pulse until it was all combined.

To prepare the wraps - spread a big spoonful of hummus on a tortilla, add some fresh crunchy lettuce and diced tomato, add 2 felafel (which I broke in half) – and that’s dinner!!

Hmmm… I’m hungry now. Damn it. Gotta go find something to eat.

2 comments:

  1. Hi there, I did the vegan challenge in Feb last year and stayed vegan for a couple of months afterwards, then back to vego again, but finally in November went cold turkey on dairy and eggs and now vegan for almost three months. I too loved eggs and cheese but after a few short weeks you find that you don't really miss them as long as you are eating satisfying foods and trying new recipes that excite you. Good luck on your journey and look forward to reading more :)

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    1. Thank you for the encouragement kindercuisine, and well done to you on going cold turkey (or is it cold tofurkey?!!).

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