Strawberry Biscuits

Strawberry Biscuits from Vegan Dad on Vimeo.

The first Ontario strawberries have made their appearance so it is time for all things cobbler and shortcake! This is a riff on Peter Reinhart's biscuits in Artisan Bread Every Day (much like my teff biscuits): they are veganized and sweetened but use the same method to produce a light, fluffy biscuit. The video is a touch long, but I wanted to show you the folding method in real time so you can see that it really is rather simple and quick to do. The trick is to keep everything well-floured. Here is the ingredient list:

INGREDIENTS

- 1/4 cup margarine

- 1/4 cup vegetable shortening

- 1 cup chopped strawberries

- 1 cup soy milk

- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

- 1/2 cup icing sugar

- 1/4 cup sugar

- 2 1/4 tsp baking powder

- 1/4 tsp baking soda

- large pinch of salt

Ethiopian Potatoes and Peas with Split Pea Puree

This is really just an Ethiopian vegetable stew repackaged a different way that photographs well and would make for a nice dish at a dinner party. You can eat this with a fork or spoon, or scoop it up with traditional injera. If you are using injera, make sure the potatoes are cut small enough to be picked up with your fingers.

INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup yellow split peas, rinsed
- 3 cups water
- 1.5 lbs small red potatoes
- 2 tbsp oil
- 2 sweet onions, halved and sliced
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp minced ginger
- 1 tsp tumeric
- berbere to taste
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tomato, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- water as needed
- 2 tbsp margarine
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- pinch of allspice and cloves
- 2 cups peas, fresh or frozen
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 cup water
- parsley, to garnish

METHOD
1. Boil the 3 cups of water and get the split peas cooking. Simmer, covered, until very soft and breaking apart.
2. While split peas are cooking, parboil the potatoes, whole, for about 10 mins until tender but still firm. Rise with cold water and set aside.
3. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Saute onions for 15 mins, until golden brown. Add pepper, garlic, ginger and spices and cook for 5-8 mins more, until onions are a deep brown. Add tomatoes and bring to bubbling.
4. Drain split peas in a fine sieve and add to the onion mixture. Add tomato paste and mix well. Blend until smooth in a blender or food processor, adding water as needed and adjust seasonings as taste. The mixture should be pourable but not runny. Set aside.
5. Heat margarine in a frying pan over medium heat. Cut potatoes into bite-sized pieces and fry until golden. Add add spices and fry for 2 mins. Add peas, paste, and water and mix well. Let bubble until peas are cooked and mixture has thickened.
6. To serve: pour some lentil mixture into a shallow bowl. Top with some potato mixture and garnish with chopped parsley.

Everyday Whole Wheat Bread

Everyday Whole Wheat Bread from Vegan Dad on Vimeo.

My first recipe video. I did not like the video quality via Blogger, so I created a Vimeo account and posted it here from there. I also had to drop the soundtrack because of copyright issues (Facebook deleted it right away), so I will have to work on that. I think I have learned a bit about colour schemes, lighting, shots, etc., so hopefully these get better over time (like learning how to spell "hydrated.") Here's the ingredients if that helps:

INGREDIENTS

- 17 oz hard whole wheat flour

- 1 tbsp instant yeast

- 18 fl oz warm soy milk

- 11.25 oz white bread flour

- 2.25 tsp salt

- 4.5 tbsp sugar

- 3 oz oil

Happy 2nd Birthday, Vegan Daughter!

Today we celebrated Vegan Daughter's 2nd birthday with this Holly Hobbie cake. She doesn't actually have a Holly Hobbie doll, but she does have a bonnet that is very Hobbie-ish. Vegan Mom picked up the cake pan at the library and I pulled out this recipe for the cake batter. I used it once before for my Valentine's Day Edible Art and found it a little tough and chewy. I had to triple the recipe to fill the pan (the perfect amount) and played around a bit with the ingredients and amounts. I left out the flax (totally unnecessary, I think), upped the soy milk to 2.5 cups (for the triple recipe), the sugar to 1.5 cups, and the oil to 1/2 cup. The cake worked perfectly in the pan and took 50 mins to bake (I always find it tricky to bake in these pans so the entire cake is cooked). The final product was still a bit dense so I may concoct a recipe next time that is somewhere between this one and Isa's cupcake recipe.
This cake also forced me to learn a new skill: making drop flowers. It took a few times to get it right, but I think I did pretty well in the end. The funky part is that you make the flowers on parchment then freeze, carefully transferring them to the cake when needed. Also, I did not have the proper leaf tip so I just shot some green icing around to get the same effect.

Crispy Chinese Tofu Balls

After posting this recipe and asking for advice on how to make the batter crispier, many of you replied with very helpful advice. Basically, you advocated for 3 things: chickpea flour, rice flour, and/or some kind of starch. I did not have any rice flour, so I went with cornstarch and chickpea flour. Success! The batter crisped up nicely and did not tend to burn like the previous recipe. I also upped the vital wheat gluten to make sure the tofu was not too moist, and made smaller balls. I think the flax might be superfluous with the chickpea flour but I kept it anyway. So, there is some room to play with this recipe. Have fun!

INGREDIENTS
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 3 tbsp chickpea flour
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp plain soy milk
- 1 tbsp finely ground flax seed
- 2 tbsp warm water
- 1 pkg extra firm tofu, pressed for 20 mins
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp poultry spice (or to taste)
- 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
- ground white pepper
- 1-2 tbsp vital wheat gluten
- oil for frying

METHOD
1. Heat your frying oil to 375 degrees.
2. While oil is heating, make the batter by whisking together flours, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk flax seed and water together until thick, and then whisk flax mixture into the soy milk. Whisk wet into dry ingredients. Add more liquid or flour as needed. The goal is a thick pancake batter consistency--not too thick, but not so thin that it drips right off the balls. Refrigerate until ready to use.
3. Make the tofu balls: mush the tofu in your hands until very fine and clumping together. Add spices and hoisin sauce and mix well. Adjust seasonings to taste. Sprinkle the wheat gluten over top and mix in. Form into about 30 balls, not too big.
4. To fry: dip a few balls into the batter, letting any excess drip off (I use 2 spoons to coat the balls and transfer to the oil). Fry for 1-2 mins, until very lightly golden. Drain. Repeat with remaining balls. Return first set of balls to the oil, letting fry until a deep golden brown. Drain and serve with your sauce of choice.

Chinese Tofu Balls

Every time I make tofu ricotta I think to myself that I should try to make a fried tofu ball not unlike the fried chicken balls I used to scarf down at Chinese buffets back in the day. I would like to get the batter a little crispier, so if anyone has some tips please pass them along. (UPDATE: see this recipe).

INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour (plus extra for dusting)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup plain soy milk
- 1 tbsp finely ground flax seed
- 2 tbsp warm water
- 1 pkg extra firm tofu, pressed for 20 mins
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp poultry spice (or to taste)
- 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
- ground white pepper
- 1-2 tbsp vital wheat gluten
- oil for frying

METHOD
1. Heat your frying oil to 375 degrees.
2. While oil is heating, make the batter by whisking together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk flax seed and water together until thick, and then whisk flax mixture into the soy milk. Whisk wet into dry ingredients. Add more liquid or flour as needed. The goal is a thick pancake batter consistency--not too thick, but not so thin that it drips right off the balls.
3. Make the tofu balls: mush the tofu in your hands until very fine and clumping together. Add spices and hoisin sauce and mix well. Adjust seasonings to taste. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of wheat gluten over top and mix in. Check to see if you can form into balls, and add more gluten if needed. Form into about 16-20 balls, not too big.
4. To fry: dust a few balls with flour, then dip into the batter, letting any excess drip off. Fry for 1-2 mins, until very lightly golden. Drain. Repeat with remaining balls. Return first set of balls to the oil, letting fry until a deep golden brown. Drain and serve with your sauce of choice.