Vegan ingredients resource list

I've written a little vegan ingredients resource list to coincide with my vegan ebook, Australian classics veganised. I'll be adding to it when I write my next book. 

For convenience I use the terms cheese, butter and egg. There are loads of different terminology but I find a lot of it rather clumsy and annoying to edit although I appreciate some people prefer words without animal product connotations.. 

Custard powder

Custard powder is not dried, powdered custard. It is made up of thickeners, colours and flavours and resembles traditional custard when combined with sugar and non-dairy milk. It should not be confused with 'just add water' instant custard which contains eggs and milk. 

Dairy free butter

Dairy free butter is readily available in most supermarkets. It should not be confused with margarine which has whey and casein. A true dairy free butter is made from plant oils such as canola, olive and coconut oil. Nuttlex is readily available in Australia and Alsan S in Europe. 

Dairy free cheese

Dairy free cheese have undergone amazing growth and innovation in the last ten years. You can choose from tofu, nut and coconut oil based cheeses. It's worth reading the labels though because at least one tofu cheese in Australia contains rennet (an enzyme produced in the stomach of mammals).  You can also of course, make your own. Violife is probably the most popular cheese of late that is widely available in Australia and Europe. 

Dairy free chocolate

 Dairy free chocolate can be bought in some supermarkets and all health food shops. Dark chocolate is generally dairy free but check the ingredients list. 

Dairy free milk

Dairy free milk is easily available in most supermarkets and includes rice, soy, oat and nut milks. I use oat milk mostly in cooking because I like it, but any of these are fine. 

Egg replacer

 Egg replacer is made from a variety of raising ingredient like potato flour and corn flour. It can be used as an alternative to eggs in pancakes, cake, biscuits, burgers etc. Powdered egg replacers cannot be used to create egg recipes such as scrambles or omelets. (Tofu and also Chickpea flour work well though, stay tuned for a future recipe!). 

I've bought Australian company Organ's egg replacer in Australia, England and Europe. 

Golden Syrup

Golden syrup is a thick, amber-coloured form of inverted sugar syrup, made in the process of refining sugar cane or sugar beet juice into sugar, or by treatment of a sugar solution with acid. It is used in a variety of baking recipes and desserts. It has an appearance similar to honey, and is often used as a substitute by people who do not eat corn syrup. Some people make their own but I've never tried it. It's easily found in Australia and the UK and in some international shops in Europe. Agave and maple syrups work well as substitutes but treacle should be avoided due to it's overpowering taste. 

                                   

Jackfruit

The jackfruit tree is a widely cultivated and popular food in tropical regions of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, SriLanka, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Phillipines. Jackfruit is also found across Africa and throughout Brazil. Jackfruit is the national fruit of Bangladesh.

You can buy jackfruit in large Asian supermarkets. It most commonly comes tinned and is available in the tinned fruit section.Make sure you buy the one that comes in brine water than syrup as the syrup is really sweet. The sweet one (not suitable for savoury dishes) looks like this:

This is the one you want:

 It has a stringy texture that when cooked and shredded resembled shredded meat. Thus the fruit is a great option as an alternative to meat in vegan dishes. You could use it in tacos, pies, pasta, casseroles...many options! I like to use it to make jackfruit bournignon. You can also of course use it in desserts once sweetened with other fruit or sugars.

                            

Macadamia nuts and oil

Macadamia nuts and oil come from a species of tree indigenous to Australia and native to North eastern New South Wales and central and South eastern Queensland. They are available in most supermarkets and delicatessens everywhere. 

Soy granules/TVP

Soy granules (also known as textured soy protein and textured vegetable protein) are a dried soy product which can be soaked in stock or water and when cooked resemble minced meat. They are pretty bland so lend themselves well to herbs, spice and sauces. 

Stock cubes/stock powder

there are lots of stock products which are animal and msg free but resemble the spicing of meat dishes. These can be used in soups, sauces and all kinds of dishes. Massel is probably the most well known brand and is available in all Australian supermarkets. 

Vegemite

Vegemite is a dark brown Australian food paste made from leftover brewers' yeast extract with various vegetable and spice additives. It is wonderful on toast or when added to casseroles and curries to create a rich umami flavour. It should not be confused with Marmite and Promite that are vastly inferior products. It is readily available in all Australian supermarkets, Tescos in London and expat shops around the world. If you are an expat overseas it is worth noting that it cannot be carried onto planes, customs will confiscate it as a liquid! 

Food for thought

January is always a bit of a nothing month in some respects. But I must confess to loving the cooler weather, it makes it better for sleeping, that's for sure! I have Timehop on my phone and I look back at the hot weather with dread this time in previous years.

Sadly our sweet Mr Pablo was put to sleep last Friday. He had been unwell for some time with old age and was starting to suffer. We went to a wonderful vet clinic here who assessed him and concluded that the end was near. He wasn't eating or drinking so we made the decision together to put him to sleep. He had a wonderful 18 years, four is which he shared with us. We both miss him terribly. I keep expecting to see his little face peeking around the corner of the apartment or hear his meow. When we get settled somewhere permanently, we'll certainly get another kitty but not for a while yet.

I released my first ebook this week, Australian Classics Veganised. It's a small recipe book of 11 recipes. I initially planned to do a blog post consolidating a series of Australian vegan friendly recipes from different bloggers but I did not get many entries. So I decided to put that project on hold and work on my first recipe book. Keeping busy is a good way to work through grief. Writing recipes is more work than it looks, I know this from teaching recipes! Hopefully people will buy a few copies, I'd love to spend the money on some new glasses. I'm also donating 50 cents from each copy to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne, Australia. I'm also doing a little guide to ingredients included in in the book on the blog here. It was originally intended for the book but the formatting of the publishing program posted each ingredient on a separate page, annoying.

You might have seen Leipzig in the news regard the Lediga and Anti-Lediga protests? Its interesting to observe as an expat. We went along to the first big protest against Lediga Monday last week with over 30,000 Leipzigers. Those numbers are amazing considering that Leipzig only has 550,000 people. The Lediga people (including many from outside Leipzig that are bused in) pledge to protest each week. There has been bomb threats and assault upon police and journalists. I actually wonder what their final aim is?

Thing that interest me this week:

The science behind your sriracha obsession, Sarah Jacoby, Refiney 29. Yes I love the stuff.

This is such a cute idea for a party.

How to cook the perfect Vegetarian Haggis, Felicity Cloake, The Guardian. I had Haggis for the first time last year when i went to a Burns day party.

We need to remember Anita Cobby, Clementine Ford, Daily Life. I read a book about her life and death in high school and it's haunted me ever since.

I've read a couple of new Chick lit books this week (as... ahem... research). I was especially disappointed with Sophie Kinsella's latest, Shopaholic to the Stars. Painfully littered with American stereotypes (in the worst way), it lacked the wit and humour of some of her other works. Saving Grace was interesting in that the story was superficially compelling but really had so many red herrings that were never developed and a 'baddie' that never got their comeuppance. Of course, my mood over the last week has not been all that cheerful with Mr Pablo's death so it possible I would find any books inadequate.

I've been watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix and Season Two of Broadchurch.

Lots of bits and pieces to be getting on with, write again soon...

Moving to Germany: Greetings from Leipzig

I've been an absent blogger but this time, with good reason, I've moved countries! Chris, Mr Pablo and I now reside in Leipzig, Germany. We've been here just over 2 weeks, and it's certainly been a ride.

How's it all going? I'll divide into good and bad in dot point form to give you a wee snap shot. I've had a rotten lurgy so have been too unwell to explore much or cook much so my lens is somewhat limited to local haunts.

Bad (and some good)

• I left my mobile phone on the plane to Frankfurt. Despite contacting the appropriate authorities it was never handed in. And it's not worth much either. Luckily Chris sent a phone to his Dad in the UK which he doesn't use so he's posting it to me. Hence the lack of photos
• We had major dramas with the Lufthansa and Mr Pablo. In short, he was left in Frankfurt whilst we flew to Leipzig. I caught a train back the next day (four hours each way) and spent 5 hours in animal cargo/customs/animal cargo/ et al. All of these places were a fair distance from the main airport and required driving to each. Yes, neither the airline or pet travel company detailed any of this. Stressful, very stressful. I was very lucky to befriend a kindly cab driver who spoke English and really helped me out. In his own time for free. As we'd caused a bit of a rucus at Lufthansa the day before when we realised Mr P wasn't loaded onto the plane. I also had a lovely Lufthansa animal staffer called Armando helping me out. It's when you depend on the kindness of strangers that you really value goodness in people.
• I developed a rotten sore throat and ear infection and bad cough a couple of days after arriving. Probably the same lurgy that struck everyone back home. I needed to see a doctor and did a google for doctors who could speak some English. 

• Ah the joy of the German medical system. Appointments could only be made by an online form and the place was closed all weekend. Despite sending two requests for an appointment I received no reply. So went down to the clinic which looked like a weird hospital DDR style. The receptionist was dressed in white and didn't speak English (fair enough). We were all offered tea and coffee in the waiting room. Called in to see a student doctor perhaps in her 50's. Explained symptoms and asked how to say ear in Deutsch. She suggested holding my nose and exhaling repeatedly with my mouth closed. I explained I had tried this repeatedly and my ears have been ringing at a high volume for days and are extremely painful. Then her supervisor came in (wearing shorts and t shirt hehe) and changed the battery of the ear checker, digging it far enough into my ear that I screamed. He then showed the student comparable pictures of ear infections on google pics and pointed to mine. They decided that a nasal spray from the chemist would work and if it wasn't better in 2 days go back for a prescription for  'very serious treatment-' antibiotics. I'm cursing myself for not bring a pack with me from Australia. It's times like this I miss Brunswick Betta Health, as crap as it was. That said, the appointment was free and the nasal spray was 2€. It contains water and essential oils.  ( I returned for another visit and since my hearing is still impaired, I received a script for antibiotics and a referral for an ear specialist if the antibiotics don't fix it).
• The chemist was like going to a liquor shop with no booze on show. There were sweets and bandages but I couldn't see any drugs. If you are planning a trip to Deutschland bring all the drugs. Upon advice of other expats I took 6 months worth of my prescription meds with me to Leipzig.
• It's been really hot. 36c today which is of course, not as hot as Melbourne but there's no air con anywhere. Poor Mr P in his winter coat!

Things that are just a bit weird or different

• We only have one key for the apartment, for both of us. We are not allowed to copy the key. I am terrified of losing the key. When we next leave the country we will try get some copies made overseas. 
• Supermarkets are interesting. Each supermarket has at least three full aisles of booze and a comparative amount of meat. I have never seen so much meat in my life in all it's forms. I have bought some vegan bratwurst however. 
• You get charged a tax on any bottles (glass or plastic) that you buy. These can returned to the store for a refund. 
• Despite scouring supermarkets and health food shops, I am unable to find bicarbonate soda in quantities bigger than 50g, more than single sachets of yeast or baking powder, ice cube trays or shower puffers 

(these things) 
I am debating whether to wait until I go to the UK next or buy all of the above on ebay. 

• Sausages are hugely popular. Even when a sausage stall is located next to indian and thai restaurants for the same price, people will opt for the sausages. 
• Ice cream parlours are very popular, serving huge sundaes. I have enjoyed a few due to lurgy recovery. Great gelato!
• Downloading aka torrenting is heavily penalised. We have a proxy but I miss being able to d/l at whim.

The natural museum near our apartment . It currently has an exhibition about Australia, complete with posters of badly taxidermied kangaroos. 

The Good

• Despite speaking very little German I can generally get by. Chris is fluent and I am keen to do a proper intensive course once the schools reopen in August. I have done German lessons in Australia, it's just hard to remember! Unlike Berlin, most people don't speak English unless they are younger. 
• There's a fruit and veg market twice a week in the town square with lovely fruit, veg, bread, flowers etc.
• Booze at the supermarket is ridiculously cheap. When you go out, beer is the cheapest followed by wine, mixed spirits (like a gin and tonic) are expensive by Australian standards but the wine is good. 
• Buffet brunch is really popular here on the weekends. I love brunch! 
• It's great living in the city and being close to things. It's a walk to shopping centres, the town square, cafes and restaurants etc
• Our cargo arrived without any damage. 
• Yesterday I found the Leipzig version of Brunswick st/Smith st in Melbourne. A big second hand store like Savers where I bought a skirt, plenty of bars and interesting restaurants. It's 8 tram stops from our house, nice and close. 
• My ears are still blocked but my throat is better and hopefully I'll be well enough next week to get stuck into working on my book.

 We can attest the fire station is still in operation

Stay tuned for more pics once I have a phone again!

Selling my bike!

2012 model of the Great women’s bike in good condition, this is the 2012 model of the Breezer Uptown 8. 

The saddle has been replaced with something far more comfortable, the Electra Amsterdam Comfort seat and the cabling has been tidied up as on the original model, cabling would slip a lot. 

It's a fantastic bike, especially if you are on the shorter side like me and find a lot of Amsterdam bikes simply too tall. 

Pick up available Brunswick or I am happy to arrange a courier at your expense. Bought for $1000 selling for $600. Will throw in my shiny red retro helmet for free. Interested? Email me or give me a call on 0433584889

SPECIFICATIONS

Sizes: (17.5″), M (19.5″), L (21.5″), XL (23.5″) Low-Step: XS (15″), S (17″), M (19″), L (21″)
Color(s): Black Satin/Mineral Brown, L.S.: Black Satin/Cobalt Blue
Main frame: Breezer Custom Aluminum, Single Water Bottle Mount
Rear triangle : Breezer Custom-Tapered Aluminum, Horiz-In Dropouts
Fork: Breezer CrMo w/ CrMo steerer, V-Brake Mounts
Crankset: Shimano Nexus FC-NX75, 38T
Bottom bracket: VP-BC73C Cartridge Style
Pedals : Wellgo CO21 Aluminum Body w/Kraton top and CrMo Spindle
Front derailleur NA
Rear derailleur NA
Shifters: Shimano Nexus Revo, 8-speed
Cassette: Shimano, 18T
Chain: KMC Z-51
Wheelset: Shimano Dynamo 3N20 6V-3W Front Hub, Shimano Nexus 8 Premium Rear Hub, Alex DH19 36H Rims
Tires: WTB Freedom Cruz Elite w/Reflex, 26×1.5″
Brake set: Tektro 857AL V-Brake
Brake levers: Tektro CL530
Headset: VP-H692W
Handlebar: Breezer Aluminum, 26mm Rise
Stem Breezer Aluminum, Quill Style
Tape/grip: Breezer Open End Ergonomic Kraton rubber
Saddle: Breezer Comfort Saddle
Seat post: Breezer Suspension Aluminum 40mm Travel, 350×27.2mm
Fenders: Polycarbonate w/Integrated Lighting Conductors
Headlight: Busch & Muller Lumotec Fly LED w/Standlight Feature
Taillight: Basta Riff Steady LED w/Standlight Feature
Rear Carrier: Breezer Tubular Aluminum w/Spring Clip
Other: Axa Solid Ring Lock, YWS Chime Bell w/Black Anodized Chime

Loving Hut, Northcote

I went along to Loving Hut in a good mood thanks to $5 wine (Tuesdays 4pm-7pm, Northcote Social Club) and a hungry belly. I wasn't sure what to expect, I can't eat too much soy or gluten. The lay out of the restaurant is white, big and spacious with plenty of light and weirdly, a TV showing scenes of the 'natural world'. We were rather taken with the otters frolicking. There's no alcohol but I enjoyed a fermented ginger beer with passionfruit ($4.50).

                                                
Chris and I arrived early and as we were hungry decided to order an entree. Money bags, deep fried (presumably) filled with mung bean, mushroom and tofu ($7). They were nicely done but we found the filling very bland. They came with sweet chilli sauce which I'm not a fan of. I really should just carry Srircha around with me!
                                              
                                               
For mains, despite my limitations, we decided to order something a bit different to our usual veggie options at Asian restaurants,  'Southern Fried Chicken' and a mixed mushroom stir fry and two bowls of brown rice. We were a bit confused when this above appeared at the same time as a friend's identical order which contained a pile of the 'chicken'. And why rice when we'd already ordered two bowls of brown rice which were sitting next to the dish? We queried the waiter and he said we'd been given the lunch version by accident he'd bring some more out. No dramas. They were tasty, chewy goodness with a general sprinkling of salt, five spice and other seasons. The insides had the texture of chicken. Oddly, the extra chicken we were given failed with the spices, and was definitely lacking in the five spice.  The sauce you can see didn't taste like soy mayo so I'm not sure what it was made of. It would have gone nicely with a big green salad, or even potato curry rather than rice.

I enjoyed the stir fry five mushroom dish ($12) , the mushrooms were chewy and tasty without any particular seasoning. it was a really generous serve, we didn't finish them.

Other folks at the table enjoyed the entree crumbed prawns, bean curd and veg stir fry with crispy noodles and Mongolian 'beef' (the latter was a huge sizzling plate of mock meat, definitely best shared amongst friends I think!).

Would I come again? Yes, but more so with a group of people who like to share a bunch of different dishes as a table so I could get more vegetables. Too much mock meat for me alas (of my own choosing) so I'd make different choices next time. Otherwise I'd come at lunch, it's a nice airy space for a lunch meal with a book.