Vegetarian Chatter

[Cherished]

Amethyst in the Rough

Hi Kaz so nice to hear from you hon I've shared this one before but it's so yummy it's worth posting again if you missed it... so quick and easy and YUM YUM YUM! Just add as much of the herbs etc as you like to taste as I add way more than this recipe says... enjoy

Chickpea & tahini cassarole
Ingredients
• 2 (15-22 1/2 ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 3-4 cups cooked brown rice
• 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 medium white onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder (or equiv. fresh garlic)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano (or equiv. fresh)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil (or equiv fresh)
• 1-2 teaspoon dried parsley (or equiv. fresh)
• 3 tablespoons tahini
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds (optional)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Mix tahini and water until well mixed (it should get kind of"fluffy"). Set aside.
3. Spray 9x13 pan with olive oil.
4. Dump all ingredients into pan.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.
6. Add tahini mixture, stir until well combined.
7. Bake at 375°F for approximately 40 minutes, until top begins to brown.
8. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, and bake 5 minutes more.
9. Serve hot!

[Kazbah]

oooh that looks nice, might do that tomorrow, have all the ingredients here

Welcome Amethyst!

[luna moth]

Tahini....
first up, be warned that the jar stuff is not as good as the fresh stuff. I don't know why. Here are some things I use it for:
- stir through soups, makes them really creamy
- use in your hommus
- shake it up with lemon juice and sumac for a tasty salad dressing
- have it over steamed cauliflower (yum!)
- on rice cakes with some kind of chutney
- as a topping on ice cream
- put a little bit through your cake mixes, makes your cake super-rich, especially when used with citrus

...but I've also been known to just lick it straight off the spoon It becomes an addiction, especially the fresh stuff.

[Cherished]

...but I've also been known to just lick it straight off the spoon It becomes an addiction, especially the fresh stuff.

ahhhh SnugBug you always make me laugh!

They all sound like great ideas, gonna remember those

[NaNa]

just popping by for a second...
tahini mixed with honey is delish on sammidges and rice cakes. In Lebanon there is a dessert of tahini and sweet date molasses poured on a plate, half and half - looks great, and mopped up with little yeasted pancake type things called 'ataif. I use it in mtabal ( kind of like baba ganooj, I suppose) with super-smoky roasted eggplant, garlic and lemon, or make taratour sauce and have it with fried cauliflower, caramelised onions, raisins and pine nuts (there goes my cholesterol level thru the roof!). Mix with water, a dash of lemon, soy sauce, sugar and chilli powder for a Korean style sauce which is great on steamed broccoli and fried tempeh chips. There's a japanese dish of steamed spinach with sesame sauce which is pretty much tahini, but they often use black sesame seeds so it kind of looks like wet cement but it's yummy!
To be honest, I never really cook with it, but mainly use it as an ingredient in cold stuff like sauces and salad dressings. But I do have a Greek tahinopita cake recipe that is vegan, must try it out when I get a chance...
and that's all I have time for today!
Eat well!

[luna moth]

Steamed broccoli and tempeh chips.... I actually dribbled when I read that. OMG. Yums, NaNa.

We went to alibi room with my sis this morning for the Kombi Driver's breakfast. We ordered a large to share between 3, and were stuffed so full it was a struggle to get the car back up the hill. Yummo yum.

[Cherished]

Thanks NaNa that all sounds so yum! dh isnt' 'that' keen on any salad dressing but I'm sure if I made them with your sugestions I could convert him hehhe although his fav food is salad (with no dressing) so I might have to start wtih 'dressing on the side' like in a restaurant

[Kazbah]

hey quick q, what would you serve with the tahini casserole? mash taties? or just bread?

[Cherished]

Hi Kaz, I'd just go with salad at this time of the year or maybe some flat bread with some yummy hummus dip to go with it oh and NaNa's beetroot dip

[Peach*]

Morning Girls,

How is everyone?
Cherished- Good on you with your weight loss! And that is so nice your DH made a salad for the beach, I love the sunny coast the water is so nice up there you lucky thing! As for the rice paper rolls ive made them since my last post I told DP to suck it up and sorry but Im addicted and he will have to suffer the delicious repitition of 3 rice paper rolls a week We got a few different sauces including hoy sin(sp?) and kecap manis but I still prefer normal soy. And I still havnt used the bread maker Oh is there any way you could please re-post your tomato chutny recipie from way back?

Kazbah- Did you enjoy the chickpea cassarole?
Snuggly-What is in the kombi's brekkie? ANd where do you find fresh tahini? Thanks for posting the tempeh mix.
NaNa- Man you make some amazing food, I would never stop eating if I lived in your house, no wonder your DS eats all your food!
Aliash- Hello!
Amythyst-Welcome!

AFM- Made a delish stirfry last night with the most amazing plum chilli sauce we got from our local markets. Usual vegies, tossed with hokkian noodles, sesame seeds and more added chilli and voila! Tasted sooo good, next time Ill add cashews and tofu(had none in the pantry) soo yum.

[Cherished]

Peach here it is gosh it's so yummy and quick to make! I do put in what the recipe says on this one but heap the teaspoons and I add fair bit of coriander in... we love ginger and I added more one time but thought it was way too strong... because it's such a simple chutney the flavours come through nicely in the portions listed.

Tomato Chutney
50 ml cooking oil
6 fresh curry leaves
1 teaspoon cumin seed
½ teaspoon black mustard seeds
4-6 dried chillies
1 large finely sliced onion
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
1 teaspoon crushed ginger
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 cans peeled tomatoes
Salt to taste (1-2 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 tablespoon raw sugar
½ cup fresh coriander (finely chopped)

METHOD
In a frypan heat the oil then add curry leaves, cumin seed, mustard seed, dried chillies, sliced onion and cook for about 5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, mix well and cook for a minute then add turmeric powder, stir, then add tomatoes and salt and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes (stirring occasionally). Add garam masala, sugar, coriander and cook for a couple more minutes.

NB: Tomato Chutney can be kept in fridge for up to 2 weeks and served as an accompaniment or as a relish. Serve hot or cold.

[*Ash*]

Hi All, Welcome Amethyst (oh, I love amethysts!).

Just checking in briefly.

Peach, I am in LOVE with my bread maker. Last night, I made Calzone. The dough was made in the bread maker (only took 50 mins). I did 2 different fillings - tomato paste, crushed garlic, kalamata olives and red capsicum. The other half had tomato paste, crushed garlic, corn kernels and cheezley vegan cream cheese. They were delicious. DH and kids loved them...

I make a loaf of bread every couple of days, sometimes from 'scratch' and sometimes from a pack (Lauke brand) - but always wholemeal. I am going to try bread rolls next.
Cherished, I haven't done the spelt loaf yet. I'll get there eventually.

I will dig out my strawberry muffin recipe, and post it soon.

[luna moth]

Hey all. I had a girls night last night, DH is away. I made a vegan lasagne (one of them was absolutely blown away by it - I'm used to that reaction ) and a caramelised onion tart (caramelised onions and a bit of rosemary on a sheet of puff pastry - nothing spectacular) and greean beans with pine nuts and grape tomatoes.

It was good fun. I am loving green beans at the moment, our supplier has the sweetest most amazing beans. His corn is also incredible. He had an oversupply at the market yesterday so I bought 6 cobs, and on the way home was thinking I probably could have got more. So I'm going to make a pumpkin and sweetcorn risotto, that one's a definite. With the others, probably corn and tempeh burritos. And maybe at some stage a corn chowder or an asian corn and noodle soup with big tofu chunks. I'll keep you posted!

[*Ash*]

Yum Snuggly! Those corn ideas sound delish!
Well done for impressing a non-vegan with your lasagne.

With all the recent talk of rice paper rolls, I made a batch for lunch. Unfortunately, DD doesn't like them. She's not keen on the rice paper.

I made a Decadent Vegan Choc Cake today, and yesterday I made an Orange and Date Slice. I promise I will come back and post the recipes!

[luna moth]

DH has been in Melbourne this weekend, and has been to Vegie Bar twice! Not fair! He took all the boys (he's down on a bit of a boys weekend - they're playing in a bike polo tournament) there, and apparently they managed to get through an entree, main and dessert because they were so hungry. Now that is a feat!

[Cherished]

Hi girls I'm wondering if you can all share some ideas for my dinner party on Sunday night? I'm happy to have found out today that my dh's work mates wife is also vego so they will be happy with whatever we make.... But it's SO HOT here!!! gonna make some salads but am wanting to try something new to go with them, something quick that is cold or even warm would be ok but obviously something that i can prepare earlier if I have to cook it cause honestly I am boiling here and am really wishing we had paid for the central aircon when we built the house

Hope you are all well

[luna moth]

DH made a tofurkey for thanksgiving. A lot of stuffing around, but it's quite yummy and a bit of a novelty.
What about some rice balls or zucchini fritters?

[*Ash*]

oh, I am with you on the heat issue. We have had 3 days in a row of 39 deg...
ok, thinking of food that doesn't require the use of an oven....Can only think of rice paper rolls and nori rolls at the moment. I will have a think about it and get back to you....