avi: Made this when I was about... oh, 13? 14? >_> (Default)
2010-03-02 11:19 pm
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Pesto sauce!

Basil Pesto

Cooking time: ~5 minutes

Ingredients:
  • ~12 stems fresh basil (i.e. roughly a full bunch from most Sydney fruit & veg shops)
  • 20g pine nuts
  • 2 tablespoons (heaped) margarine
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/4 cup soymilk
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 3 slices soy cheese (I use Tofutti soy slices)
  • 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (a.k.a. savoury yeast flakes)

Instructions:
  1. Pick the basil leaves from their stems, discard the stems.
  2. Blend everything until creamy. Or, if you like your pesto a bit more chunky... blend everything until chunky :)
Serve on pasta or gnocchi, or use it as a sandwich spread ^_^
 
avi: Made this when I was about... oh, 13? 14? >_> (Default)
2009-12-05 01:14 am
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Tomato, Mushroom and Olive Pasta Sauce

Tomato, Mushroom and Olive Pasta Sauce

Cooking time: ~15 minutes actual work, then another 30 minutes on the stove to cook.

Ingredients:
  • 3 small tubs tomato paste concentrate (I'll update these quantities once I get my hands on the weights)
  • 1 can crushed tomato
  • 1 jar green olives, preferably Spanish and stuffed with pimento
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped basil
  • 2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
  • 2 teaspoons finely chopped oregano
  • 30 mL red wine
  • 350g hard tofu, chopped into 1cm cubes
  • 300g cup mushroom, sliced just about any way you want
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
Note: If you don't have access to small enough quantities of fresh herbs, you can use dried almost as well. You can also substitute the separate herbs for an equivalent amount of "Italian Herb Mix".

Instructions:
  1. Mix everything in a pot.
  2. Add water equal to 2/3 the volume of tomato paste- the easiest way to do this is to just fill two of the empty tomato paste tubs with water and add it to the mix.
  3. Stir.
  4. Heat until the sauce starts bubbling, stirring slowly while you do. If you don't stir, it might build up pressure below the surface of mushrooms and spew hot sauce everywhere.
  5. Turn down the heat to low, cover with a lid, and cook for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
  6. Serve liberally on pasta or gnocchi. Serves as few as 6, or as many as 10 in a pinch.
avi: Made this when I was about... oh, 13? 14? >_> (Default)
2009-05-19 11:33 am
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Instant Tomato Tachina Wondersauce

This is just about the simplest pasta sauce I will ever be seen to use. It's also good as a dipping sauce, sandwich spread, barbeque sauce... you name it :D Now I just need to figure out if my virus-ridden throat is up to trying pasta, yet   x_x

Tomato Tachina Wondersauce

Cooking time: ~2 minutes

Ingredients:
  • 2 tbsp organic tachina/tahini (pure sesame seed paste; non-organice can be used but it just doesn't taste the same)
  • 2 tbsp tomato sauce (American: ketchup)
  • a few drops of lemon juice
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • optional: zaatar
Instructions:
  1. Mix the tachina with about an equal amount of water, preferably near-boiling. Cold water will work, but you'll be stirring for a while and cursing as you do.  It should come to the consistency of a creamy sauce. Too thin? Add more tachina. Too thick? Add more water! Remember to increase the other ingredients to match the rough final amount of tachina.
  2. Add the tomato sauce, lemon juice, and garlic. Mix vigorously.
  3. Optional: If you're feeling zesty, throw in a few pinches of zaatar, or just use it as a dusting over the top.
And that's it! Done! I tend to mix mine in with freshly cooked pasta for a simple meal when I can't be bothered with any elaborate cooking procedures. Boil pasta, mix tachina, eat ^_^

Leftover sauce can be stored in the fridge in a sealed container for a few days.
avi: Made this when I was about... oh, 13? 14? >_> (Default)
2009-05-19 10:06 am
Entry tags:

Thai-style sauce for satay stir-fry

So, assuming you know how to make a stir-fry (use this post as an example or ask google if you don't!), here's an alternate recipe of my satay sauce for a more Thai-style flavour.

Man. This is just going to become my recipe dump, at this rate XD

Thai-style satay sauce

Cooking time: About 5 minutes

Ingredients:
  • 250mL coconut cream
  • 250mL peanut butter
  • 2 tsp dark soy sauce
  • 2 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 tsp tamarind paste
  • 2 tbsp vegan fish sauce
  • 1 tsp hotsauce (vary depending on how spicy you like it! Indonesian hotsauce works just as well as Thai for this)
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar OR palm sugar

Instructions
  1. Put the coconut cream and peanut butter in a bowl. Microwave on high for a minute or so to melt the peanut butter, then stir until mixed. Note: The peanut butter does not have to be completely melted straight out of the microwave, mixing will finish the job if it's warm enough.
  2. Add all other ingredients. Mix.
  3. Use! Recommended for use as a stir-fry sauce, but you could use it as a dipping sauce if you simmered it in a saucepan for about 10-15 minutes beforehand. It's okay uncooked, but it's just not worth it when you could experience the full flavour with some minimal cooking time!
avi: Made this when I was about... oh, 13? 14? >_> (Default)
2009-05-18 10:04 pm

Old: satay stir-fry with hokkien noodles

Okay so. I posted this up quiiiiiiiiiiite a while ago on the vegancooking community on lj. The recipe has evolved a bit since then, but I thought I'd put it up here anyway so I can keep track of it. I've also come up with a more Thai-style variation of the sauce, so I'll post that up soon :D

Satay stir-fry )