Valentine's Day Recipe: Decadent Chocolate Mousse

Whether you want to make a big day out of Valentine's Day or you just want to stay home and cosy up in front of the telly, you can enjoy this super luscious and creamy chocolate mousse with your loved one, a friend, or just by yourself (one can never enjoy too much chocolate!). It is easy and affordable to make; all you need is a blender and the following ingredients.

Check out our video to see exactly how to make this chocolate mousse:

Ingredients: (serves two people)
200g firm tofu
100g dark dairy-free chocolate
2-3 tbsp soya cream
2-3 tbsp sweetener: agave syrup, maple syrup, brown sugar, etc.
coconut cream to serve

Instructions:
Melt the chocolate with the soya cream over low heat until they are smooth. Pour this into the blender, adding the tofu chunks and the sweetener. Blend in stages; you will need to stop the blender every 15-20 seconds to stir around the mixture with a spoon so you can get all the bits from the side of the bowl near the blades, as the mousse will be slightly thick for the blender to process. Serve when you are happy with the consistency.
Chill in the fridge for half an hour if you like, or serve as is with whipped coconut cream, fruits, chocolate sprinkles, dairy-free ice cream, etc.

These ingredients are available in any UK supermarket. We found the dairy-free chocolate in the Free From section in Morrison's; the soya cream and the coconut cream are from Morrison's as well. The tofu was purchased in Tesco Metro, as well as the sweetener.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! <3

Chinese New Year: Vegan Spring Rolls With Peanut Sauce

Happy Chinese New Year!

This coming year is the Chinese year of the dragon. This year it falls on the 23^rd of January (Monday). Traditionally, the feast for New Year’s Eve will include meat such as duck, chicken and pig, but even Chinese people can be vegan (anyone out there, reading this, perhaps? Drop us a comment! :) so we have decided to veganise some traditional recipes. Starting with delicious and very popular spring rolls…

If you’ve ever tried making spring rolls, you’ll know it’s not the easiest task in the world! They like to come undone when you’re cooking them in the oil. It’s a bit of an art, and one that Emily and I have not quite mastered yet, but practice makes perfect (and that means loads more spring rolls to eat!). Don’t worry if you end up with “mutant” rolls; we had quite a few, and they were the tastiest of all.

Emily looking very fancy and Eastern

We have also created a peanut sauce that you can dip your delicious veggie rolls in. It’s incredibly rich and decadent, you’ll love it!

Wear something red, it brings good luck :)

Ingredients:

For the rolls: these ingredients are mere guidelines and can be altered as desired. Choose vegetables you like; these are the ones we like to try. Remember to taste as you are cooking to know if your combination is working for your palate, and tweak your recipe as you go along. Most importantly, have fun and be creative!

Carrot

Spring onion

Beansprouts

Cucumber

Chinese leaf

A dash of oil, preferably sesame

Salt and pepper to taste

Chinese style rice pancakes

For the sauce:

5 tbsps peanut butter

3 tbsps warm water

2 ½ tbsps Chinese rice vinegar

1 ½ tbsp soy sauce

3 tsps brown sugar

Instructions:

1. Bring your chosen ingredients in the quantities you like in the food processor. We chose equal amounts of gem lettuce and beansprouts, with a couple of chopped carrots, a few chestnut mushrooms and few chopped spring onions. Add 3-5 tbsps of sesame oil, or any oil you have, and blend for just a minute. You don’t want everything to turn into a paste; it should be a little bit ‘mushy’ but still mostly solid. This will simply make it easier to roll the whole lot in the pancakes.

2. Soak the rice flour pancakes (ours are from Morrisons) according to package instructions, then place a little bit of the vegetable mix in the middle. Fold two sides opposite to each other; then a third side over the vegetables, and then roll to the last open side to make a close cylinder shape.

3. Fry in some oil or deep fry them if you have a deep fat fryer. Or eat them cold if you like.

For the sauce, simple combine all ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate (or heat it up in a saucepan if you want it hot). 

Don't forget to look at the video for this recipe on our youtube channel!

Enjoy :)

Vegan Christmas Pudding

Because vegans need to stir wishes in their puddings too!

Take a look at the video for the Christmas Pudding Recipe:

Ingredients: (makes 2 medium puddings)

- 275g breadcrumbs
- 100g dried apricots
- 100g dried pitted prunes, chopped
- 225g raisins
- 225g sultanas
- 225g seedless raisins
- 50g almonds, chopped
- 75g walnuts, chopped
- 225g muscovado sugar
- zest of an orange or lemon
- mixed spices, optional
- 1 apple, cored and diced
- 150ml brandy
- 3 egg replacers with water
- 150 ml non-dairy milk

Instructions:

1. Combine all the dry fruits and nuts in a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar, the apple, the zest and the breadcrumbs. Add the mixed spices if you want to. Stir to combine well.
2. Add the wet ingredients (milk, eggs replacers and brandy).
3. Pour the batter in the puddings bowls and cover them with first a square of baking parchment (because it's non-stick), then a square of aluminium paper of the same size. Make a sort of plait on the top so the pudding has some space to rise. With a piece of string, fasten the two layers, making a handle on the top to pull the pudding out of the pot (see later). You can see the method performed in detail on the BBC Food website.
4. Steam the puddings in a large pot for about 7 hours. Refill the water throughout the period of steaming and be careful not to pour water higher than about two thirds of the bowl, otherwise you'll get water in your pudding.
5. Steam for 2 hours prior to serving.

Making a Christmas pudding is a very lengthy process. Needless to say, you will need to stay home all day to make this, but I think baking for a whole day is part of the charm of the winter holiday season.

Exotic Frosty Christmas Log

What's better than a beautifully glazed yule log? An exotic one, of course!

The coconut milk gives such a rich, creamy texture to a gorgeous classic. Look out for the subtle and oh-so-sweet flavour of the banana. This sweet vs. bitter contrast will surprise your guests. Be prepared to serve second servings!

We adapted this recipe from the BBC Food Christmas Chocolate Log. As you can tell, we love the BBC Food website; it's sort of our Bible. To replace the eggs, we simply used about 250ml of soya milk. Technically, if you want to substitute soya milk for eggs, you should add 1/4 cup or 60ml of milk for each egg, but that would have made our dough far too liquid. We also had to add some flour; how much we cannot say exactly because we added gradually until we were happy with the consistency. Basically, you want to end up with a thick but still silky smooth dough that will spread nicely in your pan. 

(If you want to do a bit more research on egg substitutions, take a look at this.)

You may need to rely a little on your instincts with this one, but fear not: we did just that and it turned out so beautifully. We cannot wait to serve our yule log at our Christmas party. 

Ingredients:

- approx. 200--250g self-raising flour

- 250ml soya milk. If you want a nuttier flavour, go for almond milk; for a super-sweet flavour, use rice milk 

- 1 banana

- As many tablespoons of dark chocolate powder as you like

- 150g brown sugar

- 250--300g icing sugar

- 100ml coconut milk

- buttercream icing (any flavour you like). We got ours from Tesco, and it's accidentally vegan.

- small nuts to decorate

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven at 180ºC.

2. Mash the banana in a mixing bowl. 

Add the sugar and chocolate powder; combine well. Pour in the soya milk and blend until well combined, then add the flour. 

Don't forget to lick the bowl.

3. Pour the mixture into a swiss roll tin lined with baking parchment. It doesn't matter if it spreads out rather thin; ours did too and it was still perfect in the end.

4. Bake for 15 minutes. 

5. In the meantime, combine the icing sugar and coconut milk. Put in the fridge while the swiss roll bakes.

 

6. When the roll is done baking, let it cool completely. Slather on the buttercream really thickly. It's Christmas, that means no self-restraint!!!

7. Roll the flat "cake" into a swiss roll. Pour the coconut icing on top of it and decorate with the nuts (or whatever you like, really). Store in the fridge.

Enjoy :)

Easy Peasy Pumpkin Pie

Take a look at our video for an easy peasy pumpkin pie!

It's ridiculous how easy this recipe is. It takes five minutes to put it together, after which you can relax for 45 minutes while it's baking. 

Ingredients:

- one can of pumpkin puree

- 250ml soya milk*

- 100g sugar**

- 30-50g flour

- one sheet of roll-out shortcrust pastry

* You can also use rice milk if you want to make it a little sweeter.
** Or if you're a sugar junkie, add some more.

Instructions:


1. Combine everything together. Except the shortcrust pastry, of course.
2. Pour the batter into the pie dish lined with the pastry.
3. Put in the oven at 220ºC or gas mark 7 for approx. 45 minutes.

And that's all it takes. I know, right? It's so easy we almost feel a little silly making a whole video about it, but it's such an essential part of Thanksgiving and the autumn season. Enjoy!

Pecan Pie

Emily and I are celebrating our very first Thanksgiving today. A dear friend of Emily's is in the American army so he cannot be here, but hopefully this will cheer him up.

Ingredients:

- two small packs of pecan nuts, halved
- 200g of sugar, preferably brozn
- 60ml of soya milk, or any non-dairy milk
- 60g of vegan margarine
- 170g firm tofu
- 170g of maple syrup
- roll-out shortcrust pastry
- a dash of flour to thicken the mixture


Instructions:

1. Melt the sugar and syrup to make a caramel. Do not let the mixture boil! Cool on the side when the sugar and syrup are really melted, then add in the butter. Stir until well combined.
2. Combine the other ingredients in a blender or food processor and blitz away until you get a smooth paste.
3. Combine the caramel and the tofu mixture in a mixing bowl.
4. Roll out the pastry sheet in the pie dish. Pour the filling in the pie dish and pop it in the oven for some 40 minutes or so, or until a knife comes out clean.
5. Leave it to cool, then enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Roasted Cinnamon Butternut Squash Soup

I know, I know... Another butternut squash recipe. Well, they're in season, what do you expect? Set aside the prejudice and indulge in this classic recipe. Let's see if you're still complaining with a bowl of this creamy orange goodness in your hands.

I may have overdosed a little bit on cinnamon...

Ingredients:
- 1 butternut squash
- approx. 100 ml coconut milk, full fat or skimmed according to your preference
- 1 onion
- 1 cube of vegetable stock (I use Knorr)
- approx. 200 ml water
- a pinch (or two, or three...) of cinnamon

Instructions:
1. Cut the butternut in half, lengthwise. Be careful not to cut yourself; this part can be quite dangerous. Spray with a bit of oil if you like and pop the halves in the oven to roast at about 200 ºC for 10-15 minutes, depending on how tough it is. It should be really soft when you get it out, and the skin should peel of rather easily.
2. While the butternut is in the oven, peel and chop your onion, and cook it with the vegetable stock cube in the water. This should not take more than 10 minutes.
3. Dice the peeled butternut halves and place these in a blender along with the vegetable stock and onion. Add the cinnamon and the coconut milk, and whizz away.

If you like it chunky, don't over-blend, but if like me, you absolutely despise--nay, abhor--bits in your soup (or your yoghurt, or smoothies--dear God, I could write a whole blog on how bits in your food are revolting), then blend away till your soup is smooth as baby skin.

There, easy peasy. If this doesn't warm the cockles of your heart on a chilly, rainy evening, I don't know what will.