I didn't start a blog to whinge and rant about things however there has been some advertising lately that i find very misleading and i want to get the correct nutritional message out there! It is in regards to So Good's almond milk.
I hear ad after ad claiming that it has only 1/3 the calories of regular milk. Yes that may be true but it has a similar amount to skim milk or fat free soy milk. The thing that really annoys me is the ingredients label.
First the ingredients: This 'milk' contains only 2% almonds with water and cane sugar making up the rest of the mixture. Now i'm sorry but almond flavoured sugar water is hardly a good milk substitute. Furthermore this almond milk is not fortified with calcium, only vitamin E at a measly 10% RDI per glass. Additionally it contains only 1.3g protein per glass (compared to about 9g in skim milk or 8g in soy.)
Now i'm all for milk substitutes, but from a nutrition perspective they should at least have added calcium and be equivalent in protein. Low calorie food isn't everything, we need nutrients to survive.
Rant over.
Sarah xx
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Tomato Relish
So what do you do if you have a glut of tomatoes? Make relish of course!
It's so easy to do, satisfying and you save so much money. With tomatoes recently at 99c/kg one jar of homemade relish will set you back just over a dollar, compare that to $3-$6 per jar in store.
I use a recipe that was on the back of the Ezy Sauce bottle. Ezy sauce can be found in the condiments section of the supermarket. It is normally on the top shelf and looks like a stubby. It is basically vinegar infused with cloves and other spices. You can use it to make tomato sauce, plum sauce etc.
I highly recommend you give it a go - it is really simple and preserving is really very easy. The hardest bit is remembering to save empty jars in order to have enough to fill! Salsa jars are great as they have a wider mouth so it's easier to fill and Dolmio and Five Brothers jars have easy to remove labels! Otherwise if you haven't collected any jars and you don't want to fork out lots of money for them at a kitchenware store check out your local op shop.
A Thermomix would be awesome for making relish given that it can stir and cook, however i wanted to make a big batch so the 2L bowl just wasn't going to cut it!
Tomato Relish - From Wild's Ezy Sauce
8kg tomatoes, peeled and sliced*
3kg onions, sliced
2 tbsp salt
3kg sugar
4 tbsp curry powder
4 tbsp mustard powder
375ml bottle Ezy Sauce
1 cup flour (i use cornflour so it's gluten free)
1 cup water
* to peel tomatoes easily, cut an X in the skin on the bottom and submerge in boiling water for a minute. The skin should peel off easily.
Method:
Combine tomatoes, onions and salt in a large bowl, cover and let sit for 12 hours.
Drain tomato and onion mixture, then pour into a large pot and bring to the boil.
Mix curry and mustard powder with 1/2 cup water then add to tomato along with sugar and Ezy Sauce.
Stir to combine and boil for about 2 1/4 hours or until liquid has reduced. (It will still be quite runny at this stage)
MIx flour and water together to form a slurry then add to relish mixture. Cook for about 15 minutes or until relish thickens.
Fill into sterilised jars and seal. Invert jars and leave to cool. If the little button does not stay popped in then your jars have not sealed properly and you must reseal, or put the jar in the fridge and use immediately.
Properly sealed relish will keep in the pantry for 12 months.
A WORD ON STERILISING: As your mixture is hot, your jars MUST be hot. If you are unsure about sterilising check out this article. It is simple but tells you everything you need to know.
Sarah xx
It's so easy to do, satisfying and you save so much money. With tomatoes recently at 99c/kg one jar of homemade relish will set you back just over a dollar, compare that to $3-$6 per jar in store.
I use a recipe that was on the back of the Ezy Sauce bottle. Ezy sauce can be found in the condiments section of the supermarket. It is normally on the top shelf and looks like a stubby. It is basically vinegar infused with cloves and other spices. You can use it to make tomato sauce, plum sauce etc.
I highly recommend you give it a go - it is really simple and preserving is really very easy. The hardest bit is remembering to save empty jars in order to have enough to fill! Salsa jars are great as they have a wider mouth so it's easier to fill and Dolmio and Five Brothers jars have easy to remove labels! Otherwise if you haven't collected any jars and you don't want to fork out lots of money for them at a kitchenware store check out your local op shop.
A Thermomix would be awesome for making relish given that it can stir and cook, however i wanted to make a big batch so the 2L bowl just wasn't going to cut it!
Tomato Relish - From Wild's Ezy Sauce
8kg tomatoes, peeled and sliced*
3kg onions, sliced
2 tbsp salt
3kg sugar
4 tbsp curry powder
4 tbsp mustard powder
375ml bottle Ezy Sauce
1 cup flour (i use cornflour so it's gluten free)
1 cup water
* to peel tomatoes easily, cut an X in the skin on the bottom and submerge in boiling water for a minute. The skin should peel off easily.
Method:
Combine tomatoes, onions and salt in a large bowl, cover and let sit for 12 hours.
Drain tomato and onion mixture, then pour into a large pot and bring to the boil.
Mix curry and mustard powder with 1/2 cup water then add to tomato along with sugar and Ezy Sauce.
Stir to combine and boil for about 2 1/4 hours or until liquid has reduced. (It will still be quite runny at this stage)
MIx flour and water together to form a slurry then add to relish mixture. Cook for about 15 minutes or until relish thickens.
Fill into sterilised jars and seal. Invert jars and leave to cool. If the little button does not stay popped in then your jars have not sealed properly and you must reseal, or put the jar in the fridge and use immediately.
Properly sealed relish will keep in the pantry for 12 months.
A WORD ON STERILISING: As your mixture is hot, your jars MUST be hot. If you are unsure about sterilising check out this article. It is simple but tells you everything you need to know.
Sarah xx
Sunday, 12 February 2012
Fish-Fragrant Eggplants... yes it is vegetarian!
Sichuan cuisine is definitely my favourite Chinese cuisine and Fuchsia Dunlop is a fantastic Sichuan chef and cookbook author. I bought one of her cookbooks, Sichuan Cookery after visiting China the first time, and on my recent trip i read her incredibly interesting autobiography. She actually isn't Chinese - she's English but was one of the first westerners to study Sichuan cookery in the 1990s.
So what does one cook after arriving back in Australia after 5 weeks overseas? Well personally i would have expected to crave salads, mexican, indian or some other food that i hadn't eaten for months but no, i felt like chinese!
This recipe is really easy to make and should be served as part of a banquet Chinese-style perhaps with a tofu dish and a green vegetable dish plus rice. Because i was cooking for one i simply served it with some quinoa - something i did miss whilst overseas!
I adapted the recipe by steaming the chopped eggplant for 30 minutes rather than frying. After all the Christmas festivities plus overseas eating i really need to get healthy again! Luckily steaming the eggplant worked brilliantly and i will do it again this way in the future.
Fish-Fragrant Eggplant - Fuchsia Dunlop
2 medium sized eggplants, cut into quarters or eighths, then chopped into chunks
1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 tbsp chilli bean paste (i used lee kum kee brand)
3 tsp finely chopped ginger
3 tsp finely chopped garlic
150ml vegetable stock
1 1/2 tsp white sugar
1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp cornflour mixed with 1tbsp water (the original recipe uses potato flour)
1 1/2 tsp black vinegar
4 spring onions, finely chopped, green part only
1 tsp sesame oil
Steam eggplant for 30 minutes or until very tender.
In a wok, heat oil and cook chilli bean paste for 20-30 seconds until fragrant. Add ginger and garlic and cook for another 20 seconds ensuring it does not burn.
Add stock, sugar and soy and stir to mix well before adding eggplant.
Allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes in order to reduce the sauce a little and allow the eggplant to absorb the flavour.
Drizzle over the cornflour slurry and stir gently to incorporate.
Stir in vinegar and spring onion then remove from heat.
Drizzle over sesame oil and serve
If you're interested, the title 'fish-fragrant' comes from the combination of flavours: salty, sweet, sour and spicy. Basically in needs to include chilli bean paste (or pickled chillis), ginger, garlic and spring onions.
Sarah xx
So what does one cook after arriving back in Australia after 5 weeks overseas? Well personally i would have expected to crave salads, mexican, indian or some other food that i hadn't eaten for months but no, i felt like chinese!
This recipe is really easy to make and should be served as part of a banquet Chinese-style perhaps with a tofu dish and a green vegetable dish plus rice. Because i was cooking for one i simply served it with some quinoa - something i did miss whilst overseas!
I adapted the recipe by steaming the chopped eggplant for 30 minutes rather than frying. After all the Christmas festivities plus overseas eating i really need to get healthy again! Luckily steaming the eggplant worked brilliantly and i will do it again this way in the future.
Fish-Fragrant Eggplant - Fuchsia Dunlop
2 medium sized eggplants, cut into quarters or eighths, then chopped into chunks
1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 tbsp chilli bean paste (i used lee kum kee brand)
3 tsp finely chopped ginger
3 tsp finely chopped garlic
150ml vegetable stock
1 1/2 tsp white sugar
1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp cornflour mixed with 1tbsp water (the original recipe uses potato flour)
1 1/2 tsp black vinegar
4 spring onions, finely chopped, green part only
1 tsp sesame oil
Steam eggplant for 30 minutes or until very tender.
In a wok, heat oil and cook chilli bean paste for 20-30 seconds until fragrant. Add ginger and garlic and cook for another 20 seconds ensuring it does not burn.
Add stock, sugar and soy and stir to mix well before adding eggplant.
Allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes in order to reduce the sauce a little and allow the eggplant to absorb the flavour.
Drizzle over the cornflour slurry and stir gently to incorporate.
Stir in vinegar and spring onion then remove from heat.
Drizzle over sesame oil and serve
If you're interested, the title 'fish-fragrant' comes from the combination of flavours: salty, sweet, sour and spicy. Basically in needs to include chilli bean paste (or pickled chillis), ginger, garlic and spring onions.
Sarah xx
The China & Germany Round-up
Now that i'm back in Melbourne i thought i'd do a quick summary of my favourite meals from my 5 weeks away.
Starting with China:
Everything i ate at Mr & Mrs Bund
Favourite dishes from Dashu Wujie
Always sure to please:
Now onto Germany. The surprise country... who would have thought there would be so many vegetarian options in Germany, the land of meat, meat and more meat??? Virtually every menu had vegetarian options marked with a V or a green leaf. Most yoghurts in the supermarket did not contain gelatine - even the diet ones, and there was always the option of pretzels or a plethora of dark grainy delicious breads when hungry.
Overall it was a great trip and i wish i had taken more photos! Other delicious food included ma po tofu, fish fragrant eggplant (it does not contain fish), milk tea bubble cups, hot pretzels, mezzomix - coke & fanta combined, fresh tomato soup with homemade bread and i'm sure i'm missing some things!
Anyway now it's back to reality and hopefully a bit more cooking!
Sarah xx
Starting with China:
Everything i ate at Mr & Mrs Bund
 |
| Yak Milk Drinking Yoghurt |
 |
| I couldn't go to China without drinking bucket loads of tea. This was my favourite teapot and pu'er my favourite leaf tea. I am currently addicted to ginger tea! |
 |
| My favourite dish in China. Yunnan flat rice noodles with mixed vegetables and chilli. From Naxi Snacks 88 in Lijiang. Coincidentally this restaurant was the best of the trip - local food at local prices - $7 for 4 dishes and drinks. |
 |
| Best breakfast! Yunnan rice noodles with vegetable pickle and chilli. |
 |
| Best street snack - Baba. In various forms - savoury with an egg cracked on top or sweet with rose jam and red bean paste. |
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| Best (and cheapest) lunch. From Xizhou market. Cold rice and yellow bean noodles with peanuts, chilli, shallots, bean sprouts and a delicious tangy dressing |
 |
| I wish i could make: fresh rice noodles! |
 |
| Egg fried rice and vegetable jiaozi from Din Tai Fung |
 |
| This is KiBa - cherry and banana juice. Sounds gross but was delicious! Tasted like a Nudie. Germany had so many more juices on offer than we have in Australia. |
 |
| Falafel doner. I did not expect to find so many falafels in Germany! There is a massive Turkish population so doner shops were everywhere! They use a flattened, toasted bun rather than pita and it was filled with falafel, tomato, lettuce, coleslaw and yoghurt sauce. For only 3 euro it was a cheap, filling and delicious meal. |
 |
| Spaetzle. Delicious german wheat noodles. This dish was with a chilli sauce and was delicious! Spaetzle could be found in the fridge section of the supermarket for a couple of euro or you can make it yourself. Spaetzle is like pasta but has a higher egg:flour ratio. |
 |
| So i never thought i'd be posting a picture of something from McDonald's here after not eating McDonald's food for about 10 years but in Germany they have a veggie burger for 1.99 euro and it isn't too bad. |
 |
| The bun sucks. But the patty had visible chunks of carrot, capsicum, corn and potato and was obviously deep fried rather than grilled with all the meaty burgers. It contained lettuce, cheese, tomato sauce and mayo. Obviously not the greatest eat of the trip but when starving at 9pm on a long train journey with only a 20 minute stopover, sometimes you have to compromise! |
 |
| Mmmm Gluhwein. The perfect antidote to a -20 degree day! |
 |
| Leipziger Lerche. These delicious little tarts were filled with cherry jam and almond paste. Delicious! |
Overall it was a great trip and i wish i had taken more photos! Other delicious food included ma po tofu, fish fragrant eggplant (it does not contain fish), milk tea bubble cups, hot pretzels, mezzomix - coke & fanta combined, fresh tomato soup with homemade bread and i'm sure i'm missing some things!
Anyway now it's back to reality and hopefully a bit more cooking!
Sarah xx
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Dashu Wujie, Shanghai
There's a new upmarket vegetarian restaurant in Shanghai. Opened in August 2011, Dashu Wujie was created by the founder of Vegetarian Lifestyle chain. It is an upmarket, 5 storey restaurant overlooking over Xujiahui Park, and walking distance from Xujiahui station (line 1 and 9, exit 14.)
The each floor of the restaurant is themed (water, earth, fire, wind, gold) with banquet rooms available for groups. All fruits and vegetables are organic, as is the oil, of which they use minimally as to keep the food as healthy as possible.
The restaurant has incredibly streamlined service, thanks to staff with earpieces and the use of iPads to order your meal. The menu on the iPad is all in Mandarin, however once you click on the image of the food, a description appears in English. Spicy foods are marked with chillis and additionally foods containing onion and garlic are noted. I'm not sure if the menu was vegan, however there would definitely be vegan options.The menu is incredibly extensive and somewhat confusing to navigate if you cannot read Mandarin, for the tabs are all in Mandarin. Despite this, and with help from our lovely waitress we ordered 6 dishes and a pot of tea, all which arrived promptly.
First came our cold starters of eggplant skin filled with silken eggplant cooked with garlic and black vinegar and the visually pretty pickled radish and yam (I think... memory may be failing me!) The eggplant was absolutely delicious and I highly recommend this dish. The pickled radish was great to get the stomach juices flowing for the rest of the meal that followed.
Next came our mains and bowls of brown rice! Oh how i miss brown rice! We ordered lion's head mushroom in black pepper sauce (as highly recommended by the waitress), mapo tofu (because it's my favourite!), sizzling Korean tofu with kimchi sauce and one other dish that i cannot remember the name! Unfortunately the sashimi was unavailable but the picture looked amazing!
 |
| Mapo Tofu... a deliciously saucy version! |
 |
| The mystery dish |
 |
| Pouring the kimchi sauce over the sizzling Korean tofu |
 |
| Lion's head mushroom with black pepper sauce |
We all really enjoyed the mushroom in black pepper sauce. The texture was 'meaty' as Dad put it but the flavour was delicious. The mapo tofu wasn't drowning in oil but still had the very spicy kick from the sichuan peppers and chilli. The Korean tofu was nice, but we probably didn't need two tofu dishes. The unnamed dish was awesomely bizarre. There were different crumbed vegetables (mushroom, zucchini, squash, tomato) and what looked like two tuna sticks and a plum and a kewpie tartare sauce. I'm really sorry i can't give a more adequate description but i remember when reading on the menu i didn't understand the English!
 |
| The 'tuna' stick. It was delicious!!! |
The prices here are not cheap by Chinese standards, however for western standards i'd say it was brilliant. The entire meal cost $53AUD. I only wish i was in Shanghai a bit longer so i could go back!
Just if it couldn't get any cooler - on our way out we got given these pens for Chinese New Year
Just if it couldn't get any cooler - on our way out we got given these pens for Chinese New Year
 |
| So cute! |
Next time you're in Shanghai i highly recommend visiting this restaurant - even if you aren't vegetarian!
Sarah xx
392 Tianping Lu 天平路392号,近衡山路
3469 2857
open from 11am
Xujiahui Metro Station, exit 14
Monday, 9 January 2012
Dumpling Making Time!
 |
| Vegetable Jiaozi at the front, XLB behind. |
All the prep was done for us so all we had to do was make the dough, mix the filling and fill. Sounds simple? Well it most definitely wasn't! Our chef was lovely and very patient and helpful and with the assistance of our translator, we made dumplings that roughly resembled XLB.
XLB are round buns with pleated tops. I asked how many pleats we were supposed to make but no one could say. I think chubby western fingers don't make for delicate tiny pleats!
 |
| Stupid podgy fingers! |
 |
| My xiao long bao! |
 |
| .....someone struggled a bit more than others! |
Next we made the vegetable jiaozi. These were so much simpler - no pleating of the dough involved! The filling contained diced shiitake, black fungus, cabbage, white pepper, salt, sugar, sesame oil, rice wine, ginger, green onion and light soy. After kneading, rolling, more rolling, squishing and more rolling of the dough, they were ready to be filled. The filling was easy - a spoonful in the centre, bring the sides of the dough together to form a half moon shape and seal using the web between your thumb and first finger.
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| Jiaozi filling |
 |
| My Jiaozi! |
After cleaning our benches the dumplings were all steamed for 10 minutes and then we sat down to enjoy them with vinegar Shanghai-style. It was amazing, steaming the XLB seemed to hide many of their flaws! They tasted pretty good even though some of them looked seriously dodgy!
 |
| Cooked XLB |
It was a great class and the best thing i took from it (apart from how talented XLB chefs are) was how to make and roll proper dumpling wrappers.
Off to Yunnan province today. Will be an adventure!
Sarah xx
Sunday, 8 January 2012
Mr & Mrs Bund
Ni Hao from Shanghai!
Since I'm overseas for a little while i thought I'd blog about some of the fabulous places I've eaten at and other food related adventures. Being vegetarian in China isn't always the easiest. They have a plethora of 'vegetable' meals with varied vegetables, tons of tofu and rice/noodles, however, despite saying 'Wo Chi Su' (i am vegetarian - literally i eat vegetables) I've found diced pork, random seafood or oyster sauce in my meals. Anyway, that's all part of travelling and i now know how to say i don't eat meat or fish so hopefully that will help too!There are several dedicated vegetarian restaurants in Shanghai and i hope to visit them soon.
Last night we went to Mr & Mrs Bund which is an upmarket western restaurant by French Chef Paul Pairet. It's a very cool place. The wait staff wear jeans, suspenders/waist coats and red converse sneakers. The clientele was very western which was amusing after spending so much time being the only white person in a room!
The menu is seriously extensive. The idea is that you create your own meal from different elements. For example, say you want tomato, under the tomato heading there are about 5 different tomato based salads. Same went for other vegetables, meats, fish, rice, desserts etc. There is also a rookie menu if you're too overwhelmed by all the choice.
The first dish to come out was a complementary starter of tuna mousse and croutons. The plating was so cool in a tuna can and the mousse seemed to have been siphoned, it was that aerated.
Next out came the salads. Is that an American/French thing to have the salads as a separate course? We thought they'd come out as sides to our main course. Anyway we had the tomato mozza salad, which as it seems was cherry tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella with a gorgeous tomato puree. The salad was like eating pure tomato, absolutely delicious! The second salad was rocket, truffle & Paris mushrooms, soy and parmigiano. It was AMAZING!!!! Just like the tomato salad the flavour was so intense. So earthy and mushroom-y with a hit of saltiness from the parmesan and soy.
Now for the main course. I ordered Risotto Truffle & Paris (yes a little obsessed by truffles/mushrooms) but i don't cook with truffles at home. The bowl was really funky and unfortunately my photo of the risotto itself is hard to see but it was delicious. Perfectly cooked rice with flecks of truffle/mushroom and beautiful flavour.
The folks ordered a hunk of meat to share. It was enormous! It looked like something from the Flintstones. We also ordered steamed greens to go with the mains.
Now for the desserts. Mum and I both ordered Lemon & Lemon Tart as I'd seen a picture of it and i was not disappointed. This is a candied whole lemon, filled with lemon sorbet, lemon curd, chantilly and pink citrus (grapefruit?)
Dad ordered Strawberry and Coca-Cola sorbet. Bit odd? But he loved it!
It was a fabulous evening and the wait staff were lovely. At the end of our meal they brought over an iPad with their wares for sale (cutlery, glasses etc and also takeaway food items) different idea, but effective!
Until next time
Sarah xx
Mr & Mrs Bund
Bund 18, 6/F
18 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu (near Nanjing Dong Lu)
Shanghai 200002
China
http://www.mmbund.com
Since I'm overseas for a little while i thought I'd blog about some of the fabulous places I've eaten at and other food related adventures. Being vegetarian in China isn't always the easiest. They have a plethora of 'vegetable' meals with varied vegetables, tons of tofu and rice/noodles, however, despite saying 'Wo Chi Su' (i am vegetarian - literally i eat vegetables) I've found diced pork, random seafood or oyster sauce in my meals. Anyway, that's all part of travelling and i now know how to say i don't eat meat or fish so hopefully that will help too!There are several dedicated vegetarian restaurants in Shanghai and i hope to visit them soon.
Last night we went to Mr & Mrs Bund which is an upmarket western restaurant by French Chef Paul Pairet. It's a very cool place. The wait staff wear jeans, suspenders/waist coats and red converse sneakers. The clientele was very western which was amusing after spending so much time being the only white person in a room!
The menu is seriously extensive. The idea is that you create your own meal from different elements. For example, say you want tomato, under the tomato heading there are about 5 different tomato based salads. Same went for other vegetables, meats, fish, rice, desserts etc. There is also a rookie menu if you're too overwhelmed by all the choice.
The first dish to come out was a complementary starter of tuna mousse and croutons. The plating was so cool in a tuna can and the mousse seemed to have been siphoned, it was that aerated.
Next out came the salads. Is that an American/French thing to have the salads as a separate course? We thought they'd come out as sides to our main course. Anyway we had the tomato mozza salad, which as it seems was cherry tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella with a gorgeous tomato puree. The salad was like eating pure tomato, absolutely delicious! The second salad was rocket, truffle & Paris mushrooms, soy and parmigiano. It was AMAZING!!!! Just like the tomato salad the flavour was so intense. So earthy and mushroom-y with a hit of saltiness from the parmesan and soy.
Now for the main course. I ordered Risotto Truffle & Paris (yes a little obsessed by truffles/mushrooms) but i don't cook with truffles at home. The bowl was really funky and unfortunately my photo of the risotto itself is hard to see but it was delicious. Perfectly cooked rice with flecks of truffle/mushroom and beautiful flavour.
The folks ordered a hunk of meat to share. It was enormous! It looked like something from the Flintstones. We also ordered steamed greens to go with the mains.
Now for the desserts. Mum and I both ordered Lemon & Lemon Tart as I'd seen a picture of it and i was not disappointed. This is a candied whole lemon, filled with lemon sorbet, lemon curd, chantilly and pink citrus (grapefruit?)
It was a fabulous evening and the wait staff were lovely. At the end of our meal they brought over an iPad with their wares for sale (cutlery, glasses etc and also takeaway food items) different idea, but effective!
Until next time
Sarah xx
Mr & Mrs Bund
Bund 18, 6/F
18 Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu (near Nanjing Dong Lu)
Shanghai 200002
China
http://www.mmbund.com
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