Category: Mains

1 packet of wonton or dumpling wrappers
1/2 an onion, finely diced
a pinch of salt
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cabbage pulsed in food processor.
1 bag of shitake mushrooms soaked in hot water until soft. Keep the liquid.
3 tbsp mirin
4 tbsp hoisin sauce
4 tbsp chilli garlic sauce
thumb sized piece of ginger, minced
1 tablespoon sesame oil

1. Cook the onions over low heat with a pinch of salt until translucent. Add the garlic and cabbage. Stir and cook for a further few minutes over low heat.

2. Add shiitakes and stir. Cook for about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the mirin, chilli garlic, hoisin, ginger and shiitake soaking liquid (pour it through a fine strainer as there may be some grit). Up the heat to medium and cook, stirring until liquid is cooked off. This will leave you with dumpling mix that is full of flavour but dry enough to seal in dumplings.

4. Cool the mix. Once cool, place teaspoonfuls in each dumpling wrapper, wet the edges and fold closed.

5. Place in a steamer and steam for about 6 minutes. Serve with dipping sauce. I like a mix of soy sauce, chinkiang vinegar and chilli oil.

Notes:
Feel free to use either red or white cabbage in this recipe

Serves 4

CORIANDER SAUCE
2 limes
1 tbsp vegan fish sauce
70 grams coriander
1 lemongrass stalk, chopped
pinch of caster sugar
fresh red chilli to taste

MIXED MUSHROOMS
100 grams mixed mushrooms
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced

SWEET POTATO CHIPS
1 sweet potato, sliced thinly on mandolin
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1/4 teaspoon celery salt

OTHER BURGER INGREDIENTS
4 burger buns
lettuce
4 vegan mince patties of your choosing
block of vegan feta, sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced

To make the Coriander Sauce:

1. Zest the two limes in to blender and add juice.

2. Add all other ingredients.

3. Blend until combined. (I like to stop blending before it becomes liquid so you keep a bit of texture)

To make the Mixed Mushrooms

1. Combine all ingredients and stir through the mixed mushrooms. BBQ or pan fry, adding any left over marinade as you go

To make the Sweet Potato Chips

1. Cook sliced sweet potato in batches on a lightly oiled, flat sandwich press.

2. While the first batch is cooking, combine all remaining seasoning ingredients in a jar and shake to combine.

3. As each batch is done – you want them to be slightly browned and crunchy. Keep an eye on them as it takes a very short period of time for them to be overdone – put them in to a bowl, add about a teaspoon of seasoning and shake through the chips.

To assemble Burger

1. Toast the buns by placing cut side down on a BBQ and cooking until slightly charred. Set aside on serving plates.

2. Cook the patties on the BBQ until cooked through.

3. Top base with lettuce, slices of tomato, patty, feta slices, mixed mushrooms, coriander sauce and top of bun.

4. Serve with sweet potato chips and additional coriander sauce.

2kg pumpkin, chopped up in to smallish pieces
1tbsp oil
2 onions chopped
1tsp cumin
2tbsp dijon mustard
2tbsp maple syrup
6 cups vegetable stock
400g can chickpeas

1. Roast the pumpkin until it’s soft and browned. Set aside while you prepare the rest.

2. Heat the oil in a pot and cook onion and cumin until the onion is soft.

3. Add mustard, maple, stock and roast pumpkin. Stir and simmer for five minutes

4. Add the chickpeas.

5. Process with a stick mixer or in your blender and serve topped with a spoonful of yoghurt and some crusty, toasted bread.

Serves 3

MINCE
1.5 cups tvp mince
1 tablespoon sake
1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon white miso paste
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 tablespoon doubanjiang chilli bean paste
pepper

BROTH
3 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons doubanjiang chilli bean paste
1 tablespoon sesame oil
4 tablespoons sesame paste/ tahini
300 ml vegetable stock
300 ml soy milk
2 teaspoons sugar
pepper

3 serves of your desired ramen noodles

1. To make the mince; put all mince ingredients in a heatproof bowl and add about 3/4 cup boiling water. Stir until the miso is dissolved and the water is absorbed.

2. To make broth; add all broth ingredients to pot and simmer while you finish preparing the mince.

3. Cook mince in a non-stick pan with about a teaspoon of oil on medium-high heat until the mince starts to brown. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring regularly. The aim here is to get a slightly charred, dry mince mix. It’ll be a bit crunchy and therefore a great texture to compliment the broth and noodles.

4. Prepare other toppings you want to add and cook noodles according to packet instructions.

5. Serve noodles in to your bowls, top with a few ladlefuls of broth and toppings. Serve with chopsticks, a spoon and serviettes.

6. Enjoy the tasty, slurpy mess.

Notes:
Here are some topping ideas!
Vegg
Seaweed snack
Salt and pepper tofu
Snow peas
Fried onions
Roast pumpkin
Corn
Garlic spinach
Shiitakes
Black garlic oil
Shallots

I’ve texted this recipe so many times to friends and now here it is for you. Exact amounts are out the window. If you have extra gnocchi then lucky, lucky you! All you need is:

Potato
Flour
Time

1. Slice your potatoes in half and put in an empty pan. Once they’re all in, add a healthy amount of salt and top with cold water.

2. Heat on stove and boil until a butter knife easily slides through the potato. You want these to be nice and soft. Drain in to a colander and leave to cool.

3. Once they are cool enough to handle, scoop the insides of the potatoes out and pass them through a potato ricer. (Save the skins. You can fry them or cook them on a sandwich press, season and eat them as a snack.)

4. Now, measure how much potato you have and add half that amount of flour. So, if you have three cups of potato, add 1.5 cups of flour. Combine with your hands until the mix has come together. The only thing you want to be mindful of here is over working the potato mix. Once the mix is holding together like a smooth dough, stop there as you’re making perfect gnocchi.

5. Take handful sized chunks of the mix and roll out in to a long, thin sausage on a floured work surface. A smooth stone benchtop is ideal. Cut the roll in to gnocchi sized pieces and set aside on a floured baking tray or plate depending how much you’re making and keep going until all your dough is now gnocchi.

6. Heat a pot of salted water until it’s boiling.

7. Add your gnocchi pieces and remove them with a slotted spoon as soon as they rise to the surface. How easy is that? You don’t need to check anything, they are done as soon as they float to the surface.

8. Serve with your preferred sauce. I like to have a home made passata and pesto and lots of almond parmesan or a burnt sage and butter sauce.

NB:
Use the leftover potato skins to make yummies. I cook mine on a sandwich press so they’re flat and crunchy and then top them with leftovers to make mini pizzas. Choose your own adventure and enjoy.

100g dried vermicelli noodles

MEATBALLS
~250g vegan hamburger patty – I use two of the beyond meat brand burgers
1tbsp fish sauce
2tsp sugar
1/3 cup finely sliced spring onion
Two lemongrass stalks, finely diced
Salt and pepper

NUOC CHAM
3tbsp sugar
3tbsp fish sauce
2tbsp rice wine vinegar
2tbsp lime juice
1/3 cup water
1-2 birds eye chillis (depending how hot you want the noodles)
3 cloves garlic, minced

TOPPINGS
handful of bean sprouts
Lettuce leaves, torn up in to smallish pieces
1 carrot, julienned
Coriander, roughly chopped

1. Place the vermicelli noodles in a bowl and cover with hot water. Leave for about five minutes to soften.

2. While your noodles are steeping, Combine all the NUOC CHAM ingredients and set aside.

3. Combine MEATBALL ingredients (with your hands is easiest) and form in to about 10 patties.

4. Check on your noodles as they should be done. Give them a stir with a fork and check that they’re all softened. Pour in to a sieve and run cold water over them to stop them cooking more. Set aside

5. Cook the meatballs in a pan over medium heat, flipping once browned on one side. Once cooked on both sides, turn off the heat and get ready to assemble.

6. In a serving bowl, place the drained vermicelli noodles and all your toppings. You can mix these together or place them in their own sections on top of the noodles.

7. Finally, top with the meatballs and pour the nuoc cham over everything. Then get straight to putting this in your gob. You’re gonna love it!

80g dried vermicelli noodles
120g calamari, defrosted and chopped in to chunks ( I use Lamyong brand. If you can’t find this, use fried tofu squares cut in half)
Half an iceberg lettuce, roughly chopped
1 carrot, grated
1/2 cup coriander, roughly chopped
1/2 red onion, finely sliced
1 chilli, finely sliced
3tbsp chopped peanuts
1-2 tbsp fried shallots

DRESSING:
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup vegan fish sauce
2tbsp caster sugar
1tbsp rice wine vinegar
2tbsp lime juice

1. Put vermicelli noodles in a bowl and top with hot water. Let sit for five minutes until softened.

2. Combine dressing ingredients and add the finely sliced red onion. Steeping the red onion in the dressing while you prepare the rest of the salad will take the edge off the onions.

3. Check your vermicelli noodles. Give them a stir with a fork making sure they’re soft. Drain in a colander and run cold water over them so they stop cooking.

4. In a serving bowl, combine the vermicelli noodles, calamari, lettuce, carrot and coriander. Gently mix.

5. Give the dressing one last stir to make sure the sugar is dissolved and pour over the salad.

6. Sprinkle chilli, peanuts and shallots on top.

2 onions, finely sliced
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar
S+P
6 zucchinis, finely sliced
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
2 tbsp crack

2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp butter
2 sprigs thyme, leaved removed from stalk
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
pepper

1 sheet puff pastry

1. Heat the butter and oil in a pan and cook the onions until caramelised. Add balsamic vinegar, sugar and salt and pepper and cook until sticky. Set aside.

2. In the same pan (Don’t clean it in between any of these steps), heat the butter and oil and add the sliced zucchini. cook until softened and browned. Add crack and turn off the heat. Set the zucchini aside.

3. In the same pan, heat the sugar, butter, thyme, balsamic vinegar and pepper, stirring, until the mix becomes thickened. Make sure that when you’re stirring it, you collect any bits leftover from the onion and zucchini cooling. It’s flavour city!

4. Pour this liquid in to a ceramic quiche pan.

5. Using your artistic skills, lay out the zucchini slices and then top with the caramelised onions. Finally, place the puff pastry on top, trim and edges and tuck it inside the pan around the veggies.

6. Bake in an oven at 200C until the top is browned and cooked.

7. Place a board or a plate over the tarte tatin and flip it so the pastry is on the bottom and the zucchini is on show.

8. This is good eaten hot, room temp or straight from the fridge.

2 sheets puff pastry
400g pumpkin, cut in to small cubes
1 big red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp rosemary
2 tbsp butter
400ml bonsoy
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp massel veggie stock powder
4 tbsp corn starch
1 tsp black salt
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 200 C. Put chopped pumpkin on a baking tray, season with salt and pepper and roast for about half an hour (until browned and a little crispy). Set aside.

2. Cook sliced red onion in a pan with butter over low-medium heat until softened – about seven minutes. Add balsamic vinegar, brown sugar and crushed garlic and cook, stirring occasionally until liquid has gone. Set aside.

3. In a small pan fry rosemary in butter until crispy. Set aside.

4. Put bonsoy, tumeric, stock and cornstarch in a pot and whisk until corn starch has dissolved. Heat, stirring with whisk until thickens. As soon as it starts to thicken, take off the heat, season and stir through black salt.

5. Grease a false bottom tart pan and line with puff pastry. Cut the second sheet to fit any gaps. Lay a sheet of baking paper on top of puff pastry and top with baking beads or rice. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove baking paper and beads/rice and bake for a further 7ish minutes. You’re looking for the base the be cooked through.

6. Spread baked pumpkin, caramelised onion then rosemary over tart base. Pour sauce in last. Season and return to oven for about 15 minutes or until browned on top.

7. Before serving sprinkle an extra tsp on black salt, salt and pepper.

200g pasta
8 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1/2 cup olive oil
2 fresh birds eye chillis, finely sliced
1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
salt and pepper
1 lemon
almond parmesan, to serve

1. Have all your items prepped, ready to go as this is a quick recipe once you start.

2. Get a pot of salted water on to a rolling boil and add pasta. Cook according to packet. Usually 8-10 minutes.

3. While your pasta is cooking, heat oil in pan with sliced garlic.

4. As soon as the garlic starts to turn golden brown add the chilli.

5. Season with salt and pepper and add parsley. Turn off heat.

6. Add strained pasta and a ladle or two of pasta water.

7. Add lemon juice and serve immediately. Top with almond parmesan.

Notes

• You can easily scale this recipe. 100g pasta, 4 garlic cloves, 1 birds eye chilli, 1/2 lemon and 1/2 bunch parsley per person.