Melbourne food post #1...Vegie Bar.

Well it has certainly been an age since I typed anything in here. Last time I did I believe it was freezing cold. Now it's practically Christmas, which is a scary thought in itself.

Anyway, Nadine and I went on holiday a couple of months back to Melbourne. We often go to Melbourne (well this is the second time together, and I'm sure there'll be many more trips there in the future). I love Melbourne for the food, the cute little old houses and the fact that it is as flat as a pancake. (Likewise I love Brisbane for the cute big old houses and it's hills). We spent almost our entire holiday budget for Melbourne on food and alcohol. Almost, because on the first day there we had to buy warm jumpers because we were idiots and took cardigans that didn't even have full sleeves. We also hired a car to drive out to Hanging Rock where we drank nice wine and had a picnic.

Anyway onto some food. Vegie Bar is always a winner because it is so cheap, the meals are huge and it's always delicious. We went a couple of times this trip.

Nadine had the burrito. Barely managed to finish it.

I had the nachos, which were indeed the biggest plate of nachos I have ever eaten. They don't really skimp on anything, this Vegie Bar place.

We also had a carafe of sangria this time too, since we were eaten Mexican food. It was good sangria but not as nice as my own recipe. That might be because of the amount of vodka I pour into it.

We went to vegie Bar again just before the end of our trip, since we were running out of money and I didn't have anywhere to access the internet to look up other vegan friendly establishments...And I was so desperate for food this time because I'd just gotten a new tattoo and on the tram trip up the road there it hit me that I'd just had needles scraping my wrist and therefore felt a little faint.

Our starter was the dumplings. I love dumplings. I should make my own again one day soon. Can you get gluten free dumpling wrappers? Or does anyone know a good recipe for me to make my own? These ones were filled with some sort of vegetable/mushroom/tvp(?) mixture and had a soy sauce dip.

Nadine ordered the faux duck stir fry, which was delicious and spicy and oily, but I avoided too much of it since by this point in the trip I'd eaten so much gluten my intestines were about to wrench themselves out of my gut to put themselves out of their misery.

I ordered...I can't remember really, also can't remember if it was technically gluten free, but it was thick rice noodles with lots of different types of mushrooms (and as far as I can recall, no fake meat things). It was delicious. Savoured every last bite.

So that was our Vegie Bar experience this time. No desserts were sampled because there is no way we would have fit them in! Maybe next time. I would also like to try them for breakfast - we wanted to this time but the day we chose they were closed.

Next installment will be pub food! Yes, pubs in Melbourne have vegan stuff. I was floored. Vegan parma? Bring it on.

Homemade steamed buns!

As with a lot of things I make in my kitchen, I've been wanting to try my hand at making my own steamed buns for ages now. I've had about a cup of dried azuki beans in a jar for months. Everytime we go into an Asian supermarket (rarely) I buy a packet of the frozen red bean buns. They're always good, but you know, have numbers in the ingredient lists and way too much sugar!

Anyway so today I cooked up my cup of azuki beans, and when they were nice and mushy, drained off most of the water, added almost half a cup of dark brown sugar (all I had left - is enough) and mashed them all up into a paste. It was the perfect oppurtunity to make these buns as I had just the right amount of white self raising flour to use up before the weevils arrived. (By the way, I keep my flour unsealed in the original paper bags next to my stove/oven, and I haven't had a weevil infestation yet.)

I used this recipe I found while looking for one on google, and made only half of it. I also ignored the savoury filling recipe.

They were really very easy to make!

They were really tiny when uncooked and just twisted up, but during steaming expanded to at least twice as big (obviously because of the yeast and self raising flour). I was worried they wouldn't hold together but they were just fine. We had them with a cup of tea :)

Half the recipe makes 12, but I only cooked up four, opting to freeze the rest uncooked. I'll get back to you on how they turn out - I should imagine they'll be right. I also had an extra half cup of red bean paste and I froze that too, so I can whip some more up when I run out! I also bet custard buns would be good. I bought one by accident when I was at uni and didn't like it, I think because of the egg, but if I make my own custard they should be delicious!

Tom Yum Soup

Not from a jar!

I have a massive lemongrass that I really need to use before it dies back, so I finally learnt how to harvest the stems without killing it. It's very easy, reach in and twist!

Of course I had to find something to cook with it, and the first thing I thought of was a classic Tom Yum Soup. I almost always order this at a Thai restaurant if they have a vege option, and most seem to nowadays.

I went to a different fruit shop than I usually do on the way home from work one day and found a packet of Kaffir Lime Leaves for only $1.50! (You can freeze these to use later). Lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves - two main ingredients of a tom yum.

Tom Yum Soup

Serves 4 as a large starter (or add some noodles for a main)

Ingredients

6 cups chicken style stock

2 stalks lemongrass, minced, and reserve the hard inedible part (here is a handy how to)*

3 kaffir lime leaves

2 hot red chillies (such as birdseye) minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1x1 inch ginger, sliced into match sticks

1 cup brocolli, chopped

1 carrot, sliced into half moons

1 zucchini, sliced into half moons

2 tomatoes

1 block of tofu, cubed (I used some seitan I had in the freezer)

4 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp fresh lime juice

1/2 cup fresh basil

Method

In a large pot, bring stock, minced lemongrass, lemongrass stalks, kaffir lime leaves, chillies, garlic and ginger to a boil. Boil for about 10 minutes then add brocolli, carrot, zucchini, tomatoes and tofu/seitan to the pot. Simmer until vegetables are tender.

Just before you are ready to serve, stir in the soy sauce, lime juice and basil.

Eat!

*I sliced mine up thinly then put it all into my mortar and pestle and ground it up almost into a paste. A food processor would also work. You could do the lemongrass, garlic and chilli all at once if you like.

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This was so good. Restaurant quality! I reckon I probably won't buy the jarred paste again :) We had it with a side of rice noodles and peanut butter.

One day if I'm rich I might buy a packet of those weird vegan prawns you can get at Asian food stores. I saw some once and they were like $15!! (I've had vegan calamari before at a restaurant - amazing. And I know calamari.)

Apparently lemongrass is freezeable. So I think I'm going to harvest most of what I have (about a million stalks) and divide the rest and replant it for next summer. I'll either freeze them as whole stalks or process the whole lot and freeze in tablespoon sized amounts like I usually do with tomato paste :)