Black bean and Lentil Pot Pies!

This tasty pie was invented due to a number of things that happened. One was that Reuben decided to make vege burgers using black beans in chilli sauce instead of regular beans as we'd run out. Now it may sound good and certainly did taste great however they looked horrible! Some people wouldn't think so, but when he put the pot in my face to show me I thought it was something that had gone very very bad in the fridge, not to put you off or anything! It did smell good!

So we made the patties and they tasted fantastic but we both found it hard actually seeing them on our fork going into our mouths (looked a lot like mince to me). So anyway, I met up with my good friend Emily for lunch on Friday and we went to Modaks which is a local Dunedin cafe that has several vegan options. I ordered a lentil pie and that gave me the idea to use Reubens horrible looking but great tasting burger mixture in a pie! Sorry for the long drawn out explanation but here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

puff pastry (New way vegetarian society approved)

1 onion chopped finely

1 tin black beans in chilli sauce

1 tin of four bean mix

1 finely chopped courgette (or grated - we don't have a grater at the moment hence why it was chopped)

3 mushrooms finely chopped

salt n pepper

squirt of tomato sauce

3 Tbsps cornflour

So you first need to drain the four bean mix then add the black beans in chili sauce (delmaine brand in NZ) - don't drain the black beans as you'll get rid of the sauce (I did this once silly me). Mash the beans together using a fork or potato masher, or even a food processor. Then mix in the finely chopped onion and remaining ingredients. Our mixture was also quite runny which isn't ideal for patties and which is why it worked perfectly in a pie. I used large muffin tins, greased them with olive oil and cut the pastry sheets into four small squares. Place each square into the tins (once they've thawed so they don't break). Then spoon the mixture into the pastry cases. You can leave them open or use an additional pastry sheet and cut small squares to fit on top. Bake in the oven until the pastry is golden brown!

Pina Colada inspired cake

Ok so I modified this recipe slightly from the "100 best vegan recipes" book my wonderful friend Sarah gave me. It's originally called a tropical coconut cake, however there is no coconut in the recipe. They also use canned mandarins which I just find soooo strange so substituted that for pineapple. I simply added a cup of coconut and also used wholemeal and raw ingredients instead of refined ones! The end result is a refreshing and moist cake, perfect if you're inclined towards tropical flavors.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups wholemeal flour

1 cup dried coconut

2 tsps baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup raw sugar

1/3 cup oil

1 cup milk (i used rice milk)

1 Tbsp vanilla

1 tsp cider vinegar

1 medium sized can of crushed pineapple (can also use pieces)

Glaze:

2 Tbsp coconut cream

1/2 - 1 cup icing sugar

So all you need to do is heat the oven to 175 degrees and grease a baking tin. Then mix all dry ingredients (EXCEPT sugar) in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix the sugar and oil together then add the remaining wet ingredients and mix well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients then add in the pineapple and mix. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for approximately 30 - 25 mins.

You can make a glaze with coconut cream and icing sugar, make sure it's quite thick so it doesn't seep into the cake. It also looks nice if you sprinkle some coconut on top and even arrange some fresh pineapple on top as well!

Wendels Vege Burgers

I learnt this recipe from my friend Wendel and it's been modified many times, but is an excellent recipe for Summer BBQ's. This is another one of those flexible recipes where you can add almost any vegetables but this is how we regularly cook it:

Ingredients:
1-2 tins kidney beans ( or four bean mix/chickpeas mashed well)
1 onion very finely chopped
garlic cloves
1 small tin tomato paste
1 courgette grated
1 carrot grated
Italian herbs
salt and pepper
paprika
2-3 Tbsp cornflour
lemon juice

First you need to drain wash and then mash all of the beans. You really can use kidney beans, chick peas, four bean mix etc. We often use a mixture of all to change it slightly. Once the beans are mashed up well then add the finely chopped onion, garlic cloves, salt n pepper, herbs and spices. Mix everything together then add the courgette and carrot and mix again.

The mixture will be dry and crumbly, add the tomato paste and or sweet chili sauce or any tomato sauce, or pasta sauce or a combination. Mix it together again and the mixture should be wetter and sticky, add cornflour which binds it all together. I often grill these in the oven, Reuben likes to fry them in oil, and they also work well on the BBQ. When grilling in the oven it's important to lightly grease an oven tray, then spread mixture into patties and cook for approximately 10 - 15mins on each side.

Serve with salad or in bread with salad, they're lovely with chutney and hummus. Also, you can use any vegetables in this recipe, as long as they're finely chopped or grated so feel free to experiment. I've used grated raw beetroot in the past, as well as pumpkin and kumara etc.

Eggplant Lasagna

This is good when eggplants are in season and cheap!

Ingredients:
1-2 eggplants
1 jar of dolmios red wine sauce
1 tin lite coconut cream
1-2 red onions
1-2 courgettes
1 red capsicum
1 green capsicum
lasagne sheets
vegan cheese (optional)
olive oil

Saute red onion then add eggplant, diced into small cubes or larger chunks. Add the dolmios sauce and coconut cream and cook until eggplant is soft but firm. Add all remaining ingredients (except lasagna sheets and vegan cheese) and cook for a five to ten minutes.

Remove from the heat and place half of the mixture in the bottom of an oven dish. Cover in one layer of lasagna sheets and then place the remaining eggplant sauce mixture on top. Grate vegan cheese on top or leave it as it is and bake in the oven for 20 mins or so until the pasta sheets are cooked through.

Mexican Bean Soup

This is Reuben's specialty, he always cooks this so well!

Ingredients:
1 onion finely chopped
4-6 cups vegetable stock
1 can chopped tomatoes
1-2 cans of kidney beans or four bean mix or 1 of each
salt n pepper
italian herbs
1 tsp chilli (crushed or finely chopped)
1 courgette cubed
1 carrot cubed
1 red/green capsicum
1/2 cup of pasta
3-4 mushrooms
vegan pesto (optional)


Finely chop the onion and saute in olive oil, then add the all of the vegetable stock and canned tomatoes. Add the vegetables and heat to boil (stirring frequently) then reduce the temperature to medium. Stir regularly, add the beans, pasta next and cook for 10 mins, then add mushrooms and remaining ingredients and cook for another 5 mins or until pasta is al dente.

Summer Rissotto

Believe it or not but I only learnt to make rissotto last spring, and it's a good thing I did because it's fast becoming my new fave food! You can pretty much put anything in it and i intend to try various vegetables throughout the year - rissotto for every season. Plus some good vegetable stock and white wine makes for a very tasty meal! Sorry this post doesn't have a picture so you'll have to leave it to the imagination, but I can assure you it looked/tasted amazing! Oh and I used proper rissotto rice (arborio) but it can also be made with brown rice it just tastes longer - but its a healthier option and also a slightly different flavour.

Ingredients:
2 cups arborio rice
1 cup white wine
7 cups vegetable stock
1 red onion
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup fresh chopped green beans
1 lemon (grate the lemon zest then squeeze the juice)
salt n pepper
olive oil

First finely chop the red onion and sautee for a few mins in the olive oil, then add the rice and stir fry for a few mins till the edges turn white. Add 1/2 a cup of wine and stir constantly until it's absorbed then add the remaining wine and continue stirring until it's absorbed.

Continue to add 1/2 cup of stock at a time stirring until it's absorbed for about 20 minutes. Then add the vegetables and more stock and continue until the rice is soft and cooked. Add the lemon zest and juice and salt n pepper and stir well then serve!