More VeganYumYums + a fucking mindblowing ice creamy treat

More goodies from Lolo's test kitchen!

GRILLED PEACH, CORN & TOMATO SALSA

This stuff was so good. As Amanda (fellow tester) pointed out, it's nice to have a salsa recipe without onions. I mean, I love onions. I really do. But raw? Damnit, why the hell would anyone eat raw onions? Between the eye pain and sniffing, the fact that everything tastes like raw onions for six hours (no matter HOW hard you brush yer teeth) and also that you become a walking human repellent (ok, I'm something of a misanthropist, but I don't want to alienate the few people near and dear to me with my disgustingly potent stinky bulb breath), I really can't see what's to be gained from eating raw onions. THEY DON'T EVEN TASTE GOOD. Anyway, rant aside, I hate raw onions, and it causes me endless dispair that almost all salsa recipes ask for raw onions (I always end up cooking them beforehand anyway). But Lolo's recipe was onion-free, and GORGEOUS. A perfect balance between hot from the chilies and the sweetness from the corn and peaches. Lush.

AFRICAN YAM STEW

Yummeh. Nice n spicy and warming, but also sweet thanks to the raisins. So comforting that it felt like junk food, despite being insanely healthy (so I scarfed it down in large amounts, oh yeah). Also the perfect balance between sloppy + chunky - exactly how I like my stews. I actually had to say to my dad "you don't know what you're missing out on by not being vegan" (of course I didn't share it, don't be stupid).

HERBED LEMON BUTTER SPAGHETTI WITH ASPARAGUS

As Pumbaa + Timon would say, "slimy, but satisfying". Lolo is actually reviewing the recipe, since a few folks (including me) found it just a wee bit too slimy. But it was still relaly nummy. Gorgeous combination of citrussiness, "butteriness" and herbiness. Mmmmm. And also the contrast between the squidgy slimy pasta and the fresh n crunchy asparagus was a real sensory treat. Me likes (but with slightly less oil).

CINNAMON RAISIN SWIRLY WHIRLY BREAD

Heaven. In. My. Mouth. I know I say this all the time, and yer all sick to the little bit of gum behind the wisdom teeth of me saying it, but I am seriously IN LOVE with Lolo. Is there anything she can't do? (Answer: no) The taste was nice and subtle - not too cakey (because it was bread, duh). I liked the fact that the sweetness came more from raisins than sugar. And it was amazing toasted, speshly with some soya marg on it. So fucking delicious. Gorgeous texture, too. Really soft; exactly how freshly baked bread should be, but with a proper krusty crust, thanks to a genuis tip from Lolo.

KNICKERBOCKERFUCKINGGLOREEEEEEEEEEE!

Last Saturday I went up to Hackney to meet up with some Brit PPKers at Pogo Cafe. And I have so much love for this place. It's fucking amazing. Totally vegan and mostly organic. With a great playlist (they were playing The Cure while we were there, and they play a whole range of punk, post punk and other punk-related stuff), really cool artwork (the stuff up at the mo is meat-related images/graffiti on chopping boards) and a great atmosphere too; you can just walk in, order a burger and milkshake and fuck off afterwards. Or, if you're us, you can sit there for 3 hours and not get any dirty looks from the waiting staff like you do in a lot of restaurants.

But OH MY GOD the menu! There were about six types of tofu burger (cheezeburger, bacon burger, mex burger with jalapenos and shit...), pumpkin + spinach lasagne, risotto, soup and loads more. And a kiddies' menu. About 16 flavours of milkshake. But the dessert menu really takes the cake (HAR!). Cheesecake, chocolate biscuit cake, brownies, ice cream, banana split and... knickerbockerglory. Three flavours of ice cream (choc, strawberry + vanilla), two types of custard (plain + choc), whipped soy cream, mango sauce, strawberry jam, crushed digestives and nuts on top. Fucking amazing. I just cannot stop ranting. As you can see. I'm sorry. I'll shut the fuck up now and post a delicious picture to make you really jealous. Suckers.

Veganyumyums

Lolo is a goddess. Seriously, if I were into marriage, and the lovely lady hadn't recently got married herself, I would marry her. Well, if she'd have me, that is.

Anyway, insanely lucky little bugger that I am, I've been granted access to her secret test kitchen. Woohoo! So I get to make all the amazing dishes she's planning for her cookzine, BEFORE THE REST OF THE WORLD. HAR HAR.

It's like getting a preview of an orgasm, and THEN having the orgasm itself. WOW.

So it's time I stopped letting my hormones write this blog. Pictures.

SOOOOOUP

All I'll give away is that #1) yes, those are cranberries and #2) yes, it was yummy.

DUMPLINGS

Most of the testers produced perfect-looking dumplings with a yummy brown filling. But because I'm me and can't do anything the normal way, mine were bright purple, due to an ingredient sub (so no, it's not the contrast on your monitor or those 'interesting pills' you took earlier.....).

Also, because Aylesbury is utter SHITE in terms of getting any ingredient which is slightly unusual, I could not procure dumpling skins anywhere. Not in any supermarket, not in the health food shop and not even in the fucking Asian shop. What's a girl to do? Make her own dumpling skins, that's what. Cheers to Ken Hom and his Vegetable And Pasta Book for the recipe.

Anyway, the dumplings and the sauce were fucking AMAZING. So so good. I got somewhat emotional in giving Lolo feedback on how good they were. And I'm not alone in this feeling. All the testers have reported back with similar praise. These babies will be a BIIIIIG hit when the 'zine is released.

SEITAN & BLACK BEAN CHILLI

Not a secret recipe, so here's the link. I replaced the chipotle sausage with Lachesis's Seitan O'Greatness because, as I already mentioned, Aylesbury is pathetic, and I couldn't get vegan chipotle sausages. But Lachesis's magic log is divine, and worked perfectly in this chilli.

The log:

The dish:

Round Stuff With Holes

Another 'themed' backlogged post.

BAGELS

Recipe from The Fresh Loaf



I had a weird-looking relative of the pumpkin sitting around waiting to be used...

So I scooped out the bugger and stewed its innards...


and ended up with a pumpkin polenta stuffed bagel served with beanz n greenz.

DO(UGH)NUTS

My music centre held a bake sale to fund our trip to Dublin next year :o)
My contributions were my signature 'A Bit More Than Chocolate Biscuits' chocolate biscuits (with ginger + candied orange peel. oh, and funexciting piped icing decorations) and VEGAN DO(UGH)NUTS, courtesy of lolo @ veganyumyum.

The first batch failed hideously - no reflection on lolo's recipe; it was only coz I had no doughnut pan. I tried pinching Kelly's trick of using foil rolls in the centre, but it did not work. When I tried to remove the rolls, the doughnuts collapsed pathetically. And they were weird-lookin' anyway. After my first attempt, I was left with sad, misshapen piles of cake crumbs. The majority of said failed batch was soon working its way down my digestive system (and yes, I did then feel very sick. Thanks for asking).

Was this a Mission: Impossible? NAY! I was determined that I wouldn't be beaten by hideously failed + aesthetically offensive doughnut wannabes and a lack of specialist bakeware. I battled on in my quest for the sweet, soft ring of justice.

I realised that since I had nothing ready doughnut-shaped, I'd have to shape the buggers myself. For the second batch, I halved the wet ingredients but kept the dry quantities the same, so the texture was more like a very sticky bread dough. I knew that if I tried to ring-ify them before baking they'd puff up and basically look crap and swollen. So I just shaped 'em in to balls and patted 'em down in a really shallow-ly dipped tray (which I think was designed for Yorkshire puds - who knows? - but way too shallow for cupcakes. More dimples than cups. Anyway......)

Also, having learned from previous baking mistakes, I was aware that the reason my baked goods so often catastrophically fell apart when I played about with 'em was that I didn't let them cool, and that whilst warm they were still fragile and therefore prone to being royally fucked up by yours truly. So this time, when my (thankfully) ok-looking dough-balls came outta the oven, I let them cool. Properly.

I had toyed with the idea of filling them with jam, using some kind of placcy bag/skinny straw contraption, but given my history with piping/pastry bags, I realised this would not have been wise. I've come to terms with the fact that I will never master frosting or anything that involves squeezing goo from a bag through a hole. It's a part of life that I've accepted.

So, having discarded the idea of filled doughnuts, I decided they would indeed be holey and glazed, à la lolo's original recipe. For the holes? Simple. I gently made an initial hole with the handle of a spoon, taking care not to crack 'em. And then to properly shape it, I shoved my finger through in a totally non-gentle way and twizzled the donut around the invading digit until a satisfactory shape had been achieved. Oh yeah, I violated those doughnuts gooooooooood.

And for the glaze/sprinkles, I followed lolo's instructions to the letter, dipping 'em in the appropriate quantities of goo + sprinkles.

And VOILA! I had achieved the holy grail: I had edible, self-supporting and aesthetically pleasing vegan doughnuts. Cue much smugness and a desire to eat them all.


(I ate half.)