The Raw Vegan Princess

The Moosewood Cookbook and a Pie
I have never been to Moosewood. I have no idea where it is. I never intend to go to America (no offense, I'm just not a traveller) but now I know that even if I do I don't think I'll go to Moosewood. I've heard so much talk about it that I thought it would be great but when I borrowed the cookbook from my local library I was SORELY disappointed. I knew it was a vegetarian, not vegan restaurant but I thought it would have a fair few vegan options... it doesn't. Nearly every recipe is chock full of cheese, cream or sour cream - YUCK! Bad for the animals and bad for you! But I did find one appealing recipe and I made it yesterday (with serious modifications). The original recipe is called "Homemade Sesame Crackers" but I didn't have any sesame seeds so it became homemade flax crackers. They were yummy, and will go well with a variety of dips. So here goes:

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup plain white flour
-1/2 cup self raising wholewheat flour
-1/4tsp salt
-1 tbsp flax seeds
-2 tbsp silken tofu
-1/2 tsp rice malt syrup
-1/3 cup cold water

Instructions:
Mix together the flours and salt. Place the flax seeds (ground or whole - I used a combination) in a non-stick fry pan and toast until they start popping and jumping around (preferably remove before they jump all over the kitchen :-) and add the the flours and salt. Now mix it the tofu so that the mixture is just sort of lumpy and still dry. Add the water progressively, mixing as you go, until the dough is a workable consistency (not too wet) then mix through the rice malt syrup. PLace on a floured surface and knead lightly then roll out very thin (as thin you like - thicker ones have soft, chewy texture whereas thin ones are very crispy. Both are nice). Cut using a cookie cutter to your desired shape/size and prick all over with a fork. Place on a sheet of baking paper and put in a preheated oven at about 190C. Cook until brown (10- 15 mins). I think this made about 15 - 20 crackers of diamter about 2.5cm (1 inch). Eat with dip or however you desire!


To go with these I made this dip, it was yummy but definately needs some refining (which I will be doing in the not too distant future - I have discovered that I love creating and eating dips almost as much as muffins! Well, maybe not quite but they're my savoury equivelant). Here's what went into it:

-broccoli stems, outer layers peeled off and boiled until very tender, mashed up with
-lemon juice
-some dukkah (a spice containing cummin powder, sea salt and a host of other things)


Before cooking (in my oven!)

Now onto my pie. I don't have time to post the recipe so here is a link to what it is based on : "http://www.fatfree.com/recipes/dinner-pies/quiche-laverne"
I think it's stupid to call this a quiche because, by definition, quiches are full of cholesterol bombs (eggs) and cheese. Why imitate something cruel and unhealthy, why not just call it a tofu pie, cos that's what it is? The pastry for this sounds very odd but it was delicious (especially for an onion lover!) and a great alternative to the normal pastry recipe of oil and flour (YUCK). I will be using it again. The only significant change I made was adding veggies to the filling - red and green capsicum, mushroom, baby spinach and, yes, more onion! It was good - I halved the recipe and this still gave me enough for dinner (with a little salad) and three portions frozen for uni lunches.
Have a good day/night (depending on where you are in the world!) and thanks for stopping by!

After cooking.

posted by Freedom @ 8:03 pm