ASDA has come out with a new range of vegetarian just-add-water mixes. The range includes burgers, sausages, falafel and nut roast.

When I first spied them in the store, I perused the ingredients list and noticed the presence of soy. It was not specified if this was genetically modified or not, so I called the ASDA help line on the back of the packet to enquire. Unfortunately, despite a 12-minute phone call at my expense, the customer “service” rep could not tell me if the soy was genetically modified or not. I asked if ASDA had a blanket policy on GM foods, but the rep was clueless on that as well. He took my contact details and promised a response within a couple of days, which (weeks later) I am still waiting for. Zero out of 10 for customer service on that one, ASDA!

We bought a couple of the packet mixes anyway, with the idea that we’d return them if it turned out they contained GM soy. After several days, and having received no response from ASDA, I searched the internet for the information. Turns out ASDA does have a GM-free policy, which applies to all of their own-brand food ingredients, but does not extend to  “the feeding of GM derived materials to livestock”. No GM worries for vegans, then!

Back to the food. The mixes sell for 78p, but are currently on offer at two for £1. Depending on the mix, they make from two to four servings each, so are really good value, and are a great idea when you’re pressed for time and want something quick and nutritious.

The first one in the range we tried was “Chargrill style meat free burger mix”, and we were not disappointed.

Preparation couldn’t be easier, as you simply add water to the dry mix and let stand for 10 minutes. You can then form the mixture into burgers. The directions called for making eight small burgers, but I made four “normal”-sized ones instead. I made the burgers using my burger press, but you can also form them by hand. They were then pan-fried until golden on each side. I fried two of the burgers; the remaining two were frozen uncooked for another meal.

I was pleased that the burgers held together nicely in the frypan. Both Mr Thrifty and I loved the savoury, delicious taste that was a bit reminiscent of fried onions.

When the time came to use the frozen burgers, I partially thawed them before frying, as I didn’t want them to overbrown before being hot inside. This worked beautifully, and were indistinguishable from the freshly-made burgers.

I highly recommend the new ASDA Chargrill style meat free burger mix as a quick, convenient, delicious and thrifty purchase. Reviews of other products in this range are forthcoming!

The other day I decided to experiment with a couple of faux meaty things.

I made “white seitan” from the book Viva Vegan (recipe can be found here; I made 1/4 of the recipe). I first steamed it for 30 minutes, then let it cool for a few minutes and tried it. It was gummy and unappealing, so I wrapped it back up and let it steam for 90 minutes total. This time the texture was nice and chewy. The flavour is good as well. It can be sliced very thinly. I think I still prefer seitan made with the addition of tofu though, as in this experiment.

I also had a package of bean curd skin in the freezer, and had wanted for ages to try making “ham” from it.

I started by cutting the bean curd skin into julienne strips, then poured boiling water over to soften. Drained it well, then added soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds and sugar. Wrapped it tightly in a piece of muslin and steamed over simmering water for 90 minutes.

It worked pretty well. Both Mr Thrifty and I really liked the texture, but the flavour was nothing like ham. It has to be sliced quick thickly or it breaks up. The problem is going to be trying to get the flavours into the ham before steaming it.  Using too much liquid seasoning means it just leaks out when being steamed. Next time I am going to try making my own bean curd skin from homemade soya milk, as I’m concerned that the bought bean curd skin may be made from genetically modified soya beans.

Further faux meat experiments to come!

This is a delicious way to cook new potatoes. It’s from Jack Bishop’s Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook.

Soaking the potatoes in cold water helps remove some of the starch so they don’t stick to the roasting tin. Adding the garlic and herbs halfway through ensures the garlic doesn’t burn. You can use thyme and/or oregano instead of rosemary and sage.

Thanks for the great recipe, Jack!

Roasted new potatoes with garlic & herbs

1. Preheat oven to 210C (425F). Scrub potatoes and cut into 2.5 cm (1 inch) pieces. Place in a bowl and cover with cold water. Set aside for 10 minutes.

2. Drain potatoes but do not blot dry. Place them in a roasting tin large enough to hold them in a single layer. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the oil and toss to coat evenly. Roast, turning once, for 30 minutes.

3. Crush garlic in a mortar and pestle with salt until reduced to a paste. Add sage and rosemary and ombine remaining 1-1/2 tablespoons oil, garlic, sage, rosemary and salt in a small bowl. Drizzle over the partially roasted potatoes. Toss gently to distribute the seasonings. Continue roasting, turning the potatoes occasionally, until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes more. Serve immediately.

Claire from VeganCooking.com has come out with a vegan dessert cookbook called Are you sure that’s vegan? If they taste half as good as the photos look, they will be awesome!

Here’s where the free bit comes in. If you register for her free recipe newsletter, she’ll send you five recipes from the book for free, plus offer you a special price to buy the book.

If you refer five people to also sign up, you’ll get another five recipes free. Yay!

Click here to get your free recipes from Are you sure that’s vegan?

I’ve finally discovered the secret to great bean burgers.

A lot of beans burgers are too soft and mushy, and squish out of the bun when you’re eating them. (Remember: mush burgers aren’t us.)

You can make a bean burger firmer by adding wheat gluten, but I must admit I’m not a fan of bean burgers with added gluten. They tend to be dry and the texture somehow just doesn’t seem right.

The solution to mushy bean burgers is an easy one. Don’t make them too thick, coat them with cornmeal and make sure you cook them long enough to form a nice crunchy crust. I’ve found the best way to achieve this is to first pan fry them in a small cast iron griddle, then place them, griddle and all, in the oven to finish them off.

These butterbean burgers are delicious and have just a bit of heat from the jalapenos. Thanks to happy vegan face, whose recipe I adapted.

The original recipe called for saltine crackers, which aren’t available here in the UK. However, I’ve found that Doriano crackers — available in supermarkets — are very similar to saltines, and work beautifully in this recipe. I also added ground raw cashews for a protein boost, as well as a bit of arrowroot to help bind the burgers.

You can either use a 400g (14oz) tin of butter beans, or cook your own from scratch. If cooking from scratch, 110g of dried beans will make about the equivalent amount of a tin.

Spicy butterbean burgers

1. Saute red pepper, onion and garlic in olive oil for 10 minutes, until vegetables are soft.

2. Meanwhile, mash butterbeans. Crush crackers into crumbs (I use a blender). Mix together butterbeans, cracker crumbs, ground cashews, nutritional yeast and jalapenos.

3. Add the cooked vegetables to the bean mixture and combine well. Stir together the arrowroot and water, and add this to the burger mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste and combine well.

4. Form into five burgers, pressing mixture firmly.

5. Spread cornmeal on a plate and gently press each burger into cornmeal to lightly coat.

6. In a heavy frypan (I use cast iron), gently pan-fry burgers until golden on each side.

7. For an extra-crunchy outside, place burgers, frypan and all, into 160C (325F) oven for 20 minutes.

Makes five burgers.

These meatless hamburger steaks are really amazing. The texture is EXACTLY like what I remember hamburger being like, and Mr Thrifty concurs. The taste is most delicious, though the flavour could be tweaked to make it more meat-like if you so desire.

The hamburger steaks are a combination of TVP, gluten, minced veggies and seasonings. They’re formed into steaks and steamed, then pan-fried. They hold together very well, and would probably work great on the barbecue.

A thinner version of these would make fab burgers as well.

A note on ingredients: Marmite lends a rich, salty taste. If you don’t have it, try adding some veggie “beef” bouillon powder instead. The gravy browning is optional, but adds a nice dark colour.

Vegan hamburger steaks

1. Bring 100ml (1/2 cup less 1 tablespoon) water, Marmite and gravy browning to a boil in a small pot. Stir in TVP, off heat, cover and let stand for 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a heavy skillet and saute the onion, mushrooms and red pepper for 10 minutes, until softened.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine TVP with cooked vegetables. Add soy sauce, tomato puree (tomato paste), steak sauce or barbecue sauce, Worcestershire sauce and 50ml (3-1/2 tablespoons) water. Mix well, then stir in ground oats and nutritional yeast.

4. Sieve the gluten flour over the wet mixture and combine well.

5. Divide mixture into four portions and shape into oval steaks. Wrap each steak in baking paper, then in aluminium foil.

6. Bring water to boil in a pot that has a steamer insert. Steam steaks for 40 minutes over gently simmering water, switching positions halfway through (bottom steaks on top and top ones on bottom). Check water level regularly to ensure the pot does not boil dry and add boiling water as necessary.

7. When steaks have finished steaming, let cool. Unwrap and saute until lightly brown.

Makes four hamburger steaks.

I know I’ve been neglecting my blog somewhat, but I’ve been a busy little beaver in the kitchen.

I created the most amazing vegan-hamburger-steak-type thing which had just the perfect texture and a savoury and delicious flavour. And on the first try as well!

I also made some awesome vegan pepperoni sticks:

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Not to mention some very tasty butter bean burgers with a lovely crunchy crust (which all good bean burgers must have):

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AND, I also tried my hand at homemade crisps. It would be truly dangerous if I made these on a regular basis:

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Recipes will be in forthcoming posts!

But that’s not all…

I took a look in my freezer a month or so ago and realised there were still a couple of drawers full of fruit, waiting patiently to be made into wine. I’ve been making a gallon a week since then and so far have brewing: blackberry-raspberry; plum-blackerry; cherry-cranberry; elderberry-blackcurrant; and plum-blackcurrant-blackberry. YUM!

I also invested in a brand-spanking-new SoyQuick 930P, kind of the Rolls Royce of soya milk makers. Woohoo! I’ve made not just soya milk but also hemp milk, and will soon be experimenting with homemade tofu. Very exciting!

And I’ve bought a few exotic and somewhat hard-to-find ingredients: carrageenan, agar-agar and locust bean gum. These have been used to make a delicious garlic pâté (which was supposed to be cheese, but ended up with a consistency and flavour like pâté), as well as the aforementioned pepperoni.

Not only that, but we’ve been starting to prepare the allotments for the new growing season, and Mr Thrifty will be utilising his exceptional garden DIY skills to make raised beds for our second allotment. It’s a new and better design (hopefully) than the ones that are on our first allotment.

And if that weren’t enough, we’ve also joined a food co-op, and now can buy all kinds of delicious organic food at wholesale prices! Our first order has come in and we’ll be picking it up tomorrow. Yay!

Stay tuned, cyber-friends, details of these new ventures will be coming soon!

Sometimes I’m in the mood for a big ol’ slab of protein… seitan, that is!

A couple of days ago, I made Matt’s recipe for Chickeny seitan cutlets. I tweaked the spices slightly (I omitted the bay leaf and instead added celery seed and freshly ground pepper); used regular tofu instead of silken; and made half a recipe.

I like this recipe because it involves cooking the seitan cutlets in broth in the oven. This is easier than cooking them in a pot on the hob, where inattention can mean the difference between seitan cutlets and seitan brains. I checked them after about an hour, and they still seemed a long way from cooked, so I increased the temperature to 180C (350F). That did the trick and they were perfectly cooked in a total of just over 1-1/2 hours.

I then dusted the cutlets with flour and panfried them.

We served them with Mr Thrifty’s special mash, creamy mushroom gravy and a red cabbage salad from Epicurious.

The cutlets were delicious, tender and tasty, and the gravy was a perfect accompaniment. As for Mr Thrifty’s mash… well let’s just say, this is the mash that turned me into a mashed potato lover. The salad, I have to admit, was not my favourite; the flavours just didn’t seem to work together very well.

The best thing about the cutlets is that there were four left over. Yesterday I thinly sliced two of them to use as chickeny strips in Buddha bowls, and they were excellent in that role as well.

So when you have a few minutes, go and check out Matt’s blog My Veggie Kitchen, he’s got a lot of great vegan recipes.

Creamy mushroom gravy

1. Reserve two tablespoons of the bouillon and heat the rest in a small pot over medium heat. As it is heating, add the nutritional yeast, soy sauce, thyme, and salt & pepper to taste.

2. Meanwhile, mix the cornflour (cornstarch) into the reserved bouillon and set aside.

3. When the bouillon in the pot comes to a simmer, give the cornflour/bouillon mixture a stir and add it to the pot, whisking continuously, and bring again to a simmer, whisking all the while. The mixture will thicken as the cornflour cooks.

4. Whisk in the optional cream cheese until incorporated.

5. Add sliced mushrooms and stir. Cover, turn heat to low, and cook at a gentle simmer until mushrooms are cooked, about five minutes.

Edit: I had one of these burgers for lunch, reheated from frozen, and it totally fell apart in the pan. Argh. I still need to work on the cohesiveness. It tasted fantastic, though.

I had another go at making the nutty wild rice burgers I’d first made a few months back.

This version held together better, and the tweaks I made to the seasonings worked well. The chewy rice is a nice contrast to the crunchy nuts and seeds.

This probably won’t be my final version of this burger, but because I’ve had a couple of requests for the recipe, I’m posting this latest version.

Enjoy!

Nutty wild rice burgers

* For two cups of well-cooked brown basmati / wild rice blend, start with 70g (3/8 cup) raw brown basmati plus 40g (3 tablespoons) raw wild rice, cooked in a generous amount of boiling salted water for about 50-55 minutes, then drained.

1. Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet and saute the onion and mushroom for 5 minutes, until softened. Add garlic and continue to cook for another minute or two.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine cooked vegetables with rice, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and walnuts. Mix well.

3. Add vegan cheese and breadcrumbs and mix again.

4. In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, besan and arrowroot or cornflour (cornstarch). Add to mixing bowl and combine well.

5. Divide mixture into four portions and shape into burgers.

6. Saute in a bit of olive oil until lightly browned on each side.

Makes four burgers.

First off, for any of my American readers who may be thinking, “a flapjack is a pancake, and that’s not a pancake”, let me assure you that the delectable goodie in the photo above is indeed a flapjack… at least on this side of the pond. We have only one word for pancakes over here, although I should perhaps mention that an American pancake is different from an English pancake, just as an American muffin is different from an English muffin.

A flapjack is a snack bar made from oatmeal, margarine and sweeteners — usually golden syrup and sugar (or honey). Common additions are dried fruit, nuts and chocolate.

Commercial flapjacks are very popular, and can be bought pretty much anywhere. For anyone unfamiliar with just how popular flapjacks are, check out the Blackfriars Bakery website, which lists 23 different varieties of flapjacks. Commercial flapjacks are usually VERY sweet and sometimes contain questionable ingredients. They’re often not vegan either, although vegan varieties are available.

These homemade flapjacks are moist & chewy and just bursting with oaty goodness. They don’t just taste as good as the commercial variety, they taste better! They’re also very cheap and easy to make.

Furthermore, making homemade flapjacks means eliminating the plastic wrap that commercial ones have, a small step in the plastic reduction challenge.

This version is made with dessicated coconut, maraschino cherries and sultanas. I usually wouldn’t buy maraschino cherries because of the colourings and additives, but in a moment of madness I bought some a while back to put in Christmas cake, which I subsequently didn’t make.

Many thanks to Hanan of the blog Sunshine Cooking, whose flapjack recipe I modified. I substituted margarine for butter, added extra oats, cut the amount of sugar, and subbed maple syrup for honey & golden syrup (golden syrup is traditionally used for flapjacks, but I didn’t have any). They were still really sweet, so next time I’ll cut the sugar further.

Coconut cherry flapjacks

1. Grease a 22cm (9″) square pan (I used a glass pan) with margarine, then cut a piece of baking paper to cover the base and two opposite sides. Grease the baking paper with margarine.

2. Preheat oven to 180C (350F).

3. In a mixing bowl, combine oats, sultanas, flour, sugar, cherries and coconut.

4. Stir maple syrup or golden syrup into melted margarine.

5. Pour margarine over oats and mix well.

6. Press mixture into prepared pan, pressing firmly. A potato masher works well.

7. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, rotating pan halfway through.

8. Cool in pan before cutting into bars.

Makes 8 flapjacks.