Category Archives: Recipe

Black Garlic Rigatoni | Vegan

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Thick rigatoni tubes in a rich tomato pasta sauce full of the dark sweetness of black garlic and roasted squash with earthy chestnut mushrooms and aubergine.

I’ll readily admit that black garlic was an ingredient I didn’t even know existed until the day I made this. Whilst browsing ingredients in the supermarket one weekend and trying to decide what would go well with the rigatoni pasta I already had, my boyfriend announced he wanted something ‘exotic.’ The pouch of black garlic caught my eye and we agreed that seemed exotic enough. Black garlic has an almost jelly-like texture so chopping it roughly works fine. It adds an unexpected sweetness to the dish with its molasses-esque flavour.

Speaking of “exotic” ingredients, this dish also uses a coquina squash – a squash very similar to the butternut squash but cooks slightly softer and it almost became one with this sauce instead of holding in chunks. Either would work a treat in this recipe but if you can hunt down a coquina it is worth it.

Black Garlic Rigatoni | The Tofu Diaries Black Garlic Black Garlic Rigatoni 3Ingredients:

400g rigatoni tubes

1 Coquina squash, cut into small cubes and roasted for 20 minutes

1 aubergine, cut into thick strips

2 onions, finely chopped

400g chestnut mushrooms, cut into thick slices

2 cans chopped tomatoes

3 cloves black garlic, chopped

1tsp thyme

Plenty of black pepper

  1. Preheat an oven to 200c / 180C fan / gas mark 6. Pour 2tbsp olive oil onto a baking tray. Place in the oven for around 4-5 minutes until the oil has heated up, then add the squash cubes onto the baking tray, covering well with the hot oil. Roast for twenty minutes or until browned, turning halfway.
  2. Whilst the squash is roasting, add the rigatoni pasta to a pan of boiling water and cook for around eight minutes or as directed on the packet. Once cooked al dente, drain well.
  3. Whilst the squash is roasting and the pasta is cooking, heat the remaining 2tbsp olive oil in a deep frying pan or large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onions, cook for around five minutes until they have softened.
  4. Add the mushrooms and aubergine to the pan. Stirring well, cook for around five minutes until they have begun to brown.
  5. Pour the tomatoes into the pan, along with the black garlic. Once the squash has roasted, add this to the pan.
  6. Simmer for around fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the thyme and stir for a further two minutes to allow the sauce to thicken.
  7. Mix the drained rigatoni pasta together with the sauce until it is well coated and serve.

Black Garlic Rigatoni 4 Black Garlic Rigatoni 2Have you cooked with any new ingredients lately? Share your recipes below or over on !

Spiced Spinach & Red Onion Quinoa Medallions (with Oriental Slaw & Baked Sweet Potato Chips) | Vegan

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This Asian-inspired dish is a fusion of lightly spiced, coconut-y medallions, atop a bed of slaw rich with the contrasting flavours of toasted sesame and zingy lemon, served with baked sweet potato chips.

If you’re a regular reader, you might have picked up on my excitement about trying out new ingredients. In which case you can imagine how delighted I was at the chance to try out a couple of products from Maille to create a new recipe with as part of their ‘Maille Culinary Challenge.’

Maille have been making mustards since the 1700s so they certainly know what they’re doing. But alongside their classic Dijon and wholegrain mustards, they offer a whole array of enticing flavoured mustards and dressings that can add a whole new dimension to a dish.

For my Maille recipe, I opted to go for Soy Vinaigrette with Toasted Sesame Seeds dressing and Mustard with White Wine, Coconut and Colombo Spices, which were kindly sent to me by Maille. As soon as I spotted these two, I knew I was going to make an Asian-inspired dish; so here it is, an entirely vegan dish of spiced spinach & red onion quinoa medallions served with Oriental slaw & baked sweet potato chips.Vegan spiced spinach & red onion quinoa medallions with Oriental slaw & baked sweet potato chips | The Tofu Diaries Quinoa Medallions 4 Quinoa Medallions 3

Ingredients:

For the slaw:

175g white cabbage, thinly sliced

175g red cabbage, thinly sliced

4tbsp Maille Soy Vinaigrette with Toasted Sesame Seeds dressing (here)

Juice of one lemon

Slaw method:

Add ingredients to a bowl, mix together well and leave to soak for 30 minutes.

 

For the sweet potato chips:

450g sweet potatoes, cut into thick chips

2tbsp olive oil

Generous amount of black pepper

Sweet potato chips method:

  1. Preheat an oven to 200c / 180C fan / gas mark 6.
  2. Pour the olive oil onto a baking tray. Place in the oven for around 4-5 minutes until the oil has heated up.
  3. Add the sweet potatoes and black pepper onto the baking tray, covering well with the hot oil.
  4. Bake for thirty minutes or until browned, turning halfway.
  5. Once the sweet potatoes have turned brown around the edges and cooked through, turn off the oven. Leave them to stand in the oven for a further five minutes – this will give them a slightly sticky, caramelised texture.

 

For the quinoa medallions:

100g quinoa

500ml vegetable stock

1 large red onion, chopped

2 handfuls fresh spinach, roughly chopped

½ stick lemon grass, bruised and finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2tbsp Maille Mustard with White Wine, Coconut and Colombo Spices (here)

1tsp ground cumin

1tsp paprika

½tsp chilli flakes

½tsp garam masala

½tsp turmeric

125g wholemeal flour

125ml plant milk (I used light soy milk)

Olive oil for cooking

Quinoa Medallions method:

  1. Place the quinoa is a metal sieve. Wash well – this removes the bitter coating of the quinoa.
  2. Boil the vegetable stock in a pan, add the quinoa. Stir well.
  3. Turn the heat down slightly and simmer for 15 minutes until tender.
  4. Drain, return to the pan, cover and leave to stand for 15 minutes.
  5. Now the quinoa has cooled slightly, mix in all of the ingredients (bar the flour and milk).
  6. In a separate bowl, mix the wholemeal flour and plant milk together to form a smooth batter.
  7. Add the batter to the quinoa mix, stir well until the ingredients are fully coated and evenly mixed.
  8. In a large frying pan, heat up 2tsbp olive oil on a high heat.
  9. Drop the heat down to medium low. Using your hands or a spoon, divide the mixture into palm-sized medallions, placing them directly into the frying pan. The quinoa mixture will be sticky – don’t be too concerned by the shape as the edges can be rounded off once they are in the pan using the edge of a spatula.
  10. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, until they are golden brown on the outside and cooked through on the inside. Transfer onto a piece of kitchen roll to blot away any excess oil. Depending on the size of the pan, it may be necessary to cook in two to three batches

Serve the medallions atop a serving of the Oriental slaw with the sweet potato chips on the side. Garnish with a couple of fresh spinach leaves.Quinoa Medallions 2

As a side note, this gorgeous Batik fabric that I used as my tablecloth was picked up in Cambodia a few years back. It’s made me realise how much more creative I need to be about using props!Quinoa Medallions 5

Have you tried any new ingredients recently?

Halloumi & Courgette Kebabs with Garlicky Spinach

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Few things are more satisfying than the satly, chewy delight that is halloumi. Whilst ‘salty’ and ‘chewy’ might not be the most emotive of terms, Cypriot halloumi is perfect with a fresh marinade and grilled to give it golden edges. Similar to paneer (which I’ve used here and here), it has a very high melting point making it perfect to grill, fry, or even barbecue.

These kebabs and the accompanying spinach side dish are perfect for an evening when you don’t have too much time to cook. A very quick spot of preparation, you’re then free to get on with other things for half an hour before a speedy cooking process. The halloumi skewers were made using this recipe which my boyfriend stumbled across and even picked up the ingredients for it on his way home from work one evening. The spinach was thrown together from bits and pieces I happened to have in my fridge. We served these up alongside some Bombay potatoes, lazily picked up at the supermarket.Halloumi & Courgette Kebabs | The Tofu DiariesHalloumi kebabs coming out of the grill Halloumi & Courgette KebabsIngredients

For the kebabs:

225g halloumi cheese, cut into large cubes

2 courgettes, thickly sliced

1 red onion

2 tbsp olive oil

Fresh mint, chopped

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

1-2 tsps chilli flakes

For the spinach:

2 tbsp olive oil

500g fresh spinach

1 red onion

3 cloves garlic, crushed

Plenty of black pepper

Mix the lemon, mint, olive oil and chilli flakes in a bowl. Add the halloumi, courgette and red onion, mixing well. Marinade for about half an hour. If you are using wooden skewers, soak this in water at the same time as the other ingredients are marinating.

Feed the halloumi and vegetables onto the skewers. Place under a hot grill and cook for around ten minutes, turning frequently. Pour the remaining marinade on half way. Sprinkle with some of the fresh mint to serve.

Whilst the kebabs are cooking, heat up 2 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add in the red onion and garlic. Once they have softened, put in the spinach in the pan and stir gently until it has wilted. Season with the black pepper and serve as an accompaniment to the kebabs.Halloumi Kebabs Garlicky Spinach Side DishHave you ever tried halloumi? What is your favourite way of cooking it?

Slow Cooker Vietnamese Caramel Tofu & Carrots

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Another recipe roughly adapted and turned veggie from slow cooker cookbook, this dish is a treat of a main course. Both sweet and aromatic, tofu is ideal as it absorbs the flavours beautifully. Serving it with fresh coriander, pickled bean sprouts and rice balances the dish and stops it being too sweet (which it might be if eaten on its own). I made this one Saturday and had it cook through the day ready to be eaten that evening.

It’s essential to press the tofu before using it in this dish. To do so, simply drain the block, wrap well with kitchen roll, and place a heavy cookbook or pan on top. Leave this for at least ten minutes but ideally around an hour. Unwrap and it’s ready to use. By removing more of the liquid, this makes the tofu firmer so it will keep its shape in the slow cooker.

This recipe used Chantenay carrots but regular carrots cut into rounds or batons would work just as well. It’s also worth nothing that the colour of the dish depends somewhat on the type of soy sauce you use – I used a particularly dark one in this that turns every dish very very dark!Vietnamese Caramel Tofu | The Tofu Diaries

Vietnamese Caramel Tofu 2 Vietnamese Caramel Tofu 3Ingredients

400g tofu, drained, pressed & cut into large cubes

1 white onion, sliced

200g Chantenay carrots, cut into halves lengthways

200g fine green beans

1 lemongrass stalk, bruised & cut in half

Fresh coriander to serve

For the sauce:

150g light muscovado sugar

2tbsp water

1tsp dark soy sauce

Juice of lime

For the beansprouts:

Handful fresh beansprouts

1tbsp rice wine vinegar

Chili flakes

To create the caramel sauce, heat the sugar and water over a medium heat – for best results use a stainless steel pan so you can gauge the colour better. Stir well until the sugar has fully dissolved. Turn the heat up high, without stirring, so the sugar boils and turns a golden brown colour without burning. Remove from the heat and add the soy sauce and lime juice – do this immediately as it halts the cooking process.

Put all of the ingredients into the slow cooker and pour over the caramel sauce. Cook on low for eight hours. If possible, stir halfway. Once it is cooked, transfer to the hob and cook on a high heat for a few minutes to allow the sauce to thicken. Remove the lemongrass. Sprinkle with fresh coriander leaves, top with a scoop of the pickled beansprouts, and serve with rice.

For the pickled beansprouts, simply coat them in the vinegar and chilli flakes and leave to stand for around twenty minutes for the vinegar to absorb. Drain and they are ready to use.Vietnamese Caramel Tofu 4 Vietnamese Caramel Tofu 5Have you ever cooked tofu in a slow cooker? Any tips or tricks to share?

Slow Cooker Vegan Iraqi Daube

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Trying a new cuisine is always exciting and exploring lesser known countries – or at least, lesser known for their food – can introduce you to unexplored ingredients and exciting new flavours. I was taking a look in my boyfriend’s slow cooker cookbook () for inspiration, nosing at meat recipes I could adapt, when I came across a recipe for Iraqi beef daube. Inspired by the recipe I found, I have reworked their original into a vegan alternative. For this recipe I had to seek out dried limes (sometihng I have never cooked with before) and finally got to use some all spice I picked up a few weeks ago.

The history of Iraqi food is as rich as its flavours, with thousands of years, past empires and neighbouring countries having made their mark on the food we see today. In fact, the very first cookbooks are said to have been found in Iraq on ancient stone tablets. Despite all of these influences coming together, I can honestly say this dish tasted like nothing I have ever eaten before and I can’t wait to make it again!

The daube is a hearty dish that uses no oil or other fats in the stew. This recipe is a far stretch from the one I found in the cookbook, with an array of vegetables in place of brisket, and the addition of Marmite to create a depth of flavour that complements the rich tomato base. The method for today’s dish is very simple as everything for the stew simply cooks together in the slow cooker and is ideal to serve up with a buttery saffron rice (I used a dairy-free spread) and tangy caramelised barberries. The method for the barberries here is borrowed from one element of this recipe by the lovely Goli who has a whole blog of Persian dishes just waiting to be adapted into veggie ones!Slow Cooker Vegan Iraqi Daube | The Tofu DiariesIraqi Daube 4Iraqi Daube 2 Ingredients

For the daube:

2 white onions, cut into eights

300g mushrooms, cut into halves

2 celery sticks, sliced

1 courgette, thickly sliced

1 large sweet potato, cut into large chunks

Handful of broccoli, in small florets

Handful of fine green beans

2x 500ml cartons of passata

125ml veg stock

2 heaped tsps Marmite

6 cloves garlic, sliced

2 dried limes, make a slit on one side of each

½tsp ground all spice

1 cinnamon stick

Fresh coriander to serve

For the rice:

Saffron rice (50g per person)

Handful of dried barberries, well washed

½tbsp vegetable oil

1tsp sugar

½tbsp water

Place all of the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on high for five hours or on low for ten hours. Once ready, remove the cinnamon stick and dried limes. Sprinkle on the fresh coriander leaves.

Serve with saffron rice (method here, substituting dairy-free spread in place of butter) topped with the barberries. To prepare the barberries, cook the washed berries, oil, sugar and water on a medium heat, stirring well until the berries have darkened and softened.Iraqi Daube 1Iraqi Daube 3

Have you tried any new cuisines lately?