vanilla cashew cream

Cashew cream, I’m fairly convinced, is a gateway drug.

…to almost any dessert imaginable. Or, if I’m being honest, breakfast too. It is stupidly easy to make, and makes everything it touches good. Here are some of the ways I’ve used cashew cream: in banoffee pie, with balsamic-macerated strawberries, on top of many, many cakes, on top of muesli, on top of boring fruit. You can even freeze it in a cake tin to get cashew cream cheesecake.

It stores in the fridge wonderfully, awaiting your every need, for about 1 week. It’s the sort of thing, that once you know how to make it, you can make it all the time, turning regular desserts or regular breakfasts or regular snacks into something special, delicious, and good for you. You may even find yourself baking cakes just to put cashew cream on them.

Vanilla Cashew Cream

makes about 1.5 cups

Recipe Notes:

Don’t stress over getting every scrap of cashew cream out of the blender. Get as much out as you can, then add 750 mL fresh water, and blend on high. You will have just made vanilla-flavoured cashew milk (and your blender is easier to clean). I have the wonderful Hannah to thank for this tip. Cashew milk will store in the fridge for 1 week.

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw cashews, soaked for 6 hours or overnight
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• seeds scraped from 1/2 vanilla bean

Scoop the cashews into the blender and retain the soaking liquid. Add the other ingredients to the blender with 1 tbsp of the soaking liquid. Blend slowly, then stop and scrape down the sides, blend again on a higher speed. Add 1 tbsp more liquid if required. Repeat until the cashew cream is silky and smooth, and thick. Remove from blender and refrigerate until needed.

zucchini spaghetti with sun-dried tomato and cashew sauce

If there’s been one meal, above all others, that I have missed since going gluten free, it’s pasta. Holy shit. Pasta is comfort food; is when-you’re-sick food; was THE meal I ordered at restaurants. I know good gluten free pastas exist, but I’ve never found one I’ve loved.

And then, I picked up a beautiful new book The Green Kitchen (from the writers of the equally beautiful blog), and saw this recipe, and it went straight to the top of my list. Zucchini can be noodles?! Consider me intrigued.

I was not disappointed. Zucchini noodles are the closest ‘noodle’ to regular spaghetti I’ve found (even Adam agreed, really, and he’s a skeptic). And the sundried tomato and cashew sauce is ridiculously good. I ate it with a spoon. (I imagine it as an excellent dip for raw veggies.)

The Green Kitchen is a truly gorgeous book, full of recipes that I want to make. I’m also in love with the photography and design (a must for cookbooks), so I thought I’d share a few photos from the inside.

I couldn’t find any mushrooms worth eating at the markets (which David and Luisa serve with the noodles in the book), so went for avocado and parsley instead (creamy avocado – in some weird way = vegan version of mozzarella slices. amazing).

Next time, I’d add even more parsely (we’re parsley freaks round here), and even though it ruins the raw-tasticness of the dish, some toasted almonds/pinenuts/pepitas. This dish is all about texture for me, and flavour too. Garnishing with chewy strips of sundried tomato is a also must. (I think you could also make this work with a basil pesto that’s on the runny side, perhaps with a few fresh tomatoes tossed through.)

Even though it’s practically winter here, this was hearty and satisfying. Having said that, however, I’m looking forward to enjoying in on a summer evening, after a 32 degree day, with a vat of iced tea. Divine!

Zucchini Spaghetti with Sun-dried Tomato and Cashew Sauce

serves 4 slightly hungry people or 2 very hungry people

Recipe Notes:

• If you’ve got a julienne slicer, or mandoline, go for it. Otherwise, time to practise your knife skills (which is also handy, really).

Ingredients

• 2 large zucchini
• 1 cup cashews, soaked in water for 6 hours or overnight
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• sea salt
• black pepper
• 200 g (~1 cup) sun-dried tomatoes, drained of oil and roughly chopped, a few reserved whole for garnishing
• 1/2 avocado, sliced
• 1 handful parsley leaves, roughly chopped

Using a julienne slicer (or your wicked knife skills), slice the zucchini thinly lengthwise to form your noodles. In a blender, combine drained cashews, zest, juice, garlic, oil, and sun-dried tomatoes. Blend until creamy and relatively smooth. Season to taste. Toss zucchini noodles with sauce and 3/4 of the parsley. Arrange on plates, topped with avocado, slices of the reserved sun-dried tomatoes, and the remaining parsley. Serve with plenty of freshly cracked black pepper. Enjoy!

food crush: sweet potato

Sometimes, life calls for something magical, comforting; something that positively glows with good health and delicious radiance. That, my friends, is the sweet potato. I know I’m probably preaching to the converted, but I feel like we should take a moment to truly appreciate this truly magnificent tuber. They’re pretty rad.

If my childhood was dominated by white potatoes (mashed potato with tomato sauce – by itself or in sandwiches – was the staple of my youth), then I think adulthood is going to be the time of the sweet potato. I eat them constantly. In curries, stews, soups, or tagines. Roasted, mashed, sautéed. A sweet potato has the ability to make a mediocre meal brilliant. Don’t feel like eating another salad? Put some slices of roasted sweet potato on it, and BAM! Salad problems solved. On top of sweet potato’s salad-busting abilities, it is also a nutritional powerhouse – the kind of tuber a girl can love, and it loves her back too.

Boiled and mashed sweet potato is my go-to meal when I’m sick and the thought of anything else would be just too much. Sweet potato also makes cakes and scones and pies, and if I could sweet potato in a biscuit, I probably would. It was a fucking brilliant day when I realised that some burger places had started serving sweet potato fries. Genius.

It’s almost winter here, so I’m cooking lots of comfort-filled food. Curry is definitely comfort food. I’m willing to bet you decent money that over 50% of the time, when I ask Adam what he feels like for dinner, he’ll say a curry. At which point, I sigh and grumble about how curries are so involved, and so rich, and I’m too lazy to make a decent one. Well, my friends, do I have a curry for you. Sweet potato jalfrezi not only includes my beloved root, but is quite possibly the ultimate curry for the lazy girl. And because it’s a tomato-based curry, you avoid the heavy richness that cream-based curries tend to deliver.

This really is a great, great recipe (even better the next day). There are lots of serving options, which I outline below, and it’s most certainly a make-ahead friendly meal. On a wintry day, with rain, grey skies and general miserableness, I couldn’t imagine anything better for dinner.

A few other sweet-potato-riffic recipes:

• Crispy Cornmeal Sweet Potato Fries at My New Roots
• Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls at Oh, Ladycakes
• Mexican-Inspired Skillet Sweet Potato at molly, ily
• Beluga Lentil and Sweet Potato Stew at Green Kitchen Stories

A few more ideas for using sweet potato (because sweet potato should go with everything):

• Mashed sweet potato (my go-to sickness food)
• Whole-roasted sweet potato (a sweet potato is a meal in itself)
• Thin slices of sweet potato, roasted (topping for salads, soups)
• Slices of roasted sweet potato in sandwiches

Sweet Potato Jalfrezi

serves 4

adapted from The Meat Free Monday Cookbook

Recipes notes:

• Don’t be tempted to add a lot of liquid (you might think you want to cover the vegetables, but you don’t). The sauce won’t thicken if you add extra water.
• I prefer the curry served with brown rice (or quinoa) and lemon wedges. You can however, serve it topped with fresh mango as well. (I imagine a dollop of cashew sour cream wouldn’t go astray either.) 
• This is a dish which tastes better as it ages. I often cook it 3-4 hours before it’s needed, then turn off the heat and put the lid on. I give it a quick reheat just before serving, and it’s good to go. Naturally, it makes superb leftovers.
• Also, the second vegetable (zucchini in this case) is pretty interchangeable. The original recipe used cauliflower, and I imagine little baby yellow squashes, green beans, or aubergine would work too. The capsicum however, is not – it’s responsible for the delightful sweet-spicy-tangy thing that happens.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil/sunflower oil/coconut oil
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 garlic clove, finely sliced
• 1 tbsp + 1 tsp Jalfrezi spice mix (see below)
• 800 g tin of diced tomatoes
• 1 very large sweet potato (~500 g), chopped large (see photos for size)
• 2 zucchini (courgette) (~500 g), chopped large (see photo)
• 1 red capsicum/pepper, deseeded and sliced into 1 cm lengths
• 1 small bunch coriander, leaves picked and stems finely chopped
• sea salt and cracked black pepper
• lemon wedges, to serve

In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, reduce heat to medium-low and sauté until soft (about 10 minutes). Add the spice mix, and cook, stirring for another minute or so. Add tomatoes, 3/4 cup water, sweet potatoes, zucchini, capsicum and coriander stems. Season to taste. Return heat to medium, cover, and allow to cook for 10 minutes. Remove lid, reduce heat to low, and simmer until vegetables are tender and the sauce has thickened (usually another 40 minutes or so, depending on how large you cut your vegetables). Transfer jalfrezi to a serving dish and scatter with the coriander leaves. Serve with lemon wedges and brown rice or quinoa.

Jalfrezi Spice Mix

makes about 3 tablespoons

Recipe notes:

• This is a mild jalfrezi spice mix. If you prefer more heat, add cayenne to taste. That being said, I served this to a friend who eats more chilli than us, and he said that it was a good level of heat. 

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 tsp ground cumin seeds
• 2 tsp ground coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp ground fenugreek
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ground cloves
• 3/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 3/4 tsp ground cardamom seeds
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Mix all the spices together. Store in an airtight container, in a dark place. Keeps for about 1-2 months.

chocolate and coconut cupcakes

It’s always a treat to catch up with friends, especially if you’re friends who haven’t seen everyone together in a while. To be honest, not having a drivable car since February has been a massive drag on our social life (my new car – irresistibly sitting in the drive way, I might add – is a manual, and silly me doesn’t have a manual license). But progress shall be made! I go for my test on Wednesday – wish me luck.

But I’m getting off-track. Not being able to drive has made catching up with people a bit tricky, so I jumped at the chance to have a group of old uni friends over on Saturday for afternoon tea. Naturally, I treated this as an occasion to bake all the things. Ever. There was this caramel-swirl apple cake. Peanut butter cookies topped with leftover caramel sauce. And these chocolate and coconut cupcakes I’m sharing with you today.

Everything was gobbled down (the apple cake was a big hit), but I couldn’t go past these cupcakes (originally based off this recipe). The icing is pretty decadent and luxurious, but honestly, it’s the cake here that I’m totally in love with. This is my idea of chocolate cake (I think it’s most people’s too). Soft, moist crumb. Chocolately. Velvety almost? I don’t even know how to describe it to you. It’s probably my favourite chocolate cake, ever. A BIG call. But I think these little guys deserve it.

Also, aren’t these proteas just insane? They are so vibrant. Australian natives are the longest-lasting flowers too – I expect to get at least 3 weeks out of these babies!

This recipe truly is delicious, and I hope you like it too! Next time, I’m going to try baking it in a square cake tin, and serving it with vanilla-spiked cashew cream. Don’t get me wrong, the coconut-chocolate icing is divine, but a bit on the rich side. If you’re aiming for a lighter dessert, cashew cream is a great alternative. Or, you could definitely just eat the cakes by themselves.

Chocolate and Coconut Cupcakes

makes 12

Recipes notes:

• Use a good quality coconut milk here. I use Ayam brand. Just make sure that whatever you use, it’s free of emulsifiers and stabilisers.
• To make one flax egg, combine 1 tbsp flaxseed (linseed) meal with 2 tbsp boiling water. Whisk with a fork and set aside for 10-15 minutes before using.

For the cupcakes:

• 100 g (1 cup) almond meal
• 100 g rice flour
• 60 g cocoa powder
• 150 g raw sugar
• 2 flax eggs
• 400 mL coconut milk
• 1 tsp bicarb soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• a few drops of almond essence

Preheat oven to 180 C (no fan). Line a muffin tray with 12 cupcakes papers. In a large bowl, combine almond meal, flour, cocoa, sugar, bicarb and baking powder. Whisk with a fork to thoroughly combine. In a separate bowl, combine flax eggs, coconut milk and almond essence. Add wet to dry, whisking to combine. Spoon mixture into cupcakes papers (they should be about 4/5 full). Bake for 20 mins (a cakes tester should come out clean). Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove from tin and allow to cool completely before icing.

For the icing:

• 270 g coconut milk, refrigerated for at least 8 hours (or overnight)
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tbsp maple syrup or golden syrup

Scoop out coconut fat from the top of the can, and place in a large bowl. Reserve the coconut water (the clearer liquid in the bottom of the can). Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl with the coconut fat, with 1/2 tbsp of the coconut water. Beat with a standing mixer or by hand until the icing is fluffy and smooth.

Ice each cupcake with a heaped tablespoon of the icing, top with toasted shredded coconut if desired. They are best served at room temperature, however can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 days.

banoffee pie

Well, three posts this week! I promise I’m not on crack – I’m probably just avoiding reworking a massive paper that’s due soon. So maybe there’s been a little bit of procrasti-baking going on. But, I digress from my purpose in this post:

Happy Birthday, Ma!

Today is my very special Mother’s birthday. Look! Here we are at my graduation a couple of years ago.

Isn’t she snazzy? (Please ignore my bad hair day – graduation hats are impossible). My Ma is probably the strongest, most determined woman I know – she’s had a rough ride (scoliosis, breast cancer) but instead of being broken down, Ma has used these things to build her up. We don’t always get along 100% (I like to think I’ve inherited her passion), but she’s my biggest fan and a massive support. And it’s her birthday!

So I made her banoffee pie.

This is a seriously good banoffee pie. I hope you like it. It’s a recipe that’s a little more involved than I normally post, but I hope you give it a try all the same, most of the preparation can be done in advance (you could even make the cashew cream and caramel sauce a few days before). I used this wonderful caramel sauce recipe. It’s luscious and gooey and tasty. Who doesn’t love coconut, banana and caramel thrown together?

This is an individual banoffe pie, a little-ish treat just for one. But because my mum is great, when she and Dad came over for tea this morning, we split it in three. Happy Birthday Ma! X

Banoffee Pie for One

serves 1

Recipe notes:

• I used a 10 cm circle spring form tin here, but if you have a deep-dish tartlet pan (again about 10 cm diameter), you could use that just as easily.
• You will make much more cashew cream and caramel sauce than you need for one pie. My advice: make another pie (for yourself, because you’re amazing?) or, the caramel sauce and cashew cream will keep in the fridge for about 1 week. Mix with granola for a sweet breakfast (or snack), serve over fresh fruit, or just eat with a spoon.
• Don’t fret about getting every scrap of cashew cream out of the blender. Get as much out as you can, then add 750 mL fresh water, and blend on high. BAM! Vanilla-flavoured cashew milk (and your blender is easier to clean). Cashew milk will store in the fridge for 1 week.
• If you don’t have baking beads, use dry rice.
• You need a well-separating coconut milk here. For those in Australia – don’t use Trident brand (it has stabilisers added which prevent separation). In this case, the cheaper brands are usually better. Check for stabilisers on the label.

For the pie shell:

• 1/2 cup plain flour
• a pinch of sea salt
• a pinch of raw sugar
• 2 tbsp vegan butter
• 2-3 tbsp ice cold water

Place the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl. Add the butter, and using a fork, cut the butter into the flour, until the mixture is ragged and looks (sort of) like clumps of rice. Add 2 tbsp ice cold water and mix with your hands to bring it together. Add a touch more water if required. Knead for a minute, wrap and cling film and place in the freezer.

Preheat the oven to 180 C (no fan, please). When the oven is ready (usually about 15 minutes for me), remove the pastry from the freezer, and roll out to about 1/4 inch (0.5 cm) thick. Place in your tin of choice. Thoroughly prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork. Cover the pastry dough snugly with aluminium foil and fill with baking beads (or rice). Bake for 15 minutes, then remove foil and beads, returning to the oven to bake for another 15-20 minutes. (You’re aiming for cooked but not coloured.) Remove from oven and allow to cool.

For the caramel sauce:

• 1 tin full fat coconut milk, refrigerated overnight
• 1/4 cup raw sugar

Open the tin of coconut milk and scoop out the cream from the top and set aside. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, place 1/4 cup coconut water (the clearer liquid in the bottom of the tin) and sugar. Bring to a boil and boil for 5-6 minutes. Whisk in 1 cup of the coconut cream (if you have more or less, don’t stress – just boil until you’ve reached the right consistency). Boil for a further 5-8 minutes, until it is very thick and rich. Allow to cool off the heat for a few minutes, then pour into a glass jar and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before using (it thickens more as it cools).

For the cashew cream:

• 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight in water
• seeds scraped from 1/4 vanilla pod
• 2 tsp maple syrup or honey

Scoop the cashews into the blender and retain the soaking liquid. Add the other ingredients to the blender with 1 tbsp of the soaking liquid. Blend slowly, then stop and scrape down the sides, blend again on a higher speed. Repeat until the cashew cream is silky and smooth. Remove from blender and refrigerate until needed. Don’t forget to make the cashew milk as I suggest in the recipe notes!

To assemble:

• pie shell
• caramel sauce
• cashew cream
• 1/2 tbsp shredded coconut, toasted
• 1/2 banana, sliced

Fill the pie shell with 2-3 tbsp caramel sauce (it should come about half way up). Arrange banana slices on top of caramel sauce. Spoon over cashew cream (about 2-3 tbsp). Sprinkle with toasted coconut. Serve. Enjoy!

food crush: dates

Welcome! Today I’m introducing a new series to the blog: food crush. Once or twice a week, I have these moments where whatever I’m eating at the time suddenly becomes the most amazing and delicious foodstuff in the whole fucking universe. I’m sitting at my desk, and suddenly I’m like, “Holy Shitballs, <insert food here> is the most amazing thing I’ve ever put in my mouth. Ever.”

And then I proceed to swoon over said food for a good five minutes, fantasising about the ways in which I’m going to cook and eat it next. Adam has borne the brunt of many a food crush, as they appear seemingly at random – striking with such a force that it requires immediate, effusive, and loud vocalisation. BAM! Suddenly I need to talk about the majesty of a date, or broccoli, or sweet potato or mint.

So, now, instead of pouring my food crush obsessions into Adam’s ears (actually, I probably still will – sorry A!) I’m going to share my food crushes with you. I’ll aim to provide a recipe for a favourite way to eat my food crush, with links to several of my other favourite recipes.

Now for today’s food crush: dates. Holy crap, guys, have you ever eaten one of these things?! (And not the weird dried out ones, I’m talking Medjool.) Of course you have, and if you haven’t, please, please do! Eat them, and be swept up into a swoon of caramelly, chewy, soft (can something be chewy and soft at the same time? I think dates can!), sweet, rich, and moist. Procure one as soon as possible, put it in your mouth, and that way we can crush on dates together.

My love for these little suckers knows no bounds. Not only because of they amazing flavour by themselves, but you can do so much with them. Raw desserts? Baked desserts? Sweetener? Snacks? Dates can do EVERYTHING. Plus, PLUS: all that fiber’s gotta be good for you.

The most frequent ways I eat dates are: by themselves as a snack (perfect for afternoon sugar cravings!), or in raw desserts (or snacks, no judgment here!). The recipe I’ve included here is for raw cacao chip brownie balls (a hybrid of recipes from My New Roots and oh, ladycakes). Make them, shove them into your mouth and relish their chewy, truffle-y goodness – brought to you by the magical properties of dates, of course. I should note the truffle-i-ness is offset by crunchy cacao chips, which is just about as good as it gets in my books. Perfect for emergency sweetness and chocolate cravings – pull one out of the freezer and BAM! date-y goodness for you to enjoy.

A few of my other favourite date-licious recipes:

• Raw coconut, almond, date and cacao bites at Oh, Ladycakes.
• Raw cashew dreamcake at My New Roots.
• Coconut, banana and date smoothie at Sprouted Kitchen.

A few more ideas for using dates:

• Bake them into banana bread, or banana muffins.
• Like in this recipe, use them to replace sugar.
• Add them to savoury Morrocan tagines (spicy, tomato-y sweet potatoes with dates?! DIVINE).
• Remove the seeds and stuff them with almond paste.
• Pop them into smoothies for natural sweetness and toothy texture.

Raw Cacao Chip Brownie Balls

makes about 30

Recipe notes:

• You could press the dough into a brownie tin, freeze, then cut it into slices. But, I really prefer the tablespoon and roll method. The tin method is good, but I can never cut the brownies into the right size.
• Use any combination/amount of nuts you like (as long as you’ve got 2 cups total): almonds, cashews, walnuts, hazelnuts, etc.
• If you like, reserve 1/4 cup of any nut, chop them and stir them back into the dough at the end with the cacao nibs.
• If you’ve got half a vanilla pod lying around, scrape the seeds in, for extra flavour.
• For an extra cacao hit, you could roll the balls in more cacao before you put them in the freezer.

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw almonds or raw cashews
• 1/2 cup raw walnuts
• 1/2 cup raw hazelnuts
• 1/4 cup raw cacao powder
• 8 medjool dates
• 2 tbsp water
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup cacao nibs

In a food processor, blend the almonds/cashews (I used cashews in this version), walnuts, hazelnuts and cacao powder into a fine meal. Add the dates, water and salt, blend for a further minute or so, until the dough forms and sticks together when pressed. Stir through the cacao nibs. Using a tablespoon measure, scoop level tablespoons of dough onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper, rolling them into balls. Place them in the freezer for 30 minutes, and they’re ready. Stored in an airtight container in the freezer, they should keep for ~ 6 months.

photos: sydney

Last weekend, we were lucky enough to take advantage (again) of my Dad’s apartment in Sydney, while he was away in New Zealand with my Mum. I’m fairly notorious for taking lots of photos at the start of a trip and then forgetting that my camera exists shortly after. So – here are a few of the photos I took in Sydney. (I managed to take quite a few more photos on instagram – if you’d like a few more snaps.)

It’s such a great city – I highly recommend a visit – I’ve outlined a few of our favourite places below.

These photos were taken mostly around The Rocks and Circular Quay (with a few of Adam thrown in). I promise we went to other places as well (see below) but I always forget to grab out my camera.

A few Sydney favourites:

Bourke St Bakery, 633 Bourke St, Surry Hills: Amazing coffee, bread, and bakery treats. We visit every time we’re in Sydney. This time Adam had a ginger brûlée tart, which he said was divine.

Berkelouw Books, Paddington & Newtown: A beautiful bookstore which combines new and secondhand books. The Paddington store has a great cafe, and the Newtown store has a vegan cafe downstairs, which operates Saturday and Sunday, and a cafe and ramen bar upstairs.

The Fine Food Store, The Rocks: A new discovery! Great coffee and menu (avocado toast with vincotto is delicious!). Lots of vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options. Also a fantastic food section (urban honey from Bondi, anyone?).

Sappho Books and gleebooks, Glebe: Two great bookstores, side by side! Sappho is a wonderful secondhand bookstore. gleebooks, right next door, has a great selection of books (especially art, philosophy and history). A few blocks down is their secondhand store, which is also worth a look. Also: make sure you go to the gelato store the next block down from gleebooks (towards the city): their coconut sorbet (aka vegan-iced-dessert-heaven) is the best.

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, The Rocks: Such a beautiful building, which has recently been renovated, with an addition to the Art Deco building (which was originally built for the Maritime Services Board). We managed to see an exhibition of Jeff Wall’s photographs this time (last time, they had an Anish Kapoor retrospective). Their cafe on the rooftop is sensational too (again, lots of veg, vegan & gluten free options).

We really do love Sydney, it’s always so special to visit. An added bonus: getting to spend a weekend away with Adam, spending time doing things we love together, which is much more fun that doing the same things at home (there’s something so invigorating about a different city).

It makes me so much more excited for our honeymoon in Melbourne (in only 7 weeks!!!). If you’ve got any favourite places in Sydney (or Melbourne, for that matter) to suggest, I’d love to hear them.