Sushi, Nigri & Tamagoyaki (Vegan)

Makes 3 servings

Sushi (Vegan)

If you like Shushi, look no further, this is the only recipe you need.
I have done the hard work for you and tried various ratios of sugar, salt and rice vinegar to make the perfect Sushi rice. All is left is for you to have some fun and explore some different variations like Nigri and Tamagoyaki.
What is the secret to a good Sushi? In my experience using special Sushi rice makes all the difference, along with the right seasoning and a bamboo matt to roll the Sushi.
This recipe will make: two Sushi rolls (which cut into slices will make you about 8 pieces of Sushi each), 5 pieces of roasted red pepper Nigri and 5 pieces of tofu Tamagoyaki.
If you only want to make the sushi rolls, that will make 4-5 sushi rolls.
Let me know if you give it a go by tagging @apinchofzing on Instagram.

Ingredients

Sushi rice
250g sushi rice
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar

Fillings and toppings
Sushi rolls:2 nori sheets, 1 small carrot, 1 piece of cucumber, 1 piece of avocado and a little bit of Wasabi
Roasted red pepper Nigri: half a nori sheet, half a roasted red pepper in vinegar
Tofu tamagoyaki: half a nori sheet, 100g tofu, turmeric, salt, pepper and oil for frying

Other ingredients for serving
Soy sauce
Wasabi
Toasted sesame seeds
Pickled ginger

Special utensils
Bamboo sushi mat

Method
Step 1. Prepare the rice
Wash the sushi rice in cold water to remove some of the starch.
Soak the sushi rice in cold water for 15-30 minutes. Drain the rice. Add to a pot with 330ml cold water and bring to boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low, cover with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes with the lid on.
Mix the rice vinegar, salt and sugar to make the Sushi seasoning.
Mix the Sushi seasoning with the Sushi rice and cover the pot with a damp cloth. Leave to cool down a little bit while preparing the fillings and toppings. Don’t take too long as the rice still needs to be warm to handle.

Step 2. Prepare the toppings and fillings
Chop the carrot, cucumber and a avocado into sticks.
Cut the roasted red pepper in small rectangles.
Cut the tofu in small rectangles. Season with salt, pepper and turmeric. Coat in corn flour and shallow fry on both sides until crispy.

Step 3. Assemble the sushi
I will not go into too much detail here, probably best to watch a video on onlie, but here are the basic steps:
1. For Sushi roll 1: lay a nori sheet on the bamboo mat, layer some warm sushi rice, add a small line of Wasabi and layer with 2 carrot stick and 2 cucumber sticks. Roll and cut into slices.
2. For Sushi roll 2: Lay another nori sheet on the bamboo mat, layer some warm sushi rice, add a small line of Wasabi and layer with 2 carrot stick and 2 avocado sticks. Roll and cut into slices.
3. For the roasted red pepper Nigri: cut the nori sheet in 5 strips; wet your hands with water, put about a tablespoon of rice in your palms, squeeze and shape. Place a red pepper rectangle on top. Wrap around with a nori strip.
4. For the tofu Tamagoyaki: cut the nori sheet in 5 strips; wet your hands with water, put about a tablespoon of rice in your palms, squeeze and shape. Place a tofu rectangle on top. Wrap around with a nori strip.

Serve with soy sauce and any of your favourite serving ingredients. Enjoy!

Thanks for the recipe inspiration go to Tim Anderson.

Butter tofu curry (Vegan)

Makes 4-6 servings

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Such a lovely well-balanced curry: fragrant, creamy and not too spicy.
This is one of my favourite Indian curries; I make it all the time, so it’s time it made an appearance on my blog.
This curry is easy to make and packed with veggies. Once you taste this curry you will never use shop bought curry paste again. Great served with rice and naan bread.
If I am entertaining and want to go all out, I will make my own rice and naan bread to go with it, maybe even some Baked onion bhajis.  However, if I am short for time, microwave rice and shop bought naan bread will do the trick.
Let me know if you give it a go by tagging @apinchofzing on Instagram. I hope you enjoy curry night!

Ingredients

Tofu
280g extra firm tofu
1 tsp liquid smoke
3 tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp Cayenne pepper
½ tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp garlic granules

Veggies
1 small broccoli
1 small cauliflower
1 bunch of fresh coriander (chopped)

Butter curry sauce
2 tbsp dairy free butter
1 onion (finely chopped)
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground turmeric
3 garlic cloves
a thumb size piece of fresh ginger
1 chilli (chopped)
400ml tomato passata
200ml Oatly crème fraiche or Greek yogurt

Method
Step 1. Prepare the tofu.
Press the tofu for at least 30 minutes to drain the excess water or use Tofoo tofu, which is ready to use and doesn’t need pressing. Preheat the oven to 200C. Line a baking tray with parchment. Chop the tofu in bite size cubes and place in a bowl. Add the liquid smoke, soy sauce, spices and mix. Place the tofu cubes in the baking tray and bake for 20 minutes or until golden. 

Step 2. Prep the veggies
Break the cauliflower and broccoli into florets. Add to a pan of boiling water and cook to your liking. You can also steam or roast the veggies if you prefer.

Step 3. Make the butter curry sauce
1. Place a large deep frying pan over medium heat with the butter. When the butter is melted, add the chopped onion and cook until starting to soften (about 5 minutes), stirring occasionally.
2. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli to a food processor with a bit of water and whizz until it turns into a smooth curry paste.
3. Go back to the frying pan and mix in the tomato puree. Add the spices and cook until fragrant (about 2 minutes). Add in the curry paste and cook for 3-5 minutes.  Pour in the passata, bring to a simmer, cover with a lid and cook for 20-30 minutes, but remember to stir occasionally.
4. Stir in the Oatly crème fraiche until combined and remove from heat.
5. Stir in the cooked tofu, broccoli and cauliflower. Garnish with fresh chopped coriander and enjoy with rice and naan bread.

Thanks for the recipe inspiration go to BOSH!

Butter tofu curry (Vegan)

Yasai Samla Curry Wagamama (Vegan)

Makes 6-8 servings

Yasai Samla Curry Wagamama (Vegan)

Wonderfully delicate and fragrant curry, with coconut rice.
This recipe is my attempt to recreate my favourite Wagamama dish: the Yasai Samla Curry.
Don’t let the amount of ingredients intimidate you, I broke it all down to manageable steps to ensure it all turns out perfect.

I took me a few attempts to master the art of preparing tofu, so here is what I learnt:
1. First things first, get the right type of tofu: look for it in the chilled aisle, it has to be extra firm (NOT silken).
2. Make sure you press the tofu for at least 30 minutes: wrap it in kitchen towel and place a heavy pan or book on it. I usually start pressing it the morning of the day I plan to cook it. Once the tofu is pressed, it will just absorb all the marinade ingredients, you don’t have to wait for it to marinate.
3. Baked, not fried. I found that oven baked tofu turns out great every time and it involves less hands-on time than frying.

The curry paste is easy peasy, just use a good blender. While the curry cooks, you can start cooking the coconut rice; this way it should all be ready about the same time.
Enjoy the homemade Wagamama experience!

Ingredients

Marinated tofu

• 280g extra firm tofu (pressed)
• 1 teaspoon Liquid smoke
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• Cayenne pepper
• Smoked paprika
• Garlic granules

Curry paste

• 3 thumbs fresh ginger
• 3 stalks fresh lemongrass
• 2 teaspoons lazy garlic
• 2-3 fresh chillies (deseeded)

Curry

• 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
• 1 & ½ can coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 6 dry kaffir lime leaves
• 2 peppers (chopped)
• 250g baby plum tomatoes (halved)
• 200g mixed mushrooms (Shiitake & Oyster)
• 200g sugar snaps
• 1 bunch fresh coriander (chopped)
• Salt to taste

Coconut rice

• 1 & 1/2 cups rice
• ½ cup coconut milk
• 4 cups boiling water

Method
Step 1. Prepare the tofu. Press the tofu for at least 30 minutes to drain the excess water. Preheat the oven to gas mark 6. Line a baking tray with parchment. Chop the tofu in bite size cubes and place in a bowl. Add the liquid smoke, soy sauce, spices and mix. Place the tofu cubes in the baking tray and bake for 25 minutes or until golden.

Step 2. Make the curry paste. Roughly chop all the curry paste ingredients, throw in a blender and whizz until smooth.

Step 3. Make the curry. Place a large frying pan over medium heat and cook the ground turmeric until fragrant (about 1 minute). Add the curry paste and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the coconut milk, soy sauce and kaffir limes and mix until combined. Next start chopping the vegetables and add them in as you go. Start with the peppers, then tomatoes, mixed mushrooms and last, add the sugar snaps. Add the baked tofu, cover with a lid and cook on medium heat until all the vegetables are cooked to your liking. Once cooked, remove from heat, stir in the chopped coriander and season with salt to taste.

Step 4. Cook the rice. In a large pan add the rice, leftover coconut milk and boiling water. Cook the rice until all the liquid is absorbed.
Time to enjoy this lovely curry with family and friends!

Thanks for the inspiration go to Wagamama.

Yasai Samla Curry Wagamama (Vegan)

Paella – Vegan

Makes 8 servings

Paella Vegan

Paella Vegan

Paella with Chorizo

The ’accidentally vegan’ version of Paella – the traditional Spanish rice dish, full of flavour and colour!

I’ve always made Paella vegetarian, but as I was writing the recipe I realised it is actually vegan and gluten free!

My Spanish housemate used to cook this for us and it became a staple dish for me ever since because it is so easy to make, versatile and bursting with flavour.  A characteristic of Paella is the yellow colour of the rice. My housemate would bring a special Paella ingredient from Spain for the yellow colour.  Funny story, it turns out that special ingredient was just food colouring! I use Turmeric to colour my Paella as I rather not use food colouring.

This recipe makes a LOT of Paella, so feel free to reduce the quantities if you’re not feeding a lot of people.  I make Paella when I entertain guests, because it caters for different dietary requirements. To keep the meat eaters happy I usually serve the Paella with Chorizo on the side.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons garlic & chilli infused olive oil
• 300g mushrooms – sliced
• 3 peppers – chopped
• 200g frozen peas
• 500g rice
• Juice from 2 and ½ lemons
• 1 tablespoon of Maggi vegetable granules or 1 vegetable stock cube
• ½ teaspoon Cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoon Turmeric
• 1.7l hot water
• 1 bunch of chopped parsley (30g)

*For a pinch of zing serve with Smoked Paprika
*For meat eaters serve with fried Chorizo 

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Fry the mushrooms for about 5 minutes. Add the chopped peppers and cover with a lid. Cook for 10 minutes (stir from time to time).
2. Wash the rice in cold water to remove some of the starch.
3. Remove the lid of the large frying pan and add the rice, lemon juice, Cayenne pepper, Turmeric, vegetable granules and 1/3 of the water. Cook uncovered and stir every few minutes to prevent sticking. Once the liquid is absorbed, stir in half of the leftover hot water and continue to cook. Finally stir in the rest of the hot water and the frozen peas. Cook for a few more minutes until the liquid is reduced. Don’t cook until the rice becomes dry, leave some liquid to be absorbed by the rice while it cools down.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the parsley. Serve with a pinch of Smoked Paprika and Chorizo for the meat eaters. Enjoy!

*Season the dish to your taste with salt & pepper. I find that the vegetable stock granules that I use have enough salt, so I don’t add any more to the dish.

Thanks for the recipe go to my housemate Andrea!

Paella – Vegan