Monday, March 22, 2010

Mochi (aka Daifuku?)

I don't even know where to start with mochi... how about I've had four today? Or that they are really easy to make (you use the microwave!) and that they can be filled with red bean paste (one of my favourite foods!).

They're a not-too-sweet dessert made from glutinous rice flour (which is actually still gluten free - glutinous here just means sticky) which is wrapped around whatever filling you want: berries, red or white bean paste, even ice cream, apparently.

I made my bean paste from scratch, but after that they take about 15 minutes to make. Get the recipe from vegan yum yum.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

I Love... Kale Chips

I've known about kale chips for a while now, but I've never made them. Then a blog post called A Tale of Kale reminded me again of what I might be missing out on.

In less than 15 minutes, I had a big bowlful of crispy kale, lightly flavoured with olive oil and French sea salt.

Last week I was convinced that coconut can replace bacon. Now this week, I'm surprised to admit that kale chips could replace potato chips. They have the same satisfying crunch and salty taste, I swear!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Aux Vivres, Montreal


After reading a blog article titled Montreal Vegan Throwndown: Aux Vivres vs. Crudessence, I was excited to try both vegan restaurants. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that there are two different locations for 105 Rachel St.: the West side and the East side. I ended up on the wrong side, of course, staring confusedly at a plain blue door that didn't seem to lead anywhere, particularly not to delicious vegan food.

However, with a bit of backtracking, I was close enough to Aux Vivres. Once I arrived, I discovered that dining in wasn't an option - even the take-out area was crammed. I waited patiently for my chapati wrap though - the BLT.

It's obviously a misnomer. There's no bacon, of course. If they wanted to be accurate, they would call it a NCLT, or le noix de coco, laitue et tomate (aka coconut, lettuce and tomato).

Coconut? Yeah, that's what I thought... and that's why I ordered it. Thankfully it works and actually tastes pretty authentic (although I'm sure bacon fanatics would laugh at the thought).

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Baked Sweet Potato Falafel

I feel like I'm cheating because I took this photo on June 3rd last year. But I haven't cooked anything of note the past few days and I still felt like posting.

This baked sweet potato falafel recipe was posted on 101 Cookbooks but is originally from the Leon's cookbook (which I ordered from the library, probably on June 3rd last year, and it still isn't here yet.. sigh). I'm actually perturbed that I haven't made these falafels again. They were really tasty, plus simple to make.

I think I paired it with kale and the tahini sauce from Vegan with a Vengeance. And the apricot wheat beer from St. Ambroise is definitely identifiable. Mmm!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Lemon Roasted Potatoes

You say potato, I say lemon.

I had an instant craving for lemony Greek potatoes after seeing a bag of fingerlings at the grocery store. And who am I to resist? 

(Yes, that's my window sill but it's the only source of natural light in my apartment and I was excited to see natural light at 5:30 p.m.).