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Favourite Recipes


There are many websites with vegan recipes; in fact, there are links to several of them in on the links page of this website.

The following, however, are a selection of both the favourite recipies of some of our members, and those recipes which have been most often asked for at get-togethers.

If you have a recipe you would like to contribute, then please email it to .


Contents

Savoury Sweet

All-Day Breakfast Flan
Broccoli Polenta
Hot Marinated Tempeh
Leek and Sesame Flan
Potato Latkes
The Best Pizza Dough Ever!
Vegan Chow Mein Pot Noodle
A Perfect Sponge Cake!
Cherry Almond Cookies
Elderflower and Mint Ice New!
Marmalade Cake New!
Rice Pudding
Sticky Chocolate Cake
The Ultimate Cheesecake
Trifle






Savoury

All-Day Breakfast Flan
Submitted by Ceri Sheppard

Flan Case
You will need 1 x 20cm baked pastry case:100g plain flour, pinch salt, 50g vegan margarine, 1-2 tbsp olive oil, a little cold water to bind will make enough pastry for one flan case.


Custard
(The runny bit of the innards!)

Ingredients
1 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped roughly
2tsp olive oil
½ x 349g block firm silken tofu (i.e. approximately 175g)
3 dsp nutritional yeast flakes (‘Engevita’ – from Sunshine in Stroud)
1/3 pack cheddar style Cheezly, roughly chopped
2 tsp soy sauce
Tiny bit of yeast extract (I think that Vitam-R is much nicer than marmite for this)
2 tsp vegan Worcester sauce (‘Life and Health’ do one which you can buy in Sunshine) to the custard.


Directions
Toss the onion and garlic in the oil and cook in a hot oven until they are soft (approximately 15 mins, but ovens vary)
Put the onion and garlic with all the other ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.


Remaining Ingredients
2 vegan sausages of your choice, sliced
2 tsp olive oil, plus a little extra if needed
2 ‘rashers’ of vegan bacon
8 small button mushrooms, wiped
8 cherry tomatoes


Directions
Heat the oven to 180 c / 350 F / Gas 4.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the ‘rashers’ as directed on the packet.
Cut into pieces and set aside.
Add a little more oil to the frying pan if necessary and fry the mushrooms until they are cooked.
Put the sausages, ‘rashers’ and mushrooms into the flan and pour over the ‘custard’.
Arrange the cherry tomatoes artistically on top!
Bake in the oven for about 20-25 mins until heated through and the ‘custard’ is set.



Broccoli Polenta
Submitted by Imogen Shaw
Adapted from Isa Chandra and Terry Hope Romero's excellent book "Veganomicon".

Ingredients
1 cup polenta grain
1 large head of broccoli
3 cups of vegetable broth
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon salt


Directions
Bring 3 cups of vegetable broth to the boil in a largeish saucepan.

Chop up broccoli head and stalk into tiny cubes.

When the broth is boiling slowly add the polenta, stirring it in with a whisk, then add the broccoli and whisk it again.

Add the olive oil and the salt.

Turn the heat down and let the polenta simmer for 15 minutes, stirring frequently. The mixture should have thickened.

Take the pan of polenta off of the heat. Pour the polenta into cupcake trays.

Allow the polenta to cool for at least half an hour, it should set to be fairly firm, and you can then using a dinner knife prise it out of the cupcake tins.

Put the resulting polenta cakes on a baking tray and grill, turning once, until both sides are golden.

Serve with tomato,onion and herb sauce or hot marinated tempeh!



Hot Marinated Tempeh
Submitted by Imogen Shaw
Adapted from Isa Chandra and Terry Hope Romero's excellent book "Veganomicon".

Ingredients
1 pack tempeh (the Impulse foods 227g pack is an ideal size)
half cup red wine
garlic
ginger
lemon
soy sauce
chilli hot sauce or a red chilli
vegetable broth


Directions
Place tempeh in boiling salted water for 10 mins to remove bitterness.

Make the marinade: Half of a cup red wine, 2 table spoons of soy sauce, 3 tablespoons of chilli hot sauce (or 1 fresh chilli minced), half a cup vege stock, 2 cloves of garlic and about 10cm ginger minced, juice of a lemon.

Remove tempeh from water and allow to cool, chop the tempeh in half width wize, cut into four squares, then cut the resulting squares into little triangles, place in the marinade.

Leave for at least an hour, but best to do this in the morning, and it'll be nicely marinated by dinner time.

Remove tempeh from marinade and place on a baking tray, grill until it starts to brown, then turn it over and repeat, then pour the remaining marinade over the lot, and grill for 5 more minutes.

Serve with mashed potato and kale with toasted sesame seeds.



Leek and Sesame Flan
Submitted by Ceri Sheppard

Flan Case
You will need 1 x 20cm baked pastry case:100g plain flour, pinch salt, 50g vegan margarine, 1-2 tbsp olive oil, a little cold water to bind will make enough pastry for one flan case.


Custard
(The runny bit of the innards!)

Ingredients
1 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped roughly
2tsp olive oil
½ x 349g block firm silken tofu (i.e. approximately 175g)
3 dsp nutritional yeast flakes (‘Engevita’ – from Sunshine in Stroud)
1/3 pack cheddar style Cheezly, roughly chopped
2 tsp soy sauce
Tiny bit of yeast extract (I think that Vitam-R is much nicer than marmite for this)


Directions
Toss the onion and garlic in the oil and cook in a hot oven until they are soft (approximately 15 mins, but ovens vary)
Put the onion and garlic with all the other ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.


Remaining Ingredients
2 small leeks, washed and thinly sliced
2 tsp vegan margarine
2 tbsp sesame seeds


Directions
Heat the oven to 180 C / 350 F / Gas 4
Melt the margarine in a saucepan.
Add the leek and cook gently until soft.
Put the cooked leek into the flan case and sprinkle with half the sesame seeds.
Top with the ‘custard’
Sprinkle the remaining sesame seeds on top.
Bake in the oven for about 20 -25 mins until heated through and the ‘custard’ is set.



Potato Latkes
Submitted by Imogen Shaw
Adapted from Isa Chandra and Terry Hope Romero's excellent book "Veganomicon".

Ingredients
4 medium sized potatoes
1 onion very finely chopped
a quarter of a cup of flour
half a teaspoon of salt
ground black pepper to taste
optional chopped fresh herbs of your choice


Directions
Finely grate the potatoes
Place the grated potato into a sieve and use the back of a spoon or your hands and squeeze the excess starchy water out of the potatoes.

Throw away the starchy potato water.

Mix in the finely sliced onion and then add pepper, salt and flour, mix well.

Take balls of the potato mixture and press between your hands firmly until it is about half an inch thick.

Fry the latkes in olive or rapeseed oil until golden brown on both sides.

Serve with chutney and salads.




The Best Pizza Dough Ever!
Submitted by Imogen Shaw
Adapted from Isa Chandra moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero's excellent book "Veganomicon".

Ingredients
1 Cup warm water
1 teaspoon dried active yeast
1 and a half teaspoons salt
4 cups of pasta/pizza flour (Doves Farm make this, it's a green packet but normal fine grained flour can be a substitute)


Directions
Whisk the yeast into the warm water until it dissolves, then whisk in the salt until this has dissolved too.

Gradually add the flour, whisking well, it should become pretty gloopy.

Cover with a tea towel and leave for a few hours, but no more than eight hours, this is an easy quick dough to make in the morning, and then make into a pizza for dinner.

Roll out on a floured surface, place on baking tray and top with pizza toppings of your choice.




Vegan Chow Mein Pot Noodle
Submitted by Susie McQuinn Hull

Ingredients
1 onion
egg-free noodles
frozen peas
tofu
flavouring


Directions
Chop up an onion.

Put some egg free noodles into a large pan with some frozen peas, pour just enough boiling water over the top to cover the noodles and cook for about 3 mins until soft.

Whilst these are cooking...

Cube a pack of tofu and season with vegan flavourings, i.e soy sauce, mushroom ketchup, Worcester (type) sauce or BBQ smoke flavouring.

Chuck into a frying pan with the onion and some olive oil, and quickly cook on high heat to sear the tofu.

Drain the peas and noodles and top with the tofu and onion.

Serve and enjoy!







Savoury


A Perfect Sponge Cake!
Submitted by Jenni Davis

Ingredients (cake)
11oz self-raising flour
8oz caster suger
1tsp baking powder
4 fl oz vegetable oil
8fl oz cold water
flavouring, i.e. 1tbsp lemon/lime juice, coffee flavouring, or cocoa

Ingredients (buttor icing)
6oz icing sugar (sieved)
2oz vegan margarine
1tsp flavouring, i.e. lemon/lime juice or vanilla essence


Directions (cake)
Put the self-raising flour, baking powder and flavouring in a bowl and mix well.

Pour over vegetable oil, and then gradually add the water, mixing well.

Beat thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

Pour into two greased and floured sandwich tins (7'') and bake for about 25 minutes at 200C (or 22 minutes at 180 in a fan oven), until cooked through.

When cool, sandwich the cakes together with butter icing and decorate the top with glace icing.

Directions (icing)
Beat margarine until soft, add icing sugar and flavouring.




Cherry Almond Cookies
Submitted by Jenni Davis
Adapted from a recipe in "Vegan Cookies Invade your Cookie Jar" by Isa Chandra moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

Ingredients (measurements in US cup sizes)
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
4 tablespoons non-dairy milk
2 teaspoons ground flax seeds
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup silvered almonds
3/4 cup dried cherries


Directions
Preheat oven to 350F. Line two medium-size baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, use a fork to vigorously mix oil, sugars, non-dairy milk, flax seeds and extracts. Sift in flour, baking soda and salt, and mix. When ingredients are almost combined, add almonds and cherries and mix until combined.

Drop cookies by generous tablespoonds onto the baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges begin to brown. Let the cookies rest on baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer them to wire racks to cool.




Elderflower and Mint Ice
Submitted by Mireia Gutierrez

Ingredients
300 ml elderflower cordial
300 ml water
1 large bunch of fresh mint (about 80 g)
100 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons’ worth)
2 tbsp caster sugar


Directions
Chop the mint leaves and most of the stalks without bruising the leaves too much.

Put the cordial and water in a saucepan, add the mint, stir in the lemon juice and sugar.

Heat the mixture until warm but not hot. Turn off the heat and leave to infuse for a couple of hours.

Strain through a fine sieve into a freezer-proof container with a lid and place into the freezer once completely cold.

From now on check every couple of hours or so: break up any partially frozen mixture by scraping with a fork and returning to freezer. Repeat this until the mixture has a snow like consistency (mine was more like crystals). Allow at least half a day from first putting in the freezer.

Spoon into a glass, teacup and dribble a little cassis or framboise (or not). Eat immediately.




Marmalade Cake
Submitted by Jenni Davis

Ingredients
100g/4oz dairy-free margarine
225g/8oz self-raising flour
100g/4oz caster sugar
grated zest 1 orange
1 tsp mixed spice
50g/2oz raisins
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice or cider vinegar
2 tbsp chunky marmalade
175ml/6fl oz dairy-free milk
1 tbsp demerara sugar


Directions
Heat oven to 180C (fan 160C) / gas mark 4.

Grease a 900g/2lb loaf tin, line with greaseproof paper and brush with oil.

In a mixing bowl, rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, orange zests, mixed spice, raisins, mixed peel and salt and mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix the lemon joice with the marmalade. Working quickly, pour the milk and the lemon juice and marmalade mixture into the cake ingredients and stir until well mixed. The mixture should be soft enough to fall slowly from a spoon. Add a little more milk if needed.

Spoon the cake mixture into the prepared tin. Level the surface with the back of a spoon, sprinkle with the demerara sugar and bake for 40 minutes.

Reduce the oven temperature to 160C (fan 140C) / gas mark 3 and bake for a further 20 minutes, or until the centre of the cake is firm and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Leave the cake to cook for 10 minutes in the tin before turning it out onto a wire rack.

To ice your cake, sift 140g/50z icing sugar into a bowl and mix in 1 tbsp lemon or orange juice to form a smooth, stiff paste. Drizzle over the cake and leave to harden.




Rice Pudding
Submitted by Mireia


Ingredients (cake)
Rice for pudding: 1 glass (which is 4 ½oz or 125g) (the other week I used 2 glasses).
“Milk”: start with 500ml and keep adding until you are satisfied.
Sugar: up to you
Lemon peel (when I make the lemon peel one I don’t bother with vanilla or almond essence as the lemon masks those other more subtle flavours).


Directions
Place the rice in a saucepan, cover it with water (so there’s about a finger’s width of water over the rice surface).

Bring the lot to the boil & boil it for a few seconds, drain the rice of the water. (This is so that the rice is tender, otherwise it always feels slightly uncooked no matter how long you boil it in the milk; as well it gets rid of some of the starch).

Replace the rice in the saucepan, a heavy saucepan is good, add milk (I use the Alpro soya original- unsweetened, but if you use one of the sweetened types, use less sugar). The amount of milk varies, you can actually add an awful lot, for 1 glass of rice a minimum of ½ litre of milk.

Bring this slowly to the boil, stirring nearly constantly, it’s a mixture that will catch at the bottom of the saucepan if you bring it to the boil fast and leave it unattended (tedious process!).

At some point whilst bringing to the boil add some fresh thin lemon peel (the other week I put the peel of a whole lemon).

Again at some other point add some sugar (up to you the amount, the other week I put a large spoon and a bit, it was brown sugar which of course renders the mixture a sort of brown colour; use white if you want a nice white creamy result).

Once you reach boiling temperature make sure your gas or electricity or whatever energy you use is at its lowest setting. At that point you can walk away for short whiles, keep stirring often, keep adding milk if it feels too stodgy, I don’t think you can add too much milk.

Cook for 20- 25 minutes.

Toward the end of the cooking you can add a good handful of desiccated coconut, it gives a nice crunch for the teeth to play with.

Pour into a serving dish, sprinkle with ground cinnamon if you like (if you’ve used brown sugar it will look more attractive with some cinnamon to mask the brown colour).

The French/ Spanish eat it cold or just nearly cold. This lemon option is always very nice in Summer. Of course you do not eat the lemon peel (unless you want to!).

There are many variants
Rice, milk, Vanilla essence & sugar.
Or: rice, milk, Almond essence & sugar, add a good handful of ground almond towards the end of the cooking. The other day I made some caramel (burnt sugar) and poured onto some ramekins bottoms (the caramel solidifies quickly); Then I made the rice, milk & vanilla essence mixture without the sugar; I added some currants too and once cooked poured the lot in the ramekins on top of the caramel. Ate when cooled. The caramel and the currants provided the sweetness in different ways, as you got towards the bottom of the ramekin the caramel had started to melt and it was a bit like clear honey (if you remember what honey feels like).

So over to you, experiment and enjoy!




Sticky Chocolate Cake
Submitted by Susie McQuinn Hull

Ingredients (cake)
275g self raising flour, sifted
225g caster sugar
11/2 tsp. baking powder
200g Plamil egg free mayonnaise
4 tbsp. Green & Black’s chocolate cocoa powder dissolved in 225ml boiled water
1tsp vanilla essence

Ingredients (frosting)
175g Green & Black’s 70% dark chocolate broken into pieces
250ml vegan cream


Directions
Pre heat oven to 180c. Grease and greaseproof-paper line a 23cm (9in) loose-bottomed cake tin.

Using an electric beater, beat together cake ingredients for 2 mins, until well combined. Spoon into tin. Bake for 35 mins, until well risen. Remove from heat. Allow to cool in tin for 10mins. Turn out onto wire rack and allow to COOL COMPLETELY.

Place chocolate and cream into a saucepan and heat very gently, stirring occasionally, until choc is melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5-10 mins. Pour over cooled cake and spread over the top and sides. Leave until set.




The Ultimate Cheesecake
Submitted by Bruce Tanner
Taken from the "Cake Scoffer" book.

Ingredients (cake)
200g of plain tofu
750 ml vegan ice cream (Swedish Glace works best)
250g digestive biscuits
big knob of margarine


Directions
Put the biscuits into a plastic bag, expel air from the bag and then tie a tight knot in the top. Jump on it, reverse a car over it or whack it with a rolling-pin until the biscuits have been reduced to crumbs. (Alternatively be boring and put the biscuits into a blender.)

Melt the marg. in a pan, then mix the biscuit crumbs into it until all are coated evenly (stir in more marg. if necessary).

Press the mixture into an oven-proof flan-type dish, allow to cool then set. When set, preheat oven to gas mark 5 (190 C).

Put the ice cream and tofu in a blender and whizz for a minute until blended. Pour into biscuit base, then bake for approx 30 mins, or until the top starts to brown. (Meanwhile, eat the remaining ice cream, if your housemates/friends/ partner/offspring/dogs haven't got to it first.)

Chill completely before serving.

Add a sexy topping*. Tinned fruit pie filling works well, or try laying thin slices of kiwi fruit on top and pouring on a thin layer (about half a pint of or so) of jelly made with vegan jelly crystals, which are available from most healthfood shops.

*Black cherry is my favourite




Trifle
Submitted by Ceri Sheppard

Sponge

Ingredients
175g white self-raising flour
3 tsp baking powder
85g caster sugar
115g ground almonds
Juice of 1 orange made up to 300ml with water
6 tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla extract


Directions
Heat the oven to 180 C / 350 F / Gas 4.
Line the bases of 2 x 20cm sandwich tins with non-stick baking parchment.
Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and add the other ingredients.
Mix well.
Divide the mixture between the two tins, levelling it out to give a smooth top.
Bake for 20 mins or until the tops spring back when lightly pressed.
This makes enough sponge for two trifles, so either eat one sponge when it’s cooked, or it will freeze very well for the next time you want to make a trifle!


Custard

Ingredients
3 tbsp custard powder
1-2 tbsp sugar
1 carton Alpro soya single ‘cream’ (near the dairy cream in Waitrose or Sainsbury’s, not sure about Tesco) made up to 1 pint with soya milk


Method Simply make the custard according to the instructions on the tin, except that you will be using more custard powder than they suggest so that you end up with a thicker custard. I find it less hassle making it in the microwave as long as you make sure the bowl you use is plenty big enough so that the custard doesn’t bubble over!


Trifle

Ingredients
1 of the sponges you’ve just made!
1-2 tbsp raspberry jam
At least 4 tbsp Harveys Bristol Cream sherry which is vegan; use more if you like! You could also use different booze if you prefer, although obviously beer wouldn’t be a good choice!!
200g frozen raspberries (or you could use fresh)
Sugar to taste
The custard you have just made!
1 carton ‘Organic Cremovita’ (‘Soja-Saane’) (made by Granovita and available in Sunshine on the shelves to the right of the chiller cabinets as you are looking at them) which has been in the fridge for at least an hour
Flaked, toasted almonds to decorate


Method
An hour before you start put the ‘Organic Cremovita’ into the fridge.
When you are ready to assemble the trifle start by cutting the sponge in half and sandwiching it together with the jam.
Cut into pieces about 2.5cm square and put into the bottom of the bowl in which you’ll be making the trifle.
Spoon the sherry over the sponge pieces.
Mix the raspberries (you can use them straight from frozen) with sugar to taste.
Spread the raspberries evenly over the sponge.
Spread the custard over the raspberries and allow to cool.
When cool spread the ‘Organic Cremovita’ over the custard. You will be able to use it straight form the packet without whipping it as every time I’ve used it as long as it’s been in the fridge it’s been lovely and thick.
Just before serving sprinkle the almonds on the top and enjoy!


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