January Challenge: The last day

Every year around Australia Day, my little family joins up with some other families and we go on a long weekend holiday with the kids. When we first went, it was three couples with one child and one baby on the way. Five years later, it's 4 couples with 8 children and one baby on the way! To say that it's hectic is an understatement, but everyone has fun, so we keep going back.

This year, we celebrated my little boy turning 1 with a party. I made a very special cake - it's a dairy free chocolate cake (one of the party guests has a casein allergy). If you're a bit of a nerd, you'll recognise it straight away. If you're not a nerd, then you might be interested to know that it's a reproduction of the cake from the video game Portal.

This was a triumph.

I spent some time looking at different recipes. I don't make a lot of chocolate cakes, so I don't have a foolproof recipe. I wanted something that wasn't as heavy as a mudcake, but richer than a cake made only with cocoa. I also had the challenge of cooking at a holiday house, so I wanted a recipe that could be made without a great deal of effort. I found just the thing I was looking for at CitrusAndCandy. I'm going to show my version of it here, because I had to modify it to make it dairy free, and because I didn't quite have all the ingredients when I got to the holiday house! The cake was very moist, but not fudgy. It holds it shape when cut, so it's a good cake for shaping. It doesn't rise a great deal, so I made two and sandwiched them together to get the height I was after.

The cracks didn't matter once the cake was levelled

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Dairy Free Chocolate Cake

All cup measurements are 'loosely packed'

1 cup dairy free margarine (eg, Nuttelex)

1 cup sugar (I used half brown sugar and half icing sugar!)

1/2 cup cocoa

100g dairy free chocolate

160ml chocolate flavoured soy milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp coffee essence

1 1/3 cups plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

3 eggs

In a heat proof bowl, place the margarine, sugar, cocoa, chocolate, essence and soy milk. Heat over a pot of simmering water until all the ingredients are melted and well mixed (you could also do this in the microwave 30s at a time, stirring in between).

Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a couple of minutes, then add the eggs, whisking well between adding each egg. The mixxture will start to look glossy. Mix the flour and baking powder together. Add the flour 1/3 of a cup at a time, whisking well, after each addition.

Pour into a greased cake tin, lined with baking paper, and bake for 40 minutes at 170degC.

Allow to cool in the tin for at least 15 minutes before turning it out.

To decorate, I used a dairy free chocolate spread as frosting (Sweet William brand "Scooby Doo Chocolate Mud"). I only needed one jar for the entire cake. Then I covered with chocolate flavoured sprinkles, and piped on white frosting. 

The cherries are maraschino cherries. I left the stems on.

Plain Dairy Free Frosting

(makes about 2/3 of a cup, suitable for decorating)

2 tsp dairy free margarine

1 tsp soy milk

1 cup pure icing sugar

Whip the margarine and soy milk until smooth and light, and gradually add icing sugar, continuing to mix until the mixture is the stiffness you require. Allow to rest in the fridge until you are ready, then transfer to a piping bag and nozzle.

Success!

The pantry challenge is now over - I've certainly been able to clean out a lot of things from the freezer and pantry. It's also made me more aware of what's in there. Thanks to those who joined in the challenge with me, I'll definitely be doing it again next year.

January Challenge: Day 20 and 21

Nearing the end of the pantry challenge, and I have to admit I'm looking forward to going back to blogging every other day.

It's been a busy week this week, but I managed to make some zucchini pickles using up a couple of very over grown zucchini - I filled 4 jars like this one. One jar didn't seal properly, so it's in the fridge, and I'll find out in a week or so how they've turned out.

Then I almost forgot that today is the Tuesday Night Vego Challenge!

The noodles I used tonight are imported soba noodles, so they probably don't count, but you can buy lovely organic soba (buckwheat) noodles from Hakubaku that are made here in Australia. Yakisoba means fried noodles.

Yakisoba (serves 2)

cooked soba noodles

finely sliced celery

sliced cabbage

shredded carrot

sliced onion

sliced spring onion

sliced green beans

sliced baby eggplant

teriyaki sauce (organic tamari, mirin, sugar, organic rice vinegar, potato starch)

sesame oil

pinch of chilli flakes

vegetable oil

Heat the vegetable oil in a wok. Add onions and cabbage and fry for 2-3 minutes, then add the rest of the vegetables and cook for another 4-5 minutes. Add noodles and, sesame oil and teriyaki sauce and cook until the noodles are heated though. Serve immediately with some seaweed and sesame seeds sprinkled on top.

January Challenge: Day 19

I thoroughly raided the pantry for tonight's dinner. It's almost embarrassing how few fresh ingredients I used. Having said that, it's still a healthier alternative to buying an "Enchilada Kit" from the supermarket. Add as much chilli as you can handle. Very nice with a dollop of sour cream (if you have it!)

Vegetarian Enchiladas (serves 2-3)

1 onion, diced
1/2 red capsicum, diced
1 long red chilli, deseeded and diced
1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small can creamed corn (or use corn kernels)
salt and pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1 pinch dried chilli flakes
1/2 tsp hot smoky paprika
2 tsp vegetable oil
6 tortillas
1/2 cup grated cheese

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add onion, capsicum and chilli, and fry for 3-4 minutes until soft. Add spices and cook for another minute until fragrant. Add tomatoes and reduce the heat to a simmer.

Take one third of the beans and mix with 1/4 cup of the hot tomato sauce. Blend to a paste using a stick blender or small food processor. Add this back to the sauce with the remaining beans. The pureed beans help to thicken the sauce. Add creamed corn. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until the mixture has reduced and thickened.

Preheat the grill, and lightly grease a baking dish with vegetable oil. Fill the tortillas with spoonfuls of the bean mixture, roll, and line up in the baking dish. Top with leftover sauce and grated cheese. Grill until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Serve with a crisp salad of mixed lettuce and avocado.

January Challenge: Day 18

Today I wanted to share a photo from tonight's dinner.

I bought some tiny new chat potatoes today and some ended up roasted and served with steak for dinner. The trick to making roast potato quickly is to mostly cook them first either by boiling or in the microwave. These took only 5 minutes in the microwave, and then about 35 minutes in a hot oven. I drizzled them with a little olive oil, added salt, pepper and chives. Why buy frozen chips when you can make these little gems?

I used up the last of a tin of pepper gravy, so one less thing in my spice cupboard. I'm a bit of a sucker for Gravox - I almost always have brown onion gravy powder in the cupboard for when I make bangers&mash.

January Challenge: Day 17

Confession Time: I went shopping today and bought a new toy (a couple actually, but one is in the post).

This is my new cast iron wok. Isn't it pretty?

I have a very boring electric stove. I miss having a gas stove and I miss my carbon steel wok. I tried an electric version and it was ok, but the non-stick surface has given way, and it also took up a lot of precious bench space. This wok sits happily on the electric cooktop, and requires only a medium-high heat. Cast iron stores heat very well - I also have a cast iron pot and grill pan.

Tonight I used it to make one of my favourite stir fries - Pork Mince and Eggplant with a spicy sauce and glass noodles.

The Verdict: Nothing beats a well seasoned carbon steeel wok over a high gas flame, but this option will work well enough until the day that I can get a new stove (and some gas, or maybe induction).

Note: I don't bother salting and draining ("disgorging") lebanese eggplants - they are small and sweet. Often I don't bother usually with larger eggplant either - when cooking them with strong flavours such as garlic and soy sauce I don't tend to notice any bitterness they may have. If you generally find eggplant to taste bitter, then go ahead and salt them first.

Pork Mince and Eggplant Stir Fry (serves 3-4)

500g pork mince (I get organic pork mince and it is delicious)

4 lebanese eggplants (or 1 medium eggplant), chopped

3 green shallots, sliced

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp minced ginger

1 long red chilli, de-seeded and finely sliced

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tbsp shaoshing cooking wine

1 tbsp water

1 tsp potato starch

1 tbsp sesame seeds

100g dried bean thread vermicelli noodles

Soak the noodles in boiling water, then snip through with scissors to make them easier to stir fry. Drain and set aside.

Mix the sauces  and water with the potato starch and set aside.

Heat the wok and add tbsp vegetable oil. When the oil starts to shimmer, add mince and cook until browned. You may need to do this in batches so that the meat browns nicely without stewing. Add garlic, ginger, shallots, chilli, and eggplant.

Cook for another 5-10 minutes until the eggplant is tender, then add the sauce mix and stir until it has thickened and become glossy. Finally, add the noodles and stir through. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds and serve.

January Challenge: Day 16

A very quick dinner tonight, using up some bacon, broccoli, pasta sauce and random pasta shapes (I now have an empty jar and one less opened packet in the cupboard).

Dessert is some cherry jelly with ice cream. mmmmmm...

January Challenge: Day 15

Today was a kitchen adventure of a more unpleasant variety. While I was in the middle of giving the baby a bath and getting him ready for bed, I heard a weird popping sound coming from the kitchen. I turned around and saw the light sputter and go out, followed by a gush of water pouring out through the light fitting. This was shortly followed by a frantic knock on the front door. It was the upstairs neighbour, who had just flooded his bathroom...

 

...again...

So I have remained very calm, got the baby to sleep and am ordering pizza for dinner.

On a more positive note, today I harvested 10 lebanese eggplants weighing a total of 400g, and two zucchini weighing 1.2kg and 1.8kg respectively. I think I'll be making zucchini preserves again this weekend.