Perfect Mojitos

The best thing about mindfulness is that when you're onto a good thing you know about and can make the most of it.

I didn't love every minute of my 4 years of university, but for the most part I knew I was definitely onto a good thing. Late nights, nothing to get up for in the morning, parties, friends, endless amounts of free time. Yes, it's safe to say that I enjoyed university.

Where am I going with this story? Whilst at university I had several sets of friends. I developed them through various societies/interests and each I enjoyed socialising with for different reasons. One such group were a bunch of postgrad law students, who were on the whole more mature than my undergrad drinking buddies. I didn't drink with them very often and when I did it was more often coffee and soft drinks than alcohol. One night I do remember in particular however a house party at which I was induced to the pleasure of mojitos.

I remember this night for two reasons: first the drink itself and second because it was the first party I remember going to where there was more alcohol than people to drink it!

Over the years since this point I've made some truly terrible mojitos, for which I must send an apology to all I've made them for. I didn't appreciate the fact that unless you muddle the mint properly it doesn't release its oil, nor did I know correct quantities, order of adding or that the sugar really does need to fully dissolve.

This summer I finally got it right and have been making them regularly since. Thus I thought it would be wrong not to share.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Lime
• 10 mint leaves
• 1 1/2 shots light rum
• 1 1/2 shots simple syrup
• Ice
• Soda Water or Lemonade

Cut the half lime in half again and add to a glass with the mint leaves. Muddle them together so that the juice is released from the lime and oil from the mint, without shredding the leaves to the point were they will get stuck in your teeth. You can use the end of a rolling pin for this, or purchase a proper muddler. I'm currently using a beautiful WMF Caipirinha Pestle that I was bought as an early xmas present by my partner. It looks a bit like a sex aid but is in fact the poshest muddler I've ever seen.


Add the simple syrup and mix. Simple syrup is made by boiling 1 part water with 2 parts sugar, stirred until fully dissolved, bottled and refrigerated.


Fill the glass with ice, then poor the rum over the top. You can use dark rum if you prefer, but light rum is the traditional and in my opinion (having tried both) nicer. By this point about half the glass should be full with liquid. Top up with soda water (traditional) or lemonade if you have a slightly sweeter tooth like us. Stir and serve.

Don't be tempted to try to top it up/use the mint leaves again; they won't contain enough oil required for the right balance of flavour.

Cooking With Beer #1: Beer Batter

Beer: that filthy brown fizzy liquid that on first glance has no use other than helping people get drunk on the cheap.

It was created originally when water supplies were contaminated and unsafe to drink. Hops were added not to enhance flavour but as a preservative, to stop the beer from going off as quickly.

British teens grow up believing that drinking beer (rather than drinks that taste nicer) is in some way manly. The reality is however that drinking something that doesn't taste good just because everyone else is doing it doesn't make you manly at all; it makes you an idiot.

OK. Rant over. As it happens there have been occasions in the past when I have enjoyed a pint, peoples tastes do differ and I appreciate the skill of and craft of brewing. The only beer kept in our house however is used for cooking and to give to guests!

Being a fizzy liquid lager is useful in making batter. You can use carbonated water as an alternative, but the slight taste imparted by beer is a pleasant addition and makes the batter taste less like wallpaper paste.

Ingredients:

• 150g Self raising flour
• 30g cornflour
• 250ml Lager
• Pinch of salt

Method:

It's better to make more than you need as it's cheap to make and easier to coat when you can fully submerse the food rather than try to paste batter on. Ensure the beer you use is vegan; despite popular misconception being made in Germany guarantees only gulliblity, not vegan suitability ;)

Sieve and mix the dry ingredients then add the beer in stages, until you have a semi-thick batter that easily coats the back of a spoon. If you you get any lumps use an immersion blender to remove them. The resulting liquid should be smooth and bubble:


Heat oil in your fryer to 190^oc and coat the food you want to fry in self raising flour. This step is important, as it stops the batter from sticking to the food, allowing it to puff up and float in the fryer not stick to the bottom of the basket.


In this example I'm using mock chicken seiten chunks (link), torn into pieces roughly 1 inch cubed:

Fully coat the food you're going to fry in batter and gently drop each item into the hot oil, with few seconds between each to stop them from dropping the temperature of the oil too much. If they don't bob to the surface give them a little knock with a metal spoon. If there are any legs of batter hanging off the balls knock them off once the batter has started to crisp. Try not to overcrowd the fryer as it will cause the balls to stick together. Cook them in batches instead.


When the balls have turned golden brown remove the basket and give it a good shake over the oil, then dry with kitchen tissue and serve immediately. If cooking in batches then add all batches to the oil together at the end to heat through for a few seconds.


I used to lust after a veganised version of sweet and sour chicken from English Chinese takeaways. After almost 10 years of trying I've finally gotten there :)

Chocolate Yule Log

Chocolate Log is a traditional form of Christmas gluttony, in our family household at least. Normally made after the day itself, upon realising that traditional Christmas cake really isn't very nice (other than the marzipan and icing of course).

It's essentially an iced chocolate swiss roll, which is far easier to make if you can buy the swiss roll ready made. Being vegan this isn't an option, but making swiss rolls is actually quite easy.

Ingredients:

• 180g Self Raising Flour
• 150g Caster Sugar
• 50g Cocoa
• 1/2tsp Baking Powder
• 150ml Water
• 75ml Sunflower Oil
• 1tsp Vanilla Extract

Method:

Combine the wet and dry ingredients together and mix thoroughly.


Line a 12"x8" tin with greaseproof paper and pour the mixture in, spreading it evenly out.


Bake in a 200^oc oven (180^oc fan) for 8-12 minutes - until an inserted cocktail stick comes out clean. Do not overcook!

Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly for a couple of minutes.

Place a large piece of greaseproof paper on your work surface in portrait, about twice the length of your tin. Flip the sponge over onto it, so that it is lying in portrait towards the bottom of the paper. Remove the backing paper from your sponge (now on the top) then score a horizontal line across with a knife 1 inch up from the bottom. Place a clean sheet of greaseproof paper over the top of the sponge then roll it up (still warm), starting from the end you've scored. A video showing this procedure can be found here (ignore the instruction to place sugar on the paper).

Whilst the rolled up sponge cools make a batch of chocolate buttercream icing.

Ingredients:

• 50g Sunflower Margarine
• 30g Cocoa
• 1tsp Vanilla Extract
• Icing Sugar
• Soya Milk

Method:

Cream the margarine and cocoa together in a bowl then start to add icing sugar. As it gets stiff add a splash of soya milk and the vanilla, then more icing sugar. Keep adding icing sugar and mixing until you have the right consistency and enough for the filling and outside. If the mixture gets too stiff before this point add a dash more soya milk.


When the sponge has cooled gently unroll it and remove the top layer of paper. Don't worry if some of the sponge has cracked; there's a good chance that once re-rolled and iced there will be no way to tell.

Spread a thin layer of icing over the sponge and re-roll. Cut off the ends and ice the outside, using a fork to give texture.

Peach & Lychee Pimms

The taste of lychee goes surprisingly well with Pimms.

I wasn't going to blog this until next summer, as it isn't Christmassy in the slightest. I've just been informed by @vegandeb however that it would in fact be in no way inappropriate to do so, what with it being the season of boozing and all.

You have 2 options for making this drink:

• Infuse peaches and lychees in Pimms directly
• Infuse them in gin and mix them later.

The latter (pictured above) is recommend as it lets you try the combination with other spirits, but it's up to you. This summer I used the first option, as I found Sainburys fake Pimms (called Pitchers) on offer for £5 a bottle. It's not as good as the real stuff, but once infused it's difficult to tell the difference.

Whichever option you choose cover a tin of lychees and a tin peaches (both drained) in an infusing jar with the booze of your choice. Give a good shake, then leave for 48 hours (shaking briefly whenever you walk past).

Once complete you can make the cocktail. You can leave infusing for longer if you want, but unlike infusion with spices and hard fruits (sloes, damsons, cranberries etc) that take months you can use soft fruit infusions within a couple of days.

Ingredients:

• 1 shot Pimms
• 1 shot Peach & Lychee Gin/Pimms
• 2 slices soaked peach
• 2 soaked lychees
• Crushed Ice
• Lemonade
• 2 Drops Orange Bitters (optional)

In a high ball glass muddle 1 lychee and 1 peach slice together. Add the alcohol and mix. Fill the glass with crushed ice, then top with lemonade. Stir and garnish with remaining peach slice and lychee.

Adding a couple of drops of orange bitters takes the sweet edge off the drink a bit and adds to the complexity of the flavour. Angostura orange bitters were vegan when last checked earlier in 2009.

Enjoy!

Puy Lentils in Pear Cider

This isn't so much a recipe as a tip: Puy Lentils cooked in Perry (pear cider) are very good.

Ensure that you use real pear cider (perry) rather than apple cider with flavourings. It does work with apple cider but doesn't taste as good. When we talk about cider in the UK we always refer to what in the US is hard cider (alcoholic), as opposed to juice.

Ingredients for 2 people:

• 125g Puy Lentils
• 500ml Perry
• 125ml Soya Cream
• 200g Firm Smoked Tofu
• 1 Red Onion
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• Handful Mushrooms (optional)
• Sunflower Oil

Method:

Rinse lentils and check for grit/stones. Place in a pan, cover with perry and simmer until tender (20-30 mins). If it starts to dry out add water. Skim off any residue that collects on the surface whilst cooking. When done do not drain; instead add the cream, mix and heat through.


Whilst the lentils cook heat some oil in a pan and add the onion (diced), garlic (minced), mushrooms (chopped, if using) and tofu (sliced). We use Taifun Smoked with Almonds and Sesame Seeds, but any firm, drained smoked tofu should work. Fry for a few minutes until done.


When both are complete combine and serve immediately.

Spiced Watermelon

This is a cocktail that I concocted this summer, have just found a photo of on my computer and despite having nothing to do with Christmas want to drink of anyway. It is red I guess :)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 Watermelon
• 1 shot Morgans Spiced Rum
• 1/2 shot Captain Morgan Dark Rum
• 1/2 shot Southern Comfort.
• handful of crushed ice

The bottles of the above alcohol I have were bought soon after they were last confirmed vegan. You may want to check the stuff being sold currently still is before buying.

The easiest way I've found to extract the flesh from a watermelon is to cut it in half and then into 1 inch thick rings, running a knife around the edge of each to split the skin from the flesh.

Roughly chop the flesh and place in a blender with other ingredients, seeds and all.

Blend until smooth, then strain through a sieve into martini glasses and serve immediately.

Clementine Chocolate Bread

Like banana bread, but without the bananas; i.e. it's actually cake not bread.

I've been making this for a few years now, normally with orange, but as we've got clementines in at the moment it makes sense to use them. It would work equally well with satsumas & mandarins.

Ingredients:

• 75-150g Dark Chocolate
• Zest of 2 Clementines
• 410g Self Raising Flour
• 300g Castor Sugar
• 1tsp Baking Powder
• 300ml Clementine Juice
• 150ml Sunflower Oil

Method:

Chop the chocolate into chunks and zest or grate the clementines.


Combine the other ingredients and get someone else to mix vigorously whilst you watch/take photos.


Add the other ingredients to the mixture and fold in, reserving some of the chocolate for the top just before cooking.


Cook in a loaf tin at 200 degrees until done (about 30 minutes in our oven). You can check it's done when a toothpick comes out clean.

No Tinsel

This year's tree is tinsel free.

It's not that I dislike tinsel; far from it in fact. This year however we just didn't feel the our tree needed it.

Another thing I don't dislike is lazy people.

Everyone wants non needle dropping trees these days, so much so that the traditional type are dirt cheap. Last year's 7ft tree was £12, this year it was £10. An equivalent non-drop one that looks less good and smells less good costs £50.

Suckers.

Mulled Cognac

A simple, warming cocktail.

Mix 1 shot Cointreau, 1 shot VS/VSOP cognac (XO would be a waste), 3 cloves, half a cracked nutmeg, 1 inch stick of cinnamon and the zest of one clementine in a brandy sniffer. Move the glass in circles to coat the sides with alcohol, then light. Allow to flambé until the glass and liquid are warm, then blow out a sip.

Vegan Advent Calender

Yesterday was chocolate covered pistachio marzipan, today a pecan truffle.

A quick post before I go to work to share with you the advent calender prepared for me by my beautiful partner.

It's been probably about 15 years since I last had an advent calender and I don't remember it being this good! I bought the Montezumas one as a present a couple of years back and considering it cost about £14 it was complete junk; the cardboard was too weak to stop all the chocolate falling out inside.

Doing it yourself is way better.