Mint Chocolate Shots

I've been a bad, bad Vegan MoBo blogger.

Considering I'm the only one though however and that I never stated I'd post every single day, I think it's allowed.

The reason I've not blogged recently is simple: I've been lazy. That and that the post I planned to do went wrong, horribly wrong.

A few weeks ago I made up a gorgeous shot using creme de menthe, cream, chocolate syrup, irish whisky and kahlua. Cleverly I snapped a picture on my iPhone for twitter and wrote down the ingredients, but not the measurements.

When I came to recreate it on Sunday I found that I just couldn't get the quantities right, and my attempts really didn't taste good at all - too alcoholic, too creamy, too sweet etc. I fundamentally don't agree with blogging / posting a recipe which really doesn't work - there are way too many crap recipes on the internet already.

It's 12.43am and I should really be in bed, but procrastination has allowed me to revisit the concept and I'm pleased to announce that this time it worked. Therefore I'm writing it down this time!

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 1 shot Irish Whisky
• 2 shots Fresh Soya Cream
• 1/2 shot Chocolate Syrup
• 1/2 shot Creme de Menthe
• 1/2 shot Kahlua
• Squirty Cream
• Grated Chocolate (optional)

Add all ingredients bar the last 2 to a cocktail shaker with ice, and shake till your hands go numb from the cold. Pour into glasses and top with squirty cream. Top with grated chocolate if so inclined.

Drink in 2-3 gulps, attempting to drink half the cream with each, mixing in your mouth before swallowing.

It's kind of like a mint version of the baileys recipe I posted last November (my blog is almost a year old!) and kind of not. I know that Baileys now sell a mint version, but it came out after I turned vegan so I've never tried it and can't comment on simularity.

Mushroom Stroganoff

I've been making this for years, but last night's was the best tasting so far.
I owe this in part to the half bottle of brandy I added whilst trying to take flambé pictures ;)

Continuing with the Vegan MoBo theme and in an attempt to prove that I eat food in between drinks:

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• 2 handfuls Fresh Mushrooms
• 1 handful Dried Mushrooms
• 1 Onion
• 1 clove Garlic
• Smoked Tofu
• 100ml Brandy
• 1 pint Mushroom Stock
• Fresh Soya Cream

Slice fresh mushrooms and fry in a little oil with cubed tofu, minced garlic and diced onion. You can use any type of mushroom you want - a combination can be good. Either red or white onion is fine. I use Taifun Smoked Tofu with Almonds and Sesame Seeds - it's much nicer than unflavoured stuff and is firm enough to fry with.

Make up the stock and reconstitute dried mushrooms in it. Again you can use any - last night I used shiitake and porcini. Once they've softened up; remove from the stock and add to the pan.

Cook until onion is soft and the mushroom has released excess moisture. When the pan is hot and reasonably dry, add the brandy and light (standing back so you don't loose your eyebrows in the process). If you add it when the pan isn't hot enough or when the mushrooms are still releasing moisture then you'll have difficulty lighting.

You can add as much brandy as you like, but 100ml should be enough. It also works with sherry and I guess other booze too (but probably not kahlua).

Pour in the stock, bring to the boil and allow to simmer until most of the liquid has been absorbed / boiled off. Add cream to taste, stir through and heat.

Season with salt/pepper and serve with tagliatelle or linguine. Waitrose in the UK sell fresh varieties of each.

Tomorrow I'll return to booze only, I promise.

DeKuyper Melon

....and a green drink in a fancy bottle that tastes like cough medicine, called Midori.

I'd had a passing interest in trying Midori for a while now. I emailed them 3 times of the course of several years, but heard nothing back.

After finding a reliable contact at DeKuyper recently for asking about veganness of their products I enquired (mostly out of boredom) about their melon liqueur. It's in most UK supermarkets and I had no problem picking up a bottle (~£10) when I'd heard back.

The best way I can describe DeKuyper Melon is as a liquid version of melon flavoured sweets. It's sweet and whilst artificial tasting, really quite pleasant.

A few days later, @M_tohappyvegans mailed Midori and got an instant response - maybe they just don't like me? We'd just polished off our first bottle of Dekuyper, so I bought a bottle of each to run a comparison.

Other than the colour, I struggled to find one. DeKuyper is gorgeous, Midori tastes like children's cough medicine.

It's a shame - I really wanted to like Midori. Other than its funky bottle however it really has nothing going for it.

The good news is: all Midori cocktail recipes I've tried taste far better with DeKuyper. We spent a couple of evenings trying out 10-15 recipes a couple of months back and there's one that I've made time and time again since. It's actually, possibly, now in my top 5 favourite cocktails.

DeKuyper Splice (formally Midori Splice!)

Ingredients:

• 2 shots DeKuyper Melon liqueur
• 2 shots Malibu
• Pineapple Juice
• 1 shot fresh soya cream -or- coconut cream
• Ice

Fill a highball glass with ice and pour the melon liqueur over.

Add the malibu, then top with pineapple juice until the glass is almost full. Don't mix.

Float the cream on top, so that it covers the whole surface. Fresh soya cream is best (Alpro), but coconut uht cream will be nicer than long life soya cream if none is available.

The result should be greenest at the bottom and drunk through the cream.

For a drink containing 4 shots of 24% strength booze it really doesn't taste alcoholic at all, and slips down with ease.

Banana Vodka

Mmmmmmmmmm.

So; I realise this is (arguably) the most disgusting looking thing I've posted thus far, but I assure you that it tastes better than it looks...

Banana vodka was an experiment I conducted a few weeks ago (before going to Dubai), which I then bottled and left to fester in the back of the fridge. I've not really heard of people making it before or seen recipes calling for it, but I like bananas and had some that needed using.

Having almost completely forgotten of its existence, I was quite gobsmacked when I finally tested it last night and found how good it is.

The good news is, it's easy to make. Like most fruit infused vodkas it contains only fruit, sugar and vodka. Being a soft fruit it only needs to infuse for 24-48 hours.

The bad news is, I can't remember the quantities I used. I seem to remember it being something to do with 25g and 75g, and thinking I didn't need to write it down because I'd definitely remember.

I'm pretty sure though that I mashed one ripe banana (75g?), covered it with vodka in an airtight jar, then added white sugar to taste (25g?). Give it a really big shake, then again every time you walk in the kitchen. After 48 hours it should look as disgusting as that which is pictured above, at which point it's time to strain.

This is a 2 stage process. The first involves using a sieve to remove the large particles (see above), then the second using cloth to remove the pith. I used strong kitchen tissue instead of cloth for mine, which was a pain in the ass but did eventually work.

Decant into a clean bottle and refrigerate until use.

In the name of Vegan Mobo (it's a hard life); I created a cocktail using it last night.

With the exception of banoffee, the main use of banana in my life is for making milkshakes. As it also goes well with chocolate, I wanted to make a creamy shot with cream and chocolate syrup.

Having decided to make a layered shot, I quickly (only 4 drinks) found that cream was both too sickly and had a density too similar to the vodka to layer properly. Therefore I switched to vanilla soy milk, which works so much better.

It's with great pleasure that I give you my "Banana Split".

Squirt some chocolate syrup into the bottom of a shot glass, then pour banana vodka into the glass via the back of a teaspoon. Allow to sit for a moment (whilst it completely separates), then very carefully add the vanilla soya milk to the top (I used fresh So Good).

If you've not made layered shots before then it can take some practice to get right (see YouTube for videos), but it all goes down the same way in the end. Talking of which, it's best to drink these in one go, mixing the flavours together in your mouth before swallowing.

You may need to experiment with the amount of syrup you use, to ensure that enough comes out with the drink and doesn't just stick to the sides! :)

Creme de Menthe

is good stuff.

I tried mint syrup as a kid and wasn't impressed. I was therefore not overly excited to find that De Kuyper alcoholic creme de menthe is vegan a month or so ago when @M_tohappyvegans wrote to them to check. It turns out that both the white stuff (which I've never seen in shops) is vegan, as well as the green stuff (in most supermarkets).

As part of my quest to own all vegan suitable booze I bought a bottle anyway, and was pleasantly surprised.

It mixes incredibly well with chocolatey things, such as chocolate soya milk. I plan to make a mint chocolate torte at some point (I've still not made this again since I blogged it back in Feb).

It also works really well in hot chocolate, substituting creme de menthe for kahlua in this recipe.

I've drunk half a bottle so far (with help) and will no doubt find other combinations that work well with it.

Edit: Now I think about it - I've actually made quite a few good tasting cocktails using this now. Too bad I can't remember how to make any of them.....

Cucumber Gin

Having made Mint & Strawberry Sorbet last week I've been considering ways to get some cucumber flavour into my Strawberry Pimms Cocktail. The obvious answer is cucumber gin, however the stuff that is commercially available isn't cheap and vegan status unknown. Thus I embarked on making my own.

Creating soft fruit infusions is very easy; you just need fruit, alcohol, a jar and between 2 days and 1 week. Cut the cucumber into thin slices and add to the jar with the gin. I used Juniper Green Organic Gin, which I know to be vegan. When last checked both Gordons and Bombay Sapphire were also vegan, however I save the latter for drinks where the gin's flavour will be fully appreciated.

Seal the jar and give it a good shake and put it somewhere where you'll see it regularly, giving it another shake each time you do. After shaking be sure that all the cucumbers are covered, as you don't want them going mouldy. When complete strain the cucumber out and bottle. I can't imagine it going off any time in the next year, so it should be good for the summer.

Decent Hot Chocolate

Decent hot chocolate is easy to make and uses real melted chocolate; there really is no excuse for bad stuff made from powder.

Ingredients:

• Soya Milk
• 2 squares Chocolate
• 1 shot Kahlua
• 1 tsp Sugar (optional)
• Squirty Vegan Cream (optional)
• Chocolate Shavings (optional)

Fill a mug 90% full with soya milk. Add 2 squares of chocolate and microwave until hot (2m 20s in our 850w). Add the shot of kahlua. If using unsweetened soya milk add a tsp of sugar. Stir, taste and garnish with squirty cream and chocolate shavings.

Vegan Cocktails for Beginners

If you enjoy creating flavours you'll probably enjoy making cocktails. It's like cooking but way faster and there's loads of scope for new discoveries. Imagine your favourite dessert, in a glass.

Cocktails make alcohol taste good. That's not to say their only use is to disguise the taste and make getting drunk more pleasant. Typically I have 1 or 2 cocktails in a sitting - enough to enjoy the flavours but not enough to get drunk off. Non-alcoholic cocktails can also be good.

Making cocktails yourself is way, way cheaper than buying them in a bar. It's not uncommon for £1 of ingredients to cost £7 if someone else makes it for you.

You Will Need....

You don't need to go overboard with ingredients and equipment to start with.

You can pretty much get going with:

• Gin
• Vodka
• White Rum
• Bitters
• Brandy
• Lemons
• Limes
• Fruit Juices
• Simple Syrup (make your own)
• Soda Water / Lemonade / Tonic

Angostura bitters were vegan when last checked. If you want to make vermouth based drinks Noilly Prat was vegan when last checked. The white (dry) is in UK supermarkets, the red (sweet) online and in specialist shops (I buy mine from Soho Wine Supply on Percy Street in London). Look for non alcoholic grenadine made without cochineal (such as Bardinet, sold in the UK in Morrisons) if you want to use it, of make your own. The novelty of sunrises wears off pretty quickly however. Don't waste expensive booze (£30 a bottle plus) on cocktails.

Many cocktails don't require any special equipment beyond a measure. A cocktail shaker (dishwasher safe if you have one) is a good start. A measure that sits on top of the glass and can be tipped into the glass is highly recommended, so you don't spill booze over your hands. You can muddle with the end of a rolling pin and strain with a standard sieve if required. Black straws, cocktail umbrellas, stirrers etc can be purchased new off ebay a lot cheaper than in shops. IKEA sell cheap glasses; get a few types. A blender is useful for puréeing fruit/crushing ice, but not essential. WMF (in John Lewis, House of Fraser etc) make the nicest cocktail equipment IMHO, but it comes at a price.

Currently on the cocktail shelf:

Some Tips....

Not all alcohol is vegan.

You probably knew this already, but I had to say. This includes Martini (clarified with egg).

Fortified wine (vermouth, sherry, port etc) is made from wine, which can be clarified with gelatine, egg, blood etc. Spirits can be filtered with bone char and have had lactic acid added during fermentation (some also have colourings - particularly absinthe). Whisky is often stored in unwashed ex sherry barrels (particularly scotch) to pick up the flavour. Liqueurs can contain cream, colourings, flavourings, preservatives, sugar etc.

The best but far from perfect (the whole question and reply is often not stated) list online is http://www.barnivore.com/ - beware other sites with outdated information.

Don't forget that you can make your own flavoured spirits. I've made sloe gin, sloe brandy, damson gin, peach & lychee gin, Christmas vodka and cherry vodka so far.

I buy a bottle every few weeks. My booze collection a couple of years back (bigger now!):


Figure Out The Type of Cocktail You Like

Long? Short? Very Alcoholic? Non-alcoholic? With lots of juice added? A dash of juice? Hot? Ice cold? Fruity? Creamy? Chocolatey?

Despite it's fame, most people find martinis quite unpleasant. Don't feel like you need to conform.

If you've got an idea before you start looking for recipes you'll make less cocktails you don't enjoy.

Personally I like creamy cocktails and fruity cocktails. I'm not into overly bitter drinks or those containing only spirits.

Avoid Crap Recipes

There are a *lot* of crap cocktail recipes on-line. This includes video demonstrations of techniques where the actor clearly has no clue. Don't judge books by their pictures; they may well be stock photos.

You can waste a lot of good booze if you're not careful. If a recipe looks nasty it probably is.

Look for recipes on drink manufacturer websites, as they're likely to have had a professional go over them. Blogs can be good, particularly those with comments from people who have tried them and verified they're good.

Wikipedia has IBA ingredients for cocktails listed, however it doesn't often have the method included. Whilst standard, IBA ingredient ratios/product choices don't suit everyone.

Figure Out What You Want To Make Before Buying The Alcohol

Unless you have loads of money you'll want to collect bottles over time. Don't blow your budget then find you can't make what you want.

Follow Recipes - Don't Take Shortcuts

Muddling isn't the same as garnishing. Shaking is not the same as stirring. The temperature it is served at does matter.

How you make a cocktail will affect the result. If you take short cuts you will regret it.

You can often substitute brands for similar, but leaving an ingredients out (unless it's a garnish purely for decoration) can radically affect the success of a drink.

Watch Others

If you do go to a cocktail bar and the cocktails are good, sit at or stand by the bar and watch how the cocktails are made.

Make Sure You Have Enough Ice

Many cocktails require large amount of ice, which is often discarded after mixing. If you'renot lucky enough to have an ice maker consider buying ice cubes ready made or invest in a couple more trays. Keeping regularly used booze in the fridge can help too.

Champagne Cocktails

Whilst I can fully appreciate good cognac and good whisky I have no appreciation what so ever for champagne.

I don't know whether it is something I'll grow into or not, but of all that I've tried costing up to £60 a bottle I've found none that I've enjoyed more than a simple glass of juice. Thus when making cocktails using it I opt for £5-£7 Cava instead.

The infamous Champagne Cocktail (sugar cube, 2 drops bitters, 1 tsp cognac, champagne top) is OK(ish), but nothing to get excited about. Kir Royal I just don't get - it's like lemonade and blackcurrant but way more expensive and not as nice. Bucks fizz (with a dash of Cointreau) is drinkable, but again a complete waste of money.

Blend sorbet and frozen fruit however and you're onto a winner. The bubbles give the slushy iced fruit an almost sherbet type quality - it's a perfect summer afternoon drink.

The basic formula consists of:

• 100ml Champagne / Cava
• 50g Frozen Fruit
• 50g Sorbet

however you can adjust to taste. A splash of fruit juice works (especially if you're trying to make the bottle go further), as does a shot of fruit liqueur (such as Cointreau).

The standard version I've been making for the past few years involves mango sorbet and mixed frozen summer/black forest fruits.

Recently I've been experimenting with simpler variations, so you can better taste the individual flavours. Last night's attempts were:

Elderflower & Raspberry

Elderflower sorbet and frozen raspberries. This was my partner's favourite of the three, however if I were to make it again I think I'd use slightly fewer raspberries. Whilst I like raspberries they somewhat drowned out the lovely elderflower taste. Perhaps a shot of elderflower cordial might help?

Update - Yes it does, it makes it one fabulous drink! :)

Mango & Blueberry

Mango sorbet and blueberries. This was our least favourite, but still very drinkable.

Blackberry & Raspberry

This was my favourite of the three - raspberry sorbet and frozen blackberries.

Strawberry Basil Cocktails

After several failed attempts I've found something actually quite drinkable.

I've been aware of the strawberry/basil combination for a while, but didn't become interested in it until they were both out of season. I like basil and I like strawberries, so why not? Luckily I picked up some sensibly priced strawberries this week and over the past couple of nights have been trying out various recipes off the internet.

Some recipes were just plain horrible; I'm not a fan of martinis at the best of times so strawberry/basil/vodka/gin was never going to be a winning combination. There seems to be a trend for using crushed black pepper and I can appreciate the extra dimension of taste that it brings, but it's not for me. Sugar syrup definitely brings out the taste, but makes the drink a bit sweet. The mojito recipe I tried sort of worked, but sort of didn't. Morgans Spiced (which I love in other drinks) completely overpowers the taste of the basil and defeats the point.

Eventually I found that peach schnapps and light rum goes pretty well, so here's the first combination I've come up with that I like and would happily drink again.

Ingredients:

• 3 Strawberries
• 3 Large Basil Leaves
• 1 Shot Peach Schnapps
• 1 Shot Light Rum
• Ice
• Pineapple Juice

Muddle the strawberries and basil until the strawberries have been puréed.

Fill the glass with ice and pour over the spirits. Top with pineapple juice and stir.

Serve immediately with a straw or strain and serve in a martini glass.

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 :)

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.

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 Hazelnut Nougat Vodka

Not wanting to be left out from the fun of Mars Bar Vodka I instead tried hazelnut nougat vodka earlier this year. The result was an instant success, so I tried a larger batch. This time however I scrimped and used standard dark chocolate to bulk it out, which once finished I thoroughly regretted - I now have a litre of quite bitter dark tasting chocolate vodka.

Thus today I made another batch of the 'good stuff'. It's easy to make and is the only recipe I've found so far that uses a dishwasher.


Using an air tight jar in dishwasher without detergent keeps the mixture hot but below boiling point for 2 hours, which seriously speeds up a process that would otherwise either involve a bain-marie and weeks of shaking.

I used Smirnoff Blue Vodka, which I bought back when it was certified vegan. I'm not sure it still is though, I remember seeing an email floating round forums a while back saying that Smirnoff no longer state whether their products are vegan or not.

Tear up hazelnut nougat bars (I used 7) and put into a dishwasher safe air-tight preserving jar. Pour in enough vodka such that it just covers them.



Close up and place in an empty dishwasher without detergent on the top shelf and put on a hot (but not boiling) cycle.



Open the door a couple of times during the cycle, take out and give a vigorous shake. When complete allow to cool and strain into a bottle. It should keep (given the high alcohol content) for a few months.

Tastes great blended with vanilla icecream and white chocolate syrup (add soya milk to taste if too strong).

Christmas Vodka

It's not too late too start off a batch of Xmas Vodka. The longer you leave it the better, but 1 month should be enough.

I've made this a few times now and the process is very simple. Mix in an infusing jar:

• 1 litre vodka
• 4 cups cranberries, pricked
• 2 sticks of cracked cinamon bark
• 2 cracked nutmegs
• 20 cloves
• 2 tsp corander seeds
• 4 inches of split vanilla bean
• 220g castor sugar

The taste of the vodka you use will be present in the finished product, so use a medium quality vodka rather than cheap and nasty stuff. If the cranberries have been frozen they should be thawed first. The exact combination of spice you use is up to you.

Close and shake the jar for several minutes, then each day during the first 2 weeks violently for a few seconds.

The end result is sweet, dark red, alcoholic and like Christmas in both taste and smell. It can be drunk neat, but is better in cocktails; giving a Christmas taste in place of regular vodka. Mix it with red vermouth (such as Nolly Prat; Martini is not vegan), Cointreau and orange juice for a mulled wine cocktail.

Vegan Baileys

Baileys is (according to their website) a combination of Irish whisky (produced from whey), cream, cocoa, sugar, vanilla, caramel and a vegetable oil based agent to prevent separation in storage.

There's no absence of recipes on-line for Baileys, however almost all contain ingredients not in the original, such as condensed milk, eggs, coffee, coconut milk, rum, kahlua, Scotch whisky, American whiskey and vodka. Whilst (some) may be great tasting drinks in their own right, their accuracy must surely be questioned - despite popular misconception Baileys is not a coffee based liqueur.

Unimpressed by recipes that I've tried (really I should have known better than to even try the coconut milk version), I have in my latest attempt gone back to basics and produced something from the actual ingredients (or as close to as possible), with Jameson's Irish whisky (produced from grain not whey) and Alpro fresh soya cream in place of dairy cream (as it's by far the closest I've found in taste and consistency).

The quantities of each ingredient isn't specified by Baileys, however the finished product is 17% alcohol by volume, which means that it must contain 38.6% whisky (if information from Wikipedia that 44% alcohol by volume whisky is used).

Using this knowledge and mixing 1 shot whisky, 1 shot cream and 1/2 shot cocoa-glucose syrup gives a drink that is far more like how I remember the original than anything else I've tried.
It's not right though - too chocolaty and not smooth enough, with a harsh alcoholic after-taste that some might like but would certainly put your average Baileys drinker off.

After a few attempts using part cocoa-glucose syrup, part simple syrup, a few drops of vanilla and varying the quantities I found what seems to be the closest to the original I've ever tasted:

• 1 shot Jamesons
• 1/3 shot chocolate syrup
• 2/3 shot simple sugar syrup
• 2 drops bourbon vanilla
• 1.5-2 shots alpro cream

I wouldn't like to claim it's a 100% reproduction of the original, as both my lovely assistant's memory and mine are probably slightly off. I'm also well aware that all alcoholic drinks taste better the more you sample! It is though honestly pretty good.

I used simple syrup purely as it's what I had to hand - we always keep a bottle made up in the fridge for emergency mojitos. I think it may be worth making syrup up for the purpose, using water, sugar, cocoa, and vanilla in appropriate quantities for a more accurate taste.

I'm looking forward to trying it out in some cocktails / food. As it's Christmas the first cocktail that I tried was:

• 2 shots 'baileys'
• 1 generous scoop vanilla soy ice cream
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

The cinnamon in it really works! It was a creamy, smooth, luscious consistency which went down very well drunk with some heated home-made mince pies and custard:

I'm excited by this as it means I can now start playing with cocktails and recipes that call for it, which for the past 10 years I've not been able to try. Kahlua is one of my favourite liqueurs, but Baileys it isn't.