The Vegan Thread

If I could only have one dish for the rest of my life it would be hard to decide between pizza and mapo tofu. But if the pizza was going to have vegan cheese on it, I'd go mapo.

Nice one- pie filling with the veggies sounds like an excellent idea!

I just noticed this when @mespilus mentioned Philly cheese steak in the US Politics threads:

https://jakesvegansteaks.com/

I'd seen them before at markets, VegFest, and other events, but completely missed the fact that they've opened a restaurant. Open for takeaways at the moment. I'll drop by soon.

I've heard good things! Will have to make the trek over there when lockdown and common sense allow.

One day, you'll realise that you picked the wrong side of the river. :)

Will recommend (from market eats). Shame Holloway is so far! Might do a lockdown mission.

Ha ha, if my move to London was entirely motivated by increased access to vegan junk food (rather than only mostly motivated by it) North would definitely have been the better bet!

Im after another pair of hiking boots, my Adidas Terrex have a leak! I’d prefer goretex again with above ankle fit, and to use on DMR vaults.
Any ideas? Ta

@Shandoom I've been looking at getting a pair of Altra Lone Peak 4 Mid, though they're pretty pricey:
https://www.altrarunning.eu/eu/lone-peak-4-mid-rsm-315.html

I got Merrell Moab - shoes this time, but previously had boots. Comfortable, waterproof, £80-90 iirc.

Discovered besan flour in Tescos a few weeks ago.

Fantastic stuff!

A very satisfying meal can be had by mixing 1 cup besan flour with 1 cup water, some salt, 5 teaspoons of olive oil, mix it up, microwave it 1 minute and stir, repeat until quite firm.

Try with fried onions and gravy plus any other bits you want. Nice with a chilli sauce too.

It has the consistency of firm mashed potatoes but very low GI, loads of good protein, lots of fibre and very tasty.

Anyone from southern Africa into sadza / mieliepap (maize-meal porridge staple food), this is a great alternative. Especially if you are diabetic.

£2.50 could keep me going for a week!

I was all like oooh, until I realised it's just gram/chickpea flour, interested in trying the weird microwave thing though, guessing it'll be a bit like using it for eggy type stuff.

Yes it makes a good egg-free quiche too. Also see socca as another satisfying gram flour/besan snack

speaking of egg-free quiche.. any good OTS options?

On a similar theme, I like making chick pea chips. Gram flour/water boiled up with salt and a little turmeric, turn out onto a baking tray into a rectangle, cool in the fridge, cut into chunky chips. Fry in lots of hot oil till golden brown. They go in kind of rubbery and come out looking like chips. Serve with ketchup!

That's good with polenta.

besan flour

Here's a great recipe using besan.
If you like indian type food and a bit of heat in form of jalapenos you will enjoy this -

Jalapeno Pancakes

Jalapeno chilies are extremely high in vitamin C. These spicy pancakes help to build resistance to colds and flu. Also known as "anti-smog pancakes," these help to overcome the ill effects of living in a polluted environment. The amounts of spices may be increased, if you are so inclined.

2 cups garbanzo flour (besan)
1 Tbsp. whole coriander
2 tsp. ajwain
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. cumin seeds
1 onion, finely chopped
1 bulb garlic, minced
1/3 cup finely chopped ginger root
8 Jalapeno chiles, chopped
15 almonds, blanched & halved
1tsp. crushed red chilies
water
olive oil

Mix besan with enough water to make a batter of pancake consistency. As the batter sits, it will thicken slightly. Add water in very small amounts to maintain consistency.

Add remaining ingredients except oil.

Heat 1/8 inch olive oil in a heavy skittet over medium high flame. Pour in enough batter to make a 6-inch pancake, spreading it evenly in a circle with the bottom of a spoon. They should be about 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick. Fry as you would pancakes, browning on both sides and draining on absorbent paper.

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Why thank you, sounds fantastic. I shall report back after the weekend!

Comfort food! Nice, thanks!

Wow, not seen this thread for ages... hope you’re all well and good... and staying vegan ;)
Not sure if any of you are into Franco Manca, but on a recent visit to their Brighton branch, I noticed that all their wines are now clearly marked vegan which is great and I can confirm that Infinity Foods sourdough is still the best I’ve ever had.

vegan special at Franco is good too. The cheese and caramelised onion. Chef's kiss.

I went past Rudy's Vegan Butcher in Upper Street today, but it looked closed. The web-site suggests that they've sold out since their 1st November launch but will be restocking:

https://rudysvegan.com/pages/vegan-butcher

If you need to remember where it is and are as rubbish as I am at remembering house numbers, it's at the junction of the A1 Upper Street and Islington Park Street.

I'll try again next week and will report back if I manage to buy anything. Judging from the web-site, it looks like shrink wrap hell, but I'll try anything once. Maybe that's only for on-line orders and in the shop you can actually get it in less plasticky packaging.

Has anyone been yet?

I’ve ridden past it a few times and peeked through the window. Both times at 10:30am the fridge looked well stocked and there were no customers.

The butchers is just up Islington Park St, I think the diner on Upper St is still under construction.

In terms of packaging- from what I saw most things looked pre vacuum packed.

Ah, thanks--in that case I only saw the diner. I didn't look properly (as per usual) and failed to realise there were two shops. I only saw the on-line sold-outness and assumed that was what I saw. Maybe they've only sold out on-line and not off-line. In some shops I've been to recently, e.g. record shops, there was quite a disconnect between the on-line and in-store operations. Oh yeah, it does say in the text on the site that the shop is still open.

The packing thing is an issue for me (and has been for some time with vegan stuff, e.g. because quite often you get relatively little content in the packaging--understandable but still), but I've just heard that there are LDPE (low-density polyethylene) recycling stations. I probably missed them because apparently they're usually in major supermarkets, and I generally don't use those. I'll try to find one in my local area.

Anyone bought this brand of tofu before? Smelled so weird I got a refund assuming it was off but the replacement pack which has a while on the date smells weird too, kind of smokey but not in a nice way. Don’t want to throw it out if it’s just like that but also don’t want to get ill over £3’s worth of tofu

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