vegan mushroom stroganoff

It’s not the prettiest meal in the world, but it tastes absolutely divine! You can use any variety of mushrooms you have - and I think it would be equally nice with other spongy vegetables like eggplants or zucchini.

If it’s just me eating, I chop the mushrooms fairly roughly. If Tom is eating it, I chop them up quite finely (it’s a texture thing with him!). It will cook faster if the mushrooms are more finely chopped. Either way it will be delicious.

You can whip this up in about 20 minutes but with its velvety sauce and umami flavours, you’d think you’d slaved over a hot stove for hours. Enjoy!

Vegan mushroom stroganoff

Serves 2-3

Olive or coconut oil
3 large portobello mushrooms, chopped (see note above)
1 brown onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4-5 stalks of silverbeet or chard, finely chopped (stalks and leaves)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper (you will need LOTS of pepper!)
1 x 400ml can coconut milk
2 tablespoons brown rice miso paste
1 tablespoon tahini
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Vegetable stock powder
Fresh parsley and tarragon leaves, chopped, to serve
Basmati rice, to serve

Put the kettle on to boil.

Get a large saute or frying pan ( one with a lid) and add a splash of olive oil and place over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, onion, garlic and chopped silverbeet stalks and cook until they start to soften and brown slightly. Add a little salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper.

Continue cooking for a minute or two, then add the coconut milk, miso, tahini, paprika and cayenne pepper, and turn the heat up slightly, stirring everything to combine. Make some stock from vegetable stock powder and the boiling water from the kettle - I usually do this in the coconut milk can to get every drop of it out, and it’s a handy measurement too, you want about 400ml or just under. Add the stock to the pan, stir well and allow the pot to come to the boil, then reduce right down to a simmer.

Add more freshly ground black pepper if you like. Stir one more time to ensure nothing is caught at the bottom and then put the lid on and set your timer for 15 minutes.

Make your rice while it’s cooking.

After 15 minutes, add the chopped silverbeet/chard leaves, and stir well to wilt the leaves. Allow to simmer another minute or two, taste for seasoning (I usually add more black pepper here), and scatter with chopped parsley and tarragon. Keep warm if you’re waiting for your rice to be ready, otherwise get your serving spoon out!

Serve in bowls with steamed rice and a satisfied smile - for even the mushroom haters tend to love this one.

my mum's shortbread

With Christmas not that far away now (I know, I can’t believe it either), my thoughts have turned to which festive treats to make as gifts this year. Naturally, there will be my usual chutneys and preserves, but I liked to do a baked good or two as well.

These shortbreads my Mum makes are always a winner. They are absolutely delightful biscuits - one or two with a cup of tea is a lovely sweet treat.  If you can stop at that many, of course!

Mum's shortbread

250 g unsalted butter
3/4 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence or extract
2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup cornflour
Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180 C (or 160 C fan-forced) and then grease and line two baking trays. Beat the butter and icing sugar together until creamy, then add the vanilla.

Sift the self-raising flour, cornflour and salt together and then add gently to the butter mixture.  Use a knife to mix it in, as if you were making scones.

Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls and place on to the prepared trays, about 5cm apart.  Flatten the balls gently with a fork.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 8-10 minutes or until just starting to colour underneath.  The biscuits are meant to be pale on top.  Leave them on the trays for about 15 minutes to firm up, and then transfer to a rack to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.  

These are buttery and gorgeous and very moreish!  We love eating them plain, but we’ve also sandwiched them together with some passionfruit curd in the past, which went down an absolute treat.

spicy ethiopian lentil stew

Tasmania is clearly not ready to welcome summer just yet, based on the cold, wet and windy days we’ve been having in Hobart recently. I am beginning to think I took the winter sheets off the bed too soon!

But on the plus side, it means all the lovely comforting and warming dishes we’ve been enjoying over the autumn and winter can stay on the menu a little longer.

Ethiopian Berbere spice is one of my absolute favourites to cook with - when the spice hits the hot pan and combines with browning onions and oil, the smell is just incredible. And, bizarrely, it triggered a memory for me - it took a while for me to realise that the dominant spices (cumin, fenugreek, pepper and cardamom) remind me of my grandparents home when I was a child. They had lived in southeastern Africa for a time and so often cooked meals like this one. It’s lovely to have my kitchen smelling like theirs did!

You can buy Berbere at any specialist spice store - my favourite is by Gewürzhaus.

This delicious stew would traditionally be served with that wonderful spongy Ethiopian bread injera, but if you can’t get that, any other flatbread is a fine accompaniment (I like chappati). Just make sure there’s plenty of it, because you’ll want to soak up that sauce!

Spicy Ethiopian lentil stew (berber)

Serves 4

Olive or coconut oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or 2 teaspoons ready-minced garlic
2 teaspoons ready-minced ginger
4 medium potatoes (roughly 145 g each), chopped into chunks or 600 g baby potatoes, halved or left whole
2 tablespoons Berbere spice blend (reduce to 1 tablespoon if you prefer it milder)
Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional, but I like the extra spiciness)
250 g red lentils
1 x 420 g can plum tomatoes
Vegetable stock powder
Water to cover (roughly four cans worth)
A few handfuls of fresh spinach, to finish
Salt and pepper, to taste

Put the kettle on to boil.

In a large stockpot, heat the oil over medium then saute the onion, garlic and ginger until starting to soften. Add the potatoes and spices, and a little water if you need it, then stir everything so the potatoes are well coated in the spices, and allow to cook and release the aromas for a minute or two. Don’t let the spices burn, add water if it’s getting a bit dry.

Add the lentils and tomatoes, then rinse out the can with water from the kettle and add that too. I then usually use the can to make up the vegetable stock that I need to cover the dry ingredients. Be careful, because adding boiling water to a tin can makes the sides very hot. I have asbestos hands from years of cooking but even I find the heat a bit intense at times! If you’re a bit more sensible than I, make up your vegetable stock in a jug with water from the kettle (around 3 cups). Add this to the pot.

Stir, breaking up the tomatoes a bit, and ensure there is sufficient liquid to cook the potatoes and lentils in. Then bring to a boil, reduce the heat, place a lid on top and simmer for around 20 minutes or until the potatoes and lentils are cooked. I like to cook them until you can break the lentils are creamy and the potatoes break easily with the spoon.

When everything is cooked, add the spinach, turn off the heat and replace the lid on the pot. Leave for a few minutes until the spinach has wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sometimes I add a squeeze of lemon juice too (not traditional, just to aid with iron absorption from the spinach!)

Serve in bowls with some warm flatbread or chappatis on the side. I find I don’t need rice with this but it would be a delicious alternative to flatbreads if you don’t have them.

No matter the temperature outside, this scrumptious stew will warm your insides a treat! And once you’ve tried it, I’m sure you'll find any excuse to make it again….and, like me, ensure you have Berbere in your pantry at all times.

potato, pea and silverbeet curry

This is such a warming bowl of comfort. It can be made with any manner of vegetables you might have lying around, but I think a combination of one root vegetable, one cruciferous or legume, and one leafy green works very well. I grow silverbeet so am always looking for any excuse to cook with it, but you can just as easily use spinach, chard or kale.

I usually plan to make a curry on a day I’ve made a spicy condiment - such as a tomato kasundi - so I can use the same pan I’ve made the chutney in to cook the curry, to use up every skerrick of juice and spiciness. Perhaps it’s pure laziness, but only having to wash one pot and getting two things out of it is a winning formula in my book! It also adds a great depth of flavour.

You can, of course, use a more mild chilli powder than my favourite Kashmiri, or just use two teaspoons of curry powder instead, if you prefer something less fiery. Fellow chilli fiends, know this curry is even better with the addition of more fresh finely chopped green chilli at the end!

Potato, pea and silverbeet curry

Serves 2 hungry people and leftovers for one

Coconut or vegetable oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 green chilli, finely chopped
5-6 large stalks silverbeet, stalks and leaves, chopped (use spinach, chard, spring greens, whatever greens you have)
500 g washed small/baby potatoes, halved OR leftover cooked potatoes (that rarely happens to me!)
2 cups frozen peas
2 heaped teaspoons garam masala
1 heaped teaspoon curry powder
1 heaped teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder (or other hot chilli powder)
1 x 400ml can coconut milk
Water
Salt, to taste
Lemon juice, to taste
Nigella seeds
Basmati rice, to serve
Yoghurt, to serve

In a large stockpot, melt the coconut oil then saute the onion, garlic, ginger, chilli and silverbeet stalks (reserve the leaves for later) until starting to soften. Add the potatoes, peas, spices, and a little water, stir everything so the potatoes are well coated in the spices, and allow to cook and release the aromas for a minute or two. Don’t let the spices burn, add water if it’s getting a bit dry.

Add the coconut milk, then rinse out the can with a little more water and add that too. Stir, ensure there is sufficient liquid to cook the potatoes in, then bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for around 20 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked. You might prefer them just tender, I like to cook them until you can break them easily with the spoon.

When the potatoes are cooked to your liking, add the silverbeet leaves, and cook for a few more minutes until wilted. Add salt and lemon juice to taste, and then scatter the dish with nigella seeds.

Serve in deep bowls with basmati rice and a dollop of yoghurt on the top. Maybe even extra chilli!

fennel and butter bean stew

It might be spring during the day here, but it’s still winter at night! With a fat bulb of fennel in one hand and a can of butter beans in the other, I concocted this stew yesterday evening as the temperature dropped and rain lashed at the windows. I was craving warmth, flavour and comfort. A lot to ask from one bowl of food, you might think, but this dish delivered on all fronts! It’s also full of fibre, which is a great bonus.

It’s perfect bowl food in front of the TV but I think it would be snazzy enough to serve to guests too, especially with a lovely glass of wine alongside.

If you think you don’t like fennel, I would urge you to give this a try. It becomes mellow, sweet and juicy and soaks up the nutty and buttery flavours of the sauce beautifully.

Mash is the obvious accompaniment - I made mine with a handful of grated Parmesan in, to give a little extra salty richness, which rounded off everything nicely. You could also serve it with couscous, gnocchi or lightly toasted thick slices of sourdough. Either way, you’ll want something to soak up all that delicious sauce, trust me!

Fennel and butter bean stew with capers

Serves 4

Olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 large celery stick (including leaves if you like), finely chopped
1 large fennel bulb, chopped into bite-size pieces (save the fronds for garnish)
4-5 large pieces of silverbeet or chard (chop the stems and leaves, then separate and use the stems in the early part of the cooking and save the leaves for adding last)
8-10 sundried tomato halves, plus a little of their oil
1 x 420 g can butter beans, drained
2 bay leaves, preferably fresh
Needles from 1 large sprig fresh rosemary
50 g unsalted butter
A large splash of sherry (the kind you’d drink in Seville with tapas!), or white or red wine, even red wine vinegar would be OK
2-3 cups stock (I use the vegan Massel ‘chicken’ stock)
2 tablespoons capers
Salt and pepper

Fill your kettle and put it on to boil.

Get a large casserole or saute pan - I use my Le Creuset casserole dish - and add a splash of olive oil and place over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, celery, fennel pieces and chopped silverbeet stalks and cook until they start to soften.

Add the sundried tomatoes halves plus a little drizzle of their oil, the drained butter beans, bay leaves and rosemary needles, and turn the heat up slightly, stirring everything to combine. Add the butter, turn the heat up a little more. Make your stock from the boiling water from the kettle.

Once the butter is melting/melted and the pan is very hot, add a generous splash or two of sherry or whatever alcohol you have to hand. It should sizzle most satisfyingly! Stir quickly to coat everything and make sure nothing is sticking or starting to get too brown - turn the heat down if so.

Otherwise, add your stock, stir everything well and allow the pot to come to the boil, then reduce right down to a simmer. Add salt and pepper if you like (I often do it here and at the end). Stir one more time to ensure nothing is caught at the bottom and then put the lid on and set your timer for 20 minutes.

Make your mash while the stew is cooking.

After 20 minutes, add the capers and chopped silverbeet/chard leaves, and stir well to wilt the leaves. Allow to simmer another minute or two, taste for seasoning and then get your ladle out, ready to serve!

Serve alongside mash or whatever sponge for the delicious sauce you’ve decided on. Prepare to be wowed!