Pickled Red Cabbage with Cauliflower

From The Gourmet Vegan - Heather Lamont

• 1 cauliflower
• 1/2 red or white cabbage
• 3 Tblsp salt
• 1/2 pt / 500ml cold water
• 1/2 pt / 500ml white vinegar
• 1 dried chilli pepper pod

1. Wash cauliflower and separate into florets.
2. Cut cabbage in thick slices in one direction and then in thick slices in the other direction. Leave it in chunks.
3. Pack into a large glass jar, alternate layers of cauliflower and cabbage chunks.
4. Mix salt, water and vinegar.
5. Pour the liquid over the vegetables and bury chilli pod in the jar.
6. Close the lid tightly and store in a warm place for 10 days.

I usually do it the other way round - 1 red cabbage and half a cauliflower. If you leave it in the jar for too long after the 10 days the cabbage goes really soft and isn't too nice. So eat it within a couple of months - mine gets opened as soon as it's ready. A whole cabbage makes plenty though - about 2 litres

Hot Water Pastry

Just a blatant rip off of the recipe from the Gormet Dough website, with the lard replaced by veg suet, not even sure if that's a good idea. Ingredients

• 500 g flour
• 200 ml water
• 120 g soya marge of some sort
• 70 g vegetarian suet
• 1 level teaspoon salt

Method

1. Place the flour into a large bowl and set aside.
2. Place the water, marge, suet and salt into a saucepan and heat over a medium heat, stirring as the fat melts. Once it comes to the boil, take the pan off the heat and pour it the bowl with the flour.
3. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon until all the ingredients are combined. Cover the bowl with a cleanip off tea towel and leave to rest and cool for 1 hour.
4. After 1 hour, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and flatten into a rectangle.
5. Fold the dough into thirds by taking one side of the dough into the centre and pressing down with your fingers.
6. Then lift up the other side of the dough and bring it over the top. Press down again with your fingers.
7. Flatten the dough out again into a rough rectangle and repeat the same process once more.
8. Flatten the dough into a rectangle and place onto a baking tray. Cover it with clingfilm and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up.
9. The dough is then ready to be rolled out and used in your preferred recipe.

Tofu

Source

Soybeans will double its size after 6 to 8 hours of soaking in room temperature water. One ounce of dry soybean makes about two ounces of tofu although this varies quite a bit for soft tofu or hard tofu. The following instructions are for making about one lb of tofu.

1. Make two batches of soy milk per SoyaJoy, SoyaPower soy milk maker. Once the soy milk is made, the major part of the work for making tofu is done!
2. Pour both batches into a pot and simmer it to boiling. Then turn off the heat and add the coagulant solution into the soy milk. Soymilk needs to be near boiling hot when adding coagulant. Thus this step is just in case the first batch of soymilk has cooled off too much while the second batch is being made. If you make the second batch of soymilk immediately after the first batch, it may be OK simply mixing the two batches together without simmer it. You can reduce the time for making second batch by using boiling hot water.
3. Coagulant – you can do this while the soymilk is simmering. Dissolve either 1 tsp. nigari (natural magnesium chloride) or 2 tsp. natural calcium sulfate in 1 cup (8 oz.) hot water. Less coagulant produces softer tofu, while more produces firmer tofu.
   
4. Pour the prepared coagulant solution slowly into the soy milk, stirring gently. Stop stirring when 3/4 of coagulant solution has been added. Wait 2-3 minutes. Now, gently stir the forming curds and sprinkle the last 1/4 of the coagulant solution into any milky areas. If there are no milky areas, you do not need to add the rest of the coagulant solution. If there are still some milky areas after adding all the solution, mix and add some more. Depending on the water quality, etc., you may need slightly more or less coagulant.
5. Once the soymilk has separated into small white curds of tofu and an amber liquid (whey) as shown on pictures above, transfer curds to a tofu mold (or tofu box) lined with cheesecloth. Any container that has many small holes to allow residual whey to drain can serve as a tofu mold. A lid is then placed on the forming container, after which a small weight of 3 - 5 pounds is placed on the lid of the container and allowed to sit for 20 minutes or so. A pot or jar of water can serve as the weight.
6. Empty the resulting block of tofu into a tub of cold water and allow it to sit for another hour, then store the tofu in the refrigerator and change the soaking water daily.

You can eat the fresh tofu while it is still warm. Freshly made warm tofu tastes so much better than the store-bought stuff! If you use soybeans from a new crop, the tofu tastes even better. It is very satisfying to see tofu taking shape from soy milk. Most everyone who tries it enjoys the process.

Natural calcium sulfate and magnesium chloride are the most commonly used tofu coagulants. They have been used for hundreds of years in Japan and China.

Natural calcium sulfate (gypsum) and magnesium chloride (nigari) are the most common tofu coagulants used. They have been used for hundreds years in Japan and China. Nigari is composed mainly of magnesium chloride, but also contains other minerals found in seawater, with the exception of sodium chloride (sea salt). Gypsum is a naturally occurring calcium sulfate.

16 ounces of nigari can make about 250 pounds of tofu, depending on firmness. 16 ounces of gypsum can make about 120 pounds of tofu.

Don't be fooled into buying those 50 bags of tofu coagulators - each makes only 0.4 lb. of tofu! Worse, they are synthetic (man-made) without FDA approval and are intentionally mislabeled.

Please note that both calcium sulfate and magnesium chloride are also available in other grades for industrial use. Ours are food grade, specifically for making tofu.

What type to buy, gypsum or nigari? It really depends on you. Nigari is believed to make better tasting tofu, but gypsum contains calcium. Why not try both and see which type you prefer?

We sell nigari in 16 ounce bags and gypsum in 12 ounce bags.  If you order with the SoyaJoy Soy Milk Maker, shipping is free.

Soya milk in my machine

Just in case I lose the book

• 70g dried soya beans
• Cold Water

With soaking

1. Soak the beans in cold water for 6-8 (warm) or 8-12 (cold) hours or for 2- hours in warm water
2. Mode 1, takes 20 mins

Without soaking

1. Mode 2, Not done it, no idea on the time

When the machine is on 00 you can set a timer, a long beep registers the time. So you can soak a portion of beans in the machine. Don't exceed 12 hours soaking in total, or maybe even less in warm weather = no idea what "warm" is

Mode 3 just heats the liquid

Mode 4 just operates the grinder for seed milks - 100g of seeds. Pre soak the seeds to make a smoother milk. Add a bit of white rice for even creamier results.

Rice milk - 100g of brown rice. Either the same way as beans, soaked or un-soaked. Or double grind on 4 and then heat on 3.

Oat milk - For best use mode 3 on oat groats. Next best whole oats. Don't heat

Machine details : Soya Fresh GL-1000 - not around any more.

African Hot Sauce

You need HOT peppers for this one, if you can get them Red Savina which will give you heat and the flavour of African style sauces. If you can't get Savina then at least Habanero or else it won't be hot enough!

• 12 Chilli Peppers
• 1 small sweet Green Pepper
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 1 medium Onion
• 2 cans Tomato Paste
• 4 tablespoons Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Salt

1. Remove stems and seeds from peppers - take the necessary precautions when handling hot peppers.
2. Grind hot peppers, green pepper, garlic, and onion (or use food processor).
3. Combine all ingredients in sauce pan and simmer for an hour or two.
4. Add cayenne pepper if desired.
5. Put into sterilized jars and refrigerate.

Harissa Hot Sauce

Harissa is the flavour of North Africa and in particularly Tunisia. It is characterised by the use of cumin which features a lot in the cuisine of the area. You can mix this with sausage meat or burgers to make a traditional style Mergez dish.

• 1 cup hot dried red chilli peppers (such as Chile de árbol)
• 2 teaspoons Salt
• 10 cloves Garlic
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground cumin
• 1/8 cup lemon juice

1. Cover the dried chillies with water in small saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Simmer for about 10 minutes, then remove from heat and let sit for about an hour.
3. Drain the chillies and place in blender or food processor with the salt and garlic. Purée the mixture and add the lemon juice, a little at a time. If the mixture is too dry, add additional lemon juice as necessary.
4. Pack the sauce into a clean sterilized jar and add just enough olive oil to cover. Screw lid onto jar and shake well, refrigerate. The sauce improves with time, mix well before using.

Piri-Piri Sauce

From Chilliworld

It was probably the Portuguese who introduced the Chilli Pepper as we know it to Europe and the Far East. They were probably also the first to use peppers to create a hot sauce, not hot maybe by today's standards, but nevertheless piri-piri is the Portuguese Original. Look for Cayenne peppers and if you can't get them New Mexico or pequin.

• 4 chilli peppers, cleaned and finely chopped
• juice of one Lemon
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• one tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley, (optional)
• one tablespoon Paprika
• 4 tablespoons of Olive Oil
• 1 teaspoon Salt

1. Remove stems and seeds from peppers - take the necessary precautions when handling hot peppers.
2. Grind and mix all ingredients to a fine paste by hand or use a blender or food processor. If you want to go hotter add ground cayenne pepper of pepper flakes to taste.
3. Cook in a hot frying-pan for a few minutes.
4. Store in a sterilized jar in the refrigerator. The flavour will develop over the following week.