Making flourless chocolate cake gluten-free is pretty easy, since naturally it’s already gluten-free. But veganizing it takes a bit more work. The usual recipe takes chocolate, eggs, sugar and butter and turns it into a dense, moist, very chocolatey cake. And the eggs in the recipe are what gives it its structure, so you can’t just go and replace them with the usual flax seed, mashed bananas, or ‘vegan egg replacer mix’ that most vegans use in place of eggs.

So, how does this work, then?

Pumpkin! And also, umm, a little flour. But it’s buckwheat flour, and as the person who wrote this recipe mentions, buckwheat isn’t really flour, it’s a groat! So it doesn’t count, right?

The recipe is extremely easy to make: just put everything in a blender and blend blend blend! Then pour into a greased Springform pan and bake for about an hour at 350C.

This recipe is from Gluten-Free Goddess, and I didn’t modify it at all, so I’ll simply link to her blog. I will mention that you don’t need a Vitamix for this recipe, any blender will do, as long as it is decently high powered and has about a 2L capacity (or more).

I served mine with a simple caramel sauce: Take 2 tablespoons of soy milk and combine them with 1 tablespoon arrowroot flour and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Set aside. Then take 1/4 cup of vegan butter (like Earth Balance) and melt in a small pot. Stir in 1 cup brown sugar and 1/3 cup soy milk and let come to a boil. Let it boil for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Then, take the pan off the heat and stir in the arrowroot mixture – it should thicken pretty quickly. Serve over your cake or over ice cream or anything else that could use a little caramel.

This is my final post on the February Vegan Challenge. I have to say, it wasn’t bad at all having zero animal products for the month of February. It was a bit tricky at times, as eating out when you’re vegan can be a challenge, but cooking at home was completely fine. I even finally got to try soy-based ‘sour cream’ and I liked it! Like most vegan ‘replacement foods’ (butter, sour cream, etc) it has to be a sometimes food because of the high amounts of palm oil, but it was a tasty addition to some vegan tacos we had a few weeks ago.

If you’ve ever thought of going vegan for a while, I encourage you to do so!

I can’t take credit for this recipe – that goes to Isa Chandra Moskowitz and her book, Vegan with a Vengeance. Which I’ve posted recipes from before, so you know this book gets a lot of use in our house.  I’ve modified the recipe ever-so-slightly to my own tastes. And, let’s be honest here – this isn’t an authentic pad thai. But it is vegan and it is delicious!

Awesome Vegan Pad Thai
Serves 4

1 pound rice noodles

For the sauce:
6 tablespoons tamari (I used wheat free)
6 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons tomato puree (not gonna lie here – I used ketchup, as I was out of tomato puree. Thought I had some, oops!)
2 tablespoons chilli sauce or hot sauce
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon tamarind concentrate OR 3 tablespoons lime juice

For the pad thai:
6 tablespoons peanut oil
1 pound tofu, drained, pressed, cut into small triangles (instructions are below)
1 medium red onion, cut in half, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon finely minced lemongrass
1 cup bean sprouts
2 green onions, sliced into 1 inch lengths
2 small dried red chillies, crumbled (optional – if you like extra heat)
1/2 cup chopped roasted peanuts
4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Lime wedges for serving

Pressing tofu: take your block of tofu and remove it from any packaging it is in. Place it on a plate, wrapped in some clean paper towel or a clean dish cloth you don’t mind getting dirty. On top of that, place a heavy object, like a big hardcover book or heavy cast iron frying pan. Leave to press for 30 minutes, then flip it over and repeat the process. Pressing the tofu gets out a lot of the liquid and makes it a more chewy texture.

Cutting tofu: once pressed, cut the tofu into small triangles. First, cut the tofu along the short side into 1/2 inch pieces. Then, cut the tofu in the middle along its long side (or length).  You now have a bunch of small rectangles. Cut each one in half to create triangles. Set aside while you get the noodles going.

Prepare the rice noodles according to the directions on the packet. Once they are almost cooked, you can start on the rest of the recipe – just make sure to time them so you don’t overcook them.

Mix together the ingredients for the sauce, stirring well to make sure it’s combined. Set aside.

Preheat a large nonstick frying pan or wok over moderate high heat. Pour 2 tablespoons of peanut oil into the pan, giving it a few minutes to heat up. Add in the tofu and stir fry for 4-5 minutes until the tofu is crisp on the outside. Remove from pan and set aside.

Pour 2 tablespoons more of peanut oil into the pan. Add half the red onion and cook for 30 seconds. Add half the garlic and half the lemongrass and cook for another 30 seconds. Add half the sauce and when it starts to bubble add half the noodles. Cook for two minutes stirring constantly, then add half each of the tofu, bean sprouts, spring onions, chillies (if using), and peanuts. Stir for 30 more seconds. Transfer to two serving plates and garnish with coriander and lime wedges.

Repeat with remaining ingredients for the other two servings.

Which brings me to last weekend. See, Rich had a craving for poutine. Prior to discovering my milk allergy, this would have been a really easy thing for us to make at home. But then I had to eliminate cow’s milk. Well, no problem, there’s some pretty decent goat’s milk curd out there! But… vegan poutine? Would that really work?

I searched the internet for recipe ideas and realized that everyone came to the exact same conclusion I did: Take french fries. Take your favourite vegan cheese substitute. Take vegan gravy. Combine and eat. Just like this video suggests.

Ok, so my version was less, umm, fancy. I bought store bought fries and put some Follow your Heart mozzarella on top in the last few minutes of baking, then made my own vegan gravy and combined it all to eat.

Now, there’s no pretty way to photograph poutine, but here’s proof we did it, in all its gravy smothered glory.

It was quite tasty! Admittedly, it was missing the squeakiness of fresh cheese curds, but it tasted good and certainly had that Friday-night-junk-food feel to it. So I’ll call the experiment a success.

I’ve been going to Live off and on for about a year now, and fell in love with the food from the first bite. The restaurant started out as an all raw, vegan place back in 2003, but added in some cooked dishes a few years after they opened. Now they’ve got a whole line of products they sell at various stores in the GTA, including these take-out dishes.

The one I picked up was a ‘Spaghetti Bolognese’: zucchini noodles with tomato, cabbage and carrots, topped with a sundried tomato sauce, almond ‘cheese’ and walnut ‘bolognese’. Ok, I know that sentence was a little excessive with the quotation marks, but that’s unfortunately one of the things that happens with raw food sometimes – raw, vegan versions of old favourites that, well, aren’t quite like the old favourite. Admittedly, we always have a bit of a laugh over it, but enjoy the food none-the-less.

This take-out container made an awesome, filling lunch and made me feel like I’d eaten something healthy without it being the least bit boring. It was perfect after a long run at the gym.

Now I just need to get back to the restaurant to take some pictures and share with you more of their dishes!

As anyone who knows me has probably guessed, I’ve been slipping more and more towards a fully vegan diet over the last little while. Melissa’s post got me thinking more about veganism and how easy it would be for me to just go fully vegan. For many, veganism would be a real challenge, but I’m fortunate enough to have a lot of resources at my disposal. I live in a very vegan friendly neighbourhood (with several vegan restaurants and a great vegan grocery/products store) in a large city with tons of resources for vegetarians and vegans. I love to cook and am not the least bit afraid of trying new things, even if my experiments don’t always work out. I don’t have kids, so I don’t have to worry about picky eaters or feeding a family. I have a large number of cookbooks and recipe blogs that I read that offer all kinds of vegan cooking ideas. And of course, none of this is a huge stretch for me; I’m sensitive to gluten, dairy and eggs anyway, so I rarely eat anything that ISN’T vegan! I’m very used to all the work it takes to keep a vegan diet, reading labels and cooking most things from scratch.

So on my way home from work tonight, I thought to myself, “Self, why don’t you try being 100% vegan for a month and see how it goes?”

So the February Vegan Challenge was born. You’re welcome to join me on it, or you can just read along and see how I do. I plan to post as many recipes as I have time for, and happily welcome recipe ideas from you all!

Tonight I made a simple dish I’ve made before, a Vegan Green Thai Curry served with simple rice noodles. It’s almost more a method than it is a recipe, but the amounts I use are posted here. Use it as a guideline!

Vegan Thai Green Curry with Tofu and Vegetables
Inspiration and general cooking method from here, but I’ve tweaked the recipe a fair bit

1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 lb block of extra firm tofu, cut into whatever size cubes you prefer
1/2 to 1 tablespoon green curry paste**
1 or 2 stalks of lemongrass, bruised
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2-3 thin slices of ginger (or galangal, if you can find it)
1-2 cups chopped mixed vegetables (This time I used broccoli, carrots, onion and yellow pepper. Use what you like!)
1 14 oz can of coconut milk (light is perfectly fine, it just has a less rich taste)
2 tablespoons gluten-free soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 lime, quartered
chopped coriander leaves to garnish
chopped chili pepper to garnish

** the green curry paste I buy (Thai Kitchen) is pretty mild. If yours is really spicy, tweak amounts to your taste.

Heat peanut oil in a wok or skillet over medium heat. When nice and hot, drop in your cubed tofu. Cook, turning occasionally to let all the sides brown evenly, about 8 minutes. When browned, remove the tofu from the pan but leave as much of the oil as you can.

Now you make a curry sauce – put your green curry paste, garlic, lemongrass and ginger into the pan and stir vigorously until fragrant. Shake up your can of coconut milk, then open it and add half to the pan. Let that come to a boil, then add in the soy sauce, sugar, and other half of the coconut milk.

Now we add our vegetables and tofu: Let the mixture come back to a boil, then add in whatever vegetables you want. Stir gently to coat, then cook 2-3 minutes, just to get them heating up nicely. At that point, add back in the fried tofu cubes, and stir to coat. Cook another 5 minutes.

Turn off the heat and remove the ginger and lemongrass.

Serve over rice or with rice noodles, with lime wedges so people can add lime juice if they like. Optionally you can also garnish this with chili peppers and/or chopped fresh coriander.