How to eat vegan in Singapore – Part 2

This instalment of my food adventures in Singapore will be about all the western style vegan restaurants I visited. Initially when I was planning my trip to Singapore I was quite adamant that I would only eat at eateries that served local fare however once I began researching vegan restaurants I found so many amazing places I couldn’t pass them up. The lure of vegan waffles and extraordinary sounding burgers got to me!

Veganburg

The name itself makes it sound like a vegan heaven! The burger options were all unlike the ones available in Australia. Even the sides were unusual such as soursop juice, seaweed fries and broccoli pieces!

Hawaiian Teriyaki – I ordered this burger and while I enjoyed it, I found it a bit too sweet for my liking. The combination of pineapple and teriyaki sauce was a bit too much for me. I think a vegan mayo would have been perfect. There was onion present in my burger despite no mention of it in the product description or picture. Usually this wouldn’t have been an issue but my partner cannot eat onion. The pineapple also still had the core in it.
Cracked Mayo – This is the burger my partner ordered which I had a sample of. It was pretty simple but delicious, the patty was crunchy as opposed to my grilled patty. We both agreed that we preferred the crunchy patty.
Seaweed fries – These were super crunchy and moreish however they needed some salt.
Soursop juice – The juice was extremely sweet, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a cordial.

Brownice

This establishment has two locations, we visited the one on east coast road. There isn’t much seating so I’d advise getting there early. We arrived around 6pm for dinner and the place was full pretty soon after.

White Truffle fries – We ordered this entree as I had never tried truffles and we both love cheese and fries. While I enjoyed this dish, there was barely any parmesan on it. It wasn’t really worth it for the price tag and if I had gone back I would’ve ordered the cheezy fries instead.
Truffle Porcini Funghi pizza – My partner and I usually order one main each and then share. This was my choice and I absolutely loved it. It was so amazingly creamy! The mushrooms were cut up very small which at first I didn’t like but as a whole it worked well on the pizza.
BBQ Chicken pizza – This pizza was fairly sweet from the BBQ sauce and it was like a standard BBQ chicken pizza. The chicken pieces were nice and it had olives on it too which was unexpected twist.
Waffles with Chocolate French Kiss ice cream – The waffle was much larger and thicker than I had expected. It was very crispy on the outside but surprisingly nice and soft on the inside which I enjoyed. For it’s size, it definitely needed two scoops of ice cream.

NomVNom

On this particular day my partner and I were both feeling pretty unwell. We decided to stay in our airbnb apartment and just order in some take away. We used ubereats to order, there’s only one picture as I was feeling lazy!

Sweet potato fries – The fries were pretty under cooked and a bit under seasoned which was disappointing as I had been looking forward to them.
Corn soup – This soup was delicious and just what I needed to make me feel better. It was creamy, I’m not sure what kind of “cream” was used but it wasn’t coconut which I really liked as that’s the usual vegan default.
QQ Cheezy burger – This was my burger and I thought the nut cheeze was phenomenal! The patty was listed as steamed mushroom but was fried which was disappointing.
Potato Croquette burger – My partner ordered this burger hoping for just a potato patty as opposed to the potato and veg patty that it was. He didn’t enjoy his burger however I’m not sure if it was because he was sick though!

QQ Cheezy burger

Until next time! xx

How to eat vegan in Singapore – Part 1

I had never considered visiting Singapore but when last year Jetstar had a buy one get one free flight deal, I thought it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I had no one to go with but I decided that it was time I experienced travelling solo anyway. I booked the trip to coincide with my 25th birthday and began to plan. When I booked the flights I had just started dating my partner and months later he decided to also join me on this trip.

A week before I left for Singapore I started to wonder how easy it would be to find vegan food over there. I began to compile a list of eateries and to my surprise, Happy Cow had SO many veg*n restaurants listed! During the 8 days that I was in Singapore, not once did I eat at a non veg*n restaurant, that’s how easy it was.

This post is about what I ate at the Fortune Centre. The Fortune Centre is multi-level shopping plaza with at least 10 veg*n eateries inside. It also has a veg*n grocery store which is located on the ground floor. The restaurants I ate at were Herbivore and Gokul’s while at the Fortune Centre however I also had Hotcakes (dessert), Pine Tree Cafe and Vegan Deli on my list that I unfortunately didn’t get the chance to visit.

Gokul’s Vegetarian Restaurant

*Note – Gokul’s Vegetarian Restaurant has a few stores, this is the one at the Fortune Centre and is not to be confused with the one in Little India which has over 100 menu items. I assumed there was only one Gokul’s however this is one of the smaller stores and not everything from their small menu was available when we went up to order. I recommend getting there early, it gets packed!

Mutton Murtabak – This was probably one of my favourite dishes that I tried in Singapore. The bread was really flaky and the filling was delicious. The mutton was slightly chewy but I enjoyed it. The dish came with a sauce which was flavourful and not overly spicy, just what it needed.
Rava masala Dosa – I suspect we were served a regular masala dosa as opposed to the rava one we ordered. It was like any other dosa I had tried before, nothing special really.
Mamak Mee Goreng – I personally found this dish a bit too bland for my liking however my partner seemed to enjoy it. It came with a sambal on the side which was super spicy and a nice touch. The flavour was improved when I added the left over sauce from the murtabak.
Mysore Mutton – The mutton was the same fake meat used in the murtabak. The sauce was delicious and well spiced. Definitely needed some bread or rice to go with it though.

All this plus a can of coke came to $25.50 SGD.

Mamak Mee Goreng

Herbivore

We visited Herbivore for my birthday dinner and we were both somewhat disappointed with the small size and high price of the dishes. The staff were lovely and attentive, constantly refilling our water glasses. Each table has an iPad which is used to order from the menu. The decor more upscale than the rest of the eateries in the fortune centre. Apologies for the lack of proper menu names, I can’t seem to find the menu online anywhere. I didn’t take many pictures either as it was quite dark inside so I ended up using my phone.

Miso soup – Just a regular miso soup with some nori and mushroom pieces.
Gyoza – The gyoza filling was great however the wrappers were unlike any I’ve ever had while eating gyoza/dumplings. They were super crunchy and reminded me of spring roll wrappers.
Teriyaki Chicken – The chicken was slightly burnt around the edges possibly from the sugary sauce but it was still quite tasty.
Mushroom Skewers – I can’t remember what sauce was on the mushrooms but it was delicious and the mushrooms were nicely cooked.
Meatball Maki – The standout dish of the night for me, the meatballs were fantastic. I couldn’t pick what they were made of, they weren’t seitan based. The nori which was wrapping the rolls was battered and deep fried which I thought was brilliant and not something I had experienced before.
Tuna in Yam – This was our least favourite dish of the night, the tuna pieces were ok but the yam was extremely odd. It was very bland and watery, the texture was also unexpectedly stretchy.

All that set us back around $60 SGD and was our most expensive meal in Singapore.

Meatball Maki

Tuna in Yam

Stick around for the next instalment, coming soon! 🙂

 

 

Product review – Plumpy’s hot mock beef jerky

One of my favourite things to do is go to Asian grocery stores and slowly make my way down the jam packed aisles. I tend to look for things that look interesting and then hope that it is vegan! I could spend hours discovering new products to try and to be honest I usually end up leaving with many new things to try! My favourite Asian grocery store is ARC Asian Grocers which is in Preston opposite Preston market. ARC has so much variety, from frozen vegan mock meats, to fresh fruit and vegetables to any type of noodle you could think of and so much more. You just need to spend some time strolling through the aisles reading the ingredients!

A few months ago a friend bought some mock jerky for me to try. Having never tried actual beef jerky before I was unsure of what to expect but curious and excited to try it. Unfortunately the mock jerky that she had bought was very disappointing and not at all what I expected jerky to be like! It was bright red, thin and almost translucent. It looked just like those old fruit roll ups I used to eat back in primary school. It even had a similar texture to them. The most disappointing thing though was the flavour. I had assumed it would be salty and “meaty” however it tasted just like tomatoes! All in all, it was definitely not a good introduction to jerky.

Earlier today while I was on a quest to find vegan fish for dinner, I stumbled across Plumpy’s hot mock beef jerky. I was hesitant to try it, recalling my earlier experience however I decided since it was only $3 I’d give it a shot. I’m so glad I did because it is one of the best snack foods I have ever tried! It was slightly spicy (I have a high heat tolerance though), salty, chewy and so moreish. In someways I regret purchasing it because it is so hard not to eat the entire packet! It doesn’t look pretty but it tastes amazing. If you’re looking for mock jerky, I highly recommend this one. It also comes in a teriyaki flavour for those not super keen on the spice.

100 calorie banana muffins

I had a bunch of sad looking bananas from the weekend just sitting around in the fruit bowl. I’ve made more smoothies and nice cream than I can count. So I decided to experiment a little! These banana muffins are refined sugar, refined flour and oil free. Each muffin is also only 100 calories (this may vary slightly depending on what plant milk you choose to use) which is pretty awesome!

Ingredients
4 ripe bananas
1 1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1/4 cup vegan milk of your choice
6 tablespoons aquafaba
1 tablespoon flaxseed meal
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rum extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

Preheat oven 180c and line a 12 muffin tray with patty pans.

In a large bowl mash the bananas until there are almost no lumps left. Add the vegan milk, aquafaba, flaxmeal and the two extracts. Mix well.

Sift the flour, stevia, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in the bowl with the wet mix. Since you are using wholemeal flour, the husks will remain in the sieve. Just add this back into the mixture. Mix until just combined making sure not to over mix the batter.

Fill each patty pan approximately 3/4 of the full.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the tops are golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

*Notes

You can add nuts/chocolate chips/blueberries/spices, whatever you like! Of course this will add to the calories but if that’s not something you are concerned about, go nuts!

Super no churn strawberry ice cream

Ice cream is amazing but vegan ice cream in Australia costs an arm and a leg unfortunately. I’m way too stingy to pay $12+ for a tiny little tub! I wanted to make something I could enjoy without any guilt! I used frozen strawberries but you can use any fruit really! This recipe makes around 2 litres and doesn’t require an ice cream machine. It cost me around $3 to make, plus two scoops only has approximately 65 calories!

Ingredients
1 cup aquafaba*
1 cup pureed strawberries
3/4 cup caster sugar*
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Method

Place your aquafaba into an electric beater with a balloon whisk and start to whip it. Begin on a slower setting and gradually speed it up. It can take up to 5 minutes for the aquafaba to reach stiff peaks.

Once stiff peaks have been reached, slowly drizzle in the vanilla extract. Next very gently rain in the sugar. Continue to whip the mixture for a minute or two after all the sugar has been added.

Add the pureed strawberries and mix well. Don’t be worried about deflating the mixture.

Pour the ice cream into a large container and place into the freezer.

Every 30 minutes remove the container from the freezer and stir contents well to mix. I did this 3 times but the more times you do this, the better the final result!

*Notes

Aquafaba is a magical ingredient, it is the liquid found in any can of beans! I used chickpea aquafaba but anything you have on hand will work including the liquid from a can of garden peas which is perfect for those on a low FODMAP diet.

I found 3/4 cup of sugar a bit too sweet for me so if you don’t have a super sweet tooth maybe try a lower amount and adjust to your liking!

**EDIT (07/02)** – I made this again but this time I used  1/3 cup of sugar and the sweetness was perfect however it was a lot icier and definitely not as creamy as the previous version.

Buckwheat aquafaba pancakes AKA the best thing ever!

For the past few weeks and especially over the Christmas break I’ve been craving pancakes. My partner is on a low FODMAP diet and I’m vegan so it was a challenge trying to find a recipe that we could both enjoy. We tried one with a premixed GF flour blend and it was an absolute disaster! They were super rubbery and very disappointing. I’ve been wanting to try aquafaba pancakes for months now however with my partners dietary requirements it seemed like it would not be possible. This all changed when I read a post in the aquafaba group on Facebook! A member posted that she had tried whipping up the liquid from a can of regular green peas and that it worked just like that of any other bean!

Here is my pancake recipe from the weekend. It was a bit of an experiment so it’s not GF, next time I’m going to attempt to make it 100% GF.

Ingredients
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup plain flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
6 tablespoons green pea aquafaba
3 tablespoons caster sugar
1 1/2 cup soy milk
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Vegan butter for frying

In a measuring jug whisk together the soy milk and lemon juice to make the buttermilk. Set aside for 5 minutes until it has curdled.

In a mixing bowl mix together the flours and baking powder.

In a separate smaller mixing bowl, whisk the aquafaba until frothy. Add the sugar and whisk until the sugar has incorporated.

Combine the aquafaba with the buttermilk and pour into the dry ingredients. Gently mix it all together with a spoon or spatula. Be careful not to overmix it, some lumps are perfectly fine. Let the batter rest for about 10 minutes.

Heat up a frying pan on medium heat and add a little bit of the vegan butter. Once the vegan butter has melted and is bubbling slightly, ladle in some batter. Smooth out the top of the pancake with the back of the ladle and cook for 2-3 minutes until bubbles form on top. Flip the pancake and cook for a further 1-2 minutes.

Japanese katsu curry

After a very long hiatus, I’m back with not one but TWO recipes! I hope you love them as much as I do 🙂

Without further ado…

I present my Japanese katsu curry! I’ve served it with tricoloured quinoa but it would be great with rice or even flatbread. In this instance I’ve used firm tofu cubes but in the past I’ve used tofu puffs and vegan prawns.

This is the curry paste I used.

Ingredients
Roux
3 tablespoons vegan butter
1/4 cup plain flour
2 tablespoons garam masala
1 tablespoon chilli powder
Fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon vegan Worcestershire sauce*

Curry
250g firm tofu cut into chunks
4 medium carrots cut into chunks
4 cups water
3 large potatoes cut into chunks
1 large white radish cut into chunks
1 vegan chicken stock cube
1 tablespoon garam masala
50g frozen peas
1/3 packet of “S&B golden curry” paste

In a large pot add the tofu, carrots, water and vegan chicken stock cube. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer. Add the potatoes, radish and garam masala. Simmer with a lid on for approximately 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

While that is boiling make the roux in a medium sized pan. Melt the vegan butter over a medium heat. Add in the flour, garam masala and golden curry paste. Keep stirring until a thick paste has formed and then add the cayenne, pepper, tomato paste and vegan Worcestershire sauce. Keep cooking this mixture over a low heat until the paste becomes dry and crumbly. Turn off the heat and set aside until the vegetables are ready.

Once the vegetables are cooked, spoon approximately 1 cup of the water into the roux mixture and whisk it until it is smooth. Pour this back into the other pot and stir over a low heat until it has thickened. Add the peas and adjust salt if needed.

*Make sure you check the ingredients of your Worcestershire sauce as it is usually made with anchovies. I use the Spring Gully brand which is available in Woolworths in Australia.

Tofu frittata

I started back at uni this week and was already struggling with lunch ideas. A non-vegan friend mentioned to me that she takes frittatas which got me thinking. I was vegetarian for 20 years before becoming vegan around 8 months ago however I never liked eggs while I was a vegetarian. I hated anything that tasted eggy so obviously frittatas and quiches were out of the question. I’m pretty pleased with my first attempt of a frittata, ever!

Recipe is adapted from http://chefchloe.com/entrees/end-of-summer-frittata.html

Sorry for the poor quality of pictures, I wasn’t planning on blogging this!

Ingredients
2 x 300g blocks of silken tofu
5 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp vegan butter (I used nuttelex)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp black salt (aka kala namak or you can sub regular salt)
1 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground pepper
Any vegetables you prefer. I used –
1 brown onion, diced
6-7 button mushrooms, thinly sliced
6-7 stalks of asparagus, lightly steamed and cut into small pieces
60g spinach
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
3 spring onions, thinly sliced
vegan pepperoni, diced (optional)

Method

Start by preheating your oven 180c.

Get a pot of water boiling with a steamer over the top and steam the asparagus until it is nearly done.

Start to sauté the onion in a frying pan until it is soft and lightly coloured. Add the mushrooms and begin sweating them off. Once the asparagus is done, cut into small pieces and add to the frying pan.

Add vegan pepperoni. Cook for a few minutes and then add the spinach until it just starts wilting. Set aside.

In a blender add the tofu, vegan butter, cornstarch, baking powder, black salt, pepper, turmeric powder and garlic. Blitz until smooth and combined.

Add the vegetable mixture to a wide pan/skillet which is oven safe and pour over the tofu mixture. Mix well to combine.

I garnished with cherry tomatoes and spring onions. You could also top it with vegan cheese.

Bake at 180c for 30-35 minutes. Remove from the oven and et it set until cold before slicing.

 

“Chicken” noodle soup

Last week I woke up with a sore throat and a horrible headache so I decided to whip up some chicken noodle soup. I took pictures and promised myself that I would blog about it however that night I got extremely sick. Once I recovered I’ve been super busy/lazy whichever you’d like to use haha!

The chicken chunks I’ve used are from Vincent Vegetarian Food in Melbourne. There are quite a few Vietnamese stores around Melbourne that stock these products.

Also, in my pictures the soup looks a bit oily, this is because in my sick state I accidentally added way too much oil to the pot. Ooops!

Anyway, here it is!

Ingredients
4 cups chicken style stock
2 small carrots
1 small onion
1 packet of 2 minute noodles
3 heaped tsp of garlic and ginger paste
Large handful of “chicken” chunks

Method

Chop the carrots and onion into small chunks.

In a large pot sauté the onion and when nearly golden, add the garlic and ginger paste. Add the carrots one minute later.

Add the chicken chunks and cover with the stock. Let it simmer for 10 approximately 10 minutes until the carrots are cooked. I like mine to still have a bit of bite to them.

Just before the carrots are done, add the noodles.

Lemon and coconut balls

I know, I know. I haven’t posted in forever! I’ve been super busy and haven’t been cooking anything exciting. I’ve made a few things, photographed them and then forgotten to blog about it! Due to that, the ingredients are a bit blurry in my mind. Those that know me, know that I don’t ever follow recipes.

This recipe doesn’t have any measurements because I cant remember them but I will be putting the approximates in brackets from what I can recall.

Ingredients
Quick oats (1 cup)
Desiccated coconut (1/2 cup)
Rice malt syrup (1 tbsp, I was trying to cut back on the sugar though)
Lemon juice and rind (1/2 lemon for both)
Plant milk of choice (a few tbsps as needed to bind)

Method

Pretty straight forward really. Mix everything in a bowl, add milk as needed and roll into balls!