3 easy-to-make vegan-inspired recipes

By MiNDFOOD

©Bonnie Savage
©Bonnie Savage

3 vegan recipes out of ‘Smith & DELI-cious’ by Shannon Martinez & Mo Wyse.

This is an edited extract from the new recipe book featuring loads of vegan recipes:

Honey Cake

Serves 8–12

As an honorary Jew, Shannon was invited to crash Friday night Shabbat dinners and participate in holidays with her Jewish friends growing up. During these dinners and holidays, Shannon took every opportunity to learn about traditional Jewish dishes. One of those was honey cake: a traditional cake for Rosh Hashanah, or Jewish New Year. Lekach, or honey cake, is meant to ensure a sweet new year to come, and having a vegan version means we can have a sweet new year all year round.

This cake is affectionately called the ugly duckling of cakes in our kitchen. If you want to make a pretty birthday cake, this isn’t the one. However, it is BIG, understated, delicious and gets better with age. Make it, let it cool, then wrap in plastic wrap and leave to sit for a day (if you can even wait that long). It’s similar to a dense, thick gingerbread cake. Just trust us, if Shannon is excited about cake (the gal who doesn’t want cake on her birthday, or ever really), trust her. Make it. This cake is even better when cut and dipped in melted chocolate. If you would prefer to make two smaller cakes, simply divide the mixture between two 23 x 13 x 7 cm (9 x 5 x 2¾ in) loaf (bar) tins and reduce the baking time by half.

230 g (8 oz/1 cup) caster (superfine) sugar

235 g (8½ oz/²/³ cup) date honey or date molasses (found in Middle Eastern food stores)

235 g (8½ oz/²/³ cup) light agave syrup

160 g (5½ oz/²/³ cup) butter, plus extra for greasing

3 teaspoons No Egg combined with 100 ml (3½ fl oz) water

125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) unsweetened soy milk

3 tablespoons rum (whatever rum you’ve got)

125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) coffee

1 teaspoon vanilla

600 g (1 lb 5 oz/4 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

½ teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons mixed spice

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

½ teaspoon ground ginger

 

Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F).

Combine the caster sugar, date honey, agave and butter in a saucepan over a medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has melted.

Add the No Egg mixture and soy milk to the honey mixture, then add the rum, coffee and vanilla and mix well.

Mix together all of the dry ingredients in the bowl of a freestanding electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the motor running on medium speed, slowly pour in the honey mixture and mix for about 1 minute.

Grease a 23 cm (9 in) round cake tin. Pour in the cake mixture and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, checking regularly. It is ready when a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. If the cake begins to get too dark, cover with foil.

published by Hardie Grant Books RRP $50 and is available in stores nationally.

©Bonnie Savage

Sweet Potato, Chipotle & Orange

Soup season is by far the best season, and the effort that goes into making soup from scratch is the best effort of all. Sweet potato soup and a pantry stocked with fresh, crusty bread fully sets you up for the cold weather. The additions of chipotle and orange make this soup smokier and brighter in the best ways possible.

60 ml (2 fl oz/¼ cup) extra-virgin olive oil

1 red onion, roughly diced

1 celery stalk, roughly diced

½ red capsicum (bell pepper), roughly diced

2 large garlic cloves, minced

1½ teaspoons ground cumin

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 chipotle in adobo sauce, roughly chopped

1 kg (2 lb 3 oz) sweet potato, peeled and chopped

750 ml (25½ fl oz/3 cups) vegetable or chicken stock

¼ bunch of coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped,

plus extra to serve

zest and juice of ½ orange

125 g (4½ oz/½ cup) sour cream, plus extra to serve

juice of 1 lime

Salt and Pepper

 

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and fry the onion, celery and capsicum. Season lightly with salt and pepper and gently cook until soft and slightly golden. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Add the cumin, bay leaf, oregano and chipotle and cook for another minute, then add the sweet potato and stir to coat. Pour in enough stock to just cover the sweet potato, then simmer over a low heat until soft.

Once the sweet potato is soft, remove the bay leaf, then add the coriander, orange zest and juice, and blend until smooth with a regular or hand-held blender. Pour the soup into a clean pot and add the sour cream. Stir until well combined.

Add the lime juice and check the seasoning, adding more salt and pepper to taste. Top with a little extra coriander and more sour cream, if you like.

©Bonnie Savage

Mac & Cheese Sauce

Serves 4–6

Return of the Mac & Cheese Sauce is a staple take-home meal at the Deli. We like to vary what we put in the cases week to week, but the issue with our mac sauce is that people want it all the time. So it kind of looks like this is your lucky day.

This recipe makes heaps of sauce – much more than your single evening meal – so keep it for the week and use it for cheesy broccoli or nachos, or really on any dish where you need cheese (which should be all of them). The key to making mac and cheese is to boil the amount of pasta you’re going to eat and generously fold the sauce through it, saving the rest for later. Add some chipotles, jalapeños, bacon bits – anything to make this recipe your own. For the baked version, undercook the pasta a little bit, fold your sauce through and put it into a casserole dish. Top with breadcrumbs or crushed pita crisps.

One final note: this mac sauce is predominantly made of veg, but don’t be fooled; it is not like the veggie nutritional yeast, soup-like mac sauces you’ll find online. This is super creamy, cheesy and tasty. Just the way it should be.

450 g (1 lb/2 cups) red-skinned potato, peeled and diced

150 g (5½ oz/½ cup) sweet potato, peeled and diced

1 brown onion, diced

2 teaspoons salt

500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) water

375 g (13 oz/3 cups) shredded cheese (we use half cheddar, half parmesan)

125 g (4½ oz/½ cup) butter

70 g (2¾ oz/½ cup) cashews, soaked overnight (see Note on page 095)

4 garlic cloves, peeled

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

2 tablespoons lemon juice (approx. 1 lemon)

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

60 ml (2 fl oz/¼ cup) nutritional yeast

170 ml (5½ fl oz/²/³ cup) unsweetened soy milk pepper, to taste

 

Boil the potatoes and onion with the salt and water until very soft and mushy. Transfer the vegetables to a blender and add the remaining ingredients. Blend until very smooth.

Return to a clean saucepan and cook over a low heat until the cheese has melted and the sauce is smooth.

‘Smith & DELI-cious’ is published by Hardie Grant Books, RRP $50, is available in stores across Australia and includes a number of healthy and easy-to-make vegan recipes.

Click here for more delicious vegan recipes.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE

Print Recipe

You may also like

BECOME A MiNDFOOD SUBSCRIBER TODAY

Let us keep you up to date with our weekly MiNDFOOD e-newsletters which include the weekly menu plan, health and news updates or tempt your taste buds with the MiNDFOOD Daily Recipe. 

Member Login