Naked Vegan Cooking

This recipe is a bit of a tradition in our house, it’s the pudding we always eat on the evening of Christmas day, after the enormous main meal has settled! We alter the recipe slightly each time we make it, it’s not a very conventional trifle but it is always very well received. The secret is that we use home-made cupcakes in the jelly layer, so much tastier than shop bought trifle sponge! Vegan jelly can be bought from health food stores and often also from Muslim grocery shops as most gelatine based jelly is not Halal (watch out that it doesn’t contain special Halal gelatine though). Vegan custard can be bought ready made or made with ordinary custard power and soya milk. You could experiment with topping the trifle with vegan cream but we don’t usually bother, it doesn’t taste like it’s missing anything as it is!

For cupcakes:

230g sugar

230g vegan margarine

230g self-raising flour

4 tablespoons soya flour

6 tablespoons soya milk

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

For rest of trifle:

6 brandy snap baskets

Half a tin of chopped pineapple

Half a tub of glace cherries

150ml amaretto liqueur

2 packets vegan jelly power

3 chopped bananas

600ml vegan custard

Small amount of dark chocolate and a few cherries to decorate

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Cream the margarine and sugar, then stir in the rest of the cake ingredients. Put mixture into cupcake cases and bake for about 20 mins, until lightly browned.

Brake brandy snap baskets into small pieces and put at the bottom of your bowl, then cover with a layer of cupcakes (remove paper first!). Then put on top the pinapple chunks and cherries and pour over 100ml of amaretto. Make up the jelly according to the instruction on the packets, pour over the cake and fruit mixture and leave to cool.

Once the jelly has set top with the chopped bananas and pour over the rest of the amaretto, then top with the custard. Melt the chocolate and flick it over the trifle with a fork to decorate, put some more cherries on the top desired.

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Christmas is fast approaching! Its kind of taken us at NakedVeganCooking by surprise as we have been trying to buy a house and sort out our other projects. Were going to be cooking for a fair few people this year, and right this minute we are trying to organise what we are cooking! The perfect time to jot down some quick tips for cooking on Christmas Day.

First of all: start early, plan now! We’re going to be cooking our starter and dessert on Christmas Eve so things are less hectic on the day.

General Tips: use fresh herbs, it makes ALL the difference.

Starter: We are going to be making a little mushroom and white wine horderves* by making little pastry pockets and filling them with sautéed mushroom, parsley, garlic, and white wine mixture. Basically, mini versions of our Mushroom and White Wine Pie There a plenty of simple soups you could make the day before and are great to heat up the next day.

* ahem – hors d’oeuvres

Potato Roasties: We will be making hassleback potatoes, which are a kind of cross between normal roasties and chips, by making slices 2/3’s down into the potato about half a centimetre thick, and adding liberal amounts of olive oil, fresh rosemary and thyme, garlic, salt and pepper, and baking for about 45 mins.

Parsnips: We will be doing traditional roast parsnips, in with the potatoes to save on oven space. For those of you who fancy a change, baking parsnips in orange juice covered in aluminium foil is a great way to sweeten up the parsnips and make them succulent.

Yummy veg box

Sprouts: Were going to roasting our sprouts with fresh chestnuts, but our roasted sprouts with apples recipe is just as good. In fact, we are going to be roasting apples separately anyway instead of having apple sauce.

Red Cabbage: Were going to be making red cabbage poached in red wine by sautéing red onions and garlic and red cabbage with loads of Christmassy spices (think mulled wine tastes) and red wine.

Mash: We’ll be making our garlic and herb mash, its wonderful with either butterbeans or potato mash.

Stuffing: Were going to cheat and get shop bought stuffing, but by adding a few extras you can make it just a lovely as homemade. Were going to be adding more garlic (naturally), fresh breadcrumbs and herbs to the mix, and baking it with sausages. Yum.

Main event: We are going to be making our red wine and chestnut pie; which is absolutely scrumptious.

Dessert: Vegan Trifle (recipe to come before new years, promise), plenty of mince pies and the Christmas Dr. Who special.

Happy Christmas from all at NakedVeganCooking!

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Jess’ grandma used to say that her home-made chicken soup “cured ipes, gripes, belly gripes and dead men”. Miso soup is definitely the vegan version of this dish; a total comfort food. This particular miso soup recipe is far from being authentic, but it is tasty!

In other news, first naturist swimming event went really well! Our new friend Arthur even wrote a poem about it!

Greta and Miso Soup

Ingredients: 300g firm tofu, 1 shallot (chopped fine), 6 spring onions (chopped into half-inch pieces), 3 big cloves of garlic (sliced), 2 heaped tbsp of miso paste, a glug of soy sauce, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 stock cube or 1 tsp veg bullion,  sesame oil for frying (other oil will do if you don’t have it), few ears of baby corn (sliced down the middle), handful of chopped coriander, 1 sheet of sushi nori (roasted seaweed), 4 cups hot water from the kettle (not boiling).

Drain the tofu and cut it into cubes, before dry-frying in a non-stick frying pan, until slightly browned. Meanwhile, fry the shallot, spring onions, baby corn and garlic in the oil until the shallots are soft but try not to let them go translucent. Add the soy sauce, stock cube, sugar and miso paste and stir in, before adding 4 cups of water. Heat gently, allowing to simmer but not boil. Give it a taste, add more miso or sugar if it needs it. Cut the the sushi nori into strips and gently toast over an open flame. Serve, using the sushi nori and coriander to garnish.

Miso Soup

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