Leek and Rice Flan with Sesame Mushrooms

From Great Vegetarian Food, The Australian Women’s Weekly, ACP Publishing, 2001.

The first task for this dish was to make the flan. Three-quarters of a cup of basmati rice was boiled until done. It was then left to cool a little and a half onion was chopped finely and added. Also into this mix went: half a teaspoon chilli flakes, about half a cup grated parmesan, a beaten egg and a handful parsley chopped finely. This was mixed well and pressed into the base and up the sides of a 19cm square cake tin that had been lined with baking paper. The flan case now went into the refrigerator until the filling was ready.

Three leeks were sliced finely and went into a pan with a good slice of butter. With them went about a tablespoon grated fresh ginger and a good handful of finely chopped parsley. These were sautéed until soft, then left to cool. Now three beaten eggs and a cup of cream were stirred into the vegetables and they were filled into the rice flan case. It all went into a 190ºC oven for about 45 minutes until cooked.

It was served with sesame mushrooms that were made in the following manner: A little vegetable oil was added to a pan with a couple of teaspoons of sesame oil. When these had heated three garlic cloves (crushed) were added with about ¼ cup sesame seeds. When the seeds had coloured a little, Swiss brown mushrooms were added with 2 tablespoons soy sauce and one tablespoon white wine vinegar. When the mushrooms were cooked they were ready to serve.

I enjoyed the flan. The rice had crisped on its edges and was nicely crunchy with the creamy leek filling. I was not so impressed with the mushrooms. The salty soya sauce seemed to be too overpowering. I know mushrooms generally need salt but this was too much for me. The flan I could easily make again but the mushroom element would not be included.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Pepper-Cream Vegetables

From Vegetarian Stir-Fries, The Australian Women’s Weekly, ACP Publishing, 2002.

This stir-fry of onion, carrot, eggplant, button mushrooms, zucchini and red capsicum didn't work for me. While I felt at the onset that it would make an interesting meal—vegetables with a pepper-cream sauce—it turned out to be rather dull in taste. The pepper sauce did not work.

I think this one is a miss—and usually I am very happy with recipes from The Australian Women’s Weekly.

Taste: ✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Spiced Vegetable Soup

From The New Tastes of India, Das Sreedharan, Headline, 2001.

I had not realised that soups were part of the Indian cuisine so I was keen to try this one and, as I had all of the ingredients on hand, I got straight into it.

About 100g of cabbage was finely sliced and the same amount of cavolo nero sliced. The recipe called for spinach but I had cavolo nero on hand. A green chilli was also sliced finely. These all went into a saucepan on a reasonably low heat for 5 minutes to wilt but not completely cook.

At the same time a potato and a carrot were chopped and placed in a saucepan with salted water. This was brought to the boil and they were cooked until soft. They were then drained and part mashed.

Half an onion was finely sliced and cooked until soft in a little butter with 3 cloves and a cinnamon stick. A tablespoon of plain flour was added together with the mashed potato and carrot. This was stirred into the onion and cooked for a little longer.

Now almost a litre of water was stirred in with the green vegetables and two tomatoes cut into quarters. This was brought to the boil and simmered for 5 more minutes, stirring every so often. I tasted it now and it lacked flavour so I added a vegetable stock cube to the soup. This improved it considerably.

The soup was now served with finely chopped red capsicum and crisp onion flakes.

The spices gave this soup a distinctive flavour quite unlike any other soup I have had before. The cinnamon came through strongly though did not detract from the greens. 

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Chickpea, Corn and Semi-Dried Tomato Patties with Rocket Salad

From My Kitchen: Vegetarian, Murdoch Books, 2011.

I placed 220g chickpeas in a bowl and poured on boiling water, then put them in the microwave for 5 minutes. They were then left for two hours. After this time they went into a food processor with an onion, two garlic cloves, about a tablespoon paprika, a chilli (a hot one), and seasoned with salt and pepper. The mix was blended until it broke up into a grainy texture.

Now an egg was added with a few basil leaves and a sprig or two of parsley. With these went ¼ cup corn kernels and ¼ cup semi-dried tomatoes. Again the mix was processed. This time is began to form into a rough paste. Now another ¼ cup corn and ¼ cup chopped semi-dried tomatoes were stirred in. It then went into the refrigerator for half an hour.

At cooking time the mixture was formed into patties and fried until crisp on each side.

A salad of rocket, halved cherry tomatoes and shaved parmesan cheese was made and tossed with a vinaigrette dressing.

The patties were served on the rocket salad and with a kohl rabi puree.

These patties were nicely crunchy and went very well with the puree. Though the recipe didn’t suggest it nor show it in the photograph, the patties were a little on the dry side and certainly needed more than just the rocket salad to add some moisture. The kohl rabi puree was just right.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Beetroot Soup

From A Foreign Flavour, Rose Elliot, Fontana, 1982.

I had some cooked beetroot left over from another recipe so decided to use it up in this beetroot soup. The soup has several extra vegetables in it so I thought I'd also use some roasted capsicum that was also left over.

Firstly I chopped an onion and put it into a pan with a little oil and on a very low heat. I now continued to prepare the other vegetables and add them to the pan, letting them all cook a little. I added a carrot diced, a celery stalk chopped, and a good slice of cabbage sliced.

After about 10 minutes I added two chopped tomatoes and 500ml water and a stock cube. This was brought to the boil and then simmered for another 20 minutes. The beetroot and capsicum were now added and the whole lot pureed. It made a quite thick soup so I thinned it just a little with some water and then tasted it for seasoning. I added a pinch of sugar and some ground black pepper. It did not seem to require any salt.

The soup was served in bowls with a good dollop of yoghurt.

This was a satisfying beetroot soup. It was thick with the sweet richness of the beetroot and though it was not strictly the recipe of the author’s it worked well and was a good way to use up my leftovers.

A Foreign Flavour is an old paperback cookery book that has obviously been on the shelf a long time. It is about the size of a paperback novel and looks just like one. There are no coloured illustrations, in fact, no illustrations at all but it is such a useful vegetarian recipe book. It’s usefulness is obvious from the fact that the first section in the book has come loose from the spine. Rose Elliot’s recipes generally work well, are easy to follow, and down-to-earth without all the fiddly bits that are so often in modern cookery books.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔