Stoked Vegan Barbecue Restaurant - Westcliff on Sea

 We visited Stoked Vegan Barbecue restaurant after we were in the Westcliff Area of Southend.  

This is apparently the first Vegan barbecue restaurant in the South.

Here's what they say about it:

OPENED ON THE 1ST OF AUGUST 2020. STOKED IS THE ONLY TRUE SOUTHERN AMERICAN STYLE VEGAN BBQ IN THE U.K. SITUATED IN THE SUBURB OF WESTCLIFF-ON-SEA, STOKED REGULARLY SELLS OUT OF IT'S ONE OF KIND FOOD WHERE THE MENU CHANGES EVERY 6-8 WEEKS. WITH AN IMPRESSIVE CRAFT BEER LIST, STOKED IS OPEN FOR DINE IN & TAKEAWAY THURSDAY TO MONDAY.

We drank Cawston press Rhubarb and Ginger and here's what we ate:

I ordered the Vegan BBQ Ribz.

These are made out of Tempeh, my absolute favourite Veggie substitute and they were cooked and coated in Barbecue sauce.  Accompanying this were barbecued beans, Vegan Macaroni cheese, Coleslaw and gherkins and a dressing of pickled red onion. 

It was all delicious- I would say that you could easily share this- I struggled to eat it all and had to leave some which I HATE doing. I THINK it was either £13 or £11.

OOoh, before I tell you what CBC ate, THIS dish was the BEST item.   I LOVE Southern fried chicken wings and I think that'd be the meaty thing I'd miss the most if I did take the final step and turn Vegan.  

These were the Firecracker Cauliflower dish (£6) and they were ABSOLUTELY delicious!  The coating was so zingy and tasty and I loved the chillis.

CBC chose the Cajun Tofu tacos.  He said thy were tasty BUT pineapple was a strong feature of the dish which he said overpowered the dish a bit too much.

We went at around 5.30pm-ish and there were a few people in but it was fairly quiet but I could imagine this being heaving later in the evening (they do alcohol).

If you want a meat-free meal but want exciting, interesting food with lots of flavour and interesting elements, this restaurant is for you.

It is located at 78 London Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, SS0 9SU.

A delicious Vegan meal

Two weeks before Lockdown began, back in March, when I was in my mad busy month of concerts, I got a lift with my work colleague who lives in Walthamstow.  I had a rehearsal for Forest Philharmonic orchestra who rehearse in Walthamstow but it's a right pain to get to by Public transport from my school so I went early with my colleague so I could get a lift.  She dropped me off on the main road so I could go and seek somewhere to get some dinner whilst I waited.  

I walked up and down the long road, looking at menus, trying to find something reasonable but healthy but different.

Eventually, I settled on a cafe (wish I could remember the name) which had a HUGE menu.

The dish I chose was an Aubergine and tofu in batter stack, served with spinach.

When it arrived, I was delighted!  It was utterly delicious!!!! 

I vowed that I would return to this cafe before my next rehearsal to eat this again...or try another item from a highly interesting menu.

Then lockdown happened, the rehearsals and concert were cancelled.

One day, I will return!

Aquafaba!

Have you heard of Aquafaba?  I was searching for a particular vegan recipe involving Chickpeas and I came across this ingenious idea.
Aquafaba is the result of cooking chickpeas in boiled water.  The liquid becomes particularly viscous and cleverly enough it has the ability to, in a way, take on some of the properties that egg can be used for, particularly in baking cakes. Its thickness and consistency resembles egg-white.  It means Vegans can enjoy things such as Meringues and marshmallow as well as those with an egg allergy.  Alas, it isn't particularly nutritional but certainly useful!  If you buy a tin of chickpeas, don't throw away the liquid they come in as this is aquafaba and can be used in recipes.  If you boil dried chickpeas, save the water you boiled them in- it will become dense and form aquafaba.  As can guess, the name comes from the Latin words Aqua (meaning water) and faba (beans) and was discovered . It can keep in the fridge for a week and can also be frozen.

As I was searching, I found these great simple recipes you can make with it.

https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/crunchy-roasted-chickpeas/

https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/easy-vegan-marshmallow-fluff/

https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/vegan-meringue-cookies/


https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/vegan-confetti-cake/


I also found this great article on the Vegan Society website which shows 20 amazing things you can make with Aquafaba including Chocolate Mousse! This sounds and looks good!
https://www.vegansociety.com/whats-new/blog/20-amazing-things-you-can-do-aquafaba

The thing that appeals to me about this is that you are avoiding waste- you are using something that would usually be thrown away or discarded and it is something which makes so many things available for those who can't eat egg or dairy, even Mozarella!!

What do you think?  Will you be giving this a go the next time you open a can of chickpeas or boil some dried ones?  I am very intrigued to try it!

A solution to swimming in carrots- Red Lentil and Carrot curry

I have 5 bags of carrots in the fridge at home because there seems to be a surplus at school and they were going out of date.  I've been eating carrot batons and grating it in Tuna Mayonnaise but wanted to do something cooked with the carrots.  You might ask if other people could use them too but people HAVE been taking bags, but annoyingly, the carrots started to turn black so someone dumped three bags in the bin. I fished them out because I know the black is only surface level and you peel it off in the first layer of peel (I have extensive experience of surplus school carrots in the last year)

Luckily, during my search for a 20minute lentil curry in a hurry which I heard mention of in someone's Instagram post, I found this Abel and Cole recipe https://www.abelandcole.co.uk/recipes/red-lentil-curry-in-a-hurry which uses carrots as a main ingredient! "Great!"  I thought, "That'll get rid of a lot of carrots!!!"

It's very unusual for me to try a new recipe- I'm a throw veg in a pan, tray, kind of cook and I don't really follow recipes but this one looked easy.

Ingredients

• A few glugs of olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• A mug of finely diced carrots, butternut squash or celery (optional)
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• ½ red or green chilli, finely chopped*
• 2cm chunk of fresh ginger, finely grated
• ½ mug of red lentils
• 1 tsp cumin (ground or seeds)
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• A pinch of ground cinnamon
• 1 mugof water
• A good pinch of sea salt
• A few handfuls of leafy seasonal greens and/or diced or halved tomatoes
• 1 lemon or lime

Method

1.Heat a splash of oil in a hot lidded pan. Add the onion and carrot or celery, if using. Sizzle till tender.

2.Swirl in the garlic, chilli and ginger. Cook till just softened. Top up with oil as and when needed.

3.Add the lentils and spices. Toast for a minute, folding everything together.

4.Add a pinch of salt and the water. Let it sizzle up. Pop a lid on. Turn the heat down. Simmer for 10mins, or until the water is absorbed. Keep an eye on it and top up if needed.

5.Once the lentils are tender, gloss with oil, fold in your green leaves or tomatoes till softened and warmed through. Taste. Adjust seasoning as needed. Finish with lemon or lime juice and zest.

The good thing about this recipe was that I had everything in the house already and it used up a few things I had a surfeit of- carrots, obviously, tomatoes, lentils, onions, limes and some Pak choi that really needed eating.


CBC was excited I was making a new recipe and seemed to enjoy it, saying, "How many limes did you use in this?". He was surprised when I said only 1-but nodded sagely when I said I'd used the zest also.  We had left over rice and Broccoli from Monday's meal so it was a useful way to use up that also.
There's some for dinner before orchestra tomorrow so hurrah!

I suspect I may be making this a few more times in the next few weeks as I work my way through those carrots- or back to Carrot and butterbean soup!

Do let me know if you give this a try. It's completely vegan and I believe, Dairy and Gluten free!

x

A tasty vegan dinner!

We do like a good Vegan meal in our house, despite the fact that CBC is Pescetarian and I am an omnivore.  We do tend to get into a bit of a repetitive cycle of meals which generally involve plates of vegetables which I have absolutely no problem about as I would perfectly happily eat the same things every day (and I did practically in Indonesia!) 

Nonetheless, it is always delightful to try something new.

About two years or so ago, I saw this recipe for Tomato and chickpeas on Kate Gabrielle's blog archive and thought it sounded tasty. It took another year for me to get around to buying some Panko breadcrumbs from an Oriental supermarket and another year until I was moving and had to empty the freezer to actually make it.

 The recipe is very easy and I'd soaked a large amount of chickpeas a year ago and frozen them so I could quickly defrost for a meal.  Your basic ingredients (if you are too lazy to visit the link are cherry tomatoes, cooked chickpeas, panko breadcrumbs, herbs- garlic, oregano, seasoning and oil. I used fresh garlic rather than Kate's suggested garlic powder and mixed herbs rather than Oregano.  You basically fry the ingredients in the order I listed them and enjoy.
I'm not sure if the breadcrumbs were supposed to be crispy or not, but mine were sort of soggy in an enjoyable way

 To accompany them, I cut up an aubergine and fried it in some oil with mixed herbs added and lots of lemon juice.  You put them on a medium heat and leave them under a lid and keep stirring and adding a bit more lemon juice. They go all gooey and delicious. CBC does aubergine in lemon juice and it goes almost pancakey and crispy, not sure what he does differently apart from peeling them but I decided to keep the skin.

 To accompany the tomato, chickpeas and aubergine, we kept it simple and added some rocket leaves and some artichokes from a jar from Waitrose.

 The combination of flavours was very tasty although I might add more salt and herbs next time and more bread crumbs, but I recommend this as a tasty different vegan dish.

 Here are a couple of cooking shots for you to see!

Over to you, do you have any good vegan recipes you like cooking?  Do you like chickpeas or aubergines?  Would you like to try this?

xxx

Sharing with Claire Justine at Creative Mondays.

Tempeh tempeh!

My favourite vegan/vegetarian food is without doubt- TEMPEH!

This protein product is the following: in the words of Wiki:

"Tempeh (English pronunciation: /ˈtɛmpeɪ/; Javanese: témpé, IPA: [tempe]), is a traditional soy product originally from Indonesia. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form, similar to a very firm vegetarian burger patty. Tempeh is unique among major traditional soy foods in that it is the only one that did not originate in the Sinosphere.

It originated in today's Indonesia, and is especially popular on the island of Java, where it is a staple source of protein. Like tofu, tempeh is made from soybeans, but tempeh is a whole soybean product with different nutritional characteristics and textural qualities.[1] Tempeh's fermentation process and its retention of the whole bean give it a higher content of protein, dietary fiber, and vitamins. It has a firm texture and an earthy flavour which becomes more pronounced as the tempeh ages.[2][3] Because of its nutritional value, tempeh is used worldwide in vegetarian cuisine; some consider it to be a meat analogue" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempeh

 I don't find it very often, but a lovely healthfood shop in Stratford shopping centre (whaaaaatever Westfields, you're too generic!) stocks it.  I first tried it in Indonesia- it comes in soooooo many different forms- it can be sweetened and eaten like a sort of 'fruit and nut' mix, big chunks of it battered like a burger, marinated in spicy-Sambal mata-sapi (seriously hot sambal!)  or a myriad of other variants. It is FAAAR superior to tofu and I am a big fan of that!

I had some in the fridge so I decided to marinate it in Szechuan sauce (another packet from the big cupboard clearout.  Best before date was 2 years ago but as you have realised, it was fine!)

 I fried garlic (lots!) and then chopped courgette, red pepper, chinese leaf cabbage into chunk and added them in.  Subsequently, I threw in the tempeh and moved it around a lot. The Szechuan sauce made its own sweet way into the mix fairly soon after (as you judge fit!)

 Meanwhile, a squirming mass of Clearspring organic soba noodles (yes, more casualties in the cupbaord clearout- only 10 months out of date) were burbling in the other saucepan.

 The two were united in a marriage made in heaven with some dried, fried garlic on top

Bon appetit, Szechuan Tempeh!!!

Have you tried it?  You must!

Oh, to join in the tempeh appreciation and learn how to make your own (see it's THAT cool!) go to http://www.tempeh.info/ 

The joy of sound and vegan Thai red tofu!

Today was our second visit to an elderly home.  It was not attached to a hospital but was a residential home for those with early dementia.  Another freezing walk ensued to reach there but once again my young charges were in good spirits.  We arrived at the entrance and came into a wonderful central atrium with cockatoos, lovely comfy wing back arm chairs and sofas and an gallery above where people could watch from above.  Unlike yesterday, the people came to us so it was more like a concert to them this time as we could sing our entire programme to them.   Slowly but slowly, they came to sit and we began our performance.  The children took in lines in between 2 pillars and I was in the background playing the keyboard (near to the required plug socket that would not trip anyone up!)  As we sang our first item, Once in Royal David's city, and 3 sweet-voiced girls sang the solo, I heard a lovely voice coming from behind me.  Unable to turn around just in case I made any Les Dawson-type mistakes, I couldn't see until a gentle lady slowly shuffling along with a zimmer-frame went past and smiled sweetly at me whilst joining in.

A very appreciative audience listened to each and every performance of traditional carols, The Holly and the ivy, Good King Wenceslas, Deck the Hall, O Come All ye faithful, Silent Night, Away in a manger,  and our special choir items, See the star of Bethlehem and The little road to Bethlehem  and said how much they'd loved it.  A lady said she hoped we'd come again (I replied in the hopeful affirmative!)

Some of my Year 6 girls were enchanted by the old gentleman in the GI jacket who came and sang 2 World war 2 classic songs to me at the end and asked him if he'd been in World War 2 and were most excited when he said he was (they're studying it at the moment).  I just thought how wonderful it would be for their year to come down to the home and just be able to ask questions, and listen to the amazing reminiscences of these 80 something year olds - they'd really appreciate the benefit of oral history from ordinary, local individuals.   I really hope to teach the children in KS2 some more World War 1 music hall songs (I taught them It's a long way to Tipperary last year) so we can come and sing in the Spring term again.

Again, it was an honour to be there to sing and share with these older people who have worked hard all their life and now find it difficult.  I thought how nice it would be to go and sing songs from the musicals to them
I can take no credit for going to sing there apart from jumping at the chance as we sang there due to teachers and staff at the school who had links there- I just am delighted for any opportunity to serve our community, give my choir experience of singing to real people and sharing the love of music.  It's about them, the old people and the choir, not me.

When I got home tonight, I made a great Vegetarian/Vegan dinner which I thought I'd share with you all.  I am not either of those diets though 80% of people I meet think I am for some bizarre reason!!! Do I look vegan to you? 

It is Thai Green tofu and vegetable curry (not made the proper way but the cheap and easy way!)
 

I used:
One garlic marinated tofu steak, cut up into pieces.  A carrot, some French beans, A courgette, vermicelli (rice noodles), Thai Green curry paste, creamed coconut (dried), olive oil. 
Here's what you do:

1.  Chop up and quarter-slice a courgette, use a vegetable peeler to create carrot strips from one carrot.  break up French beans with hands into small pieces (quantities entirely dependent on wim)

2.  Heat a little dollop of olive oil in a saucepan with a dollop of Thai-red curry paste (I've had this tub for years- it's still going strong!) -dependant on how spicy you like it (mine was the size of tablespoon probably).
Mix them together as they heat.

3.  Hurl your chopped veg (I would've used pak-choi too if it hadn't gone moudly...) into the heated saucepan after 2mins or so (I have electric hob so need to wait for it to heat).  Mix it around with a wooden spatula for some 3 minutes.

4.  Suddenly remember that you need to boil the kettle.  Do so and break off a small block of creamed coconut (cheapy alternative to coconut milk) into a you-sized quantity of hot water and mix until it's sort of white liquid. 

5.  Chuck in the coconut milk into the veg mixture.

6.  Break up tofu (I used some pre-marinated garlic tofu which didn't take long to cook.  Check your tofu's instructions) into pieces and leave the lot to simmer for a couple of minutes.

 7.  Break off some dried vermicelli from the block and leave to swim in a bowl with boiling hot water for 5 minutes under a lid. 

 8.  Drain your vermicelli and serve into a bowl.

 9.  Pour your Thai red tofu and veg curry on top of it.

10.  For added decoration, flavour and fun, add some dried onion (like the salad crunchies) on top as you serve it.  This is what they did in Bali with dishes and I kept the habit!

I've done variations of this with tempe, puy lentils, chick peas and just an assortment of veg (and chicken of course).  It's really easy.  (I like the meat version as much as the vegan one- I just happen to love vegetarian substitutes except Quorn which is SPAWN!)

Voila- tasty, cheap, quick! All a bit disorganised!
Clear as mud???

Oh and soon, for your delectation, I have some Christmas entertainment activities you could try with your family which I'd quite like guinea pigs for!