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Sides

Easy Noodle Salad
Salads, Sides, Vegan, Vegetarian

Easy Noodle Salad

This easy salad recipe will have you asking for more! Tangy but sweet, crunchy but soft—it’s everything a crisp noodle salad should be. The first time my now-husband made this I fell in love with it, and it’s a salad that I always wonder how I lived without. The crowning glory of this salad is the vinaigrette dressing, as it is so easy to make and tastes so good I’ve actually had to lick my bowl. Uh… you didn’t know that!

This also makes a great salad to bring to parties, as it’s not your ordinary green salad nor does it have any expensive ingredients. All ingredients are vegan/plant-based, and the noodles can be left to the side for a gluten free version.

Get out the knife and start chopping to make this easy & delicious noodle salad!

Easy Noodle Salad

Makes: 6-8 servings
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:

  • Half a Chinese / Asian cabbage, chopped
  • 4 green (spring) onions, chopped
  • 1/3 cup toasted sunflower seeds
  • 1/3 cup toasted slivered almonds or pine nuts (or more sunflower seeds)
  • One bag of Chang’s Original Fried Noodles
  • For the dressing:
    • 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
    • 1/3 cup olive oil
    • 1/4 cup white sugar
    • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
    • 2 tbsp maple syrup
    • 2 tbsp soy sauce

Mix together the dressing ingredients in a jar or container with a watertight lid, shake well to combine. Taste to make sure it’s to your liking, adjust ingredients as necessary (we always do it by eye, so you’ll have to forgive the approximate measurements).

Lightly toast the nuts while chopping your vegetables.

If serving immediately: Toss all ingredients together with a generous amount of the dressing.

If serving later: Add the nuts, noodles, and dressing immediately before serving, as noodles may get soggy otherwise.

Enjoy, and try not to eat the whole thing in one sitting!

Vegetarian Rissoles with Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)
Dinners / Mains, Sides, Vegan, Vegetarian

Vegetarian Rissoles with Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)

I’ve fallen in love with TVP (textured vegetable protein) for a few reasons.

  1. It’s really easy to cook with
  2. At $10/kg of dried TVP it’s incredibly affordable (I have now made 3 substantial recipes with it and still have about 1/3 a bag left), and
  3. It’s dry, so it keeps fine in the cupboard and doesn’t take up precious fridge space

See what I mean? Win win!

Less meat, more veggies is good for everyone — so what are you waiting for, get this inya!

Vegetarian Rissoles with Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)

Makes: 16 rissoles
Time: 40 min hands on + 20-30 min baking

Ingredients:

  • 1 brown onion
  • 2-3 garlic cloves
  • 2 cups TVP (textured vegetable protein, see below for shopping links)
  • 1 cup vegetable stock
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
  • 1/2 tsp each sweet paprika and smoked paprika
  • 1/2 tsp chili flakes (optional but recommended)
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 tin (200mL or a scant cup) diced tomatoes, passata, or tomato juice
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 egg OR 1 heaped tbsp flaxmeal and 2 tbsp water
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Heat a large frying pan or wok to medium heat with a drizzle of sunflower oil. Finely chop onion and garlic and saute until just turning translucent. Add TVP and stir in well, and cook for about 3-4 minutes until it’s starting to look lightly toasted.

Meanwhile, mix the wet ingredients – stock, soy sauce, and Worcestershire. When TVP is lightly toasted, evenly pour the liquid over the TVP and mix well.

Sprinkle over paprikas, chilli flakes, and oregano, mix well. Add the 1/2 tin of tomatoes (or whatever you are using). Mash up the tomato chunks a little bit. Cook in frying pan for about another 8-10 minutes, letting the liquid get absorbed and steam off. You don’t want it to be dry, but there shouldn’t be much liquid at the bottom of the pan either.

Remove from heat and let cool for 10-15 minutes until it’s cool enough to put your hands in.

Stir through Dijon, flour, and breadcrumbs. Add egg and mix well again. I like to use my hands at this stage, it’s just a bit easier.

Pre-heat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Divide mixture into eighths, then shape each eighth into 2 rissoles.

Drizzle lightly with olive oil and bake for about 25 minutes, flipping them over half way. They should be lovely and golden and crisp (if they aren’t, cook for another 5-10 min).

Enjoy!

Where to get TVP:

Mom’s Cornbread
Baking, Sides, Vegetarian

Mom’s Cornbread

Mmm, there’s just nothing like fresh homemade cornbread, is there? I love how it combines the sweet with the savoury, and the cornmeal (polenta to you Aussies) adds such wonderful texture to a fluffy body. Once I left for uni and chili became a dietary staple, I tried several different cornbread recipes to accompany it—unfortunately, no cornbread recipe I’ve tried has ever really compared to this one. Either it’s just that this is what my mom always made and it is therefore what I know and love, or it really is as amazing as I thought it was.

One thing’s for sure—the rate at which it disappeared the last time I made it sure said something as to its deliciousness. I recommend slicing it into twelve squares instead of nine, else you’ll find yourself lacking cornbread all too quickly!

Mom’s Cornbread

Makes: 9-12 servings
Cooking time: 15 minutes hands-on, 45 minutes baking plus cooling

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 cups plain flour
  • 1 cup cornmeal (polenta)
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • optional: 1 tin (about 12-14 oz, 300-400 ml) corn kernels or creamed corn
  • optional: small jar of pickled jalapeno, coarsely chopped or laid out on top

Cream together sugar, butter, eggs, and salt until smooth and light in colour. Sift together dry ingredients, then add to the butter and sugar alternately with the milk. Stir until no lumps can be seen. If using, add the corn kernels or jalapenos.

Bake in a greased 9×13″ or 10×10″ ovenproof dish, for 35-45 minutes at 375 F / 190 C until the top of the bread is going golden-brown and a knife or toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. (My oven usually takes about 45 minutes.) The golden-brown might make it look overcooked, but I promise it will still be moist on the inside.