Posts Tagged ‘Vegetarian’

07
Jul
2015

Restaurant Review: Winter Menu with Aria

There are times where blogging really does have its little perks. Wednesday night was one of those times, where Edd and I were invited along with a bunch of amazing bloggers to sample the winter menu of Aria. First and foremost, we were invited to try the winter menu and see what we thought. This means that we did not pay for the meals, however we were not paid for our time or opinions and were under no obligation to put up a review.

The photos were too good (thanks Edd!) to not feature on the blog, and as always all opinons and words are my own.

Aria is the rather secretive restaurant in the Crowne Plaza Hotel. A place that I have walked past every day for the last two years without realising there was an exquisite restaurant located inside. Funny that.

Auckland is a city that in my opinion is blessed with a plethora of incredible eating options, ranging from cheap, hole-in-the wall eateries, to extravagant dining experiences where the money you pay can be steep, but the food you eat is another level of delicious.

Don’t read any further on an empty stomach..or, well preferably do but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

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05
Jul
2015

Dahl – Easy and Delicious, Vegan Winter Recipe

categories: Recipe, Vegetarian

Dahl (or more specifically, Tarka Dahl) is just one of those dishes that changes slightly every time I make it. Sometimes its the spices that get chucked in, sometimes is the amount of water; I’m just not a very consistent or specific cook. This probably means I should steer away from posting recipes on myfoxycorner, but I have been wanting to share more of the vegetarian meals that we love, which tick the boxes health-wise but are also delicious enough to keep a meat-eater satisfied (at least for a night).

You know those meals that bring back vivid memories? Dahl will always take me back to my childhood, it was one of the few recipes my mum would make (after a stint in Fiji where she became pretty handy with the spices) and something that we could eat for days on end when there was no money for meat or fresh produce. Its a nourishing meal, in every sense of the word. This is the grown up version of budget eating for the poor adult student, or perfect winter meal for the hungry vegetarian, or the saviour for the exhausted mum with 4 kids with big appetites, or the perfect adventure for a meat free Monday. Its pretty great.

Dahl is wonderfully warming and ideal for these colder months. The subtle spices and rich lentils create a true comfort food, and its also easy, cheap and perfect as leftovers. This is definitely one vegan meal that ticks all the boxes. Okay, so my recipe probably (definitely) isn’t 100% authentic, but it’s a one pot wonder that is so low-fuss and delicious, I don’t even care).

Easy Almost-Indian Dahl (serves approx. 4 hungry flatmates).

Ingredients

2 Cups of yellow (or red) lentils
1x brown onion chopped finely
2 tsp garlic
2 tsp ginger
1-2 tsp red chilli
2 tomatoes, diced
1L vegetable Stock or boiling water
1 Tbsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
Fresh coriander
1 lemon/lime

Method

Heat some oil in your pan/pot and fry off the onion until it softens on a high heat. Add in the garlic, ginger and spices and continue to fry for around a minute or 2, this releases the flavour of all the spices and is probably the most important step of any good curry.
Lower the heat and add the lentils and the stock, along with the chilli, and leave until the lentils are completely cooked (approximately 20-30 minutes). You need to keep an eye on this and give it a stir every now and again, so don’t get distracted. It may look like a soupy mess, but the lentils are going to expand and soak up all that spicy stock, don’t even worry about it. Once the lentils are cooked, you can add a bit more water if you prefer your dahl a bit soupier, or leave it thickened. This is totally up to personal preference, I tend to like something in between a soup and a curry and add water as I go to get the perfect consistency.
Add the tomatoes towards the end to prevent them completely disintegrating (like they did for me). You could also add frozen peas here if, like me, you have a pea problem and find a way to include them in every meal. I also add a generous squeeze of lemon juice (or lime) to add a little acidity and freshen it up.
Lastly, add some fresh, chopped coriander and then serve either by itself or with cooked rice. You could also add some plain yoghurt (a delicious creamy contrast to the earthy, spiced lentils), but I wanted to keep this dairy free.
Eat the dahl way too quickly and then wish you could eat more, but you can’t because you’re supposed to be taking it for leftovers tomorrow.

Lentils are a pretty amazing part of a vegetarian/vegan diet, so if I could just for one second put on my lentil appreciation hat…they’re are an amazing protein source (without all the fat and cholesterol of meat), contain heaps of fibre and are full of nutrients. The best thing about lentils is that they are ridiculously filling, but also really low in calories. Dahl is one very easy way to incorporate them into the diet, and it’s the perfect thing to try during the colder months when a spicy, warming curry becomes as attractive as Ryan Gosling in a cardigan.

Dahl will always be one of my favourite meals. It costs next to nothing and yet tastes like heaven. Also, for something that tastes so complex, it only needs around about half an hour to prepare (just don’t forget to cook your rice because you were too busy being proud of yourself for making a home-cooked dinner instead of getting burger fuel). Let me know if you give it a try!

What’s your go-to winter meal?

09
Jun
2015

Why I went vegetarian (and then decided to start a blog series about it)

categories: General/Life, Health, Vegetarian

Ready for a new series on the blog? One that will hopefully last a little longer than 2 posts and a few tweets? Well before my boss realizes I am supposed to be working (kidding, I would never blog at work), lets get into it.

Being vegetarian is now a pretty big part of my life, and my personal identity (which I’m sure annoys a lot of my meat-loving friends, I would apologise but I’m not that sorry). Eating is another big part of my life, and getting healthy is something I am trying to make more of a focus. With those three things in mind, I want to start sharing more on being a vegetarian in a meat-eating world, and how I am attempting to develop healthy vegetarian habits.

To start,I figured it was only fair to briefly explain my vegetarian journey thus far. Not as a tool to guilt others or try and unsuccessfully seem morally superior to those who are partial to some bacon, but more just as a bit of context and background.

Why I Went Vegetarian

There are heaps of different reasons why people decide to cut out meat, for me it was a combination of two factors. Firstly, I was never a huge meat eater. Chicken and mince (and bacon) were semi-regular in my diet but that was about it. Secondly, and more importantly, Edd and I both started to realise that we felt like there was a lack in congruence between our ridiculous love of animals, and our eating habits. We condemned hunters, we lamented the deaths of certain species of animals and questioned why others would eat things like horse or dog, without realising/avoiding the point that this seemed hypocritical. We decided that for us, there was no arbitrary line in the sand where certain animals deserved to bred and killed for consumption, whilst others did not. And so it only made sense to cut out all meat (obviously dairy and eggs are a whole other part of this industry that I am uncomfortable with, but one step at a time for now :)).

This was our New Years resolution for 2014, and it was a decision I expected to be far harder than it was, although I’m not saying it was extremely easy. Within a short few months, I suddenly couldn’t even force myself to eat chicken (which was the one meat I thought would be missed). We also felt a newfound satisfaction with not being a part of an industry that we had previously ignored or naively set aside as to big of an issue for us to make a difference. Our diet suffered at first, without adequate knowledge about how to eat healthy on a vegetarian diet (okay, so part lack of knowledge but a bigger part of just pure laziness). This year is when we have finally found our stride and figured out how to make it work.

Do I have any spinach in my teeth?

There are so many other reasons to become vegetarian, and I know that it’s different for each individual, but these were our core motivations. Would it have been different if we were eating steak 4 times a week and dining on every variety of meat available? Maybe, but I would hope that we would still have arrived at this decision, even if it took a little longer.

And so here we are, a year and a half later, finally figuring out how to be healthy vegetarians and not just replace McDonalds with BK Salad Burgers (they are delicious though…). I now have a fair few delicious vegetarian recipes up my sleeve, and I can’t wait to share and learn more with those who are also vegetarian or who just want some easy, healthy meal ideas.

Starving in Italy.

I envisage the series including a variety of posts, like the best burger joints in Auckland for vege lovers, nutritious and easy dinner ideas, and general healthy eating habits (like the variety of delicious smoothies we have been experimenting with to increase protein and reduce snacking). If there are any other ideas for what you would like to see as part of this, please let me know! All inspiration is welcome.

Starving at #brunchclub

If you’re vegetarian, I would love to know! Let me know what your journey has been like, and why you went vegetarian in the first place If you’re not vegetarian, but want to share any delicious vegetarian meals you make, or ask for any clarification as to why we went vegetarian, please feel free to comment. I don’t bite, promise.

For those of you who have no interest in this whatsoever, I promise that for now my blog will remain its usual mismash of topics, and this will only be one of them. Having said that, I not-so secretly hope to convert the entire world, one bacon-lover at a time.

Edit: Below are a couple of vegetarian/vegan recipes I have posted since this little intro.