Sunday 8 November 2009

book: vegan planet

So SJ picked up Vegan Planet ages ago, whilst we were out perusing books together, and promptly made the lemon risotto (p237), and it was delicious. I finally got a copy of it (thanks, Mum!) for my birthday earlier this year, but promptly moved across the country so didn't get a chance to try it out until recently.

As regular readers of this blog (or anyone who has ever talked about food with me for about half a second) would know, I love noodles. A lot. And my friend C has talked up some drunken noodles in Mt Lawley, so when I saw this recipe (p262) in Vegan Planet I thought I'd give it a go.

drunken noodles from vegan planet

These were good. The flavour was a bit understated, but overall okay.

pasta cacciatore from vegan planet

I've been really getting into tempeh lately, so I was excited to give this pappardelle cacciatore a go (p249). Unfortunately it was quite bland. If I were to give it another go, I would slice the tempeh a lot thinner, and go OTT on the fresh rosemary. And I would probably add some dried chilli flakes.

sweet potato and red bean curry from vegan planet

Finally, I tried out the red bean and sweet potato curry (p286). It was bland and watery, which was a disappointment. I think it needed some more cumin and curry powder.

Overall, I like the potential of Vegan Planet, but it needs a whole lot more spices and herbs for it to be my thing.

6 comments:

Tara said...

I agree, I really like the idea of most of the recipes but find that I always have to tweak them to get the flavor I want. Still, your dishes look very pretty!

Theresa said...

I've had similar experiences with vegan planet recipes. I need to at least double the flavours in order to get anything tasty out of it.

Eurasian Sensation said...

Given that tempeh is Indonesian in origin, I don't think it works well unless it's given the Indonesian-type treatment. Tempeh in pasta seems really unappealing to me.

The best ways to eat tempeh are unfortunately the unhealthier ones - deep-fry and marinate in sweet soya sauce and garlic, or deep-fry and douse in peanut sauce.

If you are gonna make that pasta, you should probably marinate the tempeh in something first - a bit of water & stock powder perhaps? And then pan-fry it.

Carissa said...

I like your site & recipes. I'm adding you to my blogroll:)

Susan said...

I really like VP, but I often find I need to mix up the spices a little bit to make it more to my preference. But there are some great things in there!

steph said...

Hi Elilai, thanks!

Susan, yeah, I'm thinking more spices. :o)