Spicy Noodle Salad

This recipe is originally a Jamie Oliver recipe that I adapted and changed a bit. I have made it several times and tweaked it a bit each time, and this time I decided to use the opportunity to try and do something interesting with the stalk of broccoli - something I always feel wasteful throwing away but never really know what to do with! Using this method of slicing it really thinly and marinating with courgette and carrot worked really well

Ingredients:

1 stalk of Broccoli
1/3 Courgette
1 Carrot
1/2 cup White Cabbage (shredded)
2 tbsp Rice Vinegar (any nicely flavoured vinegar will work really)
1 tbsp Sake (optional - I didn't include this but it would have gone nicely)
1/2 tsp Sugar
1/6 tsp Salt (just a big pinch really)
3 Cakes Wholewheat Noodles
1 Chili
1/2 Red Onion
1 tsp Coriander
1 Lime
1 tbsp Sesame Oil
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
2 tbsp Sesame Seeds
1 tbsp Pumpkin Seeds
Salt and Pepper

Method:

First to marinate the vegetables, mix together the salt, sugar, vinegar and sake
Slice the vegetables thinly, about 3-4 mm thick (if you have a mandolin use it but I managed fine with a knife)
Pour the mixture over the vegetables and toss to coat, set aside
Boil a kettle and pour over the noodles, leave to soften and then strain with a colander
Cover with cold water to stop them from cooking, and also to stop them socking together
Heat a small pan, add the seeds and then the sugar
Once the sugar melts, take off the heat stir constantly to coat the seeds well - if they start to stick in clumps break them up now as it's easy while they're still hot but once they're cool it's much more difficult
Leave to cool (you might want to transfer them onto a sheet of baking paper and put the pan straight in to soak, burnt/melted on sugar is an absolute pain to clean off)
Chop the onion and chili and mix in a mug with the soy sauce, sesame oil and coriander
Juice the lime into this and add about half of the zest (feel free to add more if you like but I find this make the lime too overpowering - I'd usually go for about 1/3 to be honest)
Strain the noodles, then combine with the onion and chili mixture
Toss to coat well
Stir in the vegetables
Season to taste
Serve!

The vegetables used in this are pretty flexible, I thought it was a good and easy say to use up the broccoli stalk but you can make it with anything. Some mangetout or sugarsnap peas make a nice addition. The sesame oil and sweetness of the seeds go really well together. I like this about as hot as I can stand it but that's just personal preference. Let us know any suggestions you come up with at twocooksoneblog@gmail.com

Vegan Baked Tofu Bourbon Cheesecake

Tom today,

Before I went vegan cheesecakes were my speciality. My mum had a recipe for an oreo cookie cheesecake that once I tried I made for every family/friends dinner we had (or went too) for years. This is an attempt to relive that cheesecake using a recipe I originally made for a blueberry cheesecake. It is possibly marginally healthier than the original version, but definitely an indulgent treat. Therefore perfect for the festive season. I actually made this for christmas day at my parents house, and it went down a treat even with a new york lemon dairy cheesecake sat next to it.

Ingredients:

2 packs 200g Bourbon Creams
25g Soya Margarine
400g pack Silken Tofu
3/4 cup Soy Milk
1/2 cup Golden Granulated Sugar
2 tbsp Cornflour
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste (seriously I can't get over what a great flavour this is. Normally my cheesecakes are lemon-based but this is too perfect)

Method:

For the Base -

Preheat an oven to 180 degrees Celsius
Put half of the bourbons (one pack) in a ziplock bag and bash/crush with a rolling pin (or empty bottle of wine) until finely crushed.
Melt the margarine in the microwave or in a pan
Add the crushed biscuits and mix thoroughly
Press into a springform tin (one you can remove the bottom from) with the back of a spoon, don't be afraid to really squash it down.
Prick the base with a fork gently and then bake in the oven for 20 minutes
In the meantime, blend the remaining ingredients together, except for the extra bourbons
When the base is cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly
Arrange the bourbons on the base so that they fan out from the centre, this way when you cut a slice you get some cheesecake and some pieces of biscuits (this is technically optional but I'd recommend it)
Cover with the cheesecake mixture
Bake for 40 minutes until just set in the centre and browned around the edges
This shouldn't crack like a normal cheesecake and should be okay to take out of the oven now, but if you have time too then it doesn't hurt to leave it in to cool slowly
Serve with soy cream, delicious!

The only thing I would say about this recipe is you probably dont need 2 full packs of bourbons. I went a bit overkill on the extra middle ones. I realised this when I cut myself a slice either side of one of the lines, and discovered I couldn't eat any of it as tofu soaked bourbons bake into a substance that could be used to build houses. So yeah, go easy on the extra bourbons (maybe break them up a bit) and this should be a perfect recipe. If you can managed to make a second layer of biscuit in the centre I will be very impressed as I wasn't sure that would work with this recipe (it's what I would have done with the oreos).

Let us know how your cheesecakes go at twocooksoneblog@gmail.com

With much holiday spirit still going, Tom x

You can see the wall of bourbons on the right, a tad OTT...