Flicking the Vs: November 2017

Three places for great vegan tea and cake in Hackney

Part of being a medical student is being moved around to new hospitals, GP practices, and other healthcare set-ups every couple of months. O...

Have I told you about so much I love having a kitchen again? I have? Well, in that case, maybe skip onto the next paragraph, because I'm going to have to go through it again. Oh, kitchen, I love you. I love having a washing machine back, and an oven, and a hob. Having been happily plunged back into a kitchened world, I've found myself trying to cook a bit more.

Maybe it was the long days at school, maybe it was a lack of inspiration, but I just couldn't face cooking before the kitchen got put out of action. In the month that it was up on bricks, I ate a lot of takeaways, a few tins of whatever (Amy's chilli happened a lot), and a lot of toast. By the time the builders were finished, I really fancied getting involved with cooking again.

With the weather turning colder (well, sometimes), all I want to make is great big warming plates of stuff. The sort of stuff that you can eat in your PJs or with your back against the radiator watching Blue Planet II. The sort of stuff that you need a doorstop of bread to soak up. The sort of stuff you can cook without any effort, with half your brain thinking about revision. Despite a reasonably long list of ingredients, it's pretty easy to make. You just chuck stuff in the oven or a pan, stir it occasionally, and then eat it. No brain required.

I got the idea for this from seeing a beautiful picture flash past on Twitter, but I can't remember what the recipe was for or who posted it. Whoever you were, random clever Twitterer, thank you for the inspiration.

Sausage, squash and butterbean stew with hasselback potatoes
Serves three or four

Ingredients

Six to eight potatoes, around 100g each (a couple for each person should be good)

One onion, chopped finely

Two cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

One tablespoon of paprika

One half teaspoon chilli powder

Leaves from two large springs of rosemary, stripped from stalks and chopped finely

One tin of chopped tomatoes

250g of squash, diced (I used crown prince, but whatever you've got on hand is good with me)

One teaspoon of blackstrap molasses (or vegan sweetener/sugar of your choice)

Half a tin can's worth of veggie stock or vegan red wine

One tin of butterbeans, drained

One packet of vegan sausage (I used Taifun herb grill sausages)

Four or five large kale leaves, stalks removed, and chopped into thin strips

How you do it

Heat oven to 200 degrees C or 180C for a fan oven

Make cuts across the potatoes, 3mm or so between them, three-quarters of the way down. Don't cut all the way through, or your potatoes will fall apart, which would be a vegetable tragedy.

Once the spuds are in the oven and cooking heat some oil in a large saucepan, then add the onion and cook for 5 to 10 minutes over a medium heat until translucent.

Add the garlic, paprika, chilli powder, and rosemary, and cook for another minute or so.

Add the tinned tomatoes, squash, molasses, stock or wine, and butterbeans.

Cook for 15 minutes or so over a low simmer.

Add the sausages, and cook for for another 5 minutes.

Pop in the kale, and give the whole thing another 3 or so minutes on the heat (or just cook until the kale is wilted).

Spoon the stew into bowls, then top with a couple of potatoes for each bowl.

butter beans

Sausage, squash and butter bean stew with hasselback potatoes recipe

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You know sometimes where you go out with the sole purpose of finding a really good vegan place to eat? You've heard good things on Twitter, you've studied the menu, you've wandered around on Street Map so you know exactly where it is on the street. There are those days, and there are days where you just stumble on some good vegan eating, right where you least expected it. And that's just what happened to me the other weekend.

Mr Flicking the Vs and me have recently got a new niece, and we're pretty chuffed about it. In my completely unbiased opinion, she's a lovely little new person. She's getting to that age where she's able to take an interest in the world around her, and so taking her out for a walk or lunch is now a properly interactive experience for her. Even a few weeks ago, she felt very much a tiny baby, now she feels like a tiny human in waiting. I can't wait to meet the person she'll grow up to be.

Me, Mr Flicking the Vs and her parents went for a walk around Bel Air Park in Dulwich. From what we can tell, the little 'un is quite partial to a walk around in the fresh air, and I was deeply glad glad to spend a few hours kicking around the autumn leaves with my newest relative.

Bel Air Park is named after the big old Georgian house that sits in the middle of it. When we passed by, there was a Hallowe'en fair going on in the house, and although all the activities were for children way older than my niece, we went for a stroll around.

Outside the house were a load of stalls - Beckenham Market had taken over Bel Air House for a pop-up, and I'm happy to report there was some cracking vegan food.

There were a number of stalls that had food that looked like it would be easily veganisable, but one had a couple of clearly-marked vegan choices, both of which looked amazing. Step forward, Mother Thai.

There were two incredible looking vegan options available: yellow Thai curry with tofu and veggies, and sweet and sour seitan. Given they both were so appealing, it was a smart move on Mother Thai's part to offer 'vegan mix bowl' - a bit of each on a stack of rice.

Some folk might be tempted to raise an eyebrow at £8.50 for a dinner that comes in a cardboard bowl, but to those people I'd say, dude, you are so wrong. This food is worth £8.50 and more.

Look - the seitan is crispy battered perfection! The yellow curry is packed with glorious yuba! I finished every little grain of rice, and was absolutely stuffed and full of joy.

I'd love to be able to point you towards where to go and eat more of Mother Thai's amazing food, only I can't find them anywhere on Twitter or Facebook (and searching for their name seems to turn up loads of porn bot accounts). I'd also like to be able to point myself to somewhere where I can eat a Mother Thai bowl, because I will be dreaming of their food for some time to come.

And what's better than a bowl of unexpectedly out of this world Thai food? An equally delightful, all-vegan dessert stall: Cookie and Biscuit.

The stall had a range of cakes and bakes when we passed by, and considerably fewer than when we left. Everything looked so fancy, it was hard to pick what slices to take home with us. Given it was Hallowe'en, we couldn't pass up the black-and-orange delights:

Happily, Cookie and Biscuit does have a Twitter presence, which you can find here. I look forward to tracking it down as soon as I can. Quite apart from loving the cake, the owner and stall-runner-in-chief was incredibly lovely, which gives you another reason to love Cookie and Biscuit, if one were needed.

Despite being full from all the Mother Thai I ate, I still found room for a load of cake. No shame, no judgement. It gave me all the calories I needed for pushing my niece around for a few more laps around the park.

So, I was so pleased that a little walk with my little niece turned into a big vegan day out. She's only a few months old, and she's already making my life a little bit better in ways I couldn't have guessed!

cake