Portuguese fried rice, National Celtic Festival and quicklinks

It has been a short week because we just had the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend.  We had some time in Geelong with my parents, spent a day at the National Celtic Festival in Portarlington, had a couple of Sylvia's friends over and then finished the weekend with Portuguese Fried Rice.

We had lovely pizza at my mum's on Saturday night but the great excitment was having Scottish food  at the National Celtic Festival.  This is our third year visiting the Festival (check out my 2014 and 2015 festival posts).  This is one of the few opportunities while eating out in Australia that we find haggis, tattie scones and irn bru.

The above kilted van pleased me with its vegetarian hot dogs.  (Mind you they cost $8 - twice as much as the regular ones.)  At least I was able to get something for Sylvia that wasn't just chips.  I complimented one of the staff.  Then I suggested vegetarian haggis and he said it was a contradiction!  Strange how there was no problem with vegetarian hot dogs! 

We had a great time at the festival.  Each year I promise myself next year I will buy a ticket rather than just going to the stalls and the free acts on the Village Green Stage.  Realistically we are only there a few hours and I am not sure it is value for money to buy a day ticket nor is there enough time just for the free stuff.

We love all the craft stalls, the Irish dancing, the Scottish dancing, the fencing, the food stalls.  E was delighted to have a really good haggis burger.  Sylvia and I helped him eat some tattie scones.  I had a cheese and onion pastie which was bigger than I expected so that when I got to Jerry's Vegie Burgers, I wasn't that hungry.  I bought a burger because I loved them so much last year but my eyes were bigger than my stomach.

We were pretty tired when we got home on Sunday night.  Then on Monday Sylvia had some friends around so I made sourdough flatbreads for lunch.  It was lovely to have some quiet in the house when she then went to the park with her friends and their parents.  By then, I wanted something simple for dinner.

I'd had my eye on the Portuguese Fried Rice on Not Quite Nigella and decided it was just the way to enjoy a vegetarian pepperoni sausage I bought in Scotland.  I also had discovered an open jar of olives at the back of the fridge and wanted to make omelette with some silken tofu that needed using.  (NB I only had half a tub of silken tofu so I halved the omelette I usually make.)  Having leftover rice clinched it.  E and I loved the rice, though I found it quite strongly flavoured.  It was a nice alternative to our regular fried rice with lots of lovely add-ins and it lasted for a couple more meals.

The long weekend meant more time for reading so I am sharing a few quicklinks:

• Obama takes on Trump: are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently - the Guardian 14 June 2016.  Obama didn't hold back in responding to Donald Trump's words on the Oralando shooting.  Impressive stuff.
• Vegetarian soups to warm you up this winter - Veggie Mama.  Hard to know which one to try first.
• Big Compost on ABC's Gardening Australia.  I was so amazed at how food waste is turned into compost
• Veganism - why it is not longer a dirty word - Hospitality magazine.  Unfortunately I still encounter those who do shudder at the mention of vegan food but it is great to read of restaurants introducing vegan menus and finding it exciting and that it works.
• Aquafaba featured in Good Housekeeping magazine.  Aquafaba goes mainstream with a favourable testing of Vegan Richa's cinnamon buns.

I am sending this Portuguese fried rice to Kimmy and Mary for Healthy Vegan Fridays, to Cindy for Gluten Free Fridays and to Jac for Meatfree Mondays.

More rice dishes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Cheesy cauliflower and rice soup (gf, v)
Italian rice and beans (gf, v)
Mexican rice (gf, v)
Paella with brown rice (gf, v)
Tahini lime rice with kale and cashews (gf, v)
Veggie crumble 
Zucchini flowers with rice (gf, v) 

Portuguese Fried Rice
Adapted from Not Quite Nigella
serves 4-6

Vegan omelette (see below), diced
Oil for frying
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 carrot, diced
handful cashews
50g vegetarian pepperoni sausages, sliced thinly*
4-5 cups day old cooked rice
4 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sesame oil
good pinch white pepper
1/2 cup pitted black olives
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 cup peas

Fry the onion, carrot and cashews on medium heat for about 5 to 10 minutes until soft and the cashews brown a little.  Add in the veg pepperoni and cook about a minute.  Turn the heat to medium high .  Now add the rice, tomato paste, salt, sesame oil, pepper, olives and paprika.  Stir until mixed and heated through.  Add the cup of peas and cook until they are warm.

NOTES: to make this meal vegan check if your veg pepperoni sausage is vegan - I had thought this one was vegan but upon checking I found it had egg in it.

Omelette
adapted from Green Gourmet Giraffe

150g silken tofu, drained
3 tablespoons besan (chickpea flour),
1 1/2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon mirin
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion granules
pinch black salt
1 tsp oil, for frying

Mix everything together (I usually use a blender but I just did it briskly by hand and I think it was fine).  Heat a heavy bottom frypan over low heat and swirl the teaspoon of oil about it.  Scrape all the mixture into it and spread about with the back of a spoon.  Fry for 10 minutes.  Then cover (I use a large saucepan lid) and fry for another 10 minutes.  Use an eggflip or spatular to push around under it to check it is not sticking to the pan.  The flip onto a large dinner plate.

On the stereo:
Garbage: Garbage