Chocolate lime avocado mousse

It seems a good thing to share a chocolate mousse the day before Valentines Day.  Yet we all know that chocolate is not just for Valentines.  Nor always romantic.  When I served this to E he told me it is too rich.  Which I didn't mind.  More for me!  Though not all for me because Sylvia quite liked it.

The recipe is based on Ricki Heller's Chocolate avocado pate that I have been meaning to make for years.  She first posted it in 2008 but luckily reminded me of it in her suggestions for 40+ Sugar-Free  Sweets for Valentine's Day.  Suddenly there I was with ripe avocado (with a spoonful taken out of it) and chocolate.  All I lacked was orange.  Which is where the lime stepped in.

I also bought some gorgeous small wine glasses at an op shop recently.  We took in a bag of donations and walked away with a bag of purchases!  I rarely drink wine these days.  I fell in love with them.  So I justified the purchase by dreaming of filling them with something like chocolate mousse or fruit parfait. 

Ricki says to put the pate in the fridge overnight and the turn it out and slice it up.  That was a bit fiddly for me so we just ate it straight from the glass.  I agree with E that it is very rich.  Yet I really loved it. 

Sylvia gamely tried some, didn't freak out when I told her that the mystery ingredient was avocado, and kept on eating.  It was too rich for her to each much of it.  She guessed that cranberry was the slightly sour fruity flavour.  Close but no candy.  She was tasting lime.

Eating chilled chocolate avocado mousse was just the right way to end to a lovely day.  I had been planning to sign up for membership to the zoo and found that a friend was going on the same day so we wandered about with her and her kid and saw the talk on the seals.  After school we took the kids to the outdoor pool and it felt like we were on holidays.  It had been forecast to be a stinking hot day but it was just perfectly warm with a cool breeze.  It was all good, even the mousse.

My only problem with the mousse was what to call it.  Ricki called it a pate but you don't eat a pate from a glass.  It was like a mousse before I chilled it and more like thick soft fudge once cold.  I am not up on the chilled desserts lingo.  So I am sticking with mousse.  But I agree with Shakespeare that a rose by any name would smell as sweet!  Sometimes it is better not to sweat over nomenclature.  Just eat it!

I am sending this mousse to:

• Kimmy of Rock My Vegan Socks for Healthy Vegan Fridays #34.
• Jac at Tinned Tomatoes for Bookmarked Recipes, a monthly event where bloggers share bookmarked recipes they have made.
• Gluten Free Fridays #129 which is run by Vegetarian Mama.
• I am also sending it to Kerry Cooks for the Extra Veg blog event that is overseen by Fuss Free Flavours and Utterly Scrummy.

Chocolate lime avocado mousse
Adapted from Ricki Heller
serves 4 (or more)

1 small ripe avocado
3 tbsp maple syrup
juice of 1 medium lime
150g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

Blend avocado, maple syrup and lime juice.  Melt chocolate and add to avocado mixture.  Blend until smooth.  Spoon into small glasses and chill in the fridge. 

On the Stereo:
Uptown Brown (self titled)

Ocean Grove Hotel - a fine seaside pub

On the last night of our stay in Ocean Grove when there were just a few of us left in the holiday house, we decided to eat out at the Ocean Grove Hotel.  This was a traditional seaside pub with lots of seats, lots of entertainment for the kids and good honest pub grub.  Because sometimes when you are at the beach, you just want to relax and let someone else cook for you.

My dad had a quite look at the pub late in the afternoon and they advised him to book.  It looked pretty quiet but when we got back at about 6pm it was bursting at the seams.  We were lucky the nice waitress found us a table.  Next time we will make a reservation.

We started with drinks.  I had a soda, lime and bitters which I often order.  I have never seen it in a glass like this (and did you see the wee man in my drink)!

Sylvia and Dash couldn't wait to go outside to the play area.  They would have loved to bounce on the trampolines (built into the ground) but there were too many kids on them.  The climbing frame and slides were entertainment enough for them. If the weather had been nicer we would have all enjoyed eating outside.  At least it wasn't cold enough to need the wood fired stove!

My dad enjoyed watching the cricket but my seat faced these historic black and white photos.  I love a good historic photo but these gave me the urge to straighten them.  When I wasn't thinking about the pictures looking awry I contemplated what they told me about the history of the place but didn't come up with many answers.  Not even when brainstorming with my family.

Choosing Sylvia's dinner was easy.  She had the margherita pizza (above).  Tomato and cheese is one of the few combinations I know Sylvia will eat on pizza.  It didn't go down so well with green stuff on it.  She ate around the green stuff as much as possible.

I spent time carefully considering the vegetarian options.  No pizza because I make good pizza at home.  I felt like I had eaten a few salads at the holiday house so I didn't go for the Vietnamese noodle salad or the pumpkin and beetroot salad.  And I really wanted Turkish bread so I would have the dips and olives platter.  However that was off the menu so I made a snap decision to order the vegetarian pizza with spinach, ricotta and roasted Mediterranean vegetables (top photo).  It was a nice pizza with lots of vegies.  I didn't manage to finish it as it was very filling.

We all enjoyed our food.  My sister was impressed that they had half serves of some of the mains.  Sometimes you don't want the huge plate of food.  She and my mum had the fish and chips while my dad had the ribs (I think). 

I quite fancied the desserts: sticky toffee pudding, New York cheesecake and mud cake.  The kids were amused that the desserts not only included frog in a pond (chocolate frog in a jelly pond) but also snake in the snow (lolly snake in a bowl of ice cream I assume).  However we decided we had been eating enough cake for my mum's birthday and left without desserts.

Ocean Grove Hotel
175 Bonnyvale Road
Ocean Grove, Victoria
http://oceangrovehotel.com.au/

Southern Cross frosted chocolate porridge cake, and peach salad

I made sure I had a lovely sandwich for lunch on my birthday.  I baked the bread myself.  And with fresh sourdough bread it was amaaazing (as Sylvia likes to say at the moment)!  Possibly the most successful cooking of the day.  The peach salad was good but the spices weren't quite right for me and while I loved the cake, the Southern Cross decoration didn't look quite as impressive as my vision.  Having said that, I had a lovely day and despite my quibbles I really ate very well.

Slashing has been one of the most challenging parts of baking sourdough.  Now I have bought a cheap stanley knife it is improving.  Sylvia and I went to the city to see Paper Planes at the cinema.  It has fantastic scenes of rural Australia.  Beforehand we took our cheese sandwiches to eat on the grass in front of the State Library.

This meant we had recovered our appetites after the movie and walked into the Pancake Parlour.  I had decided to have a simple sandwich so we could indulge in a sweet pancake.  I chose a Chocolate Jubilee - a chocolate pancake with cream, ice cream, chocolate fudge sauce and strawberries.  I didn't want cream so they gave me two scoops of ice cream.  Argh!  It was too much ice cream and not enough pancake.  Nice but I think I would have enjoyed a short stack with whipped butter and chocolate sauce.

After some fun time looking around the shops, we came home to the chocolate porridge cake that had also been baked before I left.  It was a recipe that involves making porridge to mix into the cake.  I had it at a work morning tea years ago and loved it so much that I asked for the recipe.  I've never forgotten it despite it taking so long to make it at home.

We were rushing to get out of the house and my main error was to tip the cake out of the tin onto a wire rack too early and it had a huge split on the bottom.  When I turned it over the split was nowhere to be seen but the top of the cake was quite rustic so it probably wouldn't have mattered anyway.

Still full of Australia Day ideas I was inspired to make a cake with a Southern Cross on it.  The Australia Flag was just a bit too much work and so I focused in on my favourite element in it.  The Union Jack and the Commonwealth Star don't interest me so much.  However I love how the Southern Cross star formation was in our skies long before Europeans arrived and it is unique to the Southern Hemisphere.

I made the stars out of white chocolate but I think I really needed smaller cutters or a bigger cake because they were rather close together and that tiny star was hard to cut out by hand.  I decided to use leftover white chocolate in a frosting because it would be easy to tint it. 

I found a recipe for a white chocolate frosting that wasn't too rich or too fussy to make.  It didn't need to cool for ages like this frosting, especially if you kept back some white chocolate and added it to the melted chocolate to bring down the temperature.  I didn't even get out the beaters for it.

I reduced the recipe but it was still a lot and very sweet.  Two thirds of what I made would be sufficient for the cake.  I have adjusted the amounts in the recipe below accordingly.  Mine was a much softer icing than in the photo I original saw so maybe more icing sugar or using butter rather than margarine might change this. 

While Sylvia and I were at the shops we bought some royal blue food gel colouring.  However after I had used what seemed a lot it was still a lot paler blue than the royal blue on the flag but it was enough dye in our cake.  So maybe another time I will have another go at it as I really like the idea.

Then I turned my attention to the salad I had planned for dinner.  I had seen the recipe for Chargrilled Peach with Green Beans and Almonds while on holidays in Ocean Grove.  It appealed to my love of stone fruit and quirky salads.  It challenged me to use star anise and coriander seeds, which are often neglected in my kitchen.

My experiment at trying to chargrill hard peaches didn't work and I ended up using ripe nectarines.  My substitution of pistachios for almonds was fantastic.  Sadly I don't think I was so keen on the spices.  At least, that is my guess why the nectarines did not quite work.  The idea of pickling fruit in spiced vinegar sounded great but was not quite right for me.  I would love to try it again with a mustard, cumin and/or fennel seed flavours.

However you don't think a little star anise could spoil a good dinner, do you!  I had made chickpea pilaf the previous night and also had some tofu bacon and the bread I baked that morning.  The salad worked really well with these and I am happy to say that the spices did not dominate.

I really loved the green beans and pistachios in the salad.  They looked beautiful on the table too.  I don't eat either of these gorgeous green foods enough.  However I found the peaches made the salad too sweet as a main so I would recommend that this is best served as a side dish.

Before knew it we were onto the dessert which was, of course, cake.   We even had blue and white candles to put on the cake, even if some of them were a little wonky.

When we were baking it, the mixture tasted like chocolate porridge and I could have eaten it raw.  It was a good sign of what was to come.  While we waited for it to cool, Sylvia (who is constantly planning her own birthday) told me "at my party we will have porridge cake to eat that isn't cooked".

I was happy that I loved this cake now as much as I loved it years ago.  I think the soft sweet icing worked well with the chocolatey cake.  Why has it taken me so long to make this recipe?  I hope it wont be so long until I make it again.  And I would love to know who is Meryl.  It is the name on the recipe I was given rather than the name of my colleague who gave me the recipe.

It was a lovely birthday.  Though it was a quiet day, it was really nice to go to the letterbox and find quite a few cards and even a parcel that arrives right on time.  E gave me lots of reading and CDs that I have been enjoying (and missed ukelele practice to have dinner with us).  And Sylvia was just so excited, not just because she loves birthdays, but also because we were in a shop a week or two before when she made me go outside so she could choose and buy me a present.  It was a little 10 pin bowling collection of erasers that we had fun playing with.  There were also more celebrations a few days later, which I shall write about soon.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Koko Black: a decadent chocolate afternoon tea
Two years ago: Pea Risotto with Verjuice
Three years ago: The relentless tide of technology
Four years ago: Queso dip, enchiladas and food processor
Five years ago: More baby food, more healthy muffins
Six years ago: WTSIM … Fruit kebabs
Seven years ago: Wanton Dumplings in Ginger Broth

Chargrilled Peach with Green Beans and Almonds
Adapted from Valli Little in Delicious magazine, Jan 2014/Dec 2015
Serves 3-4 as a side dish

1/4 cup caster sugar
100ml apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
1 star anise
Dash of chilli powder
4 ripe peaches (or nectarines), cut into wedges
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for grilling
400g green beans, trimmed
1/2 spring onion, finely sliced
1/4 cup pistachios, chopped

Heat sugar, vinegar, coriander, star anise, and chilli in a small saucepan over low heat until sugar has dissolved.  Set aside to cool

Brush peaches with extra olive oil and grill until slightly charred on either side (1 to 2 minutes either side).  I don't have an outdoor bbq so I used a ridged cast iron pan.  Place chargrilled peaches into the vinegar mixture and set aside to pickle for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile cook the green beans for 2 to 3 minutes in boiling salted water until just cooked and then plunge into iced water to cool.

Arrange beans on a medium shallow bowl, arrange peaches on top.  Drizzle with oil and a little of the pickling liquid.  Scatter with pistachios and spring onion.

Meryl's Chocolate Porridge Cake

1/2 cup instant oats*
1 cup water
125g butter
150g brown sugar
3 dessertspoons cocoa
2 eggs
1 cup self raising flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
150g chocolate chips

Cook oats and water to make porridge.  (I cooked mine for 3 minutes in the microwave.)  Mix in butter, brown sugar and cocoa.  Stir and cool briefly.  Add in eggs, flour, bicarbonate of soda and chocolate chips.  Stir well.  Scrape into a lined 22cm round cake tin.  Bake at 160 C for 30 to 35 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.  Cool in tin for 10 to 15 minutes* and cool on a wire rack. 

Ice with white chocolate frosting (below) if desired.  If you wish to do the Southern Cross on the cake, melt some white chocolate and chill until just set (too chilled is hard to cut out) and then cut out some star shapes and arrange on iced cake.

*NOTES: I finely chopped 1 cup of rolled oats to make 1/2 cup of instant oats.  I think it took me slightly longer to bake the cake.  I baked mine at 170 C on a rack in the middle of the oven because I had been baking bread just before the cake went in the oven.

White chocolate frosting
Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

60g white chocolate, chopped
66g butter (I used Nuttalex margarine)
80g  icing sugar
1 tsp milk (if required)
pinch salt

Melt about two thirds of the chocolate (I did this in the microwave but it can be done on the stovetop too).  Remove from heat or microwave and stir in the remainder in small chunks until it melts.  Set aside and cool slightly.

Beat butter and icing sugar until creamy.  I did this by hand but it could be done with electric beaters too.  Mix in the white chocolate and a pinch of salt.  Add a little milk if mixture is too thick.

On the Stereo:
Is a Woman: Lambchop

Creamy potato salad with vegan mayonnaise

A bottle of sunflower oil has sat on my kitchen bench for a long time in hope that I might finally try to make a vegan mayonnaise.  I was inspired when Kate recommended Vegan Dad's mayo.  It was really good and I am sure I will make it again.  However it only lasts a couple of weeks so I made sure I used it in a couple of favourite salads, including a potato salad.

I made the mayonnaise in my high speed blender though Vegan Dad suggested a food processor.  He said to use safflower oil but Kate said sunflower oil should work and it did.  I recently noticed that Jac made it with olive oil and I would love to try it with the rice bran oil that I use a lot.  I was amazed just how thick it go when I let it whizz in the blender on a medium speed.

On the first night I made it I just dipped vegies into the mayo.  Here is one of the healthier plates of food I have made lately.  Chickpea pilaf, tofu bacon and lots of vegies.  It tasted so good.

Then I made a potato salad with tofu bacon and spring onions.  This is pretty much the way that I used to have it as a child (but meat bacon not tofu bacon).  It was great comfort food on a lazy evening.  We love to eat it a bit warm but I am sure that it would be great at room temperature and should keep in the fridge.

I still had some mayo left and started brainstorming ideas for using it.  Burgers, tofu nuggets dipping sauce, sushi, dips etc.  Then I made a mock tuna salad and it was so good.  Later in the evening E was looking for some mayonnaise to spread on bread or dip his vegies in.  He gave a little pout when he heard it was gone.

I must make more mayonnaise.  After all the weather is warming up and there is nothing like a good salad sandwich with mayo on a hot day.

I am sending the potato salad to:

• Jac (and Lisa) for No Croutons Required, a vegetarian soup and salad blog event
• Deb for Souper Sundays, a weekly soup, salad and sandwich blog event
• Sue for her Salad Days link up where she is sharing salads all February.

More mayonnaise recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Chickpea and hemp seed cheese
Cranberry and mustard coleslaw
Finnish green bean paté
Mock tuna (chickpea) salad 
Nutty fries
Potato salad with spring onions, watercress and sun-dried tomatoes

More mayonnaise recipes on the internet:
Spring wedge salad - Namely Mary
Okanamiyaki - Your Vegan Mom
Mexican salad with creamy avocado dressing - Taste Space
Zucchini crab cakes - Fun and Fud
Chopped BBQ tofu salad - Delish Knowledge

Creamy Potato salad with tofu bacon
serves 2-4

500g red skinned potatoes
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1/2 cup fried diced tofu bacon
2-3 dessertspoons of mayonnaise

Chop potatoes and place in a small saucepan.  Pour cold salted water into the saucepan about half the depth of the potatoes and cover with a lid.  Heat on high until the water boils.  Turn heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes or until potatoes are soft when a knife goes into them.  Drain potatoes and rinse under cold water.  Mix with remaining ingredients and serves warm or room temperature.

Vegan Mayonnaise
Adapted from Vegan Dad
Makes about 2 cups

1/2 cup soy milk
1 1/4 cup sunflower oil
3 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp caster sugar
pinch of smoked paprika
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1 1/2 tsp salt (or less)

Put soy milk in high speed blender and start the motor.  Slowly drizzle in oil while the blade is whizzing on low.  Turn off motor and add remaining ingredients.  Turn up to about medium speed and whizz until mixture thickens.  Keeps for about 2 weeks in the fridge in an airtight container (stir every few days).

On the Stereo:
Greatest Hits: Morrissey

Nutella rice bubble slice

 

We were at the supermarket check out on Monday and Sylvia found there was a jar of Nutella in the trolley.  I acted all innocent.  But she was onto me.  Anyway I had an excuse.  It is World Nutella Day today.  When I told her yesterday that it was all used up in a slice she frowned.  Until she tasted a piece.  Then all was forgiven.  Yes, it is so delicious that it is even better than eating Nutella from the jar!

So the slice is a bit of a Frankenstein's monster with inspiration from all quarters.  Inspiration came from classic Australian childhood treat, chocolate crackles; from a vegan version of the American rice krispies slice; and from a healthier chocolate almond rice bubble slice.

You might notice that I wasn't seeking out and out decadence this year. I added a little rice malt syrup for binding which I have used before instead of marshmallows.  It has some of the stickiness without being so sweet and no gelatine to avoid!  The slice also has lots of coconut because I love it and we were low on rice bubbles. 

I thought of mixing chocolate with the topping but we only had a 70% dark chocolate which might have swamped it.  It did occur to me that to make this slice really decadent, I could top it with half the mixture from this nutella fudge.  I have also wondered if it might work with chocolate and cream/butter instead of nutella.  However then I think these are crazy thoughts because this slice is so good that it is hard to stop at one square.

As well as it being World Nutella Day, we all know that Valentine's Day is looming large.  On the way to school today, Sylvia and I passed a shop window that is suddenly all hearts and red satin!  I am sure you have had a few prompts too.  If you want to treat your loved one or yourself on Valentine's Day, especially in Melbourne where unbaked treats might be welcome in the coming heatwave, then it is quite easy to cut out heart shapes and sprinkle these with a little red sprinkles!

I am sending the slice to The Baking Explorer (and Cakeyboi) for Treat Petite with the theme of Love in the Air.

I am sending this to Ms Adventures in Italy and Bleeding Espresso who founded World Nutella Day in 2007 just because they love it.  Check out the World Nutella Day site for lots more fantastic Nutella recipes.

More Nutella recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Banana, treacle and Nutella cake
Nigella's Nutella cake
Nutella blondies
Nutella cupcakes
Nutella filled doughnuts
Nutella fudge

Nutella rice bubble slice
An original Green Gourmet Giraffe recipe

1 tbsp golden syrup
1 tbsp butter, melted
3 tbsp rice malt syrup (or brown rice syrup)
400g Nutella, divided
2 cups rice bubbles (or rice krispies)
1 cup dessicated coconut
2 tbsp cocoa
extra coconut for sprinkling

Gently stir together butter, golden syrup and rice malt syrup in a large saucepan.   Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup of Nutella.  Gently mix in rice bubbles and coconut.  Press into a lined slice tin (28 x 18cm) using hands if necessary.  Spread with remaining Nutella.  Sprinkle with coconut.  Chill in fridge until firm.  Cut into squares.  Store in the fridge.

On the Stereo:
Yes Virginia... The Dresden Dolls

Coconut and chocolate chip muffins

We watched the tennis on the telly on Sunday.  It was the grand final of the Australian Open.  Andy Murray vs Novak Djokovic.  We were following Andy Murray because he is Scottish like E.  Sylvia was curious so I let her stay up a bit and watch some of it.  As I sat watching one of the unending volleys I felt glad we weren't on the eve of Sylvia starting school.  Then I remembered more experience parents like me had been asked to bring some baking for a morning tea for the new Prep parents in the morning.

After settling Sylvia in bed I checked recipes for something portable and popular (no crazy ingredients for strangers).  The combination of chocolate and coconut has me excited lately so I chose some coconut and chocolate chip muffins.  It was a really simple recipe that I made slightly more complex by souring some milk with vinegar.  I was happy it didn't keep me from the tennis too long.  It was so tense in the beginning with so much power and athleticism to admire, despite Murray losing in the end.

In the morning I took a tub of these mini-muffins to school.  When I got there I discovered Sylvia didn't have her glasses.  Oops.  So I dropped off the muffins and headed home to find them.  They weren't in their usual place.  No.  Sylvia had left them in a house under the desk!

By the time I had taken them into her classroom and got to the morning tea, it was hard to get near the table of baked goods.  I only got to taste one of my muffins when someone passed a plate of them around.  They were very good, quite dense with the coconut and filled with enough chocolate to please.  I took home an empty tub.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Buffalo cauliflower sourdough pizza with tofu blue cheese
Two years ago: Cranachan
Three years ago: MLLA Nicki's vegetarian dumplings with fried rice
Four years ago: Gang of Four meme
Five years ago: Emergency Zucchini and Rice Burgers
Six years ago: Apricot and Orange Glazed Tofu
Seven years ago: Perfect Purple Potato Bread

Coconut and chocolate chip muffins
Adapted from Best Recipes
made 45 mini muffins

3/4 scant cup milk (I used soy)
1 tsp vinegar
1 cup sugar (I used raw)
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cups dessicated coconut
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg

Line 4 sets of 12 hole mini muffin pans, Preheat oven to 200 C.

Mix the milk and vinegar.  Set aside to sour.

Mix dry ingredients.  Stir oil and egg into soured milk.  Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients to make quite a thick batter.

Drop spoonfuls into muffin tins - they wont rise a huge amount.  Bake for about 16 minutes (that was what suited my oven but I'd advise those with a more efficient oven to check after about 12 minutes or do as I do and turn the muffins around midway through a get a feel for how quickly they are baking).  They are ready when golden brown and smells good.  A skewer test would probably help too.  Sit for 5 to 10 minutes and then cool on a wire rack.

On the Stereo:
Tiny Tim from the Archives, Vol I (Bootleg)

Shakahari Vegetarian Restaurant, Carlton, Melbourne

Shakahari Vegetarian Restaurant is a local institution.  When it opened in 1972 I guess that there would have been very little in Melbourne in the way of vegetarian restaurants and/or restaurants offering interesting vegetarian dishes.  When I started going there in the 1990s that was certainly the case.  These days the competition is tougher but it remains a sentimental favourite.

E and I had dinner at Shakahari's a few weeks back.  The weather was mercifully cool.  Last time we ate there it was 43 C and the air conditioners struggled so much that I found it hard to enjoy the food.  This time I really enjoyed my meal.  Even so, the food felt a little less exciting than in the days when good vegetarian restaurant food was hard to come by.  (Just check out these examples of today's great Melbourne cafes/restaurants.)

It must be hard to keep up with the changing world of restaurant food when you have been in the business this long.  Yet Shakahari has a mixture of old favourites and some new modern dishes.  They include lots of vegan and gluten free options.  I love the lovely terrace house with warm mustard yellow coloured walls and minimal zen furnishings.  My one problem with it is that it is really noisy.  Which wasn't great on this recent visit with E's soft voice and his blocked ears.  Next time I book I might ask for the tables towards the back which seem quieter.

We shared a starter called Avocado Magic. Wedges of avocado and red capsicums are rolled in thin eggplant slices then 'tempura' fried in a rice batter and served with a gorgeous green sesame coriander puree. The crispy tempura batter contrasts beautifully with the creamy avocado.  It tastes amazing and frying avocado in batter is something I would never dare attempt at home.  In fact I think it was my favourite dish of the night.

For main course I had the quinoa croquettes.  These croquettes are made of yam, dark quinoa, buckwheat, macadamia nuts and diced vegetables.  They were crunchy on the outside but soft and pillowy on the inside like mashed potatoes but with lots of interesting textures that hovered on the tip of my tongue rather than dominating.

This is the sort of comforting old school dish that I might have expected to find in the 1970s when Shakahari opened.  Yet like a lot of Shakahari, it had been modernised with add-ins that would have been unusual a few decades back.  As well as quinoa and macadamia in the croquettes, they were served with kim chee, steamed greens and a mild chilli onion wasabi puree.

I am not familiar with kim chee.  It certainly gave the dish a kick, while the broccoli and green beans were nicely cooked so they still had some crunch, though a bit cold.  As a chilli wuss, I cringe at the suggestion of chilli and wasabi in my dinner.  So I consider it a triumph that the mild chilli onion wasabi sauce was so good that I wanted to eat it by the spoonful.

E chose the Rasaan Vindaloo.  It was a mild vegie curry accompanied by turmeric rice, chutney, cucumber pickles, yellow split pea dhal and pappadam.  I had a taste and then wanted more.  E wasn't keen to share!  Both of us were surprised it was not very spicy given that it was called a vindaloo.  But we were not disappointed by the dish.  All the components came together in a most pleasing way.

We both found our desserts disappointing but sharing them made them work.  E chose a vanilla soy ice cream.  He found it a little bland on its own. 

As there was no warm chocolate pudding on the menu (sob), I chose the Avocado Chocolate “Cheesecake”.  It is a "raw cheesecake with a walnut and date base filled with a mixture of avocado, Calibut chocolate powder, maca powder (‘Peruvian ginseng’), coconut sugar and vanilla bean (Non-dairy, gluten free, raw)."  The chewy base was very good but I found the chocolate filling rather bitter (and not at all like a cheesecake).  It was served with a lot of mango which I didn't fancy.

Fortunately the tart was very good with some of E's ice cream.  And he really enjoyed his ice cream with some of the tart mixed through it.  They worked so well together than we might have yelled out "teamwork" and given each other a high five.  But we are not that demonstrative and beside we were finding it so hard to hear each other it probably would have gone "Teamwork", "What's that you say?"  "Come again?"  "Who's going beserk?"  Besides we were busy signalling a waiter for our bill so we could rush off to the cinema.

Shakahari was very busy.  No table seemed to be empty long.  Given the amount of diners, the service was friendly and prompt.  We managed to eat three couses in the one and half hours before our movie.  I got a little nervous we would be late and asked a waiter we had time for dessert.  In response it was brought out promptly.  We got to the Imitation Game in plenty of time.  Which was just as well because it was an amazing movie.  A lovely night out while Sylvia was on a sleepover!

Shakahari Vegetarian Restaurant
201-203 Faraday Street (near the corner of Lygon St)
Carlton
Tel: 03 9347 3848
(Also Shakahari restaurants in South Melbourne)
shakahari.com.au