Nila – Delectable Dosai and Peculiar Pumpkin

When I was growing up, my mum sometimes made curries (especially sausage curry) but we rarely went out for Indian meals. Unlike E whose family loves an Indian take away. Since meeting him and his chilli-loving tastebuds, I have tried many Indian restaurants.

Our favourite Indian restaurant in Scotland was the Prince of India in Peebles which I mention here because I have struggled to find restaurants of comparable quality here. What I liked about the Prince of India was a good selection of mixed vegetable curries, the like of which I am yet to find elsewhere. Call me fussy or spoilt, but I continue to hope!

Hence my interest in the Nila’s Indian restaurants which have recently come to my attention. Last night we went to their Degraves Street restaurant in the city. It is a small brightly lit restaurant/takeaway with charcoal grey walls and red light shades. Hindi Pop features on their stereo.

As on my last visit, I was delighted by the huge array of vegetarian dishes and alternatives to curried veg and rice - ulunthu vadai (lentil doughnuts), roti curry roll and pizza dosai, to name a few, look intriguing. But I look forward to the day when I have the time and room to try the dessert of banana stuffed roti.

I only recently learnt of the existence of dosai. So last night I had to have the masala dosai again (see the photo). It is an impressive-looking huge wafer-thin light pancake wrapped around lightly spiced potato. It comes with three sauces which are a bit spicy for me to enjoy. Last time I coupled my dosai with dhal and it was a bit stodgy. So last night I went out on a limb and tried the pumpkin puli kolambu. It was soft chunks of pumpkin in a tamarind-based curry sauce. The sour and salty flavours contrasted nicely with the comforting stodge of the potato.

This is Indian, but not as I know it! Well maybe not. I should add that the window describes Nila’s food as Malaysian, Singaporean and South Indian Cuisine. Whatever it is, it’s worth a visit. And not only is the food interesting but it is cheap and quick. We managed to get dinner before having our senses assaulted by Throbbing Gristle at the Focus on Punk screenings at ACMI (E’s choice not mine).

Nila
13 Degraves Street
Melbourne City
Ph: 03 9014 8822
(other branches in 360 Sydney Rd Coburg, Forest Hill Chase Shopping Centre, 702 Sydney Rd Brunswick)
Open: 11am–midnight Mon – Sat, 11am–5pm Sundays

Lazy Leftover Lunch at the Lake

I got home just after 2pm, hoping E hadn’t had his lunch. He was making pitta breads and offered to make me one, but I had other ideas. And he was to blame.

E got a new bike recently and suggested we ride to a local park this weekend. I am all in favour of a spin on the bike but thought it would be much improved with a picnic at the destination. So in the spirit of green living and recycling, I got out the hummus and carrot dip I had made earlier this week, chopped up some carrots, capsicums and bread and put it in my bag, together with the weekend newspaper.

It was a lovely sunny autumn day. Coburg Lake was a picture of pastoral serenity with weeping willows, bronzed autumnal leaves, little bridges and ducks swimming in the lake. A most pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

Cardamom and Chocolate Comforts

When I was a student, the university’s food co-op regularly sold a vegan chocolate cake that was very popular and I managed to a get a recipe which I made occasionally but it now seems a bit plain for my liking.

Lately I have made a few chocolate cakes with various flavours that have appealed to me so I was excited to find a vegan cake (The New Carob Chai Cake) on Domestic Affair which had an interesting blend of spices and maple syrup.

Now I am not usually one to meddle with cake recipes because I am afraid of upsetting the science. But I made the excellent Store Cupboard Chocolate Orange Cake from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess late last year with marmalade which has two consequences. One – I have never been a big fan of marmalade and so we still had almost half a jar of marmalade in the cupboard. Two – despite not using marmalade on toast, I am now a fan of putting it in cakes to give an orange flavour.

I decided to use marmalade instead of some of maple syrup which was fortunate, seeing my maple syrup was running low. So once I had started to meddle, there was no end to my tinkering. I worried the cake wasn’t sweet enough and found an opened packet of prunes to add, and then I remembered I also had some oatmeal to use up, and some flax seed I bought recently that I wanted to try out. And I have never understood carob so I used cocoa.

One thing I did stick to was adding the cardamom (despite the suggestion of substituting cloves, with which I am more familiar). Cardamom is a spice I have not really used before but when E and I smelt the new jar of it, it gave off a pleasing fragrance that seemed the stuff of nostalgia. I am not sure if the aroma brought back elusive memories or just smelt so good it seemed to create the impression.

I was reminded of the old food co-op vegan chocolate cake with the thin batter. And I confess I didn’t read the recipe well and put the vinegar in with the wet ingredients rather than at the end. My cake seemed a bit flat which may have been my oversight with the vinegar but possibly was due to using a 22cm square tin which I think is a bit bigger than the tin used in the recipe. Also I am not so interested in icing so don’t always ice cakes which doesn’t help with presentation – you should see the pretty cake on Domestic Affair if you want to see how lovely it can look.

It may not look great but it tasted fantastic, albeit a very moist cake. I love the combination of chocolate, spices and orange. I took it to work for lunch, to my mum’s for dinner, to a picnic and even to the cinema. One of the kids who tasted it was not keen so it might not be a favourite with everyone, but I am still recommending it if you want something a little different. Below is the recipe I used:

Vegan Chocolate Spice cake

adapted from Domestic Affair's new carob chai cake

1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup soy flour
2 tbsp ground flax seed (linseeds)
1/4 cup oatmeal
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom (or ground cloves)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 cup maple syrup*
200g marmalade*
3/4 cup organic (non-dairy) milk or filtered water
1/2 cup sunflower oil
1/2 cup chopped prunes
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 tbsp cointreau
2 tbsp. cider vinegar
(* I just made sure the marmalade and maple syrup added up to a cup)

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Line and grease 23cm (9 inch) round cake tin.

Place dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix wet ingredients (except vinegar). When all ingredients are combined, add vinegar til evenly distributed. The batter will be quite thin.

Pour batter into cake tin and bake about 30 minutes or til a skewer comes out cleanly. Ice with spiced frosting or dust with icing sugar. Serve warm or cold.

On the Stereo:

Map of Hands: Seaworthy

Pickled sprouts and vegan cheese doubts

Or the long title of tonight’s entry is:
‘There’s nothing I like better than to stir sprouts pickled in Cointreau,’ said E when I asked him to give them a stir, but he wasn’t so sure about my vegan cheese pasta sauce.

Tonight I have been inspired – firstly by Lucy at Nourish Me for sharing her fab recipe for Brussels Sprouts in Cointreau. It just seemed like the right thing to do to brussels sprouts. I hated them a child and not even honey could disguise their awful taste, though my mother tried. Now I love them and usually have them steamed au naturel, but this recipe seemed to reach out to me with its enticing use of one of the few liqueurs in my cupboard.


Lucy used spring onions and fresh ginger and parsley but I adapted it to what was in the fridge (red onion) and what would suit my meal (chilli flakes). Here is the version I used:

Pickled Brussels Sprouts
(serves 2 as a side)
Adapted from Colin Spencer and Nourish Me

- 400g of Brussels sprouts
- ½ red onion thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon of light olive oil
- Zest and juice of 1 orange
- ½ teaspoon of sugar
- 1 tablespoon of Cointreau (or similar orange liqueur)
- Generous sprinkle of chilli flakes, salt and garlic flakes (or fresh garlic if you don’t have these all in a grinder like mine)

Trim base and blemished leaves off brussels sprouts and halve each sprout (admittedly I might have quartered them if I had read Lucy’s recipe properly).

Heat oil on medium high in heavy based frying pan or large saucepan. Add sprouts and orange zest and stir fry about 2 minutes. Add orange juice and continue to fry another 2 or 3 minutes til juice is almost evaporated.

Add Cointreau, sugar and a generous sprinkle of chilli flakes, salt and garlic flakes and continue to stir over medium heat another 2 – 4 minutes.

(Lucy cooked hers on higher heat but I was worried my saucepan was burning so took a little longer on a little lower heat which also allowed me to do other things– do as you will)

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Inspiration number 2 tonight was some green noodles which I had bought at the Asian grocer by the Vic Market. I found them in the cupboard last night and wanted to use them.

Recently I made my first vegan cheese sauce and was inspired as I am not a big fan of heavy dairy sauces and thought this one with carrot and tofu was great. So tonight I tried another which was a bit of a store cupboard ingredients recipe. It was very heavy and not a hit with E.

I think my choice of noodles was perhaps wrong as they were very light and flaccid whereas I think my sauce needed more robust Italian pasta and perhaps a little less salt (despite reducing both the salt and yeast from the original recipe). I will continue trying vegan cheese sauces to find which are the best for us – there are just so many exciting options. Here is the one I did tonight:

Lessarella Cheez
Adapted from http://essenes.net/vegches.html
(serves at least 4)

- 2 cups water
- 3 Tbs lemon juice (1 medium lemon )
- 1/3 cup Nutritional Yeast (NOT Brewers Yeast)
- 1/3 cup oatmeal
- 1/4 cup arrowroot or cornstarch – (optional – I didn’t use )
- 1/4 finely chopped red onion
- 1/4 cup tahini (or sesame seeds)
- 1 tsp veggie salt
- 1/2 chopped red bell pepper (optional to make cheese more orange - I didn't use because was after a green look)

Blend all ingredients – I was delighted to find I could do this in a bowl with my hand held blender rather than have to use the food processor. Then heat on medium heat until thickened.

The recipe suggests only using the arrowroot or cornstarch if you want it thick and chill it overnight so it is set solid for slicing. Omit if you want a cheese sauce.

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I added grated zucchini, parsley and baby spinach and added the sauce to the green noodles in an attempt to have it looking really green but it was but a pale imitation of the colour I aspired to.

I served my pasta with the sprouts which were delisciously sweet and caramelized with a hint of cointreau (highly recommended) and a simple fresh earthy salad of grated carrot, grated beetroot, finely chopped red pepper and raspberry vinegar.

My inspiration number 3 was being drawn to the beetroot yesterday on a lunchtime jaunt to the supermarket. Why is it that a trip to the supermarket for a bike light battery ends up with me having too much stuff to carry home on my bike and, yet, still no battery? Maybe the universe was ensuring I had my beetroot (and my orange for the sprouts).

The pasta with cheese sauce was a bit overwhelmingly rich and salty – alone it would have been a disaster even with veggies in the sauce. But it was nicely complemented by the side vegetables. And despite not finding the green I desired, I was still pleased with the colours.

On the Stereo:
Altered Realities: Erdem Helvacioglu

Seeking carrot dip in a sea of recipes

I wasn’t that hungry tonight because I had drinks and nibbles at work before I came home - perfect opportunity for a ‘chips, dips and dorks’ reference :-). But I needed something quick and healthy after last night’s patchy evenings dinner on the run of a flourless chocolate muffin, a cheesymite bread scroll, and carrot and hummus dip. (I cannot recommend this as a balanced meal but I would highly recommend the film, The Lives of Others - watch for the fleeting but fascinating cake scene!)

When I was thinking about dips on the weekend I had remembered an excellent carrot and bean dip I made for a party earlier this year. It was not only smooth and tasty, but also colourful. But one of the problems of so many recipes is that I couldn’t quite remember where I got the recipe.

I have an old diary where I have written out many recipes over the years. It feels like a record of my cooking journey. In the first pages it has a few meat recipes from my pre-vegetarian years, then it goes into basic vegetarian recipes, decadent recipes and then healthier recipes. When I look in there I am reminded of friends who have shared recipes and meals with me. I thought it was in there but wasn’t sure it was the carrot and bean dip I found in my notebook.

Recently I counted that I had 75 cookbooks, and tonight I didn’t have the energy to dip (ha ha) into these books. One of my pipe dreams is to have the time to input all my recipes from my recipe books from my cookbooks and others that I find in magazines, the net and with friends into a database and then the day I want a carrot dip recipe I could put in key words. What joy that would be! But I have calculated if there are an average of 100 recipes per book it would meant 75,000 recipes. So for the moment my wondrous database remains a distant dream.

So both the recipe archive and recipe memory failed me tonight. I tried the carrot and bean recipe in my notebook but I suspect it is not the one – it is a lot more spicy and less fresh than I remember. Ah well, at least it still had lovely colour. I treated it as a puree more than a dip tonight and served it with some veggie patties from the freezer and some sprouts. And I think the leftovers will go well on tortillas with salad. But I will continue searching for the recipe in my memory.

I confess I haven’t always noted the source of my recipes – this is one recipe where I have been neglectful but here it is with reduced oil.

Spicy Carrot and Bean Dip
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 6 large carrots, cooked (I steamed mine about 15 mins)
- 400g tin of white beans (cannellini, which I think might also be white kidney beans), rinsed and drained
- ½ tsp salt (or to taste)

Fry onion and garlic in oil til golden brown. Add curry powder and cumin for another minute. Then blend onion mixture with remaining ingredients in food processor til smooth (if your food processor is small like mine, you will need to do it in batches - but you will get layers of lovely colour before you mix it like in my photo). Serve hot as puree or cold as dip.

On the Stereo:
Son of Evil Reindeer: the Reindeer Selection

10/5/2007 - PS I did use this for last night's dinner and it was delicious - I put the carrot and bean dip with cheese between two tortillas and grilled it in the style of what I have always thought was quesadillas but according to wiki is a sincronizada. Had it with broccoli, baby spinach and tomatoes. But next time there wont be so much curry in the dip (which by the way is still residing in my freezer and fridge in various containers - it just goes on and on).

Hummus - morning and night

I said I would bring something for morning tea tomorrow at work for a colleague who is bringing her new baby in. I know she likes savoury food so I thought I'd make a dip to take in with some rice crackers and carrot batons.

I decided to use an old recipe I haven’t made for a while - Mollie Katzen’s hummus. I got this recipe from a friend many years ago before I went vegetarian, when I was still learning a lot about cooking. When I first went vegetarian, Mollie was a cookbook celebrity for me before we had Nigella and Jamie, so the recipe makes me feel nostalgic.

I now own the Moosewood Cookbook and used the recipe from there tonight. When I compared it to my friend's notes, I realised why it didn’t taste quite the same – in the 2nd edition Mollie has halved the tahini. Next time I might revert to the original version. My inclination would also be to put a teaspoon of chilli paste into the mix but I eased off and just was liberal with salt and pepper because I am making this for work colleagues.

It seemed obvious to combine my dip-making with dinner so it inspired me to serve a couple of spoonfuls with falafel (from a box), yoghurt, pita breads, and veggies (tomato, baby spinach, corn, green capsicum, and dill pickle).

Update 2012 - I have updated my Hummus recipe to reflect how I make it these day.

Hummus
From Mollie Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook (2nd edn)
- 2 to 3 medium cloves of garlic
- A large handful of parsley
- 2 spring onions/scallions (optional – I didn’t have these and left them out)
- 3 cups cooked chickpeas (2 x 440g tins of chickpeas, drained and rinsed)
- 6 tbsp tahini (or ¾ cup in original recipe)
- 6 tbsp lemon juice
- ¾ - 1 tsp salt (to taste – I used 1 tsp to compensate for less chilli)
- yoghurt (optional)
- cayenne and cumin to taste (optional – I didn’t use)

Mollie says to mince garlic and parley (and spring onions) in food processor separately to other ingredients, but I chopped them finely and then blitzed in food processor with chickpeas, tahini, and lemon juice. Season to taste. I found the mixture a little stiff so added some yoghurt. Chill in container.


On the Stereo
The Boy with the Arab Strap - Belle and Sebastian

The Vegie Bar: a tyranny of choice

[Update: check out my more recent 2025 post on the Vegie Bar.]

Today we went to the Vegie Bar on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy for lunch. It is a favourite place of ours not just for the good cheap veg food but because it is always buzzing with people but we never have a problem finding a table. It is a large café divided into two rooms with high ceilings, brick walls, tattered posters and the grungy vibe of Brunswick Street.

I have to take a moment to reminisce about Brunswick St. When I first moved into a share house many years ago, this was my local street and, despite many changes, I am mighty fond of it.

We got a table at the Vegie Bar at the window, so we were able to watch the characters of Brunswick St – the man in leathers selling poetry, yummy mummies, the Big Issue seller, guys in velvet jackets and large sunglasses, older ladies in fluffy red berets – they are all there. E even spotted a guy in a t-shirt reading Eat More Vegies!

We looked out over a grungy old-style post box and over the road to a recycled clothes shop, called Shag, where I take such pleasure in browsing through garments in vintage patterns. Beside it is an old timer, the Grub Street Bookstore, where in my student days I loved browsing the second hand books. To the other side of us is the old Punters Club where I saw some fine indy bands perform in its grungy darkness – today it is Bimbo which has been forgiven from replacing the Punters because it does such good chocolate pizza. I could go on and on about all the wonderful memories and places but back to the Vegie Bar.

Brunswick St has a fantastic selection of cafes (although there are also duds) and I always feel spoilt for choice. Similarly at the Vegie Bar, for a vegetarian used to one or two choices on most menus, the array of pizzas, curries, stirfries, and roti wraps presents a tyranny of choice. It even has vegetarian dim sims, which are so hard to find.

To drink I had the berry blaster which was a berries, banana and yoghurt smoothie (I think) – was a pleasingly deep pink, sweet, fruity, thick and filled with berry seeds. E had the organic ginger beer which is light and refreshing with lime.

E always chooses the lunch duo special because it is the best bargain in town (and this Scottish lad likes a bargain). It is two curries (today it was lentil dahl and chickpea dahl) with brown rice and roti. It also has a few lettuce leaves but I don’t see the point of them. The roti at the Vegie Bar is always excellent – large soft flaky sheets of bread. I was so full from my meal I hardly touched his, which is a shame as it is always a treat when he doesn’t have meat when we eat out. But the curry I tasted was good.

After much angst over how to indulge my taste buds I chose one of the specials – the Italiano pizza. It had pesto, napoli sauce, baby spinach, spanish onion, sundried tomato, olives, pumpkin and mozzarella cheese. The crust was thin and crisp. The cheese looked like a fluffy white cloud but was still rich and stringy when pulled apart. The pumpkin was thin sliced and tender. The sun dried tomatoes were plump and juicy. It was all wonderful.

Lunch on Brunswick Street usually means we have time to wander the fab shops. I have to give a mention to the Rose Street market which had a plethora of green goods (in the environmentally friendly sense) – bags made of recycled car seats, jewellery made of buttons, and notebooks made of old hardbook covers and recycled denim pages. Then after a day of green food and green politics, I went to Tea Two purchased a green gadget: a green teapot (which I have photographed with my fave Room of One’s Own mug).

Vegie Bar
378 Brunswick St
Fitzroy 3065 VIC
Phone: (03) 9417 6935
http://www.vegiebar.com.au/