Another feature in Appetite Magazine + pretty good vegan alfredo and edamame pate

More vegan love in the local food magazine scene. I contributed some vegan baking tips to this month's Appetite Magazine. I also handed in an original oatmeal cookie recipe, fairly similar in taste to the old butter-and-egg laden version I used to make in my pre-vegetarian days.

Pick up a copy of the June 2009 issue of Appetite Magazine!

PS If you recall, my vegan baking business Kitchen Revolution was given a positive review in this magazine's pages last February 2009.

Zoom in to check it out!










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Finally a restaurant in the metro is showing some vegan love. Healthy Kitchen in Serendra, Bonifacio High Street offers some nice vegan options that don't rely on fake meat and Indian spices. Sorry, no offense to India -- I mean I love Indian food, I eat Indian probably once a week. In the past if I wanted some good vegan food, I'd have to go to an Indian restaurant; Indian food can get tiring though if you eat it all the time. So if you have the option to eat good vegan food in a non-Indian restaurant, you take it.

Like Healthy Kitchen. I'll admit, at first I did not appreciate this restaurant's name. While health is certainly important, the word "healthy" tends to scare people away. Not sure if this is a manifestation of the scary H word, but the past 3 times I've been in the restaurant, majority if not all of the customers were female... I got 6 brothers and I know they aren't a fan of the H word.

Anyway, I like that this restaurant actually displays the V word prominently. And I'm not even talking about vegetarian, but vegan. Such a big relief that a food establishment recognizes veganism!

Here's one of HK's dishes -- wholewheat spaghetti with vegan alfredo sauce and tofu. I honestly did not have any expectations because I've never tried to make a vegan cream sauce (okay once I made the pine nut sauce from Veganomicon (link to amazon), which frankly sucked. I think I added too much lemon juice). I was pleasantly surprised. It tastes nothing like traditional alfredo sauce, but it's got a nice savory taste which I think comes from mushroom broth and onions. The cubed tofu was seared and tasted great with the sauce.

The next time I was in HK was for a merienda thing and I ordered the edamame pate with tortilla chips. The chips were supposed to be a combination of blue and red but the restaurant only had blue, which I didn't mind at all. The pate was very hummus-esque, with only its green tinge separating it from it's tan cousin. Good merienda, however I think it would've been tastier if it was served with salsa.

Healthy Kitchen also serves tofu adobo, vegetarian burrito wraps and Boca burgers.

I caution you not to take any of the green tea frappes, even if you can have them made with soymilk -- the green tea mixes HK uses has milk.

What the restaurant seriously lacks is vegan dessert. I miss being able to buy dessert...


HEALTHY KITCHEN
141C Serendra Place, Bonifacio High St,
Global City, Taguig
900.6514

Check out their menu here.

A cookie with a twist: Chocolate, PB&J Cookies

Here are some cookies I made yesterday before heading off to a potluck get-together with my missionary girls from Rizal missions. Been hanging around the kitchen during my spare time (when do I not hang around the kitchen?) and wanted to make cookies... Not typical oatmeal / chocolate chip cookies, but something different. So I did some research in my cookbook library and found "You Got Peanut Butter in my Chocolate Cookies" from Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan by Dreena Burton.

I love that Dreena Burton's cookie recipes don't use specialty egg replacers including flax meal and tofu (I think?). Instead, she uses liquid sweeteners such as maple syrup to help with the binding. Well I don't live in maple syrup country... I'm not a honey-eating vegan and I try as much as possible not to use the fake HFCS crap. I got an AHA! moment when I was daydreaming of a PB&J sandwich and thought that perhaps jam could stand in for the syrup.

If you've got Dreena's Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan cookbook, head on over to page 215. I used all purpose flour instead of the barley / spelt and 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp strawberry jam for the maple syrup and agave nectar. As jams are usually chunky, I recommend sticking all the liquid ingredients in your trusty food processor and give it a good pulse til everything's nice and non-lumpy. After mixing the ingredients all together you may notice that the dough's a bit stiff; I added 1 tsp oil apart from the 1/4 cup called for in the recipe.

You won't notice the jam flavor much but it's in the background. The cookies were nice and chewy :)

Curious about the recipe? Let me know if you want a copy.

Overdue post about stuff I've made + out for Holy Thursday - Easter

Wow, seems like it's been awhile since I've blogged... Hmm, I reckon it's been 2 weeks? And 5 weeks since I've talked about actual food! Truth be told I've been busy with actual baking, actual work (i.e. my real job), and catching up on my favorite shows. I've been watching marathons of The Office, which is my absolute favorite TV comedy. I can watch that show all day everyday and not get bored... My new favorite obsession is True Blood. Well I love the Dracula legend and anything that stems from it.

I am also currently watching The Godfather for the very first time. I got around to readind the book end of last year and I loooove Mario Puzo. Been pining to watch the movies and am glad I'm finally watching them.

Anyway, on with the food.

My last food-related blog was about indoor grilling which I utilized in making this dish -- a toasted couscous salad with chickpeas, zucchini and bell peppers. This was my second time to make couscous, I love it! It's easy to make and people who look and eat it are easily impressed, since who in this country makes couscous in their home? I was going to make a separate blog post about this but I've been lazy -- I mean, busy watching my shows. It basically has toasted cooked couscous, chickpeas (canned), lemon zest, caramelized shallots, basil chiffonade, and grilled zucchini and peppers. The dressing is just lemon juice, olive oil, grated raw garlic, and salt and pepper.

This is a picture of the first savory dish I sold back in mid-February. It's a farfalle and black bean salad with yellow peppers and tomatoes, with a mango-cilantro vinaigrette. A big hit! Wish I took a more appealing photo...

Vanilla cupcakes with lime buttercream. Remember how I would sometimes bake a cake to get rid of excess frosting? Well I do the same (getting rid of frosting) by baking mini cupcakes. Again vanilla is a perfect neutral flavor to any kind of frosting (usually).

Err... This is a vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream. Unfortunatley it looks like crap on a cupcake, hence the attempt to make them look more festive with the nonpareils. What do you think -- fail?


I'm a so-so fan of chocolate chip cookies. However I am a big fan of coconut chocolate chip cookies. Here they're made extra-coconutty with virgin coconut oil and muscovado sugar. Heaven.

New favorite cupcake -- the banoffee cupcake. Essentially, a banana cupcake topped with coffee buttercream and encrusted with homemade toffee bits.

Random cupcake porn -- red velvet cupcakes and carrot cake cupcakes.

And, favorite cupcake #2 -- banana cupcakes with peanut buttercream!

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Last year during Holy Week I did some missionary work in Tingloy Island in Batangas. This year it's not a whole week but rather Thursday to Sunday, and not in Tingloy but somewhere in Rizal. I am going to miss the Tingloy kids :( But, I hear they switched to Rizal because it's easier to reach via car while with Tingloy one has to take the bus to the Batangas deck then take a wooden banca to Tingloy. Apparently some parents are still too queasy to let their "little girls" ride a boat to a different island. It was an amazing experience, am hoping this time it'll be amazing as well. I'm planning to subsist on canned chickpeas, cereal, soymilk, and bananas.

For the record, I'm no saint... I mean, I try my best to be a good person -- being vegan is definitely a part of it. I am not super religious, but it's Holy Week and I'm Catholic, so I look at it as an opportunity to do some sacrifice and spend time with my poor countrymen. Wish me luck!

Baking = nature and art appreciation

How can one not appreciate the fine art of baking? The whole process from measuring out the dry ingredients to consuming the baked good is pure art. One cannot fully appreciate food if one doesn't know how it is made.

I can stare at ingredients in their original state all day. Or, photograph them all day. Take the humble flour (with other white powders such as baking soda, baking powder, and salt) and the intoxicating cocoa powder. The "rock formations" are something to marvel at. I also like staring at avalanches of powdered sugar.


Once sifted together, the powders look almost homogenous and are not clumpy. From rock formations they turn into powdery chocolate mountains.
Mixing them together, they form craggly rock formations again.

Mixing dry ingredients with the wet, the mixture resembles soft mounds of earth.

Handling your food is always ideal. Cookie batter almost feels like mud.

From deep earthy pebbles...


Into flattened rock...There go the cracks again.

Appreciation of the fissures on the cookie surface.

Baking = truly is, nature appreciation. The satisfaction I get from baking must be akin to what God felt when he created the earth, the plants, the animals, and man. Pure bliss.

I got mentioned in Appetite Magazine! + a letter opposing animal exploitation

Wow. I still get giddy thinking about it.

I must've mentioned in my past posts that a local food magazine was to feature my baking company in its pages (come to think of it, I did mention the magazine here). Well, it finally happened. I think I'm the only vegan baking company around (?)... and to be featured in a mainstream food magazine?! To think the Philippines is VERY meat-centric. And dairy- and egg-centric. And not so vegan friendly. We Filipino vegans are a dying breed (I know no vegans aside from bro #5 and the guys at PETA).

Anyway here it is.

PETA Asia Pacific found out about me back in October and I've been on a baking whirlwind ever since. They've ordered pretty much everything off my menu. They've been so supportive and promised to feature me in the veg section in Appetite Magazine called Herbivore. I kind of forgot all about the magazine-feature thing... Several months have passed, I'd check out the magazine every month with no mention, then last Friday I remembered to check it out after doing some grocery shopping during my lunch break... and lo and behold!

This is a big step for veganism in the Philippines you guys! Well I'm no second coming of Jesus... But it's good to let the public know that vegans need not give up cupcakes in order to boycott the dairy and egg industries, no?

I know there are a lot of vegetarians and veg-friendly places in northern Metro Manila... so it's also nice that southern Metro Manila is represented =)

Oh yeah, I may be under "Restaurant Review" but I don't have a restaurant. I churn out baked goods from my oven at home and either deliver or have the things picked up...

Appetite Magazine, February 2009 issue

Herbivore section, page 84

close up of the article, squee!

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In other news, bro #6 called to my attention that his (all boys) school is having a Father's Day / sports fair (what, no mother's day?) this Saturday. Typically in school sports events small pet animals such as rabbits and chicks are sold like candy. I think you can get a chick for P50 (US$1)? I remember buying a rabbit, duckling and chick once when I was a kid and didn't know any better. Anyway, I didn't want to be that kind of person who's all talky about animal cruelty this and animal cruelty that, without taking any action. So I convinced bros #5 and #6 (bro #4 who also studies in the same school apparently can't grasp the gravity of the situation here) to draft a letter to their school director. They really didn't want to do it... and the rest of my family who are ho-hum about the whole issue didn't help either. But what the hell man, what's the point of taking a stance on an issue when you can't take action when given the chance?

Here's the letter. The fair is this coming Saturday and it's a long shot if the school bans the sale of animals this Saturday. But, hopefully the letter sheds some light on the issue and will stop the sale of animals in the next (2010) sports fair.

I can't wait til bro #5 is faced with the dilemma of dissection (he's in his sophomore year = biology). He claims he's not required to dissect, but bro #4 went through it. While my parents don't give a damn about this issue I sure as hell do. Both brothers don't want to create a ruckus lest they get suspended... I hate that students are encouraged to stand up for some (read: religious) things but turn a blind eye on other things.

Dear Mr. R,

We have noticed that in the past, animals such as chicks, ducklings, rabbits, hamsters, fish, and snakes were sold in Father's Day purely for our entertainment and use. We would not want this to happen in this coming Father's Day and in all future Father's Day events. As men of integrity we realized that we need to stand up and speak out for those who have no voice in this situation.

Chicks and our other animal friends are born in this world purely to be sold and treated like non-sentient objects by us humans. They are ripped from their mothers and packaged in crates, boxes, and plastic bags with no thought to their well being nor their feelings. They are sold to children who look at them and treat them as novelties. These children have no idea how to take care of such creatures and without their knowledge, may not provide proper attention to them. The animals usually die in a short amount of time, unloved, forgotten, and often mistreated.

God has made us stewards of the earth and of the animals, and we believe that this does not give us the right to exploit either of them. We believe that Father's Day can still be full of fun without this form of animal cruelty. We'd hate to think that those who buy these animals may be in conflict with section 6 of the Philippine Animal Welfare Act, which states that "it shall be unlawful for any person to torture any animal, to neglect to provide adequate care, sustenance or shelter, or maltreat any animal" because they bought them in the spur of the moment in Father's Day.

We know Father's Day is a few days away but we hope this letter will be able to do some good. We do not want S to be a school that is known to support animal cruelty and animal exploitation. We hope that in the future, S bans the sale of animals and entertainment provided by them in its premises.

Thank you.

Christmas hysterics + Lazy French Onion Chickpeas

Christmas is fast approaching and the orders keep on coming in. I'm up to my ears in baking and while I sincerely enjoy hand-mixing cake batter and piping frosting on cupcakes, the work's starting to take a toll on me. Frankly I haven't really cooked a meal since World Vegan Day lunch and dinner as baking takes up a lot of my time. I have been known to spend Friday nights baking until Saturday morning, and sleeping throughout my Saturday out of sheer exhaustion. But hey! I'm not complaining. I'm getting vegan baked goods into the hands of the masses. And while I spent 10 hours yesterday baking I'm still pumped to bake some more this week. Sigh, I really must love this night and weekend job...

In case you were curious... this is what I baked yesterday and what I'll be baking tonight, Tuesday night, and Wednesday night (!):

• 4 coffee cakes
• 2 2-layer cakes
• 3 brownies
• 6 dozen cookies
• 20 dozen cupcakes

To be fair, one of the brownies was a Christmas gift and so was 1 dozen cookies. The cupcakes are minis but I swear, they're more difficult to make than regular ones! And, 10 dozen of the cupcakes are for an outreach I'm participating in on Wednesday. A bunch of my co-workers (from my real job) and I are hosting a Christmas lunch at CRADLE, this prison / rehab center for juvenile delinquents (a more PC term is "children in conflict with the law"). The lunch itself is not vegan, hence my contribution of vegan cupcakes. I'm excited for this activity and I hope the kids will take a liking to my cupcakes.

Good Lord, sometimes I wish I had magic elves to do my bidding. It's a good thing I did my Christmas shopping in Hong Kong when Cebu Pacific decided to torture travelers, because I seriously have NO time to do anything except bake and go to my real job.
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So where was I? Oh yeah, the cooking. Last night I found myself in a kitchen full of baked goods (for sale) with NOTHING to eat for dinner. I was too lazy to chop up some tomatoes and peel some garlic. Cooking a simple dinner was a nice break from the crazy baking. Since I was pooped out I decided to make a super easy, super fast, big-on-flavor dish that I christened Lazy French Onion Chickpeas.


Hah. Remove "lazy" from the title and the dish sounds so classy, no? The dish could probably be served in a posh restaurant as appetizer with bruchetta and a glass of white wine. I call it "French onion" because I took inspiration from the ubiquitous French onion soup. With the chickpea-onion ratio at practically 1:1, this dish is for the onion lover who is not afraid of the aftermath of potent onion-y goodness.

This recipe (finally! an actual recipe with actual proportions!) is enough for 4 people, or for 2 dinners and 2 lunches for the next day (some of us still pack lunch for work...).


Lazy French Onion Chickpeas
1 glug of olive oil (fine, if you want to get technical, about 2 tbsp.)
4 onions, chopped into half moons
a palm-ful of dried thyme (1-2 tsp.)
3 cans of chickpeas (454 grams or 15 oz), drained and rinsed well
salt and black pepper to taste
a splash of water (2-4 tbsp.)

Heat a saucepan on the stove. Add in the olive oil. When hot, throw in the onions and stir until caramelized, about 5-10 minutes. Add in the thyme and the chickpeas, and stir until the chickpeas are heated through, about 2-3 minutes. Add salt and pepper -- I am a black pepper fan and am known to sprinkle generous amounts on my food. When the pan looks pretty dry, add in the water to help scrape up the good bits stuck on the pan, and to help the chickpeas absorb the onion's awesomeness. You should be done in about 5 minutes (after adding the water).

You know how French onion soup always has cheese on top? Well, if you want that cheesy flavor but don't want to torture the cows (or the carabaos, goats, sheep, or whatever animal was abused for its reproductive secretion), may I suggest a copious sprinkling of nutritional yeast. I didn't take a photograph of the dish with the nooch because, well, it wasn't pretty.

Enjoy! Serve this dish with a side of vegetables, or on top of a salad, or with pasta, and/or with crusty bread. You can blitz this in your food processor to make a nice sandwich filling / spread -- leave it chunky. My co-vegan-brother-in-arms ate this with rice, I hope he enjoyed it.

A present, baking mania, and cookie porn

I'm the kind of person who loooves getting kitchen things for presents. Seriously. You can get me mixing bowls for Christmas and I'd love them. One of my aunts / titas got me a y-peeler for my birthday -- a peeler! I love it because it's so much easier to use than a conventional peeler.

My other aunt, who has been under a spell since I baked her a box of cupcakes, got me a microplane. I've been eying this baby for quite some time but didn't have the heart to drop P850 / $17 on one. It's nice when you've got family that knows what you want for your birthday.

I love this microplane, seriously. I get twice more zest per lemon than I do with a conventional zester. And there isn't that danger of accidentally zesting your own skin. And, you don't have to chop up the zest to get 'em nice and tiny so they get evenly distributed in the batter. I tested this baby on a batch of lemony cupcakes I made for an order and I am a convert.

And speaking of cupcakes...

So PETA has been a regular client so far, and they ordered 2 boxes of cupcakes for Appetite Magazine, a local food magazine. PETA has a food and health section in Appetite which is so nice because you don't often get to see veganism being promoted in mainstream media these days. And oh man I've been in such a craze baking all weekend, and this is one of the boxes of cupcakes they gave Appetite. Behold: banana split chocolate cupcakes with banocolate buttercream and lemony cupcakes with lemon buttercream. Let's all pray that they like 'em...

banana split chocolate cupcakes with banocolate buttercream

I've also been trying to shoot more food photographs. I find that cookies (and muffin tops) are hard to take photos of, because they're just blobs of brown batter. Cupcakes shine on their own because of the pretty frosting, and so do cakes as well. But cookies... They need to be prettified with props and they take awhile to shine. Poor cookies... They're not the prettiest girls on the block. On the left are banana oat muffin tops, on the right, peanut butter oat cookies.