Chinese Sweet Porridge

I've often seen cans like these in the Asian Market, and I needed a snack at lunchtime and for breakfast tomorrow, so I decided to try something new and bought a couple of cans.

I'm SO GLAD I did.

Made from mixed beans, glutenous rice, oats, longan fruit and sugar... these are just a perfect balance between healthy and naughty! I will probably strain them in future as I found there was a bit too much syrup for my liking, but I shall definitely be having them again as they are filling and I can imagine it keeping me going for quite some time considering it's such a small can.

So if you love Asian food, have a real sweet tooth, but still want to feel like you're not being totally unhealthy - give it a go!

Git Me Some o'That!

They have a bit of a funny name alright, but Gits Food Company make some lovely products so they do!

I was at the Asian Market a few days ago and happened upon this lovely sachet of Chana Massala for only €1.65. As a fan of Chana Massala I just had to try it. One sachet serves two people, and the boyfriend went crazy over it! The chickpeas are so super soft, and it's obviously been marinading for so long in the packet that all the spices are soaked right into the tender pulses. WOW. Loads of their other Ready Meals are vegan as well, but be careful to check as some contain milk solids...

Gits also have a range of many different Bombay Mixes, which look fantastic! Check them out!

The site also has videos on how to make up their savouries and desserts. Easy Peasy :)

Oodles of NOodles

I was totally inspired by Bianca over at Vegan Crunk to make my own ramen noodle soup, as we have several Asian markets in Dublin selling aisle upon aisle of different varieties of packaged noodles. I'd normally stay well away from things like this because I know how calorie laden they are and how very little nutrition is in them. However it really appealed to me that you can make a soup from them and add your own ingredients to make it a more satisfying, tasty and nutritionally balanced meal.

I chose to add a few mixed beans and chickpeas, green french beans and some Chinese mock pork (fried gluten/seitan) and of course piled on the chilli powder, artificial chicken flavour stock and garlic oil that came with the noodles. The result was a large, super delicious and super spicy bowl of ramen soup, very like the ones they serve at Wagamama. The mock pork was tender and combined with the mixed beans added a lot of protein to the meal. Of course you can add whatever you like... next time I might try fried tofu puffs, shitake mushrooms and some wakame seaweed. I could definitely eat another bowlful, it was that good!

Snack-Attack!

One of my favourite snacks has to be toasted corn. It's so crispy, crunchy and addictive - way better than popcorn! I nipped into the Asian Market on Drury Street the other day to pick up a packet. They only cost €1.10 for quite a large bag, and the kernels are huge compared to any toasted corn pieces I've seen in health food shops! I scanned the shelves quickly and also saw some other flavours (such as chicken and curry) in a different section.  There were these cute little strawberries there too for a euro and I couldn't resist picking one up. It folds out into a handy orange little bag with "Asia Market" written on the front :)

Another snack I tried recently was the rice ball from Blazing Salads. It's like a big onigiri with mashed beans and vegetables inside, which has then been lightly fried on the outside. At €2.90 I was expecting something a little more exciting, but whereas the texture of the outer part of the rice was lovely, the centre was quite bland and disappointing. It came with a ginger shoyu dip and without it would definitely have been quite tasteless. I only just noticed that day that Blazing Salads have loyalty cards. You can get one for savories and another for the salad bar. I only have the savory card at the moment but plan to get my mitts on one for the salad bar next time I buy one. I'm not sure what the deal is with the salad card, but with the savory loyalty you get every 11th savory free. I would like to go back soon because I have my eye set on the arame & carrot strudel!

I should Koko-ro

If you love sushi, you should definitely visit Kokoro, a little bento shop on Lower Liffey Street. When I was in London a couple of years ago I was delighted to discover bento shops aplenty, strewn all over the city. As a sushi lover this was paradise to me and I often wished for something similar in Dublin. It looks like my prayers to the Gods were answered as low and behold, Kokoro did not take long to emerge. Their menu offers many suitable options for vegans and I was impressed that filling a bento with their sushi costs only around €8.00, which is pretty cheap for somewhere so authentic and delicious. Their vegan rolls include tofu, asparagus, oshinko, mixed vegetable, avocado, kampyo, and carrot & coriander. There's a selection of yummy dips as well, not just the usual soy sauce, and all their produce always tastes so soft and freshly made. They always have very reasonably priced pieces, and I love the way you can go in and choose exactly what you want out of their fridge to go in your bento - in true pick'n'mix style!

At their hot deli counter they have a tofu yakisoba and tofu curry available, but I've never ordered anything from here as I seem to visit at funny times of the day, so I'm not sure if they are totally vegan as I haven't had a chance to ask.

I am planning on visiting Kokoro this weekend to pick up a stash for my Saturday dinner, so will update this entry with pictures of my sushi as soon as I can!

Oh YES Please!

Look what I found in the Asian Market! Peanut Butter and Chocolate flavour Oreos! I assume they are vegan as there's no mention of milk on the ingredients list... then again there's no mention of chocolate or peanut butter :-/ I have come across other varieties of Asian Oreos before which are totally vegan, so I assume that these are as well as they were alongside the vegan cream, strawberry and chocolate flavour ones on the same shelf... if anyone knows otherwise please inform me!

Experimenting

I absolutely love trying new food. Today was one of those great days where everything you eat is amazing. I went into town with a friend and had a lovely spicy bulgar wheat and chickpea salad at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen which was really nice, apart from the fact that it came with Raita (cucumber yoghurt dressing) that I somehow totally missed on the menu. So I had to scrape what I could of it off.... they also have a good range of veggie and lentil burgers, falafels, etc. My friend had the puy lentil burger which looked delicious. We then went to a couple of art galleries before stopping off at the food market in Temple Bar. I love it here and had forgotten how good it is. There is even a raw vegan food stall with lovely cakes and crackers (all very expensive though!) and the Indian stall seems to have quite a few vegan options. I opted for a spicy carrot and chickpea kofta, it was served with a hot tomato sauce and I really wanted a samosa too - maybe next time...

I completely forgot to take photos of everything mentioned above!! (I'm absolutely useless)

I picked up some Tempeh at the Asian Market. Now I just need a recipe because I have no idea what to do with it!

I also picked up some canned Seitan (I have no idea where to find it packaged?) which is fried gluten. It comes in several different forms in the Asian Market, this one was "mock duck" and it has a really meaty taste so is a good substitute if you like that kind of thing. It also has quite a meaty texture and shreds the same as meat too. I thought I'd also try out a tin of Greek aubergines in tomatoes and onion sauce. Was lovely! I mixed the mock duck and the aubergines together and put them inside a rice wrap used to make Summer Rolls. I had two of these for my dinner and they were absolutely delicious! Probably not the healthiest, as the aubergine dish was quite oily and the gluten was fried - but it was a nice vegan junk food dinner that really satisfied my taste buds and it was still a lot healthier and cheaper than getting a takeaway ;)

Bubble Drinks - The Real McCoy

I have blogged before about my love of Asian food, so I thought I'd follow up on my "bubble drink" post with a picture of a can from the Asian market. There were several varieties of these but this was the only vegan one I came across. It's made from mung beans, soya milk, sugar, tapioca balls and non-dairy creamer. It's quite fattening at around 200 calories per can, so I'd rather make my own at home, but I don't see how one once in a while could do any harm and it's also like a snack and a drink in one. It has a slightly odd beany-taste at first, but then it immediately grows on you and becomes more sweet and creamy. Love it!

Asian Market Goodies

I went to the Asian Market today. I had been looking forward to my adventure all week and spent just under €14.00... this isn't everything I got for the money, I confess that I ate one of the glutenous rice & soya cakes and the boyfriend ate the crisps! So here is what I managed to NOT tuck into so that I could write this review. It was so difficult to choose what to get, there's a million and one things I wanted to buy, but I just didn't have the money and more importantly, didn't want my belly to get any bigger!


These pretty items are amazingly delicious glutenous cakes made from sticky rice flour and soya bean paste. I am totally addicted to them. They come in a variety of colours and shapes, but my favourite (which is not pictured, as I devoured it as soon as it was purchased!) is flavoured with pandan leaf and is bright green in colour with a layer of yellow soya bean paste sandwiched in the middle. The pretty multi-layered one on the right is flavoured with banana essence and I love the texture of it. The yellow bean paste layer is really soft and mushy, and the sticky white rice flour layer is slightly firmer. The cake on the left has a hard white outer with a slightly powdery texture to it and the same yellow soya bean paste inside. They are very sweet, probably not that good for you - but hey, I guess one every so often can't harm you much. These cakes, to me, taste like a mixture of marzipan and rice pudding. Sounds bizarre I know, but I love both of those things so it's heaven to me!



These are soft squares of puffed wheat flour with sugar and palm oil. Again, probably not something you should eat in large quantities, but they come wrapped in individual small squares perfect for a little snack. I suppose you could compare them to a rice crispie square, but more savoury and much softer. They are delicious and I hope they will serve in keeping my rice crispie square cravings at bay!



I have always loved cashew nuts, and edible rice paper, so these have been a favourite for a while. They are little round sandwiches of sugary cashew nuts with rice paper on the tops and bottoms. Heaven! You can get sesame seed versions as well (with no nuts).



These peanut brittle snacks are along the same lines as the cashew nut ones, only they have peanuts and sesame seeds in a hard, sugary mixture with no rice paper. Delicious! The individual packs are disappointingly small though, but still good to pop into a lunchbox to satisfy a sweet tooth.



I've never tried these before and am really looking forward to it: Taro chips! Well, I've tried them in the normal crisp format in mixed vegetable crisp bags before, but I've never tried them as actual "chipsticks". Should be an interesting (and probably nicer) take on the normal, boring potato based snack.



And finally, the good old Wasabi Peas and Spicy Dried Broad Beans. I love these so much. I really wish they came in smaller packets, as they are so addictive. Leaving me alone with a whole bag is a bad idea as it's physically impossible to stop eating them once you've opened a bag. I've never had the spicy broad beans before, only the normal kind and the garlic flavoured ones. Both are good so I expect the spicy ones will be just as tasty. They are so crunchy and salty. Probably really bad for you too, but you can kid yourself into thinking otherwise because they are broad beans! Wasabi peas are not as hot and disgusting as you may think, most varieties have a subtle flavour... unless you're like me and stuff handfuls of them into your mouth at a time, then maybe it can get a little hot after a while!

Sadly, that is all I got to buy :( Next week I'll definitely be heading back for a couple more bits so I'll do another review, possibly also on more normal food items, not just snacks.

Upcoming...

This weekend I'm going to head to the Asian Market in town and do a special blog post on Japanese treats that are vegan! I love love LOVE any kind of Asian food, especially their cakes, cookies and dried bean snacks. I'm really looking forward to this opportunity to review them all, as it gives me a good excuse to go out and stock up on everything I love!

These are Umbrella Cookies, made from wheat flour, palm oil, sugar, black sesame seeds, blended spices and dash of salt.