Yen Sushi

Yen Sushi in 11-12 Bartlett Street, Bath

Yen Sushi, tucked away in the streets near the Royal Crescent and away from most of the hustle and bustle of  central Bath provides a suitable haven even for a vegan; from supersoft tofu in miso soup to bean curd skin sushi filled with vegetable goodness. Very welcome and satisfying.

Supersoft tofu in miso soup

Seaweed salad and inari sushi

Vegetable Gyoza

Inside Yen Sushi

Vegan Cauliflower Cheese

During the winter you just have to have those warming, nourishing comfort foods that keeps your soul together.  I wanted to re-create my comfort favourite cauliflower cheese; but how to make the all important cheese sauce when you are vegan - well Isa Chandra Moskowitz and her great book Isa Does It really helps.  What I do is take her recipes for Sunflower Mac and Mac and Cheese and smooch them together to make my cashew nut cheese sauce.

Serves 3-4

1 whole cauliflower chopped into florets

3/4 cup of drained cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours

1/2 cup of roughly chopped carrots

1 small onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

3 cups of vegetable stock

1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes

2 tbsp of cornstarch

2 tbsp of tomato paste

Oil to fry (I use olive oil but you can use rapeseed oil or vegetable oil)

Seasoning

1. Pre-heat your oven to around 275C.

2. Boil your cauliflower until just cooked... if you can easily slide a knife through a floret then it is done.

3. In the meantime, preheat a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the oil.

4. Saute the onions and carrots for about 10 minutes and then add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat.

5. Place this onion and carrot mixture in the blender or food processor. Add the vegetable stock, cornstarch, nutritional yeast, tomato paste, cashew nuts and seasoning. Blend until very smooth.

6. Transfer back to the saucepan and cook on a medium heat stirring, until thickened.  This should take about 15 to 20 minutes.  Season to taste.

7. Drain the cauliflower and place in a over-proof dish.  Pour the cashew nut cheese sauce over the cauliflower.

8. Place in the pre-heated oven and just warm through.

9. Serve with a baked potato and enjoy.

Putting the onion mixture, nuts and vegetable stock together to blend

Yes, it can work with a purple cauliflower as well

Cooking and reducing the nut cheese sauce

Pink cauliflower ready for the orange nut cheese sauce... truly is colourful

Ready to put in the oven

My comfort vegan cauliflower cheese

Chickpea Curry

Home grown chillies

Born out of necessity during the long British winter I created this one pot dish to satisfy craving for kale (always an essential in winter) and my all abiding love for chickpeas.  It is a sort of riff on dhal; a mainstay for all veggie/vegan cooks.

Ingredients (serves 3 to 4)

1 onion, finely chopped

1 to 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Thumbnail size piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp tumeric

Either 2 dried chillies or 1/2 tbsp chillie flakes, chopped

Tin of chickpeas, drained

Tin of plum tomatoes

3 to 4 handfuls of kale, I tend to strip from stalk, and wash

1/2 tbsp garam masala

Seasoning

1. On a medium heat in a large saucepan sweat the onions until translucent and soft.

2 Add the garlic, ginger and chillies and stir.

3. Add cumin, and tumeric; stir again and combine spices with the onion mixture.

4. Add the tin of tomatoes; I tend to fish out the individual tomatoes and just break apart the tomato into the pan, ensuring that the very end of the tomato does not get into the mixture.  I find that top end does not break down into the sauce.

5. Add the drained chickpeas and kale and stir. Allow to cook for around 10 minutes or until the kale is tender.

6. Sprinkle the garam masala over and stir it in.

7. Serve with some great basmati rice and yoghurt of your choice.

Chickpeas and onions

Adding the kale to the mix

Acorn Vegetarian Restaurant

Acorn Restaurant serves some of the best vegan/vegetarian food in the west country (England that is). This smallish restaurant, nestled in the alleyways of Bath is a must go destination for anyone who loves vegetables.  Love it.

I am busy catching up on posts that I have sadly neglected over the last year or so... but  I am about to make up for that.  Just bear with me. The dishes speak for themselves and that starter is something that I would have again and again.

Chioggia Beetroots steamed with garden herbs & then shaved into slivers with a beetroot vierge & an aged cashew puree

Spiced roasted cauliflower with little bhajis, raisin puree and gel 

Poached rhubarb with nut cream and believe it was rhubarb jelly

Maria Elia's Carrrot Pancakes

I discovered Maria Elia many years ago whilst researching Greek dishes and finding fabulous vegetable dishes in her book Smashing Plates.  Her globe artichoke and butter bean houmous/hummus was to die for.  Highly recommended.

This is a must try dish from Maria Elia's cookbook - The Modern Vegetarian.  Find this recipe on the website thisismariaelia.com.      These carrot pancakes are just the best thing for barbeques or as a starter.  The recipe may look complicated with the pancakes, carrot houmous, feta salad and dressing but you can either follow Maria Elia's  recipe to the letter for a great vegetarian dish or simplify (like I did).

So I took the recipe for the carrot pancakes and followed exactly, substituted the carrot houmous for plain chickpea houmous (something I can practically make in my sleep) and topped simply with alfalfa and coriander.

So what do you need for the carrot pancakes; carrots, onion, green chillies, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, coriander ground, chopped coriander, baking powder, chickpea flour, semolina, salt, water and olive oil..... please look up the recipe for exact amounts.

For the houmous/hummus you will need:
3 cloves of garlic chopped
400g of cooked chickpeas (or a can of cooked chickpeas)
2 tbsp tahini
Olive oil to taste
Juice of half a lemon


For the pancakes mix all the ingredients bar the olive oil to form a batter. Heat the olive in a non-stick frying pan and spoon 1/6 to 1/4 of the batter in and fry until golden brown on both sides.  Repeat with the remaining batter.  Leave to cool.

For the hummus place the garlic, chickpeas, tahini, juice of a lemon and olive oil in a food processor or blender. Blend together. Add more olive oil or cooking liquid if the mixture is too thick.

To serve just take your pancakes and top with the hummus, and a sprinkling of alfafa and coriander.


The Modern Vegetarian is a great book and many of the dishes can be easily adapted to be vegan.... look out for Chilled Tomato, Peach and Ginger Soup, Watermelon Curry with Black Beans and Paneer/Tofu, and Ginger Beer-Battered Stuffed Tofu with Asian Mushy Peas.... Maria Elia is a chef who knows how to treat vegetables and make them the star of the dish. I love the mix of styles from Greek, to Japanese, from the Middle East to Thai inspired dishes.  This is cooking that I love.  High on flavour, high on vegetables, high in satisfaction.