Vegan Action | FAQ's

Vegan Action | FAQ's

They Call Me The Wild Rose Cupcakes

Quite possibly the prettiest things I have ever seen......

Wild rose, lemon and poppy seed cupcakes.


This is an adaptation of a cornbread recipe, which I have used to make many a tasty lemon cake, so the measurements are a bit strange, god knows where the original came from....


Makes 12 cupcakes


240ml corn meal
240ml plain flour
100ml organic unrefined sugar
240ml soy milk
80ml oil or vegan margarine, softened
5 tbsp soy milk thickened with vinegar (vegan buttermilk)
1 tbsp baking powder
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Zest of whole lemon
Handful of wild rose petals, shredded
2-3 tbsp poppy seeds


Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. 


Combine wet ingredients in one bowl and dry ingredients in another.  Mix until just combined.  Pour into lined muffin tray and bake for 20-25 minutes until a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

For the icing;


6 tbsp vegan margarine
1tsp lemon juice
Icing sugar to desired thickness
A few shredded rose petals
A little lemon zest


Combine the ingredients and mix well, add icing sugar until the desired consistency.

Use a piping bag or the back of a teaspoon to ice the cupcakes.

Decorate with more shredded rose petals, lemon zest and poppy seeds.

Try not to eat all twelve.

The rose flavour is pretty subtle, but I think that's for the best, adding rose essence could make them taste a bit too much like perfume, and adding more lemon could overpower the subtlety of the roses.  Either way the one that fell on the floor was gobbled up greedily by an awaiting beast; always my signal of  success in vegan cooking.

Medicinal Benefits of Red Clover Blossoms, Leaf, and Tea

Medicinal Benefits of Red Clover Blossoms, Leaf, and Tea

And they taste a bit like honey.....

I feel I must try to overcome my self-consciousness and continue.  Writing is one thing, the idea that people who know me may read what I write for some reason fills me with dread.  Is my voice strange, or silly, or just not natural?  Is the idea ill-conceived?  Who knows, I must just feel secure in the knowledge that if I only hope for good things for others, then they feel the same way.  An idea is brewing for wild rose and lemon cupcakes, it may have to be shared with the world....we shall see.

Spiced Sweet Potato Cakes

Satisfying enough to fill the belly of even the most committed carnivore, these pretty little pan-fried sweet potato cakes perch proudly atop a mound of white rice.  Add a spicy tomato sauce and a meal is born!

Ingredients;

• 500-700g sweet potato, peeled, chopped, boiled until tender and roughly mashed.
• Juice of 1 lime
• 4 Handfuls breadcrumbs (any kind you like) plus extra for coating
• 1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped, or 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 2 tbsp fresh chopped chives
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tbsp coarsely ground hazelnuts
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil for frying

Combine all ingredients except olive oil and mix well.  Form into palm sized patties about 1 inch thick and roll in the remaining breadcrumbs.  Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.  Fry the patties for about three minutes each side or until golden and crispy.  Transfer to a plate in a warm oven until all the cakes are done.  Serve immediately. 

With Basmati rice, a rich spicy tomato sauce and some fresh chives.

Vegan News

Vegan News

One minute Sun-dried tomato sauce.

I personally detest sun-dried tomatoes, they are woody, chewy and sometimes have a weird musty, old sock kind of taste.  Semi sun-dried or oven-dried tomatoes, however, are sweet, flavourful and juicy.  What a disastrous confusion for the poor semi sun-dried tomato, which rates, in my opinion, among the tastiest of tasty vegan antipasti.

This is so simple and delicious, 

If you are feeling lazy, just take a pack of semi sun-dried, oven dried or slow roasted tomatoes in oil, blend the contents, adding garlic, salt, pepper, fresh herbs and lemon juice to taste.  Of course, one could use home made oven dried tomatoes if desired.



It is best to get the tomatoes which are already soaking in oil, although if you would like to drain them and add an oil of your choice feel free, most are in sunflower oil, which is not as flavourful as a good extra virgin olive oil.



This sauce can be used cold as a fabulous dip, as a butter substitute in sandwiches, as a sauce for pasta, or even as a tasty salad dressing. Yum Yum.

Very Easy Vegan Thai Curry

So many delicious, experimental recipes have been lost to the annals of my poor memory, so, in the spirit of archiving, and of course in case I forget what went in to it; this curry was so tasty, it should be preserved for posterity.

6 cloves garlic
3 inch piece fresh ginger
50g fresh basil
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
Small piece galangal root
pinch cumin seeds
1 can coconut milk
juice of 1 lime
2 spring onions
1 tsp ground coriander
pinch cinnamon 
pinch chilli powder
generous pinch salt
2 red and 1 green chilli peppers
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 tsp honey/sugar (vegan sugar if desired)


Blend all the above ingredients with a hand blender, in a casserole dish, until as smooth as possible, add some of the stock if this helps.


1 litre vegetable stock
1 sweet potato
1 small can water chestnuts
1/2 red bell pepper
2 pak choi
Thai ribbon rice noodles

Chop the vegetables in to whatever sizes you prefer, add the sweet potato and water chestnuts to the pan and add the remaining stock to cover.

Cook at 200 degrees C for 45-60 minutes until the sweet potato is tender, add the red pepper, pak choi and noodles and cook for a further 5 minutes.  Remove from the oven, stir through more fresh basil and extra lime juice if desired.

Being vegan can be difficult, antisocial, sometimes even antagonistic.  Feeding other people vegan food can be just as difficult; a feat sometimes full of rejection and ridicule.  This blog is the record of how I reconciled my love of cooking delicious, (mostly) healthy food, with my desire to eat vegan, and how I have found convincing others of the merits of this food easier than I had ever imagined.   The secret vegan is my sneaky, underhanded way of melting the meat-eating hearts of the people around me, and a record of my discovery of the true joy of vegan cooking.