Spicy non-mayo by itsu

When I'm out and about in London I like getting lunch at Itsu, now fully automated. I like it so much that I bought the Itsu cook book and found this spicy sauce recipe. It is vegan and simple to prepare. I haven't experimented with flavours yet, besides garlic, ginger and black pepper the main flavour is Sriracha sauce, which is usually vegan but best check the label as fish sauce is included in some varieties.

Tahini is used to thicken the sauce as well as increase depth of flavour, but not very much, so this is truly a low fat low calorie sauce.

When I'm at home this is the sauce I now like to use with my regular lunch of steamed veg and rice. and sometimes I give it a boost with gomasio.

Itsu Spicy Sauce

Recipe

• 120g silken tofu
• 3 tsp tahini paste
• 3 tsp Sriracha chllli sauce (or 1 hot red chilli, chopped)
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tsp  sugar or alternative
• 10g (2cm) grated fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed or grated
• 1 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• t tbsp water
• 1 tbsp light oil

Method

Put all ingredients into a blender and whizz together to make a smooth sauce

Use immediately, or store in a screwtop jar in the fridge until needed.

notes:

if you use a firmer tofu you will get a grainier result, but it will still be delicious

Vegan caramel sauce

I put together a vegan meal the other night including chocolate sorbet and caramel sauce. The chocolate sorbet had a wonderfully intense flavour, and the caramel sauce was plentiful and smooth and a wonderful contrast to the dark chocolate.

This sauce is truly delicious, fudgy if left thick, smooth and pourable if made thinner. You could use it in a vegan banoffee pie, or eat it with slices of a nice sharp apple.

In terms of dates, you can get lovely medjool dates to use, or you can use dried dates which you'd need to soak in hot water to help when you blend them.

I use a stick blender.

This is the recipe for the sauce

Vegan Caramel Sauce

Ingredients
10 dates, without stones
2 tbsp nut butter or tahini
1 tsp vanilla 
salt to taste

8tbsp approximately liquid to dilute (almond milk, water or coconut milk)

Method
Blend the dates, nut butter, vanilla and salt until smooth
Add liquid is small amounts to get the texture you want

Butternut heaven - vegan supper

green salad, roasted butternut squash with sesame seeds, pimped houmous, tomatoes, so good I photographed it... four more times

Kofte to everyone

Just had lovely lunch of wrapped kofte made by David, with houmous, salad and yoghurt. His recipe includes pine nuts with pork and beef. It reminded me of jzz bzz kofte, which I must make again soon, to eat with tahini sauce and rocket.