MAYO WARS

Yesterday I’ve made another attempt to make the best vegan mayo ever. Or just an edible version would have done.

Last time I’ve made it it tasted kind of .. questionable. I think that was due to making it partially with olive oil(coz I’ve ran out of sunflower oil in the middle of production) and to the fact that I was so stunned by getting it to a perfect consistency that I didn’t dare seasoning it.

So, the taste was quite overwhelming and strong. Not so great.

Yesterday, I wanted to make a “vegan chicken salad”, so I needed some more mayonaise. And why buy it?! Vegan mayo is fucking expensive and I also like learning how to make things from scratch. Sometimes..
Not so much the first two trials.

I’ve only put soy milk in it and vegetable oil and both times, it turned into a gluggy mass. Like a big jug of really oily milk. Yuck!!
It was gross. And what a waste!! But what are you supposed to make with that?! Down the drain I’d say!

The first time I used soy milk from a regular supermarket. It had some additives in it, sugar, stabilizers, crap like that. I’ve added a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to the milk before the oil, as it was suggested in the german video below. And regular sunflower oil.

An instruction video for our German friends – Ein how-to video für unsere deutschen FreundInnen

The second time(in between I had to go to the supermarket to get some more oil) I’ve used organic soy milk, made only from water and soy beans and canola oil.

By that time I was really sick of reading any more recipes. But I saw a great hint in one of the recipes which was, to put the oil in really slowly, because otherwise it’s too heavy and just goes straight to the bottom of the blender. That helped.

So here are my best tips for making the perfect vegan mayonnaise

•Use a small amount of soy milk(half a cup) for a trial, so you don’t waste so much of the ingredients if it doesn’t work out

•Pour the oil into the blender, which has to be at highest speed, VERY SLOWLY!! A very thin stream while still pouring it in steadily

•Apparently both, soy milk and oil should have room temperature(same temperature) or it won’t work

•If the oil is still a bit separate in the end, just put the mayo into a bowl and stir it while also stirring in the seasoning and the oil will blend with the rest

•Put the seasoning in after you’re happy with the consistency, some people put them in in the beginning, you might wanna do that once you’ve perfected your technique, otherwise, see above, regarding waste. You don’t wanna throw all this stuff in and then having to pour it down the drain

Perfect vegan mayo

And here is the recipe

1/2 cup soy milk
1 1/2 cups oil(flavour neutral oil, like sunflower or canola, or experiment with olive oil)

And then season to your liking. This is what I’ve put in.

1/2 tsp mustard
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar(or any other vinegar or lemon)
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt

I’m very picky with my mayo, I hated Australian mayonnaise, I refused to eat it and would only eat a certain Swiss brand. It’s gross, too sour and sweet and, brrr, just slimy.
But I’m really happy with how this recipe turned out. It tastes like The Real Deal. And you can season it up how you want it, which makes it taste even better.

Making the perfect mayonaise is like an art form!

Lunch

I would also recommend this recipe to meat eaters or vegetarians. I mean, why eat mayo with raw eggs if you don’t have to. Why take the risk of salmonella, that shit is dangerous. And raw eggs?! Gross!
And why eat animal products where it’s really not necessary?!

Just to make sure the recipe really works, I’ve tried it again today. Well, the first time it went shit again. What I’ve noticed already yesterday with one batch is, that it first solidifies and then all of a sudden goes liquid again. Which is so frustrating! Not sure if I’ve put too much oil in or put it in too fast, but I really tried to put it in as slow as possible. Maybe too much then?!
So, I don’t really wanna call myself a vegan mayo expert now. But I am! It doesn’t always turn out, but when it works, ‘Wow!’ lol

And if you think, “This shit is gross, coz too oily!” or if you can’t get it to work or wanna try something different, here are 2 more recipes, one is a raw almond mayonnaise and the other one a tofu mayonnaise. Have fun experimenting and tell me how it went!

Starting To Eat Vegetarian

Starting to eat vegetarian can be quite confusing and maybe a bit daunting. First, if you don’t do it already, read your labels. You should do that anyways, it’s surprising to see what is in some foods. If a tomato sauce for example has more then ten ingredients, I won’t eat it. Lots of foods contain all sorts of weird numbers and sugars and all sorts of crap. I wanna impose a new rule for myself “If I don’t know what it is, I won’t eat it!” It’s really difficult! I couldn’t do it right now, it’s stressful enough sourcing vegan, organic whole foods!

So anyways, if you want to ease into the vegetarian diet and/0r generally eat more healthy maybe try the following.

•Check out the health foods stores and have a good look around, that can be not only the healthier option, but also more interesting then just getting the regular products from the normal supermarket.

•Go to the farmer’s market. This is so great I can’t believe I just started doing this a couple of weeks ago. You get food that is locally produced, is fresh and organic and unprocessed and get to support small businesses! What’s not to love!!?

•Experiment, try something new, maybe it won’t be great, maybe it will be. If you are worried about wasting money, write down some foods and research them at home.

•Try out some milk alternative, I quite like coconut milk and I have rice milk for my dandelion coffee. Nice!

•Try some of the meat and sausage alternatives, most supermarkets carry at least some and you will find them in whole food stores also. I recommend smoked tofu, I know some people say soy isn’t great for you, but I still gotta look into that. Soy, vegetable burgers and tempeh can be great. Some brands are better then others, you gotta try them to see what you like.

•Follow facebook pages on vegetarian eating and recipes, find websites and talk to your friends that are vegetarian.

•I’d recommend making vegetarian spreads, like pates, yourself. I haven’t tried making them yet, you can also get them in the whole foods stores, they are delicious and great for sandwiches.

•Also great on sandwiches are nut butters, I love macademia nut butter or vegan pestos, which you also can make yourself. Because this shit can be expensive.

•Most likely you want to eat more healthy too, so I’d recommend to not over cook vegetables or just have them raw. Stir them into your hot food for example after taking it off the heat. Or start the day with a fruit salad. I do that and it’s awesome!

•We don’t use butter in our house and we also stopped eating margarine a while ago. I actually don’t miss is at all! I never thought it would be so easy! I normally just eat spreads straight on my toast, if it’s too dry I just use just use more. I have also tried using nut butters, tahini or jam on top of coconut oil. And I gotta say it’s delicious!

•Eating out can be a problem, depending on where you live. Give a vegan or vegetarian restaurant a try next time. There are some cheap indian and Hare Krishna places in Melbourne I like go go to. And it gives you some inspiration and you don’t need to cook!

•Get yourself some vegetarian books from the library or book shop

•Check out some websites to get some inspirations.

You can also check out these websites for some more meal ideas.

taste.com.au

vegetarian.about.com

instructables.com/vegan

veganeasy.org

To name just a few. And here is one I found that has some cool kids recipes, like zucchini potato fritters, stuffed mushrooms and pasties.

kidspot.com.au

I normally don’t cook with recipes, but I gotta check out some of these websites for inspirations for the future. Some of the stuff they got on there looks quite delicious.

Those are some tips I come up with right now. There must be heaps of others. Remember, when you are just starting to change your diet, don’t be too hard on yourself, don’t be afraid to try something wild and new and most importantly Have Fun!!

Salt

Salt. It’s important. But apparently it’s bad for you.

Well, first of all there are different types of salt, i split them into 3 groups, table salt, sea salt and Himalayan salt.

Table salt is bleached and stripped of it’s minerals, so you just have 2 compounds left, Sodium and Chloride, then some anti-caking agents are added, maybe they will even add iodine and flouride, there you have your nice table salt.. Pretty gross.
Don’t get me started on flouridating salt, water or toothpaste.. That’s a topic for a later post.

Sea salt is better, natural, should be unbleached and has more minerals in it, but is obviously contaminated from all the rubbish that we dump into our oceans.

And then there is Himalayan crystal salt. I love Himalayan salt! It’s the best! Seriously, it tastes awesome, doesn’t leave that  burning sensation in your mouth like table salt does, is milder, but still saltier. And it’s all so healthy with the minerals and trace elements it contains. You know, the shit your body needs!

This dude explains it quite well. Watch it!

Salt is supposed to be bad for you and i find it unfair that all kinds of salt are just thrown into the same box and all of them are getting a bad rep.  While large quantities of table salt are, crystal salt is good for you, because, among other things, it is supposed to balance your blood pressure and the water content in your body.

We used to use sea salt, because it took me a while to find Himalayan salt in Australia(i used to use it back in the day..). Now i use it all the time. When i’m eating somewhere where there is only table salt available i won’t use it. I hate food that isn’t salted enough, but i’ll rather pass on the table salt, it’s disgusting.

Some of my favourite condiments. Organic cayenne pepper, organic dulse flakes and organic Himalayan crystal salt. I love my pincher jars

Don’t put the Himalayan salt in a salt shaker, it won’t work and will just clog it up. Use a pincher instead, i use small wide jars(they used to be antipasto jars), they are perfect and look pretty awesome!

Salt is more important then you think.

Here is another interesting video.