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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. A literal interpretation of 'banana bread' - a banana which turns into a loaf- which inevitably has a touch of the surreal. Painted in a pop art icon style reminiscent of the 1960's and similar in style to a previous painting, Mushroom Burgers.

Interior photo by suzettesuzette

Original art on your wall.

Like this painting but having trouble picturing what this might look like on your wall? Email me a photo of your space and I'll Photoshop it into place (like I did with the picture above) so you can get an idea of it framed, hung and to scale.

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $150. To find out exactly when that is, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left. Alternatively, email me to let me know you're interested (fi at wherefishsing dot com).

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The meatless meals recipe

After you're done with making smoothies, banana splits, instant icecream and fruit salad, you could try this way of eating the cargo loads of summer bananas. As a bonus, it is easier to mash defrosted bananas than fresh ones, so you can just pop any older bananas in the freezer and pull them out when you're ready to use them up.

2 cups self raising flour

1/4 teaspoon bicarb soda (the banana is heavy, extra rising power is required)

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup mashed bananas (approximately 3 medium bananas) - frozen then defrosted is easiest

1/2 cup milk

Thoroughly mix dry ingredients together.
Gradually mix in the wet ingredients, one by one in the order given, into a well in the centre of the bowl.
Pour into a VERY well greased (get into those corners and thoroughly coat the bottom) loaf tin (rectangular, approx 10 x 22cm).
Bake at 220C for 10 minutes.
Reduce oven to 180C and continue baking for at least 50 minutes and until a dry knife stabbed into the centre comes out moist but clean.
Let it stand in the tin for 5-10 minutes before trying to turn it out. This greatly increases the likelihood of it coming out in one piece.
Sit on a wire rack to cool.

Serve slices as is, or lightly toasted and smothered with butter.

Makes one banana loaf.

Fresh. Versatile. Thrifty. Fun.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm acrylic on board. Can you sense the translucency of the rice paper? The freshness of the fillings? The simplicity of this dish?

All artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store. This particular painting is drying and will be made available soon for $150. To find out the instant it's ready, get on the collectors list, yellow box top left.

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Rice paper rolls, in case you haven't had the delight of trying them, are like a tasty little salad meal in an edible wrapper. Eaten cold, they are perfect for hot days. I love making these at home because I get to fill them any way I like, which incidentally is with a little cucumber, loads of lettuce, enormous quantities of mint and a touch of tofu fried in soy sauce and sherry.

This recipe is more like a collection of ingredient suggestions and some pointers on how to construct the rolls than a set of instructions. Fill them however you like!

You will need:
rice paper roll wrappers, they are usually sold in packets of at least 20 for just a few dollars and are about 20cm in diametre.
lettuce - a soft variety or finely shredded leaves to prevent tough pieces poking through the wrapper

Your choice of other fillings, here are some ideas:
cucumber, sliced in lengths
fresh coriander or vietnamese mint
fresh mint
chopped peanuts
spring onion, chopped fine
glass/vermicelli rice noodles, these often only need to be soaked in cold water to be ready to use, but follow the directions on the packet
bean sprouts
carrot, in thin sticks
egg, beaten with a little soy sauce and sherry, fried into an omelette shape and cut into strips
tempeh (as is) or tofu (preferably marinated/pre-fried - I suggest a soy sauce and sherry mix)

Suggested dipping sauces:
Peanut (mix peanut butter, a little oil, a little water and a dash each of soy sauce, chilli, sugar and sherry to taste)
Soy sauce (a dash of rice wine vinegar added in can be quite enjoyable)
Sweet chilli (fresh minced chilli or sambal oelek with a little rice wine vinegar or white wine vinegar and sugar, to taste)



Construction tips:
The rice paper wrappers only need to be dipped into warm water for about 30 seconds to be ready to use. I fill my largest flat bottomed frypan with very warm water and dip the wrappers in as needed. They are ready when they have become soft and pliable, which is almost straight away. Also, they stick to themselves once ready so I never prepare a stack of them, just one by one.

I've tried adding the dipping sauce into the unwrapped roll. It doesn't work. The roll becomes very slippery and difficult to roll, sauce squirts all over the place and then the roll won't stick closed. My recommendation is to save the sauce for dipping.

To make a roll, put the soaked wrapper on a plate and fill the middle with your fillings of choice. Leave room around the edges for wrapping.
Fold over opposite 'ends' up over the filling.
Fold over one of the remaining ends also.
Now the bit that takes a little practice. It is easier to do than to explain. Roll the lot towards the final open end. Fold over and compress the fillings as necessary to make them fit.
The wrapper sticks to itself so just press the roll to itself at the end.
Here, let me show you:











3-6 rice paper rolls will make a meal for one, depending on how hungry you are, the type of fillings you use and the amount you manage to stuff into your rolls!

Fun. Moreish. Leisurely. Fingerfood.

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. Heavily influenced by kawaii (super-cute) Japanese cartoon animals. If you look closely you may see the giant gyoza in the background.

Nowhere as difficult to make as you might first imagine, but gyoza are a little bit of work (well worth it I say).

Gyoza are a type of dumpling also known as pot-stickers. They are partly steamed and partly fried and very delicious. Especially with an evening of beer, chatting and friends around to help. Usually they are served as an appetiser or snack, but seriously, if you're going to go to the effort of making them, it's worthwhile to make an entire meal of them. No one will complain.

Remember to get a packet or two of wrappers. Wonton, jiaozi or gyoza.

The filling:

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon sherry or sake or mirin

1 teaspoon sesame oil

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 cup or 50g of finely shredded and chopped chinese cabbage

6 spring onions, white and green parts chopped fine

3/4 cup or 50g finely chopped tempeh

3/4 cup finely chopped shitake mushrooms - equivalent to 20g dried shitake mushrooms that need to be rehydrated for 30mins and squeezed mostly dry or 80g of already rehydrated shitake mushrooms that have been squeezed mostly dry.

If you are feeling lazy, the ingredients can be put in a blender together. This is much quicker than chopping everything up fine, but the final texture is not as good and you end up with less gyoza (about 30 instead of 38).

Mix all the ingredients together very well. You don't want any clumps of ginger or salt! It's easiest if the ingredients are put in a bowl one by one in the order given and mixed thoroughly after every addition.

Now for some photos. This part is quite simple, just tricky to explain in words only.

It's quickest to work in batches. I can fit about a dozen into my pan, so that's how many I prepare at once.

Take your plain gyoza wrapper...

and take a rounded teaspoon of filling...

and place the filling on one half of the wrapper, leaving a border around the edge. Do not overfill!

Dip your fingers in water...

and wet all around the edges of the wrapper. This is so it will stick together when folded in half.

Now fold the empty half over the filling...

and press down in the middle...

and all around the edges. Done! Then repeat for all of them.

Now for the cooking. It will need to be done in batches according to how many you can fit in your frypan.

So, put enough sesame or peanut oil in the bottom of your frypan to prevent the gyoza from sticking.

When the pan is HOT place the gyoza in the pan and wriggle them about to help stop them sticking.

Fry until golden on one side.

Then throw 1/3 cup or 80ml water into the pan to steam them. Immediately put a lid on the pan.

Leave them for 3 minutes - time it.

Remove lid and remove tasty gyoza to a plate to be scoffed.

Serve with dipping sauce. Hoisin or sweet chilli or soy sauce or chilli sauce all work well. So does this one:

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon mirin

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1/2 spring onion, white part only finely chopped

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon chilli paste to taste

Mix all the ingredients in the dipping bowl.

This recipe makes 38 gyoza. Which is a light meal for 2 or a decent meal for 1.

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More vegetarian cookbook goodies

Need help with conversions? Download this handy dandy pdf of cooking conversion charts for every cooking measuring system I could find. It should make your life easier.

Want to check out more vegetarian dinner recipes? They're all in the Table of Contents.

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