Megan makes Masterchef pub food challenge vegan

I love a good pub meal.  Who doesn't?

Traditionally a pub meal was one of three things: Banger's n' mash (and gravy if it was a particularly good pub) Rissole'n'veg (there's something about the sound of that word... go on say it out loud, with an Aussie accent. "Rissole")  or steak.  Either on a plate, or in a sandwich.

Over the years pub food has gotten a bit fancier; but overall has stayed true to several very clear concepts.  A pub meal is a generous portion of satisfying food that's easy to make and appealing to just about everyone's tastes, and is best washed down with a pint of your favorite beer.  Usually with some form of chips on the side.  I'm serious.  I once had a pub meal that consisted of :sweet and sour deep fried tofu (and in a country pub too!) with rice... and a side of chips'n'salad.

I toyed with the idea of blogging something for the Masterchef seduction challenge earlier this week; but then quickly realised a couple of things.  Firstly, me giving advice on seduction would be like... well like me giving you advice on how to cook the perfect steak.  Clearly, a lady who lives alone (with her cats) is not the one to be suggesting the perfect seductive dessert.

Also, the ingredient combinations on offer were a struggle... Option 1, Strawberries and cream is out... I can't use the cream.  Option 2, Champagne and Caviar, I can't use the caviar, and if I need to resort to copious amounts of alcohol to to seduce someone then I might just go for the time honoured technique of a long island ice tea and the light switch. (the long island ice tea is for them, the light switch is for me)  Option 3, chocolate and roses.  My most promising yet.  Sadly, one hiccup.  My blog rules require me to only use food available from a regular supermarket.  Your local woolies does have flowers at the front of the shop for sale, including roses.  Unfortunately the roses sold for visual gifts are not good for eating.  I don't have any roses (of decent size and appearance) in my yard yet, so couldn't use roses either.

I suppose I could leave a Hansel and Gretel style trail of chocolate bits leading all the way to my bedroom, you know... just on the off chance?....

Luckily for us all, another episode of Masterchef came out before I could order the ACME "catch yourself someone beautiful and amazing" kit.

So, my vegan pub meal is going to tick all the boxes.  It's easy to make, delicious, suits a wide range of tastes and goes great with a frosty cold beer.  I'm going to show you how to make a tempeh burger with satay sauce, and a side of really great potato wedges. Perfect way to kick off the Queens birthday long weekend in our nation's capital.

The first thing I do is get the potato wedges going.

I pre-heat my oven to 180C then put a pot of water on the stove to boil.

Potato Wedge preparation.  Frosty cold beer in the background.

Then you need to cut your potatoes into wedge shapes.

Be generous, I used about 500 grams of potatoes here. If you end up with left over potato wedges at the end they freeze and re-heat just fine.

Once you've cut your spuds, the water should be boiling by about now.  Put the potato wedges in for about 10-12 minutes.  This will pre-cook the potatoes before baking them, and help them have a really nice fluffy texture inside once they're finished.

While the potato wedges are boiling you can get started on the satay sauce.  I used a commercial thai red curry paste to get the balance of chilli and spices just right.  If you're not in the mood for cooking you could just use a commercial satay sauce if you want; but I find them a bit insipid... nowhere near enough chilli kick for my taste.

I put a pot on the stove, turn it up to high heat and add 2 dessert spoons of the Thai red curry paste.  If you're cooking this for a vegan, or with the intent of making the dish completely vegan then check the labels when buying the curry paste, traditionally it will contain non vegan things like shrimp paste and fish sauce.  Happily I've found a brand at the local woolies that's okay for vegans, it's in a jar in the Asian food aisle.

Follow the curry paste with 1 cup (250ml) of coconut cream.  Stir until combined.  Mine looked like this.

No satay sauce is complete without some peanutty goodness.  I add a very generous quarter cup of peanut butter to my sauce.  I want it to be really thick and rich.  Stir the peanut butter through until the sauce mixture is completely homogeneous.  You can then turn the stove element under the sauce off.

By now, the potatoes should be boiled.  Drain the water, give the pot a shake with a forwards-backwards arm motion.  This will rough up the surface of the potato wedges a bit and help them have a nice crispy outside when cooked.

Dump the spuds into an oven/roasting pan and drizzle with a generous amount of oil.  They don't need to be swimming in it, but you want all of your wedges nicely coated.  I sprinkled mine with a bit of salt, parsley and dry/powdered garlic, gave it another vigorous back and forth shake, then put it in the oven.

I'm sorry but here's the bad news.  These spuds will take anywhere between 40 minutes and one hour to cook.  They are worth the wait though.

Go away for between 20 and 30 minutes.  The rest of this dish is really quick to put together.  Have a beer, put your feet up, you get the drill.  I used the time wisely; watching my cats stalking each other.

I probably should have gotten the shopping bags out of shot first huh....

Once you're back in the kitchen check on the potato wedges and give the roasting pan a bit of a shake.

Then, it's time to prepare the Tempeh.  WTF is tempeh? I hear you say.

It's this:

Tempeh

Tempeh is made from soy beans.  It was invented in Indonesia.  Tempeh is great grilled and fried and some people say it has a slightly nutty flavour.  To me, it just tastes like tempeh. I really like the stuff.  If you give the recipe on this blog a go you can find out what it tastes like for yourself.

I cut the tempeh to make my ideal burger shape.

I actually take the piece in the foreground, and slice it down the middle (like the way you cut a sponge cake before you put the cream in the middle)

The great thing about tempeh is that it's perfectly fine to eat raw if you want.  You don't need to worry about cooking times.  In fact, I put mine in my sandwich press to grill it on both sides at once.  It took just a few minutes, not long at all.

While the Tempeh is in the Sandwich press I got a turkish bread roll and cut it in half.

Hey Megan: I just stopped worrying about losing my 'domestic goddess' crown to you.

You'll keep Nigella.

I sit the roll on top of the sandwich press to warm the bread up a bit while the tempeh is cooking.

Turkish bread... I love you so much.

Then I prepare some quick salad ingredients to go with the burger.  I use baby spinach, grated carrot and tomato.  You can use anything you like or have handy.  I also turn the stove on low for the satay sauce, giving it a quick stir through and making sure it's warm.

Finally, my long awaited potato wedges are ready.  I assemble my meal.

Megan makes the masterchef pub food challenge vegan.

There it is in all it's basic but satisfying glory.  Perfectly cooked potato wedges, crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside.  Grilled tempeh burger with some salad, smothered with freshly made satay sauce.

This meal, a frosty beer and the L-word made my Friday night pretty awesome.

Give this recipe a go, it's pretty easy to do and I promise you won't be disappointed.