Tips and Tricks: Window Sill Herbs – Vegan MoFo

As summer is coming to an end, I thought I might post about my success (and failure) at growing my own herbs in this little studio of mine in the city. I always thought that it wouldn’t be possible to do in this climate, but with the price of fresh herbs being crazy in this country, I thought it best to actually try and see how successful it could be. To begin with, I chose a selection of herbs that could last the summer and maybe longer and also ones that I used on a regular basis in my cooking.

It actually all started with a pot of basil that I bought at the local supermarket (Sainsburys, for those fellow UK dwellers). They usually die soon after I have used all the leaves, but on one occasion I noticed that it continued to grow, even whilst sitting in the original small pot that it comes in. So I bought some soil and a larger pot and replanted it and it thrived on my window sill in the summer sun that we were lucky enough to get this year!

So after this success, I decided to go down to the local nursery and buy some more herbs. I settled on oregano, chives, parsley, stevia, thyme and some catnip for my little fluffy boy :). I also got a tomato plant and a strawberry plant. I planted in a long rectangular window box the chives, stevia, strawberry, parsley and oregano.

However this picture was taken after the parsley and strawberries hopelessly died! Now, I have, by no means, a green thumb, (I grew up on a cattle station, as funny as that may seem for a vegan! So I was never taught really how to grow plants) so perhaps someone else could tell me why they didn’t work out. Those that DID work, however, were the stevia, oregano, chives and thyme. The catnip probably would have been fine if it were not for my over-zealous kitty cat who devoured the plant in one afternoon.

Check out the mega cheekiness of this little guy… Once the catnip was gone, he started on the basil!

As for the tomato, I managed to get quite a few big and juicy ones before the sun and heat subsided and they were lovely in my salads and pasta dishes.

The real surprise for me was the stevia. Such an amazing plant! I could not believe how sweet these little leaves were! I have yet to dry them and crush them for my sugar replacement, but for now I’ve been adding a leaf or two to my tea and cold drinks for a burst of sweetness.

I highly recommend growing your own stevia, you’ll be amazed at how well it grows and how sweet it is. As for the basil, which is by far my favourite herb – I decided to make some cuttings and re-plant them as they were growing so well in the heat of this little studio. To do this, I cut a few long stems from the basil plant and allowed them to sit in a glass of water for a week until they started to grow roots.

Once they had some lovely roots growing from the bottom, I planted them next to the stevia and chives and they flourished! It’s so wonderful to be able to just pick off the leaves and use them in my recipes, especially on pizzas, pasta and salads.

This is just one of them here, next to the thyme. Obviously it would be better to plant them next to each other in a larger pot, but this was just the first test run – and it grew SO fast! Of course, the best thing to do with your own basil? Vegan pesto! Check out my recipe here.

Tip of the Week: How I Drain and Press Tofu – VeganMoFo

I thought I might make a quick little post for all those new tofu users out there! We are growing in number! Many of you may have come across a recipe that instructed you to ‘drain and press’ your tofu. Now this will almost always refer to firm tofu, not silken tofu – because if you did this to silken tofu you would have a serious mess to clean up!

My next post will be a great example of how to use tofu that has been pressed (shh…it’s tofu cutlets!). Pressing tofu is a great way to ensure that when you cook the tofu it remains firm and the texture is never too sloppy. Draining also helps the tofu absorb more of the flavours you mix it with.

Method:

• To begin, take your tofu out of the packet keeping it in one piece. Holding it over the sink or a bowl, gently squeeze the block to remove excess liquid.
• Now place on a board and slice it in half lengthways.

• Now you’ll have two pieces like above. Wrap these two blocks in paper/kitchen towel a few times over making sure that the surface on top is level. Place another board on top.

• You will need to place a heavy weight over this board to do the ‘pressing’. I find that a stack of my vegan cookbooks does the trick! You could also use a pot filled with water – just make sure that the weight is evenly distributed.

• Leave the weight to press the tofu for around 10 – 20 minutes, depending on how much time you have. The longer you leave it, the firmer and tastier it will be!

Ok here’s a little preview of how I used this tofu – will be up tomorrow! Happy tofu pressing! 🙂