Tabule Moseley - Lebanese & Moroccan Food in Birmingham [@NLi10]

 We were in Moseley for a look round the shops and market - and it turned out the folk festival was on so it was busy.  Before we went and hit in the new Double Sixes games cafe we stopped for lunch at Tabule which is a Lebanese/Moroccan restaurant my partner had been to but I'd never tried.

For drink I had the Moroccan green tea, which is a blend of green and mint teas and tastes most traditional with far too much sugar.  I drank this on the roofs of Marrakech when we were there years ago so for me it brings back good memories.

As the main dish we shared Fatayer Bsbanekh which was a baked Lebanese pastry filled with a mixture of spinach, onions, lemon juice, pomegranate seeds, olive oil & sumac.  It's billed as their version of pizza to make it easier for us to understand, but its a lot more similar to other pastry/bread dishes that I've had.  Very deep flavours and would have been perfect with something sweet and fruity to dip it in to.

 For the meat side we had Kibbe Sajieh, which is a bulgur wheat shell filled with minced meat, onion, walnuts, Arabic spices & pomegranate molasses.  I think that as a table portion this would have been great but as a solo dish it was just a bit too rich and I was thinking I should have gone for the Moroccan sausages instead.

My partner's side was Harrak Ispaoo Traditional Damascus lentil cooed with tamarind, coriander, garlic & pomegranate. Topped with Pita chips.  It was quite large so I had to help out and found it to be a great complement to the 'pizza' and added a good crunch to the meat balls!

I think we needed to go as a 4, and have twice as many options (or do what the table next to us did and take the rest home for another day).

A great lunch and at £15 each very reasonable considering how full we were (and that a Subway 6" would have cost half that and not had any of the excitement).  

Dinky Dim Sum Veggie Selection [@NLi10]

 Happy left overs day! Before we got to the Christmas stuff we had a mini Christmas with my parents and had these cool snacks from Sainsbury’s

They look like vegetables

Yummy!

Pop them in a steaming pot and heat away!

Oh dear - too long - they stuck together!

2nd batch done for 30msec less and much better - and we still have a 2nd box to crack. But look at these lovely veggies.

I’m tempted to shallow fry the next lot as these were still a little squidgy but the flavours and textures inside were great and they added a bit of pizazz to the buffet. 

Gosh - Falafacini - Basil Pesto & V'DUJA [@NLi10]

 We like the Gosh! range of vegan and veggie stuff, so I recommended we got a couple of these when I saw them.

We like Falafel, we like arancini, will we like this combo?

Easy and quick to cook - and 10/30 weekly plant points (which is the far more confusing version of 5-a-day)

And they do look exciting!

But my goodness were they dry!  We needed to put these in a sauce or similar to make them much more appetising.  They tasted great, and had an interesting texture but I could feel the moisture being drained from my soul so it wasn't as enjoyable as I hoped.

But - we had a back-up flavour to try.  Where as the other had delicate pesto flavours, this has a mighty spicy kick instead.

And in preparation I picked up a big tub of the premium humus we like and that helped - but still these would have benefited from a lovely rich sauce!

I can't imagine using these as falafel in a wrap, but as part of a hearty meal (with a large drink on the side) I think we can consider them again.

Fry's Katsu (Vegan) Chicken Fillets [@NLi10]

 We've been a big fan of Fry's Vegan stuff for a very long time here, so it's lovely when I spot a new kind like these in Iceland.  Yeah - it's essentially a flatter version of the chicken fillet, but the sauce immediately gives you recipe ideas and gets the taste-buds tingling.

And they seem like a nice bunch too!

And as ever - it's decent quality ingredients

Air Fryer instructions are now on everything!  But - in the normal oven it goes.

Not the sauce - that gets defrosted and pinged in the Microwave.

Cat plus katsu! Definitely vegan as she's not trying to hit it.

The sauce is good - just enough spice to elevate it from Chip-shop-curry to Katsu, and the not-chicken slices as easily as you'd expect.

This isn't going to fool anyone, but your average person isn't going to care past the first bite.  They might be upset I ran out of frozen Udon noodles and had to settle for waffles instead.  As I had it all to myself I didn't add leafy greens, but I did have a pudding too.

A hit with me and one I'll add to the usual order.

Plenish Berry Gut Health 5x Shots [@NLi10]

 Plenish make one of my favourite 'not milks' but it's a little more expensive than my regular.  That makes it a nice breakfast treat.  So - when I saw the brand on a gut health I decided to give it a shot (or 5).

AND - it's Pomegranate based which I absolutely love.  There were single shots for £2 - but this 5x shots was £3.50 due to Tesco deals which seems a much better deal and you can give it a proper go.

So - I dug out the old Teapigs shot glass for 5 consecutive morning breakfasts and gave it a whirl.

The tastes are interesting, the cider vinegar flavour is most definitely there and the fruits and berries make it a pleasurable experience overall.  And the health benefits were interesting too - I think I'd say it did improve my 'gut health' for the time I was taking it.

Like all of these transitory bacteria products though it really only lasts as long as you use it so it's probably better as a nice morning boost of vitamins!

Walkers Unbelievable Vegan Flame Grilled Steak Crisps (Tesco) By @SpectreUK

Some people don't eat meat because of the principle, some for their dietary requirements, and some because they just don't like the flavour. I am a meat eater, I always have been. I miss those big juicy steaks I used to eat with tons of calories and a little "sauce", as I used to say, dripping out of its medium rare pinkness.

I still have steak, but the lower more healthy Fillet steak, as I count my calories to keep my weight down for my knee, rather than the big juicy Ribeye or T-bone varieties. These new limited edition Unbelievable Vegan Flame Grilled Steak crisps may appeal to those that miss the flavour of steak. I have tried a few Vegan products, and really like Vegan ice cream for its big on flavour. So, I have high hopes for big on flavour flame grilled steak crisps.

On opening the packet I was greeted with a luscious beefy aroma from the Unbelievable Vegan Flame Grilled Steak crisps inside. These crisps definitely tasted of flame grilled steak, and they were really moreish. No wonder most of the multipack had disappeared by the time I came to try them. I was glad to have hidden away a second multipack for myself.

I was very impressed by the big on flavour of these Flame Grilled Steak crisps, and all Vegan friendly. I can barely believe no cows were harmed in their production. Although I believe there were extensive and possibly stressful interviews on what they may taste like flame grilled.

Information on the packet; The 24g packet contains 112 calories, with 4.9g of fat, 0.3g of sugar and 0.26g of salt. Please see photograph for the ingredients.

Suma Organic Vegan Ravioli - Can of Comfort [@NLi10]

As children we survived on can-food for lunches.  We'd open them and heat them ourselves during the holidays and be completely self-sufficient until the evening meal.  Consequently I kind of hate most canned foods now.

This one is a bit special though.

As most of the childhood 80s ones were by Heinz they were mostly sugar and the pasta was barely pasta.  The meat was always dodgy too.  Here we solve all of that by making it vegan and decent quality pasta.

And full of veggies!  Apparently this existed 40 years ago so I could have been eating this all this time.

I microwaved it just like the olden days.

And it looked decent, and smelt fabulous.

The best way to describe this is Hearty.  I'd not want to share the can, but the mix of veggies and filled pasta is spot on - and the sauce is thick and rich.

For these zero degrees days this is the perfect low-effort lunch and I hope to stash a few away for emergencies.  Lovely stuff.

Fruitfetti - Apple & Raspberry - Holland & Barrett (@NLi10)

 Our family have been shopping in health food shops since I was tiny - probably as a result of my Grandmother who loved all kinds of supplements and potions.  As part of this we'd spend a lot of time in these shops as children - but were fortunately allowed to choose a snack to take home.  Usually these were horrible - but the two safe options were the Hedgehog Crisps, and things made out of dried fruits. (Later on they also sold Kettle Chips!)

I spotted a display of Fruitfetti - and thought that it was some kind of eco-friendly confetti that was also bird food.  While not far off - it's actually human food.

And the little tubs on the side suggested that the apple one was almost exactly like one of my favourite childhood snacks - freeze dried green apple chunks! And now it was a 50:50 mix with raspberry too which was a bonus.  The tub shows an even mix.

The pack says it's an even mix.

The art says it's an even mix.

The bowl says it's 80% apple!

Now this isn't entirely unexpected - the raspberry is the expensive bit afterall - but I'd have expected it to be at least a little closer to 50%.

That said - the nostalgia is strong with this one, and as the apple was the main reason for trying these and the taste is spot on then I can't be too disappointed.

I think the price of £3 feels a little high - just eat a fresh apple was the response when we'd ask for these - but it's likely correct as these were always a luxury item.  They last a lot longer as an adult, as we used to pour them into our mouths like popping candy!

I shall try all the flavours out of journalistic responsibility and report back, especially as one has blueberries.

Probably not one to give to small children these days, but for me a nice little flavour boost while out and about.

Best Vegan 'Egg' ever? Crackd - the no egg egg [@NLi10]

 We had tofu pretending to be egg a week or so ago - and now I have a bottle with 6 eggs in - but vegan! So what actually is 'Crackd'?

Well - it's listed as "Water, Pea Protein (3%), Corn Oil, Thickener, Pea starch and then miscellaneous other things.  It's a very complicated thing - and a confusing goop.

It talks about black salt the same as the previous version did - people must really want that eggy smell!  I'm fine without - but lets make some "scrambled" to test it out.

Is this custard?

It's almost like a pancake without any other changes - interesting - might have to try that one.

At this point in the cook I was not looking forwards to it.  The smells of the gasses coming off this were repulsive, I assume due to the things it needs to make it bubble and behave like egg.

I over peppered because of this (always a good idea) and then magically it turned into egg like substance.  And the more I let it cool and set, the better it got!

And it essentially became some scrambled egg! Now it might not have the white bits the other version had, but as mentioned that was just nice eggy tofu.  This feels like egg - and the taste is basically like unseasoned egg (maybe a hint of salt) and is perfect for cooking.

The shelflife of the bottle isn't as good as I'd hoped for (I wanted to have this in the fridge for a while for emergencies) so now I have to use it up by having scrambled egg on toast with chorizo and more lovely pepper. 

I do plan to pick up more of this though, and try it out in some recipes instead of just eating it like one of those egg snacking, omnivorous dinosaurs in Jurassic Park.  It's easily the most convincing vegan egg i've tried so far!

TofOO co. Scrambled Egg Vegan Substitute - interesting… [@NLi10]

 I’ve seen Vegan egg substitutes offered on menus in quite a few cafes, but never really paid much attention.  If I had to go vegan then the egg I’d miss would be the ones in cakes, as my partner doesn’t do well on eggy food we don’t tend to use them outside of baking anyway.

I figured this would be a nice way to try and see if we could put scrambled eggs back on the menu.

The TofOO Co. Say that they have tofu with taste and list all the wonderful things they’ve done to make it so.  I decided to only add things they’d suggested and not mix in butter and hot sauce as I’d do with the real things.

We did the fry up version, but then I added some garlic mayo to make it a little more exciting as it was much blander than I’d expected (just like real eggs).  I held off adding a massive amount of black pepper as it had black salt.  Seems that is for the sulphur taste/smell so I should have just gone ahead with the plan.

The packaging sounded like cat food so Flo had to be assured that it was neither cat food nor scrambled eggs.

Looks as terrible as real eggs would if you’d sealed them away.

Zapping it on the hob revealed more colours and that it was really just a bag of lovely crumbled tofu in a strange yellow stuff.  This was actually reassuring and the ‘white’ of the egg being made from great tofu actually made it less of a texture nightmare than I’d expected.

Popping it on top of sausage and mash (deconstructed) with some pesto worked pretty well for us.  My partner ate 4 spoonfuls and was satisfied that she doesn’t like egg even in its vegan form.

I however enjoyed it a lot more - but not to the extent that I’m planning to buy more.  I think that I’d add a load of seasoning, and then at that point I might as well just get some frozen tofu out of the freezer and season it myself.  It has reminded me how good tofu can be - and that this brand is one that can be trusted to provide decent quality basics for me to build on.

Squeaky Bean Cooking Chorizo (style - it's Vegan!) [@NLi10]

The vegan aisle is a treasure trove at the moment, it seems like everyone is trying to get something out before the craze vanishes like it did in the USA.  Fortunately the UK is more likely to accept these things as a lot of religious diets are vegan friendly and vegetarianism has always been pretty big here.  This means I can buy crazy stuff that fills the hole in my diet left by not eating meat much at home, and still not freak out my vegetarian partner.

Well - until you buy something as realistic as this.  This is possibly the first vegan product I've put back on the shell as it's too realistic.  I obviously changed my mind later - but we were looking for picnic food and I noped at that and decided I'd cook with it instead.

This is a bad picture for the ingredients list, but essentially it's bean protein instead of pork derivatives - then all the usual stuff.  The key phrase that made me pick it is 'produced in Spain' - surely they can't let us down?

No way the veggie is trying this... Halloween review comes early - argh my finger!

And it looks reasonably close when chopped up too - its just a suspicious thing to have high quality textured chunks in this stuff from a UK supermarket.

Ate the first bit cold with the potatoes - decent enough.

The second bit found it's way into the warmth of the pie filling and it became absolutely magical. This is just good quality chorizo, no qualifiers required.  This is the happiest I've been with one of these reviews in absolutely ages - this is going in the 'must have in stock' pile. I'd make special trips to Sainsbury's especially for it - but I'm guessing it's everywhere.  You could put this in a recipe and meat lovers would be so happy with it.  I'm already planning a paella, and thinking that I can use this in veggie carbonara.

Except I probably can't - the texture and flavours here are so achingly close to the real thing I'm guessing it'd put off any vegetarians that tried it. 

For me though - as a lapsed vegetarian who now adds a little meat to the side to spice things up - this is absolute perfection.  Hopefully there is a whole range of Squeaky Bean products to try.