Ebony, past student from the Vegan Chef Training

It’s hard to believe that it will be five years this August that the first chefs graduated from the vegan chef training here in the Byron Shire. There were seven people graduate that year, all who have gone on to do wonderful things. Ebony was the youngest that graduated and she went on to become head chef of a café in Wollongong. Ebony attended the course as it was her dream to open her own café one day in her hometown of Dwellingup in Western Australia. In the middle of the Covid Lockdown she did just that. She set up a food stall in the garden of the Art Gallery in Dwellingup.

“The thing I love most about having my own business is having the freedom to create whatever I want, making food that I know is delicious and that people will enjoy. I love when people come and try my food and they are amazed that it’s all vegan and gluten free, it reminds me why I love cooking for people.”

Ebony.

I am so proud of Ebony. I will always remember the day that she stood up in front of everyone in the last week of the vegan chef training and shared her dream of opening a café. It brought tears to my eyes as it does now knowing that already at such a young age Ebony has realised her dream.

“The chef training taught me so many great skills both about cooking and also about running a business. I think all those years ago it kind of planted the seed of me wanting to own my own café one day and the things I leaned definitely helped me a lot with making that happen.”

Ebony

Ebony shared with me her larb recipe, which I am sharing with you all now. It is sensationally delicious. As per usual I couldn’t resist adding a few things but the main idea of the tofu larb is all Ebony’s creation and I can’t wait to make it all over again. It really is something to try out. I can wholeheartedly say you won’t be disappointed with this recipe.

For those toying with the idea of attending the Vegan Chef Training there are only 3 more sleeps until the early bird discount runs out.

Tofu Larb with Herb and Noodle Salad

Ingredients

½ cup glutinous rice (I used basmati rice – worked well – as I couldn’t find organic glutinous rice)

375g tofu crumbled

1 tbsp sunflower oil or use water for oil free

2 spring onions cut on an angle

1 tsp ginger

2 cloves garlic minced

1 lemon grass cut very fine (or ground in a coffee grinder) white bit only

2 kaffir lime leaves cut very fine (or ground in a coffee grinder)

2 tbsp fish sauce (vegan of course)

200g mushrooms cut small and fried in 1 tbsp oil until brown

1 to 2 red chillies cut fine (optional)

Juice 1 lime

1 tsp maple syrup

½ tbsp tamari

¼ to ½ cup water

Cos or iceberg lettuce leaves, 2 per person

For the salad

2 massive handfuls of herbs - I used mint and coriander - you could also use Thai basil

8 cherry tomatoes cut in quarters

1 cucumber julienned

3 tbsp cashews (or peanuts but I never use these as they give me a belly ache and are actually legumes not nuts) you can toast the cashews (I forgot)

½ packet of bean thread noodles cooked to packet instructions

2 tsp toasted sesame oil (optional)

Juice 1 lime

1 tbsp tamari (less if you want less sodium)

Method

Toast the rice in a dry frying pan until it browns a little. Set aside to cool down. When cool, grind it to a flour in a spice grinder.
Prepare the salad by cooking the noodles to the packet instructions. Cool the noodles down by pouring filtered water on them. Add all the salad ingredients to a bowl and mix.
Place the sunflower oil in a wok and heat up a little, add the ginger, lemongrass, garlic and kaffir lime. Cook for 3 minutes or so. Add in the crumbled tofu and cook until it browns a little.
Add 2 tbsp of the ground rice flour and the water*, tamari and fish sauce. Cook until all of the water is dissolved.
*I added ¼ cup water first then added a further ¼ cup – this will vary.
Either add the cooked mushrooms to the tofu or the salad, I got confused and added half to the tofu and ½ to the salad. Next time I will add them to the salad.
Serve the larb in nice big lettuce leaves with the salad on the side and the nuts in a pile next to the salad.

# If you make this recipe please share on facebook or instagram with #veetsvegancookingschool

3 Day Vegan Foundation Cooking Course

The first 3 Day Vegan Foundation Cooking Course for 2021 happened last weekend and it was a blast. Four wonderful people came together and created memorable food. I am happy to say I am doing it all over again today.

“I have just completed Veet’s 3 Day Foundation course (after wanting to do it and thinking about it for over a year!) and it was absolutely amazing, being everything I expected it to be and more! There is no time wasted on this course, the 3 days are packed full of information, from cooking methods to health and nutritional benefits, to efficiency in the kitchen and more! All of this with our hearts centered and the reminder of being mindful in our practice and our purchases in the kitchen. Veet does an excellent job in delivering value for money in this course, she offers you her heart and soul full of knowledge and delivers it all with an abundance of love and intention. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to learn with Veet and that she decided to open such a well-intentioned school here in Australia and I cannot wait to go back for the next modules to learn even more!

I wanted to complete this course with the intention of enhancing my skills in the kitchen and evolving the different foods I use in order to invest in my own health and enjoyment of different cuisines and flavours for years to come. I come from a background of loving food and cooking (when time permits) and being vegan for 5 years, so I came with my own prior knowledge and experiences in the kitchen and found the foundation course to be very informative and a wonderful first step into more professional cooking. I plan to continue with modules 2-5 for the further benefits I know they will provide. Highly recommend this course to anyone thinking about it! Thank you so much Veet for your time, energy, shared knowledge and ultimately wholesome and great experience.”

Ayla

The next dates still have places. Grab your opportunity while borders are still open. This is a course not to miss. Taking your home cooking to the next level.

Online Course

And for those of you who definitely can’t make it or are in WA where borders are closed or overseas the online course is also very much worth the investment. Here is a discount code for you. FOREVERYONE1

Have a great week everyone. See you next week with another exciting recipe.

Categories:Mains

Tags:Tofu mushrooms rice Noodles coriander Fish sauce