Tester Thursday: Fusion Food

At any given point in time, it’s pretty likely that you’ll find me fighting the urge to live off a diet comprised of at least 85% burritos, for the sake of recipe testing. I’m very fortunate to be able to try out recipes for a few great cookbook authors, and I love using testing as an opportunity to try new things or tackle a recipe that I might otherwise skip over. So sharing some photos from recent books or projects that I’ve tested for seemed like a natural theme to explore this Vegan MoFo. Simple, right?

But then I started to look through my photos, and I realised that I’ve gotten slack- nary even a grainy iPhone photo of some of my favourite recent dishes. Well, this is my motivation to start up again.

I was super excited to see Joni post a pre-launch giveaway for her newest book, Fusion Food in the Vegan Kitchen, earlier this week. I had the chance to test a few things from this book earlier in the year, and while my schedule didn’t permit me to try as much as I wanted (because there’s a lot in there that sounds seriously great!), there were some definite standouts and new favourites among the recipes I did make.

This Thai peanut fried ‘chicken’ and waffles (that’s right!) definitely fell into the latter category.

This was so decadent and delicious, and that peanut sauce is one of the best I’ve made (and I’m sure I’ve nearly tried them all). Unfortunately this was the only moderately-nice photo I attempted to take during testing (though there are a couple of Instagram shockers), but words can be pretty tempting too, so here are a few other things I tried and really enjoyed:

  • Spicy Korean BBQ jackfruit burritos (these have to be my favourite. I’ve never been fully on the jackfruit bandwagon, but these brought me around.)
  • Spicy cucumber salad (falafel’s best friend!)
  • Seitan gyoza with cotija-style ‘cheese’ crumbles
  • Hot, sweet and sour ribs (complete with lemongrass bones!)
  • Too many great sauces to count, including an aji verde that was a total hit alongside homemade corn empanadas at a vegan meet-up earlier in the year.

There are a ton of recipes that I still so want to try (that miso mac and cheese, and so many tamales!), so I’m keeping a keen eye out for this book’s impending release. Joni’s inventiveness really impressed me, and I’m looking forward to getting creative in my own kitchen again- with her expert guidance, of course.

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Comments: 7

  1. ameyfm September 16, 2013 at 10:14 am Reply

    cool! I love reading about all the creative recipes! Testing is definitely a lot of fun, but it’s a lot of work too – I can see why you didn’t take all the pictures! :)

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  2. Randi (laughfrodisiac) September 16, 2013 at 9:29 am Reply

    Holy…wow. That dish looks insane! I want that so badly! Was it a very involved recipe? It seems like the kind of dish that would intimidate me.

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  3. Caitlin September 13, 2013 at 10:16 am Reply

    Wow, those all sound so creative and delicious!

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  4. paula (ijdi) September 12, 2013 at 10:49 am Reply

    that book sounds really great! I love reading about recipes that I could NEVER have even conceived of on my own. Also, shut up, that picture is way more than moderately nice! YUM.

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  5. Sarah/appifanie September 10, 2013 at 7:00 am Reply

    I love that recipe so much and I make it a ton. Yummy.

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  6. Hannah September 7, 2013 at 7:42 am Reply

    Whenever I return to Canberra for a visit, I’m probably going to track you down and demand that chicken and those waffles.

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  7. Jojo September 6, 2013 at 1:43 am Reply

    Wow, peanut fried chicken and waffles really does sound, and look, amazing. Everything you mentioned actually sounds great and I think you’ve tempted me into buying the book!

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