Beetroot, Fennel and Lentil Salad

Ingredients:

3 medium beetroot (1.5 kg), trimmed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium fennel bulb (300g)
400g can brown lentils, rinsed and drained
100g wild rocket leaves
200g fetta cheese, sliced thinly

Dressing:

½ cup (125 ml) olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp white sugar
2 tsp finely chopped fresh fennel fronds

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C
2. Combine beetroot in small baking dish with oil. Bake for an hour or until tender. When cool, peel beetroot and chop coarsely.
3. Finely chop enough of the fennel fronds to make 2 tsp for the dressing. Slice the fennel bulb thinly.
4. Combine dressing ingredients in screw-top jar; shake well.
5. Toss fennel, lentils and rocket in a large bowl with half the dressing. Add beetroot; toss gently. Top with fetta; drizzle with the remaining dressing.


Preparation time 30 minutes, cooking time 1 hour, serves 6.

Gayatri
Australian School of Meditation and Yoga

Exotic Indian Vegetarian Cooking Class

Next Saturday the 29th November we will be hosting our popular bi-monthly vegetarian cooking class. This months theme is Exotic Indian and we will be demonstrating nine mouth-watering dishes including, Dosha, Korma Curry with paneer, Indian bread, Malpuras with yoghurt, Red lentil and Eggplant Daal, chutney, Bharats, and Festival Rice. We finish the demonstration off with a lovely buffet meal so that you can savour the delicious dishes that have been cooked during the demonstration.

This is the last cooking class for the year, so don’t miss out, book early to avoid disappointment as these classes book up quickly.

Where: Australian School of Meditation and Yoga, 23 Kurilpa St, West End
When: Saturday 29th November 2-6pm
Contact: 3895 8944 for bookings

Vegetarian Moroccan Cooking Class

Last month we held our Moroccan Delights Vegetarian Cooking class at the Australian School of Meditation and Yoga West End. It was a great success attracting over 40 people. There were a few people who were disappointed because they couldn't make it along to the class so over the next few weeks I will be publishing the recipes from the class over the next few weeks. The recipes will include:

Beetroot, Fennel and Lentil Salad
Orange and Radish Salad
Spiced Rice
Pumpkin and Bean Tagine
Chickpea Patties
Mock Chicken with Lemon and Olives
Spinach Fatayer
Semolina Slice

Gayatri

Tea Master Buddhist Cafe

Tea Master is a tiny little café on Wickham Street Fortitude Valley. It has some really tasty dishes, especially the mock duck with noodles, the Laksha soup and dumplings. The meals are a great size and very reasonably priced. The only downside is that the café closes really early at night, isn’t open on Sundays and the café itself is very small, so if it is crowded you feel a little claustrophobic. You can sit outside though but I find it noisy and polluted as Wickam street is very busy 24/7. Great for a quick bite though.

You can find Tea Master at shop 14/115 Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley 07-32570038

Gayatri
Australian School of Meditation and Yoga

Pu Kwon – Vegetarian Restaurant

Our second favourite Buddhist restaurant in Brisbane is Pu Kwon. It is situated at 2796 Logan Road, Underwood, which is quite a central location for much of Brisbane. Pu Kwon is more of restaurant than a café. There is a huge menu which makes things more difficult because you’ll want to try everything, but it is great if you want to take your non-veg family members along. They definitely won’t feel like they are missing out on anything with dishes on the menu like lemon chicken, roast duck in Peking sauce and sweet and sour pork, just to name a few. Our family favourite entrees are radish cakes, radish puffs, chicken drumsticks and wonton soup. For mains, try the lemon chicken (pictured), fried eel in Peking sauce, taro fish, roast duck and sizzling pepper chicken. We have asked them to leave out MSG, and they will as much as possible, but a lot of the sauces used already have MSG added, so they can’t guarantee that the meals are all MSG free. You can call Pu Kwon on 3219 8984, they are opened for lunch and dinner every day except for Monday as they are closed that day.

Gayatri

Australian School of Meditation and Yoga

Buddhist Restaurants – Kuan Yin Tea House

I love Buddhist food and so does my family and although we have tried most of the Buddhist cafes and restaurants around Brisbane, our favourite is definitely the Kuan Yin Tea House at 198 Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley right opposite dragon gates in the China Town mall. I suppose the reason that we all like it so much is that the food is so fresh. The owners actually cook all the food themselves from scratch and it is MSG free. The menu is quite extensive but not overwhelming and even though we have tried most of the dishes we always go back to our favourites. The salt and pepper mock fish is my all time favourite main course with sticky rice timbale, toona wrap, battered sweet potato with plum seasoning as my choice of entrees. My son loves the Sweet and sour mock pork, fried dumplings and the Taiwanese fried mock chicken. My husband is easy and likes it all, but his favourite is the dumpling soup and the pepper and salt mock oysters.

We usually find that the total price for a very filling meal is approx. $15 per head, so it certainly is value for money. You’ll need to check the opening times because being a café it is not open very late at night and I know for a fact that it is closed on Tuesdays to give them a much needed break. If you want to contact the Kuan Yin Tea House you can call them on 32524557.

Gayatri
Australian School of Meditation and Yoga

How Mock Meat Came to be!

Long ago in China there was an emperor who was unnecessarily harsh, even to his own people. Some of his advisors were Buddhist monks who understood the connection between a person’s diet and their mental and physical health. They wanted the emperor to become vegetarian to help him become a more peaceful person, but they didn’t dare suggest that to him. Instead they designed a cuisine where they were able to recreate any meat dish using vegetarian ingredients. From roast duck to seafood, all the dishes were realistic in taste, appearance and texture. The emperor went on eating all his favourite dishes, never guessing that they were vegetable based. The story goes that over time his temper cooled and he became a much more peaceful person, benefitting himself and his subjects!

Gayatri
Australian School of Meditation and Yoga