My Top 3 hot vegan breakfasts

Don't get me wrong I love my bran flakes and fruit, cashew butter on toast and porridge however there is nothing more enjoyable than a proper cooked breakfast on a lazy Sunday morning, as a vegan it's not quite as easy as chucking some eggs and bacon in a pan. However I have come up with three dishes that I think are quick, easy and really hit the spot if you've had a bit of a heavy night.

Boxty meaning 'poor-house bread' is a traditional Irish potato cake and everyone has their own way of making it, sometimes its even in loaf-form. I like to make mine like little hash browns, that way they get super crispy and have them with some spring onions (scallions) and plum tomatoes. 

1 large potato
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
Olive oil 

Boil half of the potatoes until soft, and mash. Grate the remaining raw potatoes, and set aside in a colander to drain. Add the vinegar to the soy milk, let sit for a few minutes until thickened, and stir together the mashed potatoes, grated potatoes, flour, baking powder and salt.  Slowly stir in the soymilk and vinegar to form the consistency of a pancake batter. Cook on medium to low heat for about 4 mins on each side until crispy.

I absolutely love tofu omelettes there are so many different fillings that you can choose and different ways of spicing the omelette mix that almost every time I make them they turn out differently. The omlette in the picture is one of my favourite cobinations of garlicky omelette filled with spinach and mushrooms sauteed in a little nutmeg.

3 cloves garlic
1 packet silken tofu, lightly drained 
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
pinch of salt
1/2 cup chickpea (gram) flour
1 tbsp cornstarch

Add the tofu, garlic, nutritional yeast, olive oil, turmeric and salt to a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the chickpea flour and cornstarch and whizz until combined. Lightly grease a pan and ad a cup of the batter use the back of the spatula to spread the batter into a thin even layer and cook on medium heat for about 4 minutes then very carefully lossen the mix from the bottom of the pan and flip, cook on other side for another 4 minutes and fill with whatever you fancy!

Officially my favourite breakfast ever is curried tofu scramble with and on pretty much anything. I love the way its crisps up but stays soft inside... This is a really simple version but I do like to spruse it up ocassionally by adding some coriander and spinach.

2 cloves of garlic
1 Tbsp medium curry powder
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 block of drained firm tofu
Handful of halved button mushrooms

Crush the garlic cloves and add them to a little oil in a pan, then add curry powder and stir to form a paste then add the soy sauce, finally crumble in big chunks the tofu and mushrooms into the pan and stir lightly while cooking for 8 mins until crispy.

Basil & Olive Aussie Damper Bread

I'm definitely no known for my patience and this is probably one of the main reasons I don't bake bread very often. I know this is the beauty of the beast but it's something I will avoid if at all possible. So last week I was watching Lorraine Pascale's 'Fast, Fresh and Easy' cooking show and she made an Aussie Damper bread which had no rising time at all!

I made a few adjustements to my bread just so that it suited my taste more as I don't have rosemary in my garden but I do have a rather out of hand basil plant at the moment.

As Damper bread is a traditional Australian soda bread prepared by travelers and cooked in campfire ashes. It consists of very few and simple ingredients flour, water, salt and raising agent. It's quite a dense bread perfect for dipping in hummus or simply good olive oil.

You will need;
440g self raising flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
Bunch of basil chopped (could also use any other fresh herb e.g. rosemary, parsley or corriander)
225 ml warm water
45g chopped olives (could also use sun dried tomatoes, caramelised onions or roasted garlic)

Grab a large bowl and pour the flour in, make a well in the centre and pour in the water, oil, salt and chopped basil, mix with hands until combined then pour dough out onto lightly floured surface and flatten into a disc and pop your chopped olives in the centre then fold the dough up around the olives and knead until olives are evenly distributed (don't knead for too long) then place on a baking tray and push a star into the top with the handle of a wooden spoon and bake in an oven pre-heated at 200C for 30 mins, when the bread is done but still warm brush some olive oil onto the top.