VEGAN INDULGENCE: Divine Desserts and Sublime Treats for the Vegan Sweet Tooth
Interview by Claudette Vaughan

It’s the latest, greatest cookbook on a thriving vegan – animal rights scene in Australia. Popular for her easy and fun vegan cooking classes, Leigh oozes vegan verve. Vegan Indulgence is a must-have!

Abolitionist: Leigh in what way are you working to veganise Australia?

Leigh Drew: I’m being a happy, healthy vegan at people around me!!  I’m cooking for my workmates and friends (one of whom transitioned from omnivore to veg*n with the greatest of ease!), running cooking classes and writing cookbooks.  I veganise via food – as a friend of mine says, hook them with the cuisine, keep them for the ethics!

What have you found to be the best way to teach vegan cooking in Sydney?

I say that being vegan is easy, fun, healthy, inventive, joyful, green, caring, all embracing and did I mention easy?  The best thing I’ve found with the classes is that there are usually more omnivores than veg*n students – the news about veganism being a healthy and environmentally friendly choice is out there, and lots of people want to find out more!

How does someone starting out gain knowledge of vegan products and how to substitute ingredients in baking?

I’ve found that over time, as I’ve cooked and experimented more, that I’ve stopped “substituting” ingredients on a 1:1 basis (i.e. 1/3 cup applesauce for 1 egg) and started using the substitute ingredients on their own merits (i.e. I want some binding and leavening power in a cake, so I use applesauce to bind, and baking powder and apple cider vinegar to leaven) – it becomes impossible to retrofit those sorts of recipes (i.e. see how many eggs to use instead) and thus they are my favourites.

Use the many resources out there on the interwebs, and great vegan cookbooks are more readily available than ever before.  And talking to other vegans helps as well!!

Vegan Indulgence, your new and first vegan cookbook, is something original and draws on your experience as a passionate vegan cook. Talk about how Vegan Indulgence came about and who is your target audience?

Vegan Indulgence mostly came about because my publisher and I were looking for something to show the general public that veganism is not all about (as is often said) twigs and berries, but is about living life to the fullest and enjoying oneself – especially with desserts!!  I’ve found that most folks respond well to cakes, and will appreciate the nuances of veganism more if presented with a side of decadent chocolate biscuits.

My target audience is pretty much everyone anywhere who enjoys eating sweet treats every now and then. 

Got kids with egg and dairy allergies, and it’s their birthday soon?  Try the Beesting or Banana Cheezcake. 

Want to make something for your coeliac sister?  That would be the Gluten Free Almond Citrus Syrup Bundt Cake – or make any of the biscuits with gluten free flour, and enjoy!

The girl you fancy is one of those vegan types, and you really want to impress her – make the Poached Pears in Chocolate Sauce or Crème Brulee and you are so getting lucky.

I think that veganism is the most all embracing of diets – anyone and everyone can eat vegan food and enjoy it immensely!!

Each impressive innovative recipe is accompanied with a gorgeous photograph. How long have you been photographing vegan food and is it difficult?

Oh, if only I could take credit for the photos!! The photography was done by my incredibly talented brother-in-law Martin Thompson.  I just provided the baked goods.  We did 5 weekends of photo shoots, all using natural light.  While Martin took photos, I played with my not-yet-2 niece.  It was such fun!

Had anything you couldn’t cook vegan?

Yes indeed.  For some reason, lemon tart eludes me.  It’s on my list to conquer.  Meringue and meringue based desserts.  I’ve heard rumours that someone out there has managed to create a vegan meringue, but haven’t found a recipe yet.

I know I’ve had some epic fails with dishes I’ve tried, but that may be more about me than the dishes…

What does being a vegan mean to you?

In the last couple of years, I’ve grown into my veganism – a lot of that has to do with stuff that’s happened healthwise for me, and a lot has to do with running classes and writing recipes and a book.  When you choose to describe your lifestyle to people who may not understand the whys and the wherefores, and you answer questions you may never have expected to hear, you become very focused on what something means to you.

Being vegan means being Leigh.  Being Leigh means being vegan.  I can’t imagine not being vegan.  It is my lifestyle, my belief system, the way I connect with the world, the way I engage with others.  I love being vegan, and I love sharing my joy with my students, workmates and friends by way of tasty vegan foods. 

What do you tell budding and experienced vegans about food preparation and methods of cooking vegan?

Have a good knife (or a few good knives), use wooden boards, invest in a high quality food processor and buy a range of vegan cookbooks – and if you can find it, get some Margaret Fulton/CWA cookbooks second hand.  Learning the basics allows you to experiment – it’s kind of confronting reading the meat recipes, but understanding why ingredients and flavours do or do not work together gives you a palette to work from when creating vegan dishes.

What replaces butter?

Depending upon what you want to do with the “butter”, you could use oils (olive, coconut etc), vegan margarine such as rice bran oil margarine, or choose not to use a butter substitute at all.

In baking, I use Nuttelex – it’s easily available, it’s relatively cheap, and it mimics the way butter works in baking quite well.  If I want to reduce fat, I may use vegetable oil or applesauce instead of Nuttelex.

Will you provide the Abolitionist-Online readers with a couple of your tasty recipes?

These are both from my book, Vegan Indulgence.  Other of my sweet and savoury recipes can be found at my blog.

Coconut and Raspberry Sandwiches

Makes about 20 sandwiched biscuits

Biscuit
½ cup vegan margarine
½ cup sugar
½ cup soy milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup custard powder
1 ½ cups self raising flour
1 cup shredded coconut

Filling
½ cup vegan margarine
1 ½ cups icing sugar, sifted
¾ cup shredded coconut
Raspberry jam (about ½ a jar)

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C/320 degrees F/Gas Mark 3.  Line two biscuit trays with baking paper.

Biscuit
In a large bowl, beat margarine and sugar together until light and creamy.  Carefully beat in soy milk and vanilla.
In another bowl, sift flour and custard powder together.  Fold into the margarine mixture until well combined.
Add coconut and mix through well.  The mixture should be soft and slightly sticky, but you should be able to handle it without too much sticking to your hands.
Use two dessertspoons to form ovals of dough, about 5cm long.  Place these on the baking tray, spaced out by about 5cm.  Carefully flatten the ovals with the back of a flour-covered spoon to form a 1cm thick slightly oval biscuit.
Bake for 30 minutes, until the biscuits begin to colour on their bases and are firm to the touch.  Leave on the tray for another 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Filling
Beat margarine and icing sugar together until creamy and light.  Fold in coconut until well combined.  Chill in the fridge until the biscuits are cooled.

Putting it all together
Match up the biscuits to the most even pairs.  Spread ½ teaspoon of coconut filling on all of the biscuits.  Place ½ teaspoon of jam in the centre of the icing mixture on half of the biscuits.  Carefully sandwich pairs together, using the edges of the coconut icing to join them together.

Keep in the fridge.  These will keep for about a week.

Frozen Banana Split

Serves 2

Banana Cream
2 very ripe frozen bananas, partially defrosted
¼ cup soy milk
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Sauce
½ cup chocolate
1 tablespoon vegan margarine
2 tablespoons maple syrup
¼ cup soymilk

Chopped nuts or broken up sweet biscuits (or both!)

Banana Cream
Peel bananas, and chop into small pieces into a medium sized metal bowl.  Using a strong fork or potato masher, mash bananas thoroughly.
Pour in soy milk and vanilla extract and whip into the bananas until well combined and aerated.  Place the whole bowl into the freezer.

Chocolate Sauce
Place chocolate and margarine into a small saucepan over low heat.
Stirring constantly (with a wooden spoon or plastic spatula), melt and mix together.  Remove from heat and whisk maple syrup and soy milk into the chocolate until smooth and glossy.  Cool until just above room temperature.

Putting it all together
Spoon banana cream into bowls, top (generously) with the chocolate sauce, and sprinkle with nuts/biscuits.

Where to vegan-wise from here for you Leigh?

Onwards and upwards!!  I’m fascinated with pies and tarts at the moment, and want to experiment with making meat analogs (sausages, seitan, tofu, burger patties) from scratch.  I’ve recently become comfortable with tempeh, so am figuring out what I can make with it!

I will be taking part in a couple of dessert cookery demonstrations between now and the end of the year.

October 4, I took part in the Under the Blue Moon Festival, doing a gothic cooking demonstration, putting together the Black Forest Cake from my cookbook.

November 2, I will have a stall and be doing a cookery demonstration at the Cruelty Free Festival. 

Otherwise, just continuing to live cruelty free, and finding news ways to be environmentally sound.  And, of course, scratching my companion cats behind their ears.  That takes up a lot of my time.

Email Leigh:  ldrew@optushome.com.au
Leigh Drew’s impressive vegan blog can be found: Vegan Recipes blog http://zbveganrecipes.blogspot.com/