Here is the dairy and egg free version of cornbread. Not as rich as the non-vegan one – understandably. And it's a little crumblier. Would probably use margarine instead of oil next time.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups plain flour
3/4 cup fine polenta
2 tspns baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
3/4 to 1 cup rice milk (or soy milk, but I prefer rice milk in this instance as it goes well with the corn flavour)
1/4 cup oil - vegetable or olive (or melted dairy free margarine)
1 tblspn corn starch with 1 tblspn water
1/2 can corn kernels

Optional Extras
1/2 cup green onions or shallots – chopped
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes – finely diced
1/2 capsicum – finely diced

Method
1. Fry the optional extras in a pan and set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 200 to 210C. Grease and line loaf pan.

3. Mix flour, polenta, baking powder, salt in a bowl. Stir in milk, oil, corn starch and water mixture. Stir in enough milk until the dry ingredients are moistened.

4. Add fried optional extras to mixture and mix in well.

5. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light brown and a toothpick/skewer inserted comes out clean.

6. Sit in pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire rack. Slice and serve.

I made this with my yummo gumbo last week. However, I just realised I forgot to blog it. I made two different types of cornbread as my nephews have their egg and dairy allergies. Below is the egg and dairy filled version. Here is a link to the vegan friendly. Cornbread is great with anything sloppy – so gumbo is a fantastic accompaniment. Yum! Yum! I've listed some optional extras in the recipe and approximate amounts. Obviously its up to you how much you want. You can either stir these extras in or just put them on top after you've poured the mixture in the pan.

Ingredients
2 cups fine polenta
3/4 cup (110g) self raising flour
1 1/2 cups grated cheese
2 tspns caster sugar
1 tspn salt
150g butter – melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups (375ml) milk - at room temperature or warm

Optional extras
4 rashers of bacon – finely diced
1/2 can corn kernels
3 heads of shallots or green onions – chopped
1/2 capsicum – finely diced
1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes - finely diced

Method
1. Preheat oven to 170 C. Grease and line the base and sides of a deep loaf pan with baking paper.

2. Fry in some light oil the optional extras and set aside.

3. Place polenta, flour, cheese, sugar, salt in a large bowl. Stir until combined.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, cooled melted butter and warm milk. If the milk is cold it will start solidifying the butter. If the butter is too hot it will solidify the eggs.

5. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and mix until well combine.

6. If you want the extras in the cornbread, mix them in now.

7. Pour mixture into prepared pan. If you just want the mixture on top then place them on top now. Smooth the surface. 

8. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until cooked and the top is golden brown. Set aside in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Slide and serve.

After the successful introduction of quinoa to my family last week, the expectation has been set pretty high with everyone saying “so what are you cooking for us next week?!”. This week I bring gumbo. “Gum… what?” They said. Gumbo, a Southern American favourite – is a stew is so full flavour. It took me a few hours to make and on the day before as it gets better with time. But its well worth the effort. I even had requests for leftovers to take to lunch the next day.

You’ll find all different sorts of gumbo recipes on the web and it's up to you what goes into it, however there are a few key ingredients that makes gumbo unique. These include capsicum, celery and onion (what is known as Cajun the holy trinity), okra and the mixture of herbs listed in the recipe below. As far as the method goes, the steps, though lengthy are basic. Brown off meat > make roux (this determines the colour of the gumbo at the end) > add the greens, herbs, meat and stock > simmer> add okra > simmer more > serve.

Ingredients
> Meat
1kg chicken thigh fillets - cubed
1/4 cup cajun spices (refer to my BBQ Cajun Chicken post for more detail)
500g chorizo sausages – sliced (can also use any other smoked, cured sausage)
250g bacon - roughly chopped
1 to 3 tablespoons oil

> Roux
1/2 cup plain flour
1/3 cup oil, margarine, butter, lard (some sort of fat – depending on your dietary requirements)

>Veges
1 large capsicum – diced
3 sticks celery – diced
1 large onion – diced
2 to 3 green onions, scallions, shallots – diced (whatever you have available)
1/2 cup okra - chopped (usually find them frozen)

> Herbs & Spices
6 to 8 cloves garlic – minced
3 dried bay leaves
generous serves (about 1 to 3 tablespoons) of dried herbs (oregano, thyme, parsley, basil)
cayenne pepper
Salt & pepper – to taste

> 4 cups of chicken stock

Method
1. Brown the meat – in a large, heavy base pot, heat oil and fry sausages, set aside. To same pot fry bacon lightly, set aside with sausages. To same pot add chicken (you may need to do it in batches to not crowd the pan). Add oil if necessary. Set chicken aside. The base may catch from all this fry. That’s fine, it will lift soon enough.

2. Make roux – Under medium to low heat, heat fat to a runny, almost bubby consistency. Add flour and stir with whisk constantly, until roux becomes smooth, silky and a deep chocolate brown. (approximately 20 to 30 minutes  -longer if your heat is lower). Be sure not to burn your roux. If you smell the flour burning, lower the heat. If you start seeing black specks, you’ve burnt it, throw it out and start again.  Here is a good example of making a dark roux. The darkness of your roux will determine the darkness of the gumbo. When the roux reaches the right colour, add the onions, capsicum and celery to the roux, turn off the heat, and keep stirring until the roux cools down to stop it from cooking/browning further.

3. Combine and simmer – Once the roux is cooled slightly, return the pot to a medium heat and added stock, meats, herbs and spices (including garlic and cayenne pepper). Bring to boil and reduce to simmer for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally. Stir in okra and simmer for another 30 minutes. Taste for seasoning – add salt if necessary. At this point, if you want to add seafood, you add it now and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until seafood is cooked. You can also add gumbo filé.

4. Serve – Serve over hot rice (or corn bread) with fresh parsley.