Is Dublin 7 the vegan capital of Ireland?

Is Dublin 7 the vegan capital of Ireland?

It might come as no surprise that vegan restaurants and options are opening in Dublin all the time, but did you know that Dublin 7 is the vegan capital of Dublin?

There are so many excellent vegan options in the area whatever your vegan food tasted may be.  Is this because Dublin 7 has more vegans that any other Dublin area? Maybe!  There certainly seems to be quite few vegan families!

Dublin 7 is home to two excellent vegan bakeries, Buttercream Dream and Indigo’s Spoon.  Buttercream Dream formerly known as Buttercream Bakery, has won multiple awards for their excellent bakes.  Starting with a competition win at the Vegetarian Society of Ireland Focus Point Cook off with an amazing Loveheart Cake.  Buttercream supplies many restaurants and shops all over Ireland, is a regular at many local markets and has weekly deliveries all over Dublin.  Check out their Instagram page for more details.   Indigo’s Spoon is a more recent addition to the vegan baked goods scene and very welcome they are too with their monthly goodie boxes, always filled with tasty surprises and special occasion cakes. 

 

Image credit:  Buttercream Dream

Check out Indigo’s Unicorn cake and other amazing bakes on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Image credit:  Indigo’s Spoon

Dublin 7 is home to the most vegan restaurants of any area of Dublin.  Is it because Dublin 7 is the most hop and trendy area of Dublin?  Is it because Dublin 7 is filled with ethically minded early adopters?  Is it because Dublin 7 people are super smart and super healthy?  Who knows and I do not really care why but I am very happy to live her and to be able to get my paws and my jaws around all the vegan goodies! 

Veginity and Vish Shop are of the same family.  Vish shop was a vegan breakthrough when they opened, making vegan ‘fish’ from cassava.  Vish shop grew out of this breakthrough dish that was served from a food truck in the city centre.   Truly delicious. We recommend the smoked version. Veginity does amazing cakes, coffees and has a regularly changing themed menu.  They say of themselves ‘We offer world-inspired plant-based cuisine.  Where street food meets fine dining’ It was always a treat to visit their comfy restaurant in pre-covid times and we hope it’s not too long before we can grace their seats again!  

 

Image credit:  Veginity

V Face on North Brunswick Street is all about ‘Animal Burgers made with Plants’.  We recommend their vegan hotdog, and we cannot wait to try out their new vegan donuts!  They look so amazing!

Not too far from V face, Jenny and Rebecca opened Kale and Koko in Stoneybatter in February 2019.   Their ‘mission is to engage the Irish population in a conversation around food; to create a conscious eating culture; to build a platform where people feel comfortable exploring new foods and to provide fast, on-the-go, healthy food options for the busy people of Ireland so that they can fuel themselves to continue pursuing their own dreams. And do it all with a smile.  We recommend the Chia Puddings. 

The Vegan Sandwich company was started by food obsessed Sam Pearson and has grown from being a tiny market stall to opening their first shop in their first year and they will be launching our first ever retail products very soon so watch this space!

As well as these dedicated vegan spaces, there are a host of other eateries with excellent vegan options.  Token does some mean burgers, Shangri-la Asian Cuisine restaurant has a special vegan menu and very helpful staff.  

Fortunately, Dublin 7 also has some great walks and from Broadstone Park to the Canal and Phoenix Park so you can walk off all this great grub – once you have tried it you will be back for more!

With all these great eateries, there is no doubt though that Dublin 7 is vegan heaven!  I rest my case for Dublin 7 being the vegan capital!

Have I missed any vegan foodie beauty spots in Dublin 7? Have you found any other gems in that deserve some attention?  Let us know!  

Mushroom Soup

 I don't make this often because I'm the only one in the house who eats mushrooms. It is a treat!

Ingredients

Oil Spray

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 punnet chestnut mushrooms, washed or peeled and sliced.

1 dessertspoon cornflour

100ml reduced salt soya sauce

Water or plant milk (I used cashew milk today as it was open, I would normally use oat milk)

Method

I bought a set of cast iron pans last year and used the largest one to make this soup.

Start heating your pan.  Add a spray of oil.

Add the chopped onion and stir in the oil.

Add the garlic, stir.

Add the mushrooms, stir with the onions and garlic.  Add a spray of oil if needed.

Add the soya sauce.  Stir and leave to cook for a minute or so.

Add the cornflour.  Mix so it doesn't go lumpy, your soya sauce should start to thicken.  Add the milk or water. 

Serve!  

Baked Tofu with Broccoli and Spinach

This is a nice easy recipe.  It is oil free but is tastiest enough and feels naughty enough to be your Friday night treat.  Family approved!

523 calories per serving.  This is loaded with vitamins and minerals and never mind where do you get your protein - tofu take a bow!

Ingredients

1 block of tofu (I used Cauldron tofu tonight but any firm block tofu will be fine)

2 tablespoons of cornflour

1 cup of rice

salt

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

1 inch ginger

1 chili

2 plump vine tomatoes

1 tablespoon soya sauce

1 head of broccoli

60g or so of fresh spinach

Method

Turn your oven on high.

Squeeze the excess liquid from the tofu and cut it into chunks.

I use a Ziploc plastic bag for this next bit - put the tofu chunks into the bag with the cornflour. Zip the bag and toss them together until the tofu is completely covered.

Put the tofu onto a baking tray and bake in the hot oven until it's crispy.  Check after 20 minutes and turn it.

While this is in the oven, make your rice.  White Jasmine rice takes eight minutes in the IP at High Pressure.  Use 1:1 with water and add a little salt.  Leave to SPR until you are ready for it.

When your tofu is nearly done, make your sauce;  blitz the onion, garlic, ginger, chili and tomatoes in a mini-processor and add to a large frying pan on a medium heat.  Stir and add the chopped broccoli, add the soya sauce, stir and cover.  Leave it to cook for a minute.  Add the tofu - the cornflour on the tofu will thicken your sauce.  When you the broccoli is cooked and the sauce is thickened, add the spinach and let it wilt. 

Stir through.

Plate the rice and add your tofu dish :) 

Review of the Plant Kitchen Green Thai Curry and Jasmine Rice

 

loumosslovevegan

From our #supermarketchallenge earlier today, the Plant Kitchen Green Thai Curry and Jasmine Rice.
We had them with the sweetheart cabbage also picked up this morning in @marksandspencerireland
They usually retail at €5.50 here, with the yellow sticker this morning they were €3.85 each. The sweetheart cabbage was .72c, we had half the sweetheart cabbage each. Total dinner cost was €8.42 or €4.21 each.

This was a fair bit more expensive than cooking from scratch but a lot cheaper than a takeaway.

The fat content is quite high at 37%. Anything over 17.5% fat is considered high fat so this really is well over that. The saturated fat content is more than 50% of the daily recommended intake.
Salt content is also very high.

Taking all of that into consideration, we really enjoyed the food. The Green Curry was absolutely delicious, spicier than I thought if would be. The vegetables were lovely and crisp, the rice was perfect. I can still taste the sauce in my mouth, delicious. I could probably eat it again right now even though I don't have room...
I'd probably buy it again but I'd feel guilty about the fat content and I'd want a yellow sticker!

I went to the Mary St branch at just after 8am on Thursday 25th March.  There were a lot of yellow sticker items and if I had a bigger backpack and a bigger freezer, I'd have bought a lot more!

Asparagus and Cashew Nut soup

Asparagus and Cashew Nut Soup

Must admit I would not have come up with this soup if Lidl Ireland hadn’t had Asparagus on offer for €.49 a bunch which is just such excellent value. 

I probably wouldn’t have made a soup if I had just been cooking for myself but as I am catering for younger people who aren’t always very keen on some vegetables, soup was an excellent compromise and what an excellent compromise it was.  This soup is delicious, nutritious, and luxuriously comforting as well as being very easy.

Serves 4 medium bowls.  Easy recipe

 

Ingredients

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

1 bunch of asparagus

2 small potatoes

100g split red lentils, rinsed

Handful of cashew nuts

Cashew milk

Water

Salt and pepper

 

Method

Prepare your vegetable and add them to your pot along with the cashew nuts and lentils.  Add a pinch of salt.

If you are using an Instant pot, add enough water to almost cover the veggies and then set to High Pressure for 8 minutes.

If you are using a stove, add enough water to cover the vegetables.  Bring to the boil and then simmer until everything is cooked.

Blitz with a hand-blender until smooth and then add cashew milk to the consistency that you like.

Season to taste.

 

We had this soup with toast and salad.

Spicy tomato sauce

This isn't a sauce we use for pasta.  We have been making this for years as a quick, easy and tasty dish.  If you have this with white rice you can get the whole meal from prep to plate in about 20 minutes.

I'm going to give you this evening's version which was very nice

3 cloves of garlic

1 inch of ginger

1 chilli

Blitz them in a mini-chopper

Add them to a frying pan and saute in a little water.

Add about half a tube of tomato puree

Add a tin of coconut cream (I usually use Alpro soya cream but we didn't have any)

Mix the tomato and coconut together.

Add a tin of mixed beans, drained and rinsed.

Add 100g of fresh spinach and cook long enough to wilt.

Serve!

Tonight we had this with potatoes that were cooked in the Instant Pot and shredded cabbage.

Instant Pot Potatoes

Scrub your potatoes.  Keep the skins on

Add a cup of water to the Instant Pot

Place a trivet in the Instant Pot

Place the potatoes on top of the trivet.

I cooked 4 medium sized potatoes for 12 minutes today and then forgot about them so they did a very slow pressure release.

Instant Pot makes the nicest potatoes!

Lentil and Red Pepper Sauce

200g split red lentils

2 red peppers

1 onion

garlic

olive oil

5 plump tomatoes

salt

Rinse your lentils and strain

Add a little oil to the pot and set it to saute.

Chop the onions and garlic and add to the oil

Stir, add a little water if needed

Chop the red peppers and add to the pot, stir.  Add a splash of water if needed.

Blitz the tomatoes in a chopper.  Add to the pot and stir.

Add the lentils and enough water to nearly cover.  

Stir.

Set to High Pressure for 3 minutes.

Serve with wholemeal pasta and a green vegetable

If using a hob, this will take about 30 mins, bring to boil and simmer :)