The Back Yard Lemon Tree

Vegetarian feast food for family and friends!

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Recipes, Rice bowl meals, Tofu, Vegan

Nostalgic Comfort: Braised Cantonese Style Tofu Recipe

When I was a kid Chinese food was the one exotic eating option in rural Australia. For my eighth birthday dinner, I chose the standard family celebration dinner, roast chicken with pavlova for dessert. My best friend came for dinner and brought an exotic offering, a container of fried rice, from the Chinese restaurant that…
View recipe: Nostalgic Comfort: Braised Cantonese Style Tofu Recipe
Appetisers, Snacks, Dips and Spreads, Pancakes, Fritters, Dumplins, Pulses – Beans, Lentils, Recipes, Vegan

Delicious Vegan Dumplings Everyone Will Love

Dumplings are one of my favorite things in the world. I grew up in a small town in country NSW and when we visited Sydney the biggest treat was yum cha in Chinatown. My family still loves yum cha, because dumplings! We always over order, concentrating our appetites on the steamed dumplings, particularly the chive…
View recipe: Delicious Vegan Dumplings Everyone Will Love
Preserves, Condiments, Sauces, Recipes

Homemade Chipotle Mayonnaise: Quick and Easy Recipe

Chipotles in adobe are smoked and dried jalepeno chillies canned in a rich, thick sauce of tomatoes, vinegar, garlic and other spices. They’re hot, smoky, sweet, tangy and spicy which is a pretty unbeatable combination of flavors. They’re a sensational way to spice up black beans, guacomole, refried beans, burgers, enchilada sauce or even hummus.…
View recipe: Homemade Chipotle Mayonnaise: Quick and Easy Recipe
Recipes, Rice bowl meals, Tofu, Vegan

Spicy Korean Tofu: A Simple Recipe with Gochugaru

I recently discovered a Korean tofu factory that sells fresh tofu from the factory door. It’s a little hole in the wall place next to the Korean corp of the Salvation Army in Belmore. They do a roaring trade selling basic white tofu, silken dessert tofu with ginger sauce and fried tofu pockets in various…
View recipe: Spicy Korean Tofu: A Simple Recipe with Gochugaru
Recipes, Side dishes, Vegan

Slow Roasted Winter Vegetables Recipe

Normally when I roast vegetables I’m all about getting maximum crunchiness and caramelization, but a few years ago I discovered this method of roasting vegetables from Luisa Weiss at Wednesday Chef. Here the vegetables are chopped into small pieces, then slow roasted for hour or more, until the flavors meld and intensify. For an entire…
View recipe: Slow Roasted Winter Vegetables Recipe
Cakes, Cookies, Biscuits and Sweet Things, Recipes

Perfect Thin and Crispy Anzac Biscuits Recipe

I’m not a fan of Anzac Day, in fact, its my least favorite national holiday. A memorial day for those who served and died in war shouldn’t be a cheery affair but that’s not the reason I don’t like it. When I was a kid in the seventies Anzac day was a mournful affair, many…
View recipe: Perfect Thin and Crispy Anzac Biscuits Recipe
Pulses – Beans, Lentils, Recipes, Soups, Vegan

Life-Saving Lentil Soup Recipe

This soup from Jill Dupleix is life saving for a number of reasons. It makes a delicious, economical one pot family meal, with ingredients you’re likely to have on hand (requiring no last-minute dash to the shops). It’s even better the next day, so you can make several meals out of it. Although it takes…
View recipe: Life-Saving Lentil Soup Recipe
Pulses – Beans, Lentils, Recipes, Salads, Vegan

Moro’s Warm Squash Chickpea Salad with Tahini Dressing Recipe: Winter Food

I used to make this salad a lot a few years ago, but I forgot about it until I was having some friends to dinner on Saturday and a large Jap pumpkin that need to be used up. This is the most fabulous winter salad, hearty and warming and a meal in itself if you…
View recipe: Moro’s Warm Squash Chickpea Salad with Tahini Dressing Recipe: Winter Food
Preserves, Condiments, Sauces, Recipes, Vegan

Mastering the Flavor Bomb: Frank Camorra’s Signature Sofrito

I recently got a new refrigerator and nearly doubled my freezer space overnight. My old tiny freezer was always chaotic, with things crammed in so that something would always fall out when I opened the door. Now I have three storage drawers which make feel ultra organised and virtuous and I don’t have to hold…
View recipe: Mastering the Flavor Bomb: Frank Camorra’s Signature Sofrito

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Elizabeth Mars

About the Author

My name is Elizabeth Mars and I live in Sydney’s inner west with my partner and twenty- year-old son.

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