SOYATO Ice Cream

Hello all,

I’m so excited to write this post because its about ICE CREAM!! For those of you living in Singapore, be sure to note this brand below!

Soyato is a home-grown Ice Cream Brand that prides itself for producing healthy, delicious Soy Ice cream! Soyato ice cream is made from non-GMO soy beans and other plant based ingredients ….and it happens to be vegan too, so TWO THUMBS UP! This healthy treat is also trans-fat free, cholesterol-free, and has probiotics added.

Many people are surprised when I tell them that vegan desserts can be very sinful and calorie laden – though we don’t use eggs, milk or butter , our desserts still contain sugar and vegan substitutes. What I love about Soyato is that it is one vegan dessert that you can indulge without feeling guilty and worrying about your waist line. Each 100ml serving contains only 100Kcal (normal around 170Kcal) and 3x less sugar than normal Ice cream.

Hooray, Ice Cream that is Healthy and Keeps me skinny? I’m sold!

Imagine how delighted I was when the nice folks at Soyato sent me 2 tubs of Soyato Ice Cream …I couldn’t stop smiling =D Here are the two flavours that I got to try : Green Tea and Mint Chocolate Chip

Green Tea flavour – definitely my favourite among the 2 flavours! Strange thing is, I’m not crazy over Matcha and on a normal day I would choose Mint over Green Tea hands down. But I think the main reason why this flavour got my vote is because its SO CREAMY. I’m a sucker for creamy textures and they’ve nailed the texture with this flavour. I also like that both the soy and matcha flavours are well-balanced and not too overpowering or sweet. My siblings gave the Green Tea flavour their stamp of approval with an exclaimed “Wow this is vegan meh?”. Ha, something every vegan/vegetarian hopes to hear their non-vege friends say.

 Mint Chocolate Chip flavour– I also like this flavour – it’s light and minty; resembling more of a sorbet like texture. My favourite part is the crunchy bits of chocolate chunks you find inside the ice cream. yummehhh. Oh I have to add that I was pleasantly surprised that this ice cream wasn’t the typical green-colour you’ve come to expect from mint flavoured desserts. But its great because I get none of the artificial mint taste but still remains refreshing at the same time.

Matcha Green Tea Ice Cream with Peanut Mochi and Red Bean Paste

(this is one AWESOME COMBINATION!)

WHAT YOU’LL NEED
– 2 to 3 scoops of SOYATO Green Tea Ice Cream
–  Peanut Powder
– Dango Powder
–  Red Bean Paste

* I bought the Peanut powder, Dango powder (rice flour) and Red bean paste from Daiso. Surprisingly, all vegan too!

Step 1:
Follow the instructions on the Dango Powder packaging. Mix 250ml of powder with 200 ml of warm water. Knead till the mixture becomes dough-like and sticky. Roll into mochi balls and put in in a pot of boiling water.

Wait till the mochi balls turn become soft and chewy before you remove them. Coat them in peanut powder and leave one side.

Step 2:
Scoop the green tea ice cream in a bowl, decorate with peanut mochi bowls and add red bean paste on the side. Sprinkle with more peanut powder and you’re good to go. Easy peasy eh?  I’m definitely going to make this dessert again when my friends come over because its a sure win crowd pleaser.

I think that the best thing about Soyato ice cream is that you don’t have to compromise on taste despite choosing something healthy and less sugar-laden. Great for not just vegans, but anyone who loves desserts / conscious about their weight / health conscious. Each tub is also a very affordable $11.90 (same price as B&J tubs!) and can be conveniently bought from Fairprice supermarkets! (visit their FB page for a full list of Fair Price outlets which stock Soyato Ice cream)

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THE GOOD NEWS | SOYATO APRIL PROMOTION

1.Get 2 pints of Soyato for $19.00 (UP $11.90 per pint) and get a free Soyato cooler bag (while stocks last…hurry!)
2.Like “Soyato” on facebook to take part in their upcoming contest to win prizes!
3.Follow “Soyato” on instagram and hashtag #Soyato to show some support. #SGpride!

CERA Cafe

This past year, there have been many new vegetarian and vegan cafes/restaurants that have opened in Singapore….but most of them are located in the west ( think Onaka, Frunatic, Vegzilla etc).  So I was really excited when I found out that CERA, the newest veg cafe on the block, opened in the north! Weee, pretty near my place too!

Step into the cafe and you’ll be engulfed by a whole lot of green – from the mural on the wall to the interior and furniture.  I’m guessing its inspired by the chef’s love for the herbivore eating dinosaur, the Triceratops (which is also the mascot for the cafe) and the plant based diet the cafe promotes. By the way, I find thier mascot really CUTE!

CERA is an Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian cafe with quite a few vegan-friendly options. The menu is western-fusion  as they give familiar local Singaporean dishes a interesting vegetarian spin. Some interesting dishes include as the Yong Tau Fu salad, Rojak Salad, Pizza John (take on Roti John), Ba chor mee (minced “pork” noodles) and “Oyster” omelette. Oh and they also have a full range of Vegan beers & ciders too!

Here are some of the items we tried:

Ratatouille – Love the rosti but not the ratatouille. Think my vegetables were a little undercooked:( This was part of the lunch set menu which only cost $10.90 nett for a main, a drink and a dessert. Very affordable eh!

So smelly it hurts! Petai Salad – I didn’t try this because I’m not a Petai fan but my friends who did really liked it! So i guess it must be pretty good

Laksa Pizza – This pizza was hugeeee and very good! The crust texture was like prata but I really liked it. The seasoning and toppings (like tau pok and bean sprouts) really reminded me of laksa too.

Stack Up! – Pandan crepes layered with avocado puree, sautéed coconut and gula melaka suace— a version of Kueh da dar (a malay kueh). I don’t really like malay kuehs because it can be too sweet and fried…but luckily for this dish, the fresh avocado puree balanced out the sweetness. Wish the portion was larger though.

Vegan Chocolate cake with Vanilla Ice Cream – There were a few vegan cakes available and we had the chocolate one. I like that the cake was not too overly sweet and that it is really value for money. This large slice only costs around $6.50. Will definitely go back to try more!

Vegan Waffles with Ice Cream and Gula Melaka sauce – Sorry to say but the waffles were quite disappointing. It was more like a crepe because it was so thin. Brownice still wins hands down for best vegan waffles in town.

Vegan ice cream from Brownice!

Overall, there were a few hit and misses for me but I’m still going to go back again because there were some signature dishes I didn’t get to try! Plus, I’m still thinking about the pizza haha.  I always find it tricky when chefs and restaurants try to recreate local dishes or try to make it fine dining (like seriously? i just don’t get that) ….but I think CERA should be applauded for daring to give a vegetarian spin on these dishes and at the same time, keeping it real and not going overboard. Plus, we should always support our local vegan scene and keep it growing =)

CERA Cafe
906M Upper Thomson Road
Tel: +65 6554 2372

Opening Hours: Tuesday-Thursday: 12pm-11pm Friday-Saturday: 12pm-2am
Sunday: 12pm-11pm
Monday: Closed

http://www.cera-veg.com

Vegan “Magnum” Coconut Ice Cream

Hi All,

Hope your September has been going well so far! I’ve been having a really busy month but am loving every minute of it. For starters I’m no longer working at The Living Cafe anymore but have been hard at work at creating something on the sideline which hopefully I can share with everyone soon. Last week, I was on an extremely easy and pleasant juice fast (no kidding!)  which I will share more about in the upcoming posts. And last but not least, its my birthday month so I’m doing alot of catching up with friends, pigging out and trying to compensate with more hours in the gym =P

In the meantime, I wanted to share this recipe that I created as a guest post on HungryAngMo’s blog and you can read the post here. It’s my vegan (almost raw) version of the classic Magnum ice cream…….and i LOVE IT!!

VEGAN MAGNUM COCONUT ICE CREAM

Makes 2 portions

Vegan, GF

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Coconut Ice-Cream

½ cup packed coconut meat (around 2 coconuts)

¼ cup coconut water

¼ cup xylitol*

½ tsp vanilla essence

*Xylitol is a natural, low GI sugar substitute that has 40x less calories than sugar and is suitable for people with diabetes or for those watching their weight. You can replace xylitol with equal amounts of sugar too.

Raw Chocolate Coating

150g raw cacao butter (before melting)

3 TBS raw cacao powder

1 TSP lucuma powder (optional, if not replace with 1 TSP cacao powder)

2 TBS + 1 TSP agave nectar

¼ TSP vanilla essence

Pinch of salt

HERE’S HOW

Coconut Ice-Cream

1.      Scrape out the flesh from the 2 large coconuts. Make sure that the flesh isn’t the translucent kind

2.       Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender and pour it into 2 ice cream moulds.

3.       Leave to freeze overnight.

Raw Chocolate Coating

1.     There are several ways to melt the cacao butter but I prefer using the water bath method. You’ll need 2 bowls – a larger one to hold the hot liquid and a smaller one that fits inside the larger one to hold the cacao butter.

Bowl some water and pour it into the larger bowl. Place the smaller bowl with the cacao butter inside the larger bowl and keep stirring till the butter melts. I also use a thermometer to make sure the temperature inside the smaller bowl doesn’t go above 47degrees Celsius so that it’s still considered “raw”. But that’s really optional.

2.      Once the cacao butter has melted, add in the rest of the ingredients and stir well till it becomes a smooth liquid chocolate. Add more agave nectar if you don’t find it sweet enough.

3.      Get ready an empty tray and line it with parchment paper.

4.       Remove the ice-cream moulds from the freezer and slowly pull out your coconut ice cream from the mould.

5.     Coat the ice-cream in chocolate and place it on the tray. Place it back in the freezer.

6.      I repeated step 5 three times because I wanted my chocolate shell to be thick and chocoately!  Once you’re done, leave it in the freezer overnight and you’ll have something delicious to look forward to in the morning!

** If you have excess chocolate, simply freeze it and you’ll get chocolate!

The chocolate surface is not that smooth, and i need to improve on that…but hopefully you’ll do a better job than me=)

 

 

Product round up – May

Decided to start a monthly roundup to share about new raw and vegan products I buy monthly. Didn’t take photos of everything I bought in May, so here’s just a few!

MASON JARS 

Bought them for my juice fast and I I use them for everything – nut milk, salads, overnight puddings, parfait jars ….=) And I love the ultra tight sealed lid!

Where to find : The Living Cafe
Price : Ranges from $11.50  – $14.50 (3 different sizes)

APPLES

After my juice fast, I was CRAVING apples….and I want an apple binge fest. These are the top 3 best tasting apples I found in the supermarkets. And they are all from New Zealand! coincidence?  Best tasting from left to right

Where to find: DIVA apples ( Cold Storage, Jasons) / ENVY apples ( Jasons, certain NTUC fair price outlets like NEX)/ ENZA apples (most major supermarket chains)

Price: DIVA ($1.30 – $1.50) / ENVY ($2.50 – $2.80)/ ENZA ($0.80- $0.95) prices differ based on supermarkets

VEGAN ICE CREAM

One of the perks about going vegan is that I always find vegan products in the supermarkets getting slashed because its not really popular. Managed to get my hands on 2 tubs of vegan ice cream at 60% off! Chocolate Fudge Brownie from Soy Dream was pretty good! Loved the fudge brownie bits. But was really disappointed with It’s SOY delicious’ vanilla ice cream. The texture was pretty bad and it tasted so artificial. First and last time buying it.

Where to find : Major cold storage locations/ Jasons/ Organic food shops
Price : Around $9 – $10

COCONUT OIL

Loving this new coconut oil i bought. No overpowering coconut smell and taste. Perfect for my raw recipes. Always get cold pressed coconut oil so that it remains raw!

Where to find : Country Farm stores/ The Living Cafe
Price: 1L $49.90

In the meantime, this gives me a free pass to buy new goodies in the name of blogging haha…Till the next round up!