VEGAN KITCHEN – CHINESE NEW YEAR “MOCK DUCK” 新年好

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VEGAN KITCHEN – CHINESE NEW YEAR “MOCK DUCK” 新年好

And so It happened on Valentines day that the FISHINABOX Gang found themselves wandering around downtown Chinatown and it’s environs taking on the sights at the Chinese New Year Parade this month. New Year actually fell on the 8th but the celebrations for the rest of London ran on the 14th…

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As we ambled around the crowds joyfully throwing bangers and snappers a sense of melancholy came over me like a cold icy finger as we happened upon one of those gloried mortuaries known as a duck shop.

A woeful sight indeed if ever there was one. Rows and Rows of beheaded, eviscerated and plucked little ducks on spits, all machinally slowly turning like unfortunate victims of the heinous “cook em alive” Titan; King Hyperion……..

As the sadness washed over me, my inner Buddha offered me the opportunity to show how nice a duck dish can actually be when there no duck in it… So without further ado i offloaded the last of our “Go Vegan” stickers on each and every one who showed an interest in taking one and made haste from those pits of decay to put mind to frying pan and to come up with the “Mock Duck Meal”.

Yes the Mock Duck Meal , not some martial arts movie cast off “shitting duck crouching chef ” special, this one is torture free and basically came out of the contents of the back of the cupboard. So lets get stuffed with fake, and not fucked, duck and you will see how perfect a meal can be without a corpse sleeping in the sauce begging for its soul to be set free……

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Get your ingredients together in the pan and pour off the mock duck sauce and mix it with the bean juice on one side (we will come back to that later) ..

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Oh almost forgot (again) the ingredients / recipe list……it went a little something like this….

2 onions / 2 tsp tandoori paste / 1 tin mushrooms / 1 tin red kidney beans drained /dash maple syrup / 6 tbsp imli (tamarind sauce) / 2 tins mock duck (drain juice to one side) / salt to season / reduce until the sauce begins to thicken and caramelize…..

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Then cook up the Vegetable side dish…

Remember that grubby old tin of sauce drainings you put on the side ? Well let’s go get it right now to do the side dish.

Grab that left over sauce from mock duck / tandoori spice mix powder 3 tbsp / hemp seeds 1/2 cup / spinach  / four leeks sliced down the middle and separated out / 1 apple chopped small / 2 tsp maple syrup

Fry the hemp seeds and add the spice mix….

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Start working in the spinach then the leeks, lift and turn, lift and turn until completely softened and with a lattice like appearance

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and then bring both together and serve for the most amazing mock duck sensory taste fuck ever. Some people in London still amazingly thinks it’s OK in this day and age to pluck a duck but that’s just NOT how we do things at the FISHINABOX….

So there you have it ! “Mock Duck Phooey” that’s all there is too it !… ENJOY dear Kitchen Cadets and GO VEGAN !

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VEGAN KITCHEN – BRAISED TOFU IN TAMARIND MARINADE and the rest….

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VEGAN KITCHEN – BRAISED TOFU IN TAMARIND MARINADE and the rest….

The pressure is relentless from the fan base and local community to start running some recipes in the news feed,. That’s all well and good though it takes an astronomical amount of attention for a seasoned vegan vegtable chopper to stop look and think about whats actually going into a dish to make it what it is and be able to scribble it down in some sort of sense or logic that can be followed by kitchen cadets. so here we go,. i will ramble and write and hopefully in the process will deliver for you the means to put this vegan masterpiece on your table. whether for guests or just to impress……anyone even your self… this is a must food flagship of vegan Asian fusion. So with no more ado,. lets get to it and GO VEGAN  !!

STEP 1 – Take two tins , yes tins, boites / boxes / cans whatever you call them.. tins of braised tofu…nope we are not going to grow it in the FISHINABOX garden or ask for ancient virgins to press it in their wrinkly but holy hands for us in muslin sacks that were once worn by travelling Buddhist pilgrims… no no,,, we simply get two tins of Braised Tofu and chuck it in a big Tupperware bowl much like the picture below…

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Questions may be asked when you do this, such as how come my braised tofu doesn’t have all that funky sauce with it ? Well that’s simply because I haven’t told you how and what it is that needs adding. Quite simply I can’t really remember everything i put in it but with a little help from friends i can just go into auto kitchen robot mode and then can write down what i do.

So here it is: 2 inch of fresh ginger grated , one teaspoon of madras curry paste (yes straight from a jar, you think theres time to make up spices as well ?) sweet tamarind sauce (shitloads of that obviously) some garlic salt, chilli flakes , black pepper , iodine salt. a twist of each spice grinder and then a few more and then after sniffing like “a pug over dog poo in the park” for a few minutes a few twists more…

Once that is done… turn over without breaking up the tofu chunks, cover and chuck it in a fridge. Then just chill out while you are waiting, log on line , say hi to friends, try on clothes, have a nap, put your feet up, do Druidic ceremonies…….. whatever floats your boat as you leave the Marinade in the Fridge everything will be peachy…

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2 DAYS LATER………………..

OK. Here we go again. Lets pull the Marinaded braised tofu out of freddy the freak brothers fridge and start cooking. Before starting to cook, you must ensure you have put some money on the gas meter or tapped into next doors line or your culinary cooking experience might be cut short as the power literally cuts out.

Now lets see, a few mushrooms, about a box will do, 3 plump and squidgy tomatoes 3 massive onions, the sort that Catalan farmers with donkeys eat raw in European cinema period classics eat and you have all the ingredients you need.

Fry the onions until browning in the pan and add the tomatoes and mushrooms as the mushrooms start to soften add the braised tofu marinade all in and heat through..about 15 minutes does it until the marinade thickens and its ready to eat. Wahay !! wasn’t that simple ?

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Sometimes people want to serve it up with a few sides ,. I would just add a simple Rice and mixed beans as it really doesn’t need anything more. wash the rice, cook the rice (add about a inch of water over the top of the rice and boil down lowering heat so that it doesn’t burn) until white and fluffy and thrown in the mixed beans, mix it and serve.

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And that is all there is too it people.

There is some cool stuff about the key stuff about the amazing health benefits of tamarind and ginger etc.. its all good stuff, but then a vegan diet is simply that “all good stuff”, no corpses, no chemicals, etc,. good karma , torture free amazing food.. GO VEGAN and enjoy the revolution whilst sitting on your arse having second helpings…

SCIENCE FOOD FACTS

GINGER: Ginger is among the healthiest (and most delicious) spices on the planet. It is full to the brim of nutrients and bio-active compounds (what a great word – B to the I to the O to the A to the C to the T to the I to the V to the E) that have powerful benefits for your body and brain. Gingerol is the main bio-active compound in ginger, responsible for much of its medicinal properties. It has powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. Sounds good ? lets find out more…

12 Ways You Can Benefit From Ginger

http://foodmatters.tv/articles-1/10-healing-benefits-of-ginger

TAMARIND: Tamarind is a very well known herb having many uses such as culinary (That means basically cooking) , medicinal (drugs man !! woo yeah), ornamental uses (left on the surface too long and went hard) and as an economic dye ( color-fest) . Its botanical name is Tamarindus indicas (but no one uses that anymore even the starry old scrouts just call it Tamarind these days).

OFFICIAL VERDICT: Tamarind is included in daily diet as it has many health benefits that are sure to keep you healthy or improve you overall health.

7 Amazing Benefits of Tamarind

 

Well that’s about all for now folks, try out this sudo-recipe here. and message me in the contact form. Did you like it or did you give it to the cat as vegan cat food ? (vegan cat food online, meat catfood comes from slaughterhouse scarp and skinned animal from the fur industry – nasty !) did i miss out any ingredients ? Send me your dinner table pics all sweet and loving smiles and if i get something verginig on positive feedback. i’ll post up another recipe. ENJOY !!!

DISCLAIMER: Links to information on sites other than those operated by FISHINABOX RECORDS are for your convenience only and are not an endorsement or recommendation of those sites. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not control or provide any content or information at these sites, makes no representation or warranty of any kind with respect to these sites or their content, and does not maintain, operate, or take responsibility for information provided. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not endorse and is not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of such content or information and any use thereof is solely at the user’s risk.

Domestic Violence and Voiceless : TAKE MY BREATH AWAY

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©℗ 2016 FISHINABOX (All rights reserved)

BATA MOTEL Courtesy of Penny Rimbaud

Domestic Violence and Voiceless : TAKE MY BREATH AWAY

Objectification article on the hidden levels of domestic abuse that go unchecked and brushed aside as the so called normal

How so called social norms, oppress women from expressing their rights. Are you subjected to any of the following forms of socially normalized abuse ? :
– Prevented from getting a job or having salary taken from her
– Making her beg for housekeeping
– Restricting access to family banking or financial decision making
– Threatening violence or using pushing , holds , body slaps
– Threats of reporting to welfare and other investigating bodies
– Making her sign documents (forced to take out PAYDAY loans etc)
– Making her afraid by using looks gestures actions
– Destroying her property
– Banging swearing and breaking things
– Belittling her as a woman and mother
– Humiliating her
– Inviting other men to flirt with her then degrading her as a slag
– Making her think shes crazy
– Following her around nagging
– Shouting commands
– Breaking her sleeping or child feeding pattern
– Playing mind games
– Controlling what she does who she sees and where she goes and talks too
– Turning up televisions and music when she is speaking
– Using jealousy to justify actions
– Ignoring requests and making light of abuse
– Not taking her concerns over abuse seriously
– Saying abuse didn’t happen
– Shifting responsibility for abusive behavior
– Making her feel guilty about children
– Using children to spy and relay messages to her
– Using visitation rights to harass her
– Threatening to take home and or children away from her
– Treating her like a servant
– Making all the big decisions
– Acting like master of the castle
– Being the one to define male and female roles and Belittle homosexuality and gender identities

Victims of domestic abuse are increasingly being forced to sign for credit, by their domineering and threatening partners, to finance abusers gambling, drug, drinking and dating habits – Citizens Advice Bureau suggests (2014).

Exercising financial control over someone or coercing them to get into debt is becoming an ever more common method of abuse.

An increasingly large number of women, have been being forced to take out loans, including payday loans, and then hand the money over to their partner. The also have access to their own working salaries restricted or completely seized by the abusive partner for his own personal disposal resulting in women having to beg and seek help from family members and friends for the basics such as food gas and electricity. In a report, published to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Citizens Advice warned that financial abuse was dramatically on the rise.
Almost three quarters of Citizens Advice workers, who spoke to those reporting financial abuse, said the victim had been forced by their abuser to take out credit and/or hand over their earnings under threat of violence.

You are NOT ALONE…………………………………..

Womens AID in the UK have been campaigning extensively to have all forms of abuse that are “non physical” (and as such largely unlegislated to date) recognised in law. The campaign has been met with a landmark achievement of accepting that Coercive control is at the heart of domestic abuse and that behavior of this nature is to be included in the serious crime acts.

Polly Neale, Director of Women’s Aid was reported to comment:

“Victims can be frightened of the repercussions of not abiding by someone else’s rules. Often they fear that violence will be used against them, or suffer from extreme psychological and emotional abuse.”
“Being subjected to repeated humiliation, intimidation or subordination can be as harmful as physical abuse, with many victims stating that trauma from psychological abuse had a more lasting impact than physical abuse.”
“Perpetrators will usually start abusing their victim by limiting her personal freedoms, monitoring her every move, and stripping away her control of her life; physical violence often comes later.”

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3376846/Five-years-jail-men-emotionally-bully-wives-New-law-target-bullies-control-partners-coercive-controlling-behaviour.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35192256

Understanding what is and what is not abuse:

The Duluth Model is the most common batterer intervention program used globally to assess domestic abuse.

It is based in feminist theory positing that “domestic violence is the result of patriarchal ideology in which men are encouraged and expected to control their partners”.

The Domestic Abuse Intervention Project was the first all encompassing multi-discipline program addressing issues of domestic violence. Conducted in Duluth, Minnesota in 1981 and coordinated the actions of a variety of agencies dealing with domestic conflict, The Duluth model curriculum was developed by a “small group of activists in the battered women’s movement” with battered women and men as subject matter. The program has now become the model for western jurisdictions who seek to clearly identify and deal legislatly in prosecuting and protecting women from domestic violence.

The feminist theory underlying the Duluth Model is that men use violence within relationships to exercise power and control. According to the Duluth Model, “women and children are vulnerable to violence because of their unequal social, economic, and political status in society.”

Treatment of abusive men is focused primarily on re-education, as “we do not see men’s violence against women as stemming from individual pathology, but rather from a socially reinforced sense of entitlement.”

The program’s philosophy is intended to help batterers work to change their attitudes and personal behavior so they would learn to be nonviolent in any relationship.

Find out more on the link below to assess whether your own situation requires intervention to address issues of domestic abuse:

http://www.theduluthmodel.org/training/wheels.html

Victims and Survivors of Domestic Abuse – Looking for support ? Follow these links

http://solacewomensaid.org/about-us/refuges/

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/homelessness/emergency_accommodation_if_homeless/womens_refuges

http://www.refuge.org.uk/

https://www.womensaid.org.uk/

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FISHINABOX RECORDS excerpt their right under section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 to discuss all aspects of Domestic Abuse, including referencing publicly released source material. All comment on this project and all content under the context of “fair comment and criticism”.

DISCLAIMER: Links to information on sites other than those operated by FISHINABOX RECORDS are for your convenience only and are not an endorsement or recommendation of those sites. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not control or provide any content or information at these sites, makes no representation or warranty of any kind with respect to these sites or their content, and does not maintain, operate, or take responsibility for information provided. FISHINABOX RECORDS does not endorse and is not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of such content or information and any use thereof is solely at the user’s risk.