I love smoothie bowls in Summer! It’s blended frozen fruit that you can eat with a spoon like ice cream! Which is why it’s called Nicecream in the vegan community, as it doesn’t contain dairy 🥰
So refreshing and healthy! 🙂 You can add whatever toppings you like most. I’ve used peanut butter but you can use almond butter or sunflower butter or omit it.. I used coconut yoghurt as I had it on hand but it is very optional. I’ve used normal granola but you could use chocolate granola or a fancy freeze dried fruit one! Ground flax, choc chips, more nuts, other fruit, seeds, supplement powders etc!
Don’t dawdle whilst putting on the toppings because it’s best served as cold, fresh and firm as possible so you can eat it before it melts into a liquid smoothie 🙂
Video of the whole process at the bottom 🙂
Ingredients for the nicecream- one serve
1 1/2 cups of diced mango
1 1/2 cups of berries, cherries or dragonfruit
1 frozen banana
1 tablespoon of plant milk (or two if your blender is struggling)
Toppings
Crunchy toasted granola
Sliced fruit of your choice
Chia seeds
Peanut butter
Coconut yogurt
Passionfruit pulp
Method
Add the frozen fruit and tiny bit of milk to your blender, cover with the lid and blend on high. If you have the mixing stick lid attachment, mix vigorously and push the fruit towards the blade until smooth.
If you don’t have that attachment, you will need to stop the blender and mix it manually every 10 seconds until smooth. Be careful!
Scoop all the thick smoothie nicecream into a bowl and smooth it with a spatula or a spoon. Play with making some nice swirls and patterns.
Add all your toppings quickly and enjoy!
Note: you’ll see that I added more fruit during blending to make it reach the blade better and fill my chosen bowl 🙂
Note: you need a good blender to be able to make this properly! Blenders that aren’t powerful enough will fail to make a smooth product and generate too much heat trying so it melts the frozen fruit and you end up with a liquid smoothie instead of a thick sorbet consistency.
You can swap out froze fruits to your liking and per the season but I always recommend having at least a frozen banana as it smooths the consistency and stops it from being too icy.
Troubleshooting:
Won’t blend- blender too weak or it’s too dry. Try to add a little more milk.
Too runny- blender too weak so it warmed up over time, or you added too much milk! Try less milk next time or add more frozen fruit now and see if it thickens.
Chunky- keep mixing and blending until smooth. If it’s starting to melt and it’s mostly smooth, just eat the chunks of fruit.
This broccolini salad is my current favourite because it’s healthy and gives you a good dose of fresh greens while still satisfying a meal slot thanks to the deep flavours from the roasted nuts and pumpkin seeds 🙂 Pearl barley or black rice can be added if you’d like some more carbs and you can choose lemon juice or raspberry vinegar in the dressing to change up the flavours 🙂 Video with the whole process at the bottom of the recipe 🥰
Ingredients – Per person
1 bunch of broccolini (170g)
1/2 bunch of coriander (40g)
1/2 of an avocado
1/2 of a long red chilli*
2 tablespoons of roughly chopped roasted almonds*
2 tablespoons of toasted pumpkin seeds
Dressing
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice OR 1 tablespoon raspberry vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey or sugar
1 teaspoon mashed avocado
Salt and pepper
Method
Cut the broccolini into small diagonal slices approx 1 centimetre (half inch) thick and add to a big bowl. Do the same with the coriander.
Slice the chilli lengthways and remove the seeds if you wish, then thinly slice it lengthways and add to the big bowl.
Add your chopped roasted almonds and pumpkin seeds to the salad bowl.
Dice the avocado and add most of it to the bowl, then mash remaining teaspoon of avocado and put it in a jar for the dressing.
To the dressing jar, add your vinegar or fresh lemon juice, mustard, olive oil and either your honey or sugar. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Shake very vigorously until all combined and emulsified.
If it’s too tangy for your liking, add a little more sweetener and olive oil and shake again. If it’s too flat for your liking, add more vinegar or lemon and shake again.
Pour over the salad and mix until everything is coated.
Serve up and enjoy!
*Note: The long red chillies I use aren’t spicy but add a nice flavour. This broccolini salad isn’t intended to be spicy but feel free to use a spicy one if you’d like, or omit the chilli altogether if you’re sensitive to it 🙂
*Note: to roast your almonds, chop them roughly then add to a hot oven for 10 minutes or until medium brown in colour. To toast the pumpkin seeds, cover the surface of a frypan with the seeds and toast on medium heat until light brown, stirring regularly. Do both of these in a big batch and store in an airtight container for the next salad. It really cuts down on prep time! 🙂
I usually prefer the raspberry vinegar with this broccolini salad but am happily using up some fresh lemons as it’s the season 🙂
If you’ve been to Japan, you’ve probably had katsucurry or katsudon! And maybe you’ve had tonkatsu とんかつ which is the pork (or chicken チキンカツ) katsu by itself with some rice, a dressed cabbage salad and tonkatsu sauce!
If you’re vegetarian or vegan, you might feel like you’re missing out but this tonkatsu mushroom dish will totally hit the spot! Kinokokatsu きのこカツ ! This is one of my favourite things I’ve ever made 🙂
Mushroom Tonkatsu – Kinokokatsu
Ingredients
Cooked Japanese rice
2 cups of sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup of plain flour
1/2 cup of plant milk
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon of cornflour
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
Panko bread crumbs
Tonkatsu sauce to serve, Bulldog brand
Cabbage Salad
1/4 of a green cabbage
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon neutral oil
Toasted sesame seeds
Method
Using a mandolin on the thinnest setting, carefully slice the cabbage. If you don’t have a mandolin, slice the cabbage as thinly as you can with a knife. Set aside.
Mix all the salad dressing ingredients in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves. Set aside. Do not mix them together now because the cabbage will go very soft, release its water and lose its crunchy texture! Just spoon the dressing on to serve.
For the katsu batter, mix the plain flour, corn flour and the garlic powder together in a big bowl. Whisk in the milk and soy sauce until smooth.
Coat the mushroom slices in the batter, then coat with the panko breadcrumbs. Add to a plate.
Fry the mushrooms in hot oil until they’re golden on both sides, approximately 3 minutes each side.
Transfer the panko mushrooms to a paper towel to remove excess oil.
To plate up, put the warm Japanese rice into a bowl. Top with your tonkatsu mushrooms and a nice mountain of the cabbage. You could have the rice in a side bowl if you’d prefer. Spoon some dressing over the cabbage and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.
Drizzle tonkatsu sauce generously over the mushrooms or have it in a small dish on the side for dipping.
I like to have a side of kewpie mayonnaise too and I love toasted sesame seeds so I add an extra tablespoon or two of them to my whole plate, especially on the rice!
This is a delicious recipe that’s quick to make and filling without feeling heavy.
Ingredients for the salad
500g potatoes
200g marinated tofu
300g green beans
2 spring onions
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 tbsp miso paste
1 tbsp of olive oil
Ingredients for the dressing
1 tbsp of favourite mayonnaise* (see notes)
1 tsp miso paste
1 tsp of vinegar
1 tsp of honey or sugar
1 tsp of dijon or seeded mustard
Few cracks of black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
Cut the potatoes evenly into big bite sized chunks.
In a big bowl, drizzle the potatoes with olive oil, then add the miso paste and stir vigorously until it has lightly coated all potatoes.
Lay them on a lined baking tray and put them in the oven for 15 minutes
Prepare the beans by cutting off the tips on both ends and halving the beans. Set aside and boil the kettle or a pot of water.
Slice the spring onions and set aside.
Add all dressing ingredients to a small bowl and mix until well combined. Taste. If you’d like it more tangy,/bitey add more vinegar/mustard. More salty, add a dash of soy sauce. More sweet/less tangy, add a little more honey or sugar. Set aside.
After 15 minutes, check potatoes and flip them all. There will be little blackened bits of miso which is normal. Pull the tray out and add 3 tablespoons of water to the potatoes. This will help soften them and keep the miso from burning. Put the tray back in the oven, turn down to 170C/340 for 10 minutes.
With 5 minutes remaining on the potatoes, add the tofu to a lined baking tray and put it in the oven to warm up.
Blanch the beans in boiling water for 2 minutes then drain.
Remove potatoes and tofu from the oven. Poke potatoes with a knife or skewer- it should go in without much resistance. If they aren’t finished yet, return them to the oven in 5 minute intervals until they’re cooked. I like to pick through and remove any bigger blackened miso chunks but keep small pieces as they add flavour.
Cut the tofu into bite sized cubes.
Add the potatoes, tofu, beans and dressing to a large bowl and stir with a big spoon to mix thoroughly.
Spoon into serving bowls and sprinkle generously with sliced spring onion and sesame seeds.
Enjoy!
* Notes: I use Kewpie mayo which has a savoury and creamy flavour. You can find a vegan version of it online or at vegan stores. Regular mayonnaise is quite sweet so I recommend omitting the sugar/honey and tasting before deciding if you want it sweeter.
Entire process making the miso roasted potato, bean and tofu salad 🙂
Only ranking laksas from Malaysian restaurants, not other cuisines or fusion restaurants. Updated for 2025.
My criteria for a great laksa are:
Eggplant. It’s my number one topping; if it isn’t your favourite too, I’m calling the police 😅 Big points lost if the laksa is missing fried eggplant!
Spicy but edible.
Hot soup temperature.
Tofu puffs are better than solid cubes.
Two kinds of noodle – vermicelli and a thicker yellow noodle
Some vegetables but not soggy and overcooked! Ie. Broccoli, beans, bean sprouts.
Fried onions and shallots.
Good soup creaminess, depth of flavour and viscosity. Not too thin and watery.
Bonuses: half an egg, sambal/chilli paste, spinach, herbs like mint.
Since I order vegetable laksa, I would be absolutely thrilled if they added vegan fish cakes to the laksa since they taste almost identical, but I haven’t seen it yet. I use them in my homemade laksa though as they’re available in the freezer at many Asian grocers 🙂
Oddities and too many vegetable fillers: carrot, cabbage, tinned or raw mushrooms, tinned baby corn, cauliflower, tomato- (truth be told, I don’t mind some of these in moderation but I’m being a stickler for this review).
Bottom of the Bunch:
Super Ming, Thornbury (Closed down)
One of the newcomers to the northern block, Super Ming’s laksa is pretty good. Some nice spice, beans, tofu puffs and a creamy, tangy, oily broth. Unfortunately, the laksa contains only vermicelli noodles and I’m disappointed that cauliflower is present but eggplant isn’t… They sell eggplant as an entree so we bought it and divided it between us so we could all have eggplant with our laksa, but it adds a $3-4 per bowl which isn’t great. I’d rather it was included.
Pappa Rich, Northcote/CBD
The laksa at Pappa Rich is nice and unique in a few ways! Not exactly everything you’re looking for in a laksa but tasty. Their eggplant is lightly coated before being deep-fried so it has a deeper flavour and a squelchy but firm texture to the outside; love it. There are plenty of tofu puffs and skin, as well as bean shoots and some tomato which I’ve come to enjoy. The soup is creamy, not too spicy but flavourful enough. Would love a green vegetable in there.. It’s also is pretty consistent across different stores.
Malaymas, Northcote
With its fairly light and creamy broth, the Malaymas laksa still delivers some good flavour and the temp was hot enough. The tofu puffs and mint were much appreciated. Downsides, the eggplant tastes pretty boiled- I prefer when it has been fried and has a deeper, saltier flavour that separates it from the rest of the vegetables, and there’s a mix of veggies here akin to the contents of a red curry: baby corn, bamboo, cabbage, carrot, capsicum. Serving size is a little small and I’d like the broth to be spicier and thicker. Still, it’s definitely a tasty and adequate laksa.
Middle of the Pack- Good Options:
Sutsa Malaysian Kitchen, Preston
I appreciate having this place in the north! Creamy, hot soup with good spice, appropriate veggies and a generous amount of fried eggplant. After a really hard weekend, I cried while eating this because I was so grateful for it. Feel like that’s a sign that it’s a great laksa.
Laksa King, Flemington
With lots of noodles and a large bowl, this laksa is filling with few strange additions like raw mushrooms. I ran out of soup and the tofu are cubes, not puffs.. It’s a popular spot and they take last orders pretty late which is nice but they are absurdly busy sometimes and you might have to wait over an hour for a table even on a weeknight. Overrated compared to Chef Lagenda next door, in my opinion. The soup is tasty but isn’t crazy rich, delicious or as exciting as it could be. Would love a bit more spice, but it is a great laksa for a reasonable price.
Mayala, Richmond (Closed down)
Broke my heart when you closed down, Malaya!!! Really f-ing good laksa with a thick, flavourful soup. Ahhhh 😦
Laksa Garden, Hawthorn
I’d say this is a very good laksa. Nice spice and temperature. Flavour could have some more depth but it’s very enjoyable regardless. The tofu are somewhere between puffs and cubes and have a delicious soft centre. Appropriate veggies, price, size. Chopped herbs on top. Great asset to the east side of town!
Runner up:
Chef Lagenda, Flemington
A popular place, the laksa at Chef Lagenda is tasty and an excellent choice; my sister’s favourite and my second favourite. The soup is solid, flavourful, oily, spicy enough and creamy, the eggplant is generous which is a huge draw card for me. The tofu is fairly soft inside which is enjoyable and the vegetables are plentiful and al dente. Numerous pieces of zucchini and snow peas under there, too. And very affordable.
THE BEAST. THE WINNER. THE CLEAR LEADER:
Malaysian Laksa House, CBD
Now this is a freaking laksa!! This is the best laksa I have ever had in Melbourne (and I’ve had it about 50 times). Delicious tasty soup, fried eggplant, tofu puffs, large serving, beans, spinach, broccoli, two types of noodles and bonus fried egg and sambal! It’s affordable, too. I love this laksa. It honestly shits on every the other laksa in the entire city and has been my favourite for years for good reason. 🙂 I hope that Malaysian Laksa House survives the cost of living crisis and can continue serving this awesome soup to hungry patrons for years to come. Everyone go support them! 🙂 They’re on Elizabeth street in Melbourne CBD. And please don’t complain that the customer service is short n sharp. They’re busy! Just enjoy your laksa and be on your way.
Muggle Chef 