{"id":329,"date":"2014-06-17T23:30:41","date_gmt":"2014-06-17T21:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/?p=329"},"modified":"2026-09-28T18:12:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T16:12:52","slug":"veggie-dinner-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/veggie-dinner-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Veggie Dinner Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve never really understood \u201cmeat and potatoes\u201d people. I eat both, but during the week I prefer to cook lighter meals using seasonal produce. (In other words if it\u2019s cheaper at Woolies, it\u2019s on my dinner plate. Sorry asparagus, I miss you dearly.) So when a PR agency asked Foodblog Joburg to host a vegetarian dinner party for 10, it sounded like an ideal way to discover more vegetarian dishes. They were very mysterious about what exactly we were in for, and I counted down the days with baited breath.<\/p>\n

\"MeettheChef\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Soya hasn\u2019t been taking home any awards lately. If anything, its press of late is going to win it a Miss Controversial trophy. That said, when Candice \u2013 the chef \u2013 arrived at my house on Sunday afternoon to start her prep and all those telltale green boxes came out the packet, I wondered what my guests would say. Would the token vegetarians think \u201cnot this stuff again?\u201d, would the health-nut eat anything at all? This was a vegetarian meal by the Fry\u2019s Family. Surprise.<\/p>\n

Meatless Sunday?<\/h2>\n

Cooking in someone else\u2019s kitchen is never easy, but Candice was full of smiles from the start. She quickly explained the dishes she would be compiling \u2013 each with a different Fry\u2019s ingredient \u2013 and got to work chopping. Although she went to culinary school, these recipes were developed exclusively with Fry\u2019s products in mind and she was really there to facilitate their plating, from pot to pan.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s see what she put up:<\/p>\n

\"Pic1\"<\/a>
\nMini Sliders with Blue Cheese and Onion Jam and Wedges<\/p>\n

Candice usually bakes her own bread, but because she didn\u2019t have enough time to prep the dough from scratch in my kitchen she used Sasko rolls. Each burger was topped with a slice of blue cheese and onion jam, both from Woolworths. The chef served the dish with spiced potato wedges. Blue cheese and sweet onion jam is a classic flavour combination, so of course the sharpness and sweetness worked wonderfully together.<\/p>\n

\"Pic2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything in the Kitchen\u201d Salad with Honey Sesame Chicken Strips<\/p>\n

A nice mix of mini lettuce leaves, carrots, red onion, olives, baby corn and cucumber – topped with Fry\u2019s chicken-style strips, flash-fried in a mix of honey and sesame seeds. An Asian salad dressing (soya, garlic, lemon, olive oil) gave a tanginess that complemented the sweetness of the faux-chicken strips. However, I expected and wanted that sticky, dark Korean-style strip, but the honey sesame sauce wasn\u2019t as prolific as it should\u2019ve been.<\/p>\n

\"Pic3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Baby Bunny Chow with Traditional Sambals<\/p>\n

The aroma of the garam masala permeated my kitchen, but while this dish smelt fantastic, I wasn\u2019t sure about the texture of the Fry\u2019s meat-free mince in the dish. It was a bit gelatinous. Candice made some traditional curry sambals like Indian Raita (chopped cucumbers in yogurt) and diced, raw tomatoes and onions, but overall it was underwhelming.<\/p>\n

\"Pic4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Schnitzel served with Garlic Mash, Tomato Mushroom Ragu and Mustard Sauce<\/p>\n

Each golden-crumbed Fry\u2019s schnitzel was served atop a creamy garlic mash, with a side of baby tomato and fried mushroom sweet ragu. The mustard sauce was delicious\u2026 but was from an Ina Paarman packet.<\/p>\n

To me, wholesome vegetarian food doesn\u2019t have to include soya. It can, but I\u2019m more prone to using ingredients like lentils and nuts when I want to make a meatless meal. I liked all the dishes and the honey sesame chicken strips were everyone\u2019s pick at the end of the night.<\/p>\n

What we all agreed on is that the Fry\u2019s range is incredibly versatile and convenient. (The schnitzels, for example, can be popped in a toaster and you\u2019re good to go. Just add hummus.) I did feel a bit Fry-ed out by the end of the fourth course. That said, when I walked past their product range in my supermarket a few days later, I felt compelled to buy a box or two to see what I could make at home.<\/p>\n

All the recipes for these dishes and more can be found online and in the new Fry\u2019s Family cookbook.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.frysvegetarian.co.za\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve never really understood \u201cmeat and potatoes\u201d people. I eat both, but during the week I prefer to cook lighter meals using seasonal produce. (In other words if it\u2019s cheaper at Woolies, it\u2019s on my dinner plate. Sorry asparagus, I miss you dearly.) So when a PR agency asked Foodblog Joburg to host a vegetarian…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions\/336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}