Indian Food (Explorations in Tofu: Part 2 of 5)

I love Indian food- it’s delicious and super easy to get vegan. Although Palak Paneer (or Saag Paneer? I think Palak is a type of Saag...) is one of my favorite dishes. After going vegan I missed those chunks of cheese. Yummmm. 

Anyone so last night I decided to make a vegetable curry because I had leftover veggies from a party platter I made last weekend. While I was cooking the curry, I forgot I had some long lost frozen spinach and a block of tofu, and decided to try a vegan palak paneer, for my explorations of tofu series.

Vegan Vegetable Curry

1 can of light coconut cream

1-2 tbsp of curry powder (I love a ton of curry, but start with a little and work your way up to taste)

2 tsp of garlic salt (Use more if needed)

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tsp paprika

A vast array of vegetables (I used broccoli, snap peas, and carrots)

1.              Heat up the coconut milk over medium.

2.              Add all the spices and stir till combined.

3.              Add all the vegetables; stir till vegetables are all covered.

4.              Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 10-15 minutes. I like my vegetables still a bit firm so do this to taste. 

Palak Tofu

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup finely chopped onion

2 cups frozen spinach (next time I’ll try fresh)

1 medium tomato

¼ package medium-firm tofu (optional)

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp coriander

2 tsp turmeric

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp vegannaise (or coconut milk + sprinkle of salt)

1.              Heat up half the olive oil with the onions over medium

2.              Right as the onions get glassy add the spinach and stir. Let simmer.

3.              Chop the tomato up and throw it in the blender or food processor till pureed. Add to the spinach.

4.              Add all the spices and vegannaise and stir till combined. Taste it- add any additional amount of spices to get to the right flavor for you.

5.              Chop the tofu into bite size pieces. Add to the spinach, stir till covered and reduce heat to low medium. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Serve both dishes over rice and enjoy!

Gluten Free "Lasagna" recipe

I recently tried a new spaghetti squash recipe, and although it was nice- I always return to this recipe. I was trying to figure something new for dinner and my coworker, Lisa, just rattled off this recipe off the top of her head. It sounded great so I added a few things and Brian and I loved it.

If you’ve never cooked spaghetti squash before, you are in for a treat! It’s very easy, very fun, and very interesting. The texture is amazing for being a squash! I found this great page with easy directions on all the different ways to cook the squash. This website gives very easy step-by-step directions on how to cook a spaghetti squash. I prefer the boiling method.

Ingredients:

1 Spaghetti squash cooked and scooped out

2 cups of tomato sauce

3 Roma tomatoes, diced

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 cloves crushed garlic

Olive oil

1 large zucchini, sliced very thin (I use a vegetable peeler)

1 cup of Daiya mozzarella “cheese”

Directions

1.              Preheat oven to 350. Sauté onions in olive oil over medium low heat. Add garlic. Sauté till translucent.

2.              Add sauce and tomatoes and continue cook on medium low.

3.              In a 12”X9” baking dish evenly lay about half the cooked spaghetti squash out. Spread a cup of the tomato sauce mixture over. Then sprinkle half the cheese over the sauce.

4.              Next lay out the thinly sliced zucchini out over the cheese like lasagna strips. Spread the rest of the squash over the zucchini, the rest of the sauce over the squash and the rest of the cheese over the sauce.

5.              Bake for about 30 minutes.

Salsa Fresca Recipes

You may wonder why I reviewed recipes from my dinner party instead of posting them and reviewing. Recipes are an interesting thing- as I said in my first blog post I rarely follow them exactly. However due to copyright, I choose not to post full recipes created by someone else. Note that anytime I try anyone else’s recipes I will link to the book or blog it came from. But if I’ve changed something enough I will post my recipe for it. If it’s still close I will post inspired by. This is just for my comfort, and I really felt that I needed to write briefly about.

That little disclaimer past me now, I want to post the salsas from the other night. Grab some corn chips and go to town on these. 

Also if you’re like me you probably HATE chopping cilantro. I was at Williams-Sonoma and came across an herb mill. It’s not the easiest thing to clean, but it works and is so very worth it to not to have to try and chop them.

Salsa Fresca Recipes

Pineapple Avocado Recipe

(Inspired by Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook)

2 cups chopped FRESH pineapple
2 avocados, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
¼- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Juice of half a lemon

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate for about a half hour before serving.

Mango Salsa

(Inspired by A Beautiful Bowl of Soup: The Best Vegetarian Recipes)

1 mango diced with the skin

1 small red onion diced

Juice of half a lemon

2 tsp of agave, maple syrup, or brown sugar

¼ - ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Dissolve the sweetner in the lemon juice. Combine all ingredients and refrigerate for about a half hour before serving.

Caramelized Onion and Kale Pizza

I think pizza is a very personal thing. Before I started my vegan adventure, I loved Papa John’s website where you could specify “light” or “heavy” cheese, sauce and toppings. So because of that giving a pizza recipe is very tough! I’ll post approximately what I use and please adjust to what you love.

I purchased a cornmeal crust for this recipe because I was feeling lazy and hungry and didn’t want to take the time to try a recipe that might be awful. Maybe next time I’ll try a recipe.

For the cheese I went to buy Daiya mozzarella because it is amazing and delicious, however Whole Foods was completely sold out, and none of the other mozzarellas they carried were vegan so Brian suggested we try the pepper jack because it “would probably be exactly the same thing.” It wasn’t but it was delicious.

Tonight was a silly night when we went to choose the tomato sauce. While Brian was loudly commenting on how we had to buy the canned sauce because it was cheaper, I noticed Shia Labouf was shopping right next to us. I giggled. I love tomato sauce, I think it is wonderful and I don’t mind buying the plain stuff because I always add a ton of garlic, onions and sometimes-chopped tomato and basil to it. But I thought it was funny that we were so loud about buying cheap sauce next to a movie star.

For the toppings on this one I used kale and caramelized onions, yum! Make sure you put the kale underneath the onions, or it’ll get very crispy. (I’ll do a recipe for kale chips soon. Super delicious.) Spinach can absolutely be substituted. Ugh- just do whatever makes you happy. This is what I did:

Caramelized Onion and Kale Pizza

1 8” pizza crust

¾ cup tomato sauce (more or less to your liking)

¼ cup of shredded vegan pepper jack (or more)

2 big leafs of black kale shredded into small pieces

1 medium red onion (Thinly sliced)

1 clove of crushed garlic

Coconut oil

1.              Preheat oven to 425 or whatever your crust suggests.

2.              Put a little oil in a skillet on low heat.

3.              Add the onions stir till they are covered in oil. Stir occasionally for the next 15 to 20 minutes.

4.              While the onions are going heat up the sauce, add the crushed garlic. Add a few onions too if you want.

5.              Spread the sauce over the pizza crust.

6.              Arrange the kale over the sauce.

7.              Sprinkle the cheese over the kale.

8.              Add the caramelized onions to the top.

9.              Bake for about 12 minutes, until cheese has melted.

10.           Let cool for a few minutes, slice up and enjoy!