Tequila Chili Lime Tofu

I went a little crazy in the kitchen today. The boys were outside playing since it was finally above zero (only 2 degrees above, but we will take what we can get), so I spent about 2 hours making a Mexican feast. I like to make a special meal on Sundays when I have some extra time, and cooking helps me decompress and relax and get ready for the work week. I will post two recipes tonight and the final one tomorrow.

INGREDIENTS

- 1 pkg firm tofu, pressed, and cut into slices

- 2 tbsp oil

- 1 large vidalia onion (or some other sweet onion), cut in half and sliced

- 1/4 cup tequila

- juice of 1 orange

- juice of two limes

- 1/4 tsp ground allspice

- 1/4 tsp cinnamon

- 1 tsp chili powder

- pinch of cumin

- 1 tsp salt

- cilantro for garnish

METHOD

1. Toss tofu slices in cornstarch and fry in oil over med-hi heat until golden. Remove from oil and drain.

2. Heat oil in a frying pan over med-hi heat. Saute onions, stirring constantly, for about 5 mins, until onions are just starting to brown.

3. Add tequila to pan and cook until mostly evaporated, stirring constantly. Add juices and spices (except cilantro, of course) and mix well. Add tofu into pan and turn to coat. Add more orange juice if needed. Garnish with cilantro and serve.

Susan's Vegan Omelette (sort of)

Do you remember when I went to DC and ate at the Sticky Fingers Bakery? They served a great egg and sausage muffin that I thought I would try to re-create today. So I Googled "vegan omelette" was sent right away to Fatfree Vegan Kitchen. Susan, as you may already know, is a vegan culinary genius with photography skills to pay the bills. Actually, hers was the first blog I started to read. So for lunch I whipped up a double recipe, but instead of making an omelette I cooked the tofu mixture like you would a pancake (see pic below), and served it with vegenaise and a tomato slice (no sausage patties handy) and plenty of ketchup. If one were so obliged he/she could slap on some vegan cheese.

For dinner (which was actually a very late brunch) I whipped up a second double batch to make an actual omelette. This was less successful because I tried to make too huge an omelette and could not get it to fold over without breaking. Suddenly, I was looking at scrambled tofu (I don't seem to have my kitchen mojo working these past few days). But, it all turned out alright, as the pic above attests (the pic came out so well I had to put it first). I scrambled everything together, then pushed it back to the center of the pan. I let it cook for a few minutes, flipped it over, and cooked it some more. The end result was more wet and pasty (for lack of a better term) than actual scrambled eggs, but it tasted great. I would like to tinker with the recipe a bit to see if I can make a slightly more durable omelette. In the meantime, try this recipe out for yourself.

When Bad Things Happen to Good Pizza

Vegan Mom made the pizza dough from Vegan With a Vengeance (our favourite) today. Who doesn't love pizza on homemade crust? Well, the problem was that we have not gone shopping since we got back from the holiday weekend and the fridge is looking pretty empty. Nary a mushroom or pepper to be found. So, I thought I would make a veggie ground round to go with the pepperoni. The plan was to make something like the chick'n quick seitan but more . . . "beefy." At first, things seemed to be going well. I used gluten flour, ground TVP, and tapioca to get a firmer dough, while stir fry sauce, HP sauce, and soy sauce provided flavour and colour. Then, things started to go wrong. After steaming the seitan was pretty rubbery and a bit sticky to the touch. Undaunted, I pushed onward! I figured that if I chopped it up and fried the seitan it would dry out a bit. Well, it did dry it out. A lot. But still I pressed on! All in all, it did not wreck the pizza too much. After baking the seitan was verging on crunchy, but the flavour was OK. Oh well. Back to the test kitchen.

I Feel the Love

Thanks to all for the encouraging comments on yesterday's post. I will, of course, keep plugging away at this end. It's not that I want to become a "vegangelical" (who coined that term?) and brow beat people in veganism, or force them to watch "Meet Your Meat" a la A Clockwork Orange, I am just wondering how to make my blogging more effective. How can I get more people to click over and check out the recipes? I certainly think blogs can be a powerful force for change because they make veganism so accessible, and I guess I just want mine to be as effective as possible. I suppose patience is key here--I have only been doing this since September 2007 and am blown away that I have had over 46 000 hits. Now, back to the kitchen!

Yellow Curry Coconut Chickpeas

While perusing some blogs today I found myself asking a few questions: 1. How can I get some company to send me a free sample of their product? 2. How does one get on the list to test recipes for upcoming vegan cookbooks? I am also wondering how to make my blog a force for change. I love the vegan blog community, and I am feeling an e-bond with those who frequent Vegan Dad and leave comments, but I would also like to change some non-vegan minds. I mean, if entry to heaven was based on the number of vegan converts we made, I would totally be going to hell where I would eat naught but burning hot coals and drink naught but burning hot cola. Recently, a few of my pics were posted on Tastespotting.com, which caused my daily hits to jump to over 700. I can only hope a few people were intrigued to look more into veganism. Perhaps I will try the 10 things Isa recommends in this article.

Enough blabbering. I love coconut milk and chickpeas, and I love this recipe.

INGREDIENTS

- 1 can coconut milk

- 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

- yellow curry paste (or powder) to taste

- 1 tsp chili garlic sauce

- juice of 1/2 lime

- 1 tsp soy sauce

- salt to taste (if needed)

METHOD

1. Bring coconut milk to bubbling in a sauce pan. Add in curry paste, sauces, juice, and salt to taste. Add in chickpeas and simmer for 10 mins, until sauce thickens a little. Serve over rice.