This is my mom’s recipe for baked tofu with a flour exterior. It’s a staple in my family home, easy to make, and very satisfying. There is an ongoing debate between my mom and sister about how much salt is appropriate. I like them with 1.5 tsp salt. If you want to make these even faster, you can double the flour mixture and set aside half for the next time you make them. I find 1.5 recipe gets me through the whole week (7 meals for one person). I usually make coleslaw alongside these. A tried and true favorite. Just make sure you shake off the extra flour after dipping or you’ll end up with a coating that doesn’t stick and is too thick. I left off the garlic powder to make them low fodmap and they were fine without. I just used 3 tsp of parsley flakes instead of 2 to compensate.
Category: A
Vegan Chocolate Pudding
I have a robust sweet tooth. For years I’ve been purchasing my sweets. My go-tos were frozen yogurt bars and bittersweet chocolate, with the occasional pint of lactose free ice cream thrown in. But recently, I listened to a Science Vs. podcast episode on processed foods. The episode featured a scientist describing ultra-processed foods as Clorox for your gut, taking all the good bacteria with them as they went through. That image really stuck with me. I have a lot of issues with my gut. So I decided to start making my own desserts.
This recipe for “vegan chocolate pudding” was my first attempt. The recipe calls for Mexican spices, but since I had fruit in the chococate I was using, I left those spices out. I used 1/2 cup of sugar instead of the 3/4 cup called for and found that to be enough. But I like super dark bittersweet chocolate. The recipe is ridiculously simple, essentially just chocolate, sugar, and silken tofu. But oh my goodness the result. It wasn’t really a pudding, but rather an ultra thick, rich, chocolate mousse. The kind that you only need a bit of to feel satisfied. I think in order to make it more like a pudding, you’d need to add an extra 4 oz of silken tofu.
I honestly cannot believe how good this was. I particularly enjoyed dipping strawberries in it. And amazingly, it was so rich that I found I had fewer sweets cravings throughout the day when I ate a bit of this at night. So far my homemade desserts experiment is looking like a success.
Next time I’m going to use baking chocolate so that I can better control the sweetness level. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.
Yam and Peanut Stew with Kale
I love peanuts. I love kale. And I love a rich, hardy one pot meal with enough flavor and textural interest to keep me eating happily all week. West African Peanut yam stew with kale tics all those boxes. I use sweet potatoes instead of yams, since they’re easier to get (my sister says yams and sweets potatoes are the same thing in the U.S. but I’m not sure). Which is why it’s a go to for me in the winter. The trick is to add the kale after the soup is turned off so it keeps its texture and color.
https://food52.com/recipes/19854-yam-and-peanut-stew-with-kale
Garlic Soup with Tortillas, Avocado, and Lime
This recipe is from page 30 of Fresh Food Fast. It’s another favorite from that standby cookbook. It’s light, fresh, nourishing, and yet feels like comfort food.
Gado Gado
I discovered Gado Gado a couple summers ago when I was looking for vegetarian Indonesian recipes. I love it because there it’s cool and fresh for hot summer days, while I’ll being very filling. It’s pretty much been a hit with everyone I’ve made it for, from my four-year-old niece to my brother’s Persian father-in-law. It was my mom’s number one request for my parent’s 50th anniversary party.
I use this recipe for the peanut sauce, but follow my own sense of what to do for the salad its self from reading a lot of different recipes. One note. This makes A LOT of peanut sauce. You can make the whole batch and freeze it. Otherwise I recommend cutting it in half, or possibly even in a quarter if you’re only making it for one or two people.
https://moosewoodcooks.com/2014/04/gado-gado/ (It appears the mooswoodcooks website is down. Here’s an alternative:)
http://legacy.culinate.com/content/369933/index.html
For the salad my favorite combination uses the following:
Vermicelli rice noodles
Firm Tofu
Long beans
Julienned Cucumber
Julienned Carrot
Bean Sprouts
Shredded Chinese Cabbage
My favorite way to prepare the tofu is to bake it. I brush it with a small amount of oil, cut it into small cubes, and cook it in the oven, turning it over every 20 minutes or so until all sides are brown.
To cook the long beans and vermicelli, I boil a kettle of water and pour the boiling water over them, letting them sit in the boiling water for about three minutes before draining.
Everything else should be served raw.
In my experience the best ratio is as follows: 2/8 noodles, 1/8 tofu, 2/8 cooked veggies, 3/8 raw veggies
Leek and Bean Cassoulet
This recipe is from page 172 of Veganomicon. This is a leek and bean stew with biscuits floating in it. I love leeks, I love bisquits. Is it any wonder that I love this recipe? I try not to make it often since it’s pretty decadent. I made it once for my old roommates and they loved it. Then I made it for my family and they didn’t. I suppose a leek biscuit combo is a specific taste? Whatever it is I have it.
https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1943787
Nimble Veggies 