Indian Night!

Always been intimidated by cooking Indian food, but took a stab at it. The key is the spices; tumeric, cumin, coriander. Easier than expected. And delicious.
On the menu: Daal, saag paneer vegan style, chana masala.

Tofu Satay

Tofu satay was one of those things I thought I had to wait to get in a restaurant. This came out pretty good though. Started with firm tofu, wrapped it in a paper towel and then pressed it with a plate and a few heavy books. House of Leaves works well and is a great read afterwards too. I started doing something else and got distracted and realized I had left the tofu pressing for more than half an hour. It really forces out all that water and leaves you with firmer tofu to work with. For the batter, just flour, a dash or two of cayenne, salt and pepper. Lots of oil in the pan, tossed the tofu (in cubish chunks) when it was good and hot and cooked it for longer than I normally do. A little patient really gets rewarded. If you take the tofu out too soon, it's fine, but leaving it in there almost to the point of burning gives you some awesome texture. Try it yourself.
Served in the picture with some pineapple, rice, peanut sauce and cucumber salad.

Vegan Horseshoe

The horseshoe is a Springfield, Mass specialty. It's an open face sandwich with Texas toast, some kind of meat (often hamburger), fries and cheese. I saw this wonderful concoction on tv and decided to try to make a vegan version. For the Texas toast, just baked some thin slices of french bread with margarine on 'em. For the meat, fried a veggie burger. Cooked up some frozen fries for this but a more motivated person might make their own. For the cheese, I made a cheesy sauce which is basically this one here.
Very delicious and pretty quick. Better serve this with a salad though, this sucka has no vegetables!

Tacos Aren't Just Full of Beans Anymore

Tacos are easy and pretty dang awesome. But sometimes they same old stuff can get boring. Beans and rice, beans and potatoes. Zzzz. Zzzz. What else pray tell can you put in your tacos and still be rocking it vegan style? Ideas follow.

In the picture we have roasted poblano peppers, corn, avocado, and in the beans themselves chayote squash, onions and tomatoes.

Other ideas: nopales, mushrooms, spanish/mexican rice (like in the pic), tofu, guacamole, bell peppers.

Jollof Rice

Jollof Rice is West African deliciousness. Usually served with chicken and beef you can just eat it as is, with some lentils or maybe some seitan or tvp chunks. I took this recipe off the internet and veganed it.



Salt and pepper, to taste
Vegetable oil
2 cups rice
2 1/2 cups veggie stock
1/2 chili pepper chopped (more or less depending on your spice wussiness)
half an onion, finely choped
a clove or two of peeled and chopped garlic
2 large tomatoes, blanched and mashed
2 tbl. tomato paste
1/4 cup of chopped carrots (could also add green beans,
mushrooms and/or bell peppers to veggie it up)


Fry the onions, garlic and chili pepper. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, half the combined vegetables and 1/2 cup of stock. Stir well, adjust seasoning and simmer on low heat for 5-7 minutes. Finally, stir in the uncooked, long-grain rice. Cover and simmer slowly on low heat for about 15 minutes.

Arrange the remaining vegetables on top of the rice and continue to simmer until the rice absorbs all the stock, softens and cooks. It may be necessary to sprinkle additional water mix to help the rice cook. If so use small amounts at a time.

Product Push: Purely Decadent

Miss ice cream? This stuff is awesome! Cherry Nirvana and Chocolate Almond Brownie are personal favorites.

Fake Tuna

A nice protein alternative, a tuna-like tasty food can be made from mashed chickpeas.

Smash one can of chickpeas (drained) in bowl. Stir in 1/4 cup red onion, 1/4 cup pickle, salt, pepper, a few splashes of pickle juice, at least 2 tbs of vegan mayo (I prefer Nayonaise). Add any optional add-ins that would put in regular tuna; celery, cayenne, mustard, etc.
Now you have a good sandwich filler or pasta casserole ingredient.
Thought I made this up but I then found it in many internet locations like here.