All about tofu

It’s impossible to avoid jokes about tofu when living as a vegetarian/vegan in this country.  The word is even used pejoratively, implying falseness or weakness.  Why all the hostility?  Tofu is soft, mild, and white.  What could be more unoffensive?

Like other mild foods (rice, white bread, chicken), tofu needs a little attention to be delicious.  What it needs most is salt–under-salted tofu is probably the primary reason that people don’t like it.  Tamari is a natural pair, but a little table salt and garlic or herbs is wonderful too.

The other thing it benefits from is proper treatment in the pan.  Of course, there are many ways of cooking tofu, but for standard dishes this is the way to go:

First, you have to identify the kind of tofu you’re working with.  I’m not even going to discuss the stuff that comes in the aseptic package in the grocery isle.  The refrigerated stuff comes in two primary forms–in a tub with water or in a brick wrapped in plastic.  The tub tofu can be anything from silken (not appropriate for frying) to extra firm.  The wrapped tofu is usually either firm or extra firm. 

Softer tofu benefits from a thorough draining, and even pressing between some towels (paper or cloth).  Firm tofu is ok right out of the pack.  Heat a non-stick skillet (or well-seasoned cast iron pan or wok) over medium-high heat.  Add at least a tablespoon of oil and your tofu chunks, slices, or whatever, and SALT.  Even if you’re adding soy sauce later.  The salt helps draw the moisture out of the tofu.  Get everything settled in place and turn your stove to HIGH HEAT.  The highest you’ve got.  Before long (longer if you have softer tofu, be patient), a nice brown crust will start forming.  You can fry each side, but I usually just flip it once and get nice color on 2 sides.

Turn the heat back down, throw in some tamari and chili flakes and basil (what I did last night), let things dry up, and you’re done.  Or move forward with some vegetables for a stir fry.  Or use as-is with some soba noodles.

So… salt + high heat + nonstick pan = tasty tofu!

Perfect Vegan Pancakes

I shouldn’t really say perfect, because pancakes can be so many things to so many people.  I do think these were particularly good, though.

I never use a recipe for pancakes–I just mix up whatever looks tasty that morning.  In this case it was a mashed banana, about 3/4 cup of whole spelt flour (whole wheat is pretty much the same), and 1/2 cup white flour, a pinch of salt, 1 tsp baking powder, a dab of sugar, about a tablespoon of oil, some cinnamon, a touch of cloves, and some hemp seeds (for those omega-3 fatty acids!), and enough soymilk and water to make a batter.

There’s a few tricks to making good vegan pancakes.  One is to only lighly mix your batter–chunks are ok!  Another is to use it within a few minutes of mixing.  Both of these help the baking powder make nice, light pancakes.  I use a relatively hot pan.  Another important trick is to put a nice pat of earth balance or other vegan butter in the pan before each pancake.  The last is to do a nice, clean flip, allowing the pancake to expand nicely.

I ate them with real, grade B (it has more flavor than grade A) maple syrup.

As I make other versions of my pancakes, I’ll post the recipes.  Feel free, though, to mess around–try applesauce instead of banana, oat flour instead of spelt, cardamon instead of cinnamon. 

Vegan Peanut Butter Cups

On three day weekends like these, I tend to take my cooking a little more seriously, and take the time to actually make things that sound good.  After that pasta, I needed something sweet, and a chunk of chocolate just wasn’t doing it.  I decieded to make these simple but great peanut butter cups.

The filling is easy–about equal volumes of peanut butter and powdered sugar with a pinch of salt (depending on if your peanut butter is salted or not).  Also, you can add some peanut oil (or canola oil) if your peanut butter is too dry.  The mixture should hold together in balls.

Meanwhile, melt some chocolate.  I use a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water.  It doesn’t need to be fantastic chocolate–I use the bitter sweet “pound plus” bars from Trader Joe’s.  The only trick is to “temper” your chocolate–necessary if you want nice, shiny cups with that chocolate snap.  Without getting into the science of it, you basically need to get the chocolate to crystallize in a regular pattern.  You can do this by continually stirring as it cools, or by adding some “seed” chocolate–unmelted, finely chopped chocolate that has its original crystalline structure.

Just make some little disks of the filling and dip in the chocolate.  After coating my cups, I had some melted chocolate left over, so I put in a handful of almonds, mixed them up, and scooped them out onto some plastic wrap.

The chocolate takes a while to solidify–they only really get shiny and nice a number of hours later, in my case the next morning.

Pasta – a little different

Most cooks know that pasta should be cooked al dente and only lighly dressed with sauce.   This is the traditional Italian way of appreciating the pasta itself.  There is another tradition in Italy, though, that is quite satisfying when you’re feeling a bit more saucy.

In this recipe I made last night, I parboiled the pasta for 2 or 3 minutes, and finished it in the tomato sauce as it cooked.  I made a simple sauce with onions, garlic, basil (fresh), oregano (dried), salt and pepper, pinenuts, olive oil, and a whole bag of washed spinach.  I reserved the pasta cooking water to add more if it got too dry.  I used half a bag of pasta for quite a lot of sauce.

The result is a nice thick sauce (partially thickened by the starch coming off the pasta) and very flavorful pasta. 

Fried Tofu

Yum.

Whenever possible, I like to buy my tofu at Than Son tofu.  It’s on 12th and about Yesler.  It’s open seven days a week.  You ask at the regsiter for how ever many tofu blocks you want (they’re about a pound).  They bag up the still-warm tofu for a dollar each.

This is a simple treatment, although they do end up quite greasy like fried chicken.  Mix equal parts flour and water, dip the tofu in, and dredge in seasoned panko bread crumbs (or any other crumbs).  Fry in canola or olive oil.

Ade Abeba Ethiopian

I’m lucky enough to live within walking distance from at least half a dozen Ethiopian restaurants.  If you’ve never been, they’re really a boon to vegan diners.

One of my favorites also happens to be the closest to me, Ade Ababa on 21st and Union.  I met a friend there last night.  It looks a bit run down from the outside, but inside it’s cozy and warm, with well-tended house plants growing everywhere.  It was totally empty, as usual.  We ordered the $10.00 vegetarian combo–a variety of brown lentils, yellow lentils, spiced vegetables, beets, salad, and greens arranged on a sheet of injera, the sour Ethiopian flat bread.  It’s served with additional injera, and is enough food to feed 3 people.  It’s great to have such a variety, and scooping up the injera underneath the dishes with the sauce all soaked in is especially satisfying. 

Each restaurant I’ve been to has slightly different items, and even day to day they’re spiced differently.  Still, It’s always tasty, vegan, healthy food.

Oh, and they’re also super friendly and gracious.

Perfect Homemade Bread

Ok, I know, I’m a little late to the party.  This recipe was published by the New York Times in 2006.  I’ve only started making it recently, though, thanks to the ceramic dish that my mom made especially for this purpose.  You don’t need a mom with a ceramics studio to try the recipe, though.  Any heavy, oven-save dutch oven, soup pot, or casserole with a lid will do.

I’ve made bread many times in the past.  It always tastes fantastic right out of the oven, but the next day it leaves something to be desired.  It never could challenge artesain bread from a bakery–that crusty, chewy, loose crumb with a full wheat and yeast flavor and robust but not tough crust.  I’m happy to say that this bread comes through, whether fresh or a few days old.  And almost more importantly, making it fits really well into my schedule.  Since I work standard business hours, I suspect it will fit with other’s too. 

Combine 3 cups of flour (bread flour is best, feel free to add part whole wheat or to use all purpose flour) with 1/4 teaspoon yeast, 1 and 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 and 5/8 cup water.  I find it hard to believe that that extra 1/8 cup of water above 1 1/2 cups makes a difference, but oh well.  I do this after dinner/before bed. 

Leave it in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  When I get home from work the next day (20 hours later, more or less), I scrape out this very loose dough onto a well-floured counter.  I sort of scoop in into more or less a ball and let it sit for 10 minutes as I wash the bowl. 

 

Cover a towel with cornmeal, bring the dough into a ball and set it on the cornmeal.  Lift the towel and set it in the bowl (using a bowl helps your final loaf rise higher).  Cover with a little more cornmeal and another towel.

An hour to an hour and a half later, put your cooking vessel in the oven and preheat to 450.  Let it heat for 30 minutes.  Very carefully take off the now hot lid and with one hand under the towel, dump the dough in the pot.  Replace the lid.  Cornmeal might get everywhere, but that’s what brooms are for.  Let bake for 30 min, take off the lid, and bake another 15-30 minutes.  If you time it right, they’ll be fresh bread for dinner, or at least for toast in the morning and sandwiches the next day, because as I mentioned this bread really holds up well for a few days.  I’ve never had it last any longer than 48 hours or so, but I imagine it would freeze well too.

I’ve been making about twice a week, and I don’t miss the delicious but expensive bread for Essential Baking Company or Tall Grass Bakery.

Lentils!

Do you know what I love?  Lentils.  A steaming bowl of lentils says “food” to me stronger than probably anything else.  It feels great knowing I can pretty much eat as much as I want with no short or long term ill effects.   They’ve got all the nutritional benefits of beans (fiber, protein), but they cook much more quickly and have much less gas.  I can make a pot and eat for days.

I generally saute and onion and whatever other vegetables are lying around (carrots, tomatoes, celery, potatoes) in a little oil and throw in some berbere.  Berbere is an Ethiopian spice mixture that’s a little spicy, a little sweet tasting, and very satisfying.  I buy in from the corner store at 18th and Yesler (they also sell injera, the spongy flat bread you get at Ethiopian restaurants).  I add a bunch of lentils and water, cook until tender, and salt to taste.

These lentils are great over rice, with injera, with a nice chunk of bread, with potatoes, scooped up with corn chips, or straight out of the pot.  They freeze great.

I ate mine tonight with some basmati rice and collard greens with a touch of cardamon.  If I’m feeling indulgent, I’ll melt a touch of earth balance of top.

Vegan at The Palace Kitchen

It’s an experience that all vegans regularly go through.  A group dinner (in this case for work) at a restaurant with a menu like this.  Not only are there no vegan items on the menu, but there’s nothing that could easily be substituted.  It’s easy to ask for no cheese on the pasta, but a bit more difficult to ask for no eggs or milk in the custard.  Sometimes it’s more fun this way–I’ll just ask for something vegan, anything that the chef wants.

In this case it turned out ok (well, It was actually pretty tasty, but not worth the $14 they charged me).  A pile of couscous with some grilled radicchio with a few hot sauces and some date vinaigrette. 

I apologize for the poor quality of some of the photographs on this site.  I’m taking most of these pictures on my cell phone!

Vegan Nachos

Ok, this isn’t exaclty gourmet cooking.  But sometimes vegans just want junk food too!

Chips, vegan cheese (follow your heart jack cheese), and refried beans layered on a plate, baked in the oven until I got bored of waiting, with plenty of guacamole and salsa (both from Trader Joe’s) and some olive slices.  Perfect.