OMGSNAX!

i found this coconut curry tofu recipe last week on allrecipes.com via a vegan recipes community on livejournal & was determined to try it. i was nervous b/c i’d never made anything like it before, & i knew i was going to modify the ingredients substantially, thus dramatically upping the chances of disaster, but i felt i had to forge ahead in the name of science.

so forge ahead i did.

INGREDIENTS
2 bunches green onions
1 14-ounce can light coconut milk
1/4 cup soy sauce, divided
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
2 teaspoons chile paste
1 pound firm tofu, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
4 roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
4 ounces fresh mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
4 cups chopped bok choy
salt to taste

METHOD
remove white parts of green onions, & finely chop. chop greens into 2-inch pieces. in a large heavy skillet over medium heat, mix coconut milk, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, brown sugar, curry powder, ginger, & chile paste. bring to a boil. stir tofu, tomatoes, yellow pepper, mushrooms, & finely chopped green onions into the skillet. cover, & cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. mix in basil & bok choy. season with salt & remaining soy sauce. continue cooking 5 minutes, or until vegetables are tender but crisp. garnish with remaning green onion.

DEVIATIONS & OBSERVATIONS
so … i really like broccoli. i like the way it soaks up sauces in thai & vietnamese food, although i really like it with almost anything as long as it’s just slightly overcooked. bok choy, on the other hand, i could take or leave. so i substituted broccoli for bok choy.

chopped vegetables

i also eliminated the tomatoes (not in season), the bell pepper (didn’t want it), & the mushrooms (ew gross). i should’ve made more broccoli to compensate, but i didn’t.

additionally, i drastically reduced the green onions (used maybe half a bunch instead of two full bunches) & added a small chopped white onion instead. i’m not sure how much of a difference that made. i also added 3 cloves of garlic, just for the hell of it.

oh, & i didn’t have curry powder, so i just added equal parts cumin, tumeric, & red pepper instead, & doubled up on the ginger. i also used cilantro instead of basil b/c i see cilantro all the time at thai & vietnamese restaurants, whereas for me, basil has more of an italiany taste.

so i guess it’s kind of almost an entirely different recipe? but still really good.

i put my latke-making know-how into the task of frying tofu

the last change i made was that i fried the tofu in peanut oil before i added it to the sauce. (i actually fried it up before making the sauce at all b/c i only have one skillet.) i’d never fried tofu before, but a waiter told me once that peanut oil was the secret, so i poured a few tablespoons of peanut oil into the skillet (which probably would’ve worked better were my burner not off-kilter & slanty), heated it, & plopped the tofu cubes in. it took WAY longer to fry than i thought it would, but my patience paid off & the tofu got golden & crispy on the outside. i am REALLY proud of myself for figuring that part out — especially without guidance from a recipe — & now that i know how to do it, i’ll probably be doing it a lot more often. & you can drain it on paper towels after it’s done, so that probably helps marginally with the grease factor.

golden tofu

the sauce initially looked like it was never going to come together — the coconut milk was all separated & weird-looking, the spices were clumpy, the chile paste wouldn’t mix in, & i forgot to saute the onions in advance — but i just dumped it all in & crossed my fingers & it actually totally worked out.

i should’ve taken a photo when it looked horrible

the spices still need a little fine-tuning, & that may be mostly to do with the improvised curry powder, & i REALLY should’ve made rice to go with it, but by the time i thought about it, everything was almost finished & the rice i have takes about half an hour to make, so no go. i did make rice afterwards & i poured the leftover sauce in with the rice, b/c i really needed to either halve the sauce recipe or triple the amount of broccoli (& use a full package of tofu instead of a half, which is what i did).

the finished dish

daniel hated it, but he apparently hates coconut milk, so there you go. i asked him if he didn’t like it b/c of the spices, & he said, “no, i don’t like it b/c it’s bad.” at least he’s honest!

 

 

“Coconut Curry Tofu” from allrecipes.com.

daniel loves peanut butter cookies. so does my mom. so does caroline. (my sister doesn’t, but this is owing mostly to the fact that she’ll go into anaphylactic shock if she eats peanuts, so i guess she can be forgiven.)

& hey, what do you know? i love making cookies.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg (lightly beaten)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup roasted salted peanuts

METHOD
preheat oven to 350, with racks in upper & lower thirds. in a large bowl, stir together peanut butter, sugar, egg, baking soda, & salt until well combined. stir in chocolate ships & peanuts.

with moistened hands, roll dough, about 1 heaping tablespoon at a time, into balls. place 2 inches apart on two baking sheets.

bake until cookies are golden & puffed, 12 to 14 minutes, rotating sheets from top to bottom & front to back halfway through. cool 5 minutes on sheets; transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.

DEVIATIONS & OBSERVATIONS
no deviations! i’m a good girl!

peanut butter & sugar, folks

a delightfully sticky batter

little uncooked cookie lumps

baked cookies

 

 

“Flourless Peanut-Chocolate Cookies” from The Everyday Food tv series, originally aired May 2005.

so here at MHR world HQ (aka my house), wednesday nights have quickly become NIGHTS OF TERROR & DOOM. b/c, you see, daniel has class till 10pm, which means i schedule my evening overtime (i conduct interviews for two behavioral research studies) from pretty much the minute i walk in the door (5pm) till as close to 10pm as i can cut it without wanting to totally fall into a telephone-induced coma. i usually shove food in the general direction of my mouth during one of my wicked short breaks, but daniel arrives starving without fail, & almost always after 1030pm. i try to have something ready for him — & usually i’m hungry again at that point anyway — but also? i’m either cooking between interviews (ie, in fifteen-minute chunks) or after my last one wraps up (again, nearly 10pm), so i’m not gonna be doing any kind of fancy dinnering, especially not one that involves lots of post-dinner dishwashing, if you get my drift.

further complicating matters, tonight? i am car-less. & i am in DIRE need of groceries. which basically means that i’m out of every single kind of juice i normally have on hand. & also, today, out of crackers, peanut butter, eggs, & anything else i could possibly use to put together something for daniel that’s not (a) pizza (which he refuses to eat after spending four days in NYC eating nothing but) or (b) tortellini (which, although he likes it, is something we’ve already had twice in the last seven days b/c it’s an easy go-to meal).

what i DO have is a big old bag of rice. & i’m armed with the knowledge that daniel’s been known to enjoy rice involving spices. & i only have about eight vegetarian cookbooks, & oh, an extra can of kidney beans, so, you know, i can probably come up with a decent red beans & rice recipe.

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, finely diced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 green pepper, finely diced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
a few dashes hot sauce
2 (15-ounce) cans kidney beans, rinsed well in a strainer
4 cups hot cooked rice (from 1 cup raw rice)
sour cream (optional)

METHOD
heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. add the onions, garlic, & green pepper, & sauté until the pepper is very tender, about 10 minutes.

sprinkle in the chili powder & paprika, & cook 30 seconds. mix in the tomato sauce, water, hot sauce, & kidney beans, & simmer about 10 minutes, or until the mixture is hot & fragrant. serve over rice with a small spoonful of sour cream on top, if desired.

tip: to give the beans a smoky flavor you can add 1 small chipotle pepper in adobo sauce. mince it on a small plate with 2 knives before adding it to the beans. omit the hot sauce.

DEVIATIONS & OBSERVATIONS
first off, i halved the recipe. b/c seriously: two people.

secondly, i didn’t even think to take pictures of this as i was preparing it b/c, really, it’s just more of the same, ie, dicing & sautéeing.

skillet beans

as an FYI, i used a yellow bell pepper instead of a green one b/c i never buy green (don’t care for the taste, even though daniel insists that they taste the same), & i used a little less onion than i normally would b/c of the size of the onion i happened to have on hand — but everything else was pretty much spot on. i was lucky that i had the spices on hand due to previous recipes (finally!), & also? i had the beans leftover from a stew i made where i decided, at the last minute, to not double the recipe.

& you know what? it tasted pretty good, especially for something i threw together at 1010pm.

muy delicioso

 

 

“Red Beans and Rice” from Vegetarian Classics: 300 Essential Recipes for Every Course and Every Meal by Jeanne Lemlin, © 2001.