Recipe Round-Up: Vegan Eats World

Vegan Eats World by Terry Hope Romero is a fantastic book full of amazing and delicious recipes from across the world. However, it sat on my shelf unused for a long time. I don't know why, considering there are so many things in there I want to make! Sure, some of the recipes call for specialised ingredients. But there are also lots that don't or you can make subs for. I have only posted about one recipe from this book before, but today I rectify this by sharing some of my tasty adventures through this book.

Golden Tandoori Tofu and Lightly Seasoned Indian Basmati Pilaf: This is lovely, fragrant combination. The tofu is slathered in a soy yoghurt-based marinade with tomato, lime, garlic, and lots of spices (I left out the cayenne). It is baked alongside some sliced onion until it is all golden and delicious. The pilaf has a beautiful, subtle flavour with carrots, cardamom, and cinnamon. Normally I cook rice dishes in the rice cooked, but I did this one on the stove top and the timing was perfect. All served with some steamed broccoli.
Rating: Tofu :), Pilaf :)



Scrambled Tofu Breakfast Bahn Mi: The base of this sandwich is a delicious tofu scramble, full of mushrooms (I used a mix of white and shiitake), shallots, scallions, lime juice and spices. I decreased the amount of curry powder in it and used a mild one as well. The recipe called for one pound of tofu, I used a 375g block and scaled down accordingly (approx 3/4 of the rest of the ingredients), which was still more than enough for my four rolls (the recipe does say it makes overstuffed rolls). This was served on a bun with Vegenaise, coriander, tomato, radish, and delicious Star Anise Daikon Pickles. The pickles are a separate recipe in the book, and are so easy to make. I left out the chiles in them, and also decreased the amount of salt. The bahn mi recipe says the pickles are optional but awesome, I say they are awesome and essential.
Rating: :D (pickles get an extra :D as well )



Pumpkin Coconut Curry: This is a simple, fragrant curry. I used butternut as my 'pumpkin', which was joined by toasted shredded coconut, as well as pureed garlic and red onion. It has lots of lovely spices, the recipe says to grind whole but you can simplify and use pre-ground if you want. The recipe also calls for curry leaves and pandan leaves. I used some frozen curry leaves, but used some pandan essence instead of those leaves because I couldn't find them. Served over brown basmati rice and some baby spinach as well.
Rating: :)



Red Curry with Kabocha and Potatoes: With this recipe, I bravely dipped my toe back into using chile, given that you have to make the red curry paste from scratch. But of course instead of 6 to 8, I used one that had been well scraped out of seeds and pith. I also skipped the chile powder in the paste and used paprika instead. The curry is full of baked tofu (I used a pre-bought one), kabocha squash, potato, and bamboo. The recipe suggests soaking the bamboo for 20 minutes in cold water to mellow any briny flavour, but I skipped that. I had to sub regular basil for thai basil, and regular soy sauce for thin soy, because I couldn't get either of those at the time I made this. The paste is blended with coconut milk (I used a 270mL tin of light coconut milk made up to 400mL with water) and stock. I ended up adding a bit of extra lime juice and brown sugar to the end result to get it to my tastes. But overall this was lovely, with only a very slight hint of heat. The recipe says it serves 2-3 with rice, which is true to what I got.
Rating: :)



Tofu and Potato Adobo Stew: Simmering in soy sauce and vinegar (I used regular white vinegar as I didn't have any of the other fancy vinegar options listed) is a trademark of Filipino adobo style dishes, which I learned from reading this recipe. The recipe calls for a full 1/2 cup of vinegar, but my dad is a bit vinegar sensitive, so I used a 50:50 blend of vinegar and water. The stew is full of firm tofu, potato chunks, eggplants, and lots of garlic, and they soaked up the flavour of the broth very well. The potato was especially nice. The stew is served over rice and topped with coriander, scallions, tomato, and banana. Look, I'm not sold on the banana and would leave it out in the future. But that is just my own personal preference. Try it once!
Rating: :)



Eggplant Shakshuka with Green Tahini Sauce: But Susan, how can you make a shakshuka sauce without the capsicum? Pffft. I just left them out. The stew is already thick with eggplants, onions, and tomatoes. I also added some white beans to bulk it out a bit and some spinach because greens. I used the turmeric option instead of saffron because I always have heaps of tumeric around. The stew is then topped with Green Tahini Sauce, from the sauces chapter of the book. It is green because it has coriander and parsley blended into it. It is a very quick and tasty sauce to make, and it turns up in a few other recipes. But back the the stew, this was fantastic. The combination of stew plus sauce plus pita... so perfect.
Rating: :D



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



It has continued to be a rough week with Dim Sim. No more seizures, thank goodness. But on Friday afternoon her cystitis came back. I settled it a bit with pain relief, but woke up to a wet bed very early on Saturday morning (she sleeps under the sheets tucked in between my side and my arm) and a very distressed little cat. If you have ever had a kitty with cystitis, you know how miserable it is for them. I got her settled again, and picked up some extra medication for her from work as well. Thankfully she had a really good night last night (Saturday night), and seems back to herself this morning. Fingers crossed for no more episodes of anything bad! This photo is of her sleeping on my lap.