Tofu Patia: Reinventing A Regional Classic

It was a sultry summer's day in Bombay when Desi and I went to the courthouse to apply for our marriage license. After a long wait in the line (yes, many other couples had the same idea), we were tired and hungry and stopped for lunch at a small but charming restaurant nearby.

It was the first time I ate Patia (paa-tee-yaa), a dish that's usually made with prawns (a shrimp-like shellfish).

The next day, I was sick as a dog. The prawns, I knew, were responsible, but it was too late. I was already in love with this delicious dish with its sweet, sour and spicy flavors. So instead of risking my stomach at that restaurant again, I learned to cook it myself. And once I did, I couldn't stop making it.

After turning vegan, I have been trying to recreate versions of my favorite meat and seafood dishes with vegan substitutes. The dish I want to share today, Tofu Patia, is a perfect example of how it is very possible to veganize dishes where we often believe meat (or seafood) are absolutely indispensable.

Patia is a staple of the fascinating cuisine of the Parsi community of India.

Although they are a small drop in this billion-strong country's melting pot of cultures, the Parsis-- who are said to have migrated to India from Persia 1,000 years ago-- are also among its most interesting residents. They are often described in cliches: super-rich, inscrutable, tight-knit, eccentric...there's some truth in all of that. Over the years I have met and made many wonderful Parsi friends, but my memory is dominated by a willowy, green-eyed, brown-haired friend named Lyla who once went to a really seedy strip club in South Bombay because, she said, how else would she know what goes on in there? For company, she took her aging mother and aunt.

The next day she related, deadpan, a colorful account of the dancers, exactly what they did, the audience, and their reaction.

Parsi cuisine is just as delightful, and extremely delicious, but it is not something I've ever seen in Indian restaurants here, partly because the restaurants here are predominantly run by North Indians, and in some cases South Indians, who largely serve cuisine from their part of the country.

But Indian regional cuisine varies greatly from state to state and sometimes even within different communities in a single state. Parsis first settled in Gujarat, a state in west India, and their food is an amalgamation of Gujarati cuisine and their Persian roots.

Like other dishes served by Parsis, Patia sparkles with vibrant flavors. There's the sour note added by tomatoes and lemon, the sweetness of coconut milk and jaggery (an unrefined Indian sugar), and the spiciness of red chilli powder.

Given all these rich flavors, I was pretty certain that I wouldn't miss the prawns in a vegan version. But because I wanted to throw in some protein muscle, I added some marinated, baked tofu.

I was really thrilled with the result. My vegan patia had the same flavors as the seafood version (minus the fishy smell-- now who would miss that?), and the tofu, baked to slight chewiness but creamy in the center, was just perfect.

I can't wait to share it with you. Enjoy, folks!


Tofu Patia

1 block extra-firm tofu. Swaddle in paper napkins or in cheesecloth, place in a colander, and place something heavy on top, like a cast-iron pan. Let the water drain out of the tofu for at least an hour.

Now stand the tofu on the side and slice so you have two slices of the same width as the whole block but only half the thickness.

In a baking pan large enough to hold the two slices of tofu side by side, mix 1 tsp vegetable oil + 1/4 tsp turmeric + 1/2 tsp red chilli powder + salt to taste.

Place the tofu in the pan and turn over to coat with the turmeric-chilli-oil mixture.

Bake in a 400-degree oven for 30 minutes until slightly chewy on the outside but creamy on the inside.

Place in a blender and blend:

1 cup coconut milk

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp grated ginger

2 dry red chillies

In a skillet or saucepan, heat 1/2 tbsp canola or vegetable oil

Add 1 large onion, finely diced

Saute, stirring frequently, until browned.

Add:

1 tbsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

Stir for a minute and then add the coconut milk mixture. Cook on a slow flame about five minutes.

Cut each slice of the baked tofu into four long strips, and then cut each strip into four pieces to get a dice of about 1/2 inch.

Add to the saucepan and stir in.

Add 3 diced tomatoes, cover, and cook until the tomatoes are fairly soft.

Add 1 tbsp jaggery (can substitute with sugar) and juice of 1 lemon. Check salt.

Garnish with some chopped mint or coriander.

I love tofu patia with plain boiled rice, but I am sure a good bread would taste great dunked into this too.

For other animal-free favorites, check out my vegan "Beef" Stew, and my "Lamb" Curry.

Chinese Fried Rice

Do you know where Saturdays go?

To me, Saturday's the best day of the week. There's still a whole day between now and Monday, PBS is running all those wonderful cooking shows all afternoon, and the comforting hum of the neighbor's lawnmower is keeping me company as I type and watch and wonder what to do with those two overripe bananas sitting in my pantry. As you can see, I am not averse to multitasking when all the tasks involved are fun :)

Saturdays are also special to my dogs. Almost as if they can count the days, they wake up on Saturday almost magically aware it's the day they will get a super-long walk, as opposed to the shorter walks on weekdays when mommy and daddy are too tired and too busy.

But there's one problem I have with Saturday: it goes away too soon. And then I have to wait a whole week for another one.

Before this Saturday slips and slides away, I wanted to write about this fast, basic and easy but delicious dish that's great for Saturdays when I'm having way too much fun to think about spending a long time in the kitchen. Chinese fried rice.

When making Chinese fried rice, it is really important-- and I can't stress this enough-- to make sure that you work with rice that's at least a day old. Rice that's freshly made will stick to the wok and turn into mush, but day-old-- or, as in my home sometimes, days-old-- is tougher and the grains will slide smoothly in the wok, giving your fried rice the perfect texture.

I add plenty of veggies to my fried rice, and sometimes I scramble soft tofu and add it too. It is also important to chop the veggies in roughly the same size and shape so they cook together.

Also, and this is again important, have all your ingredients on hand and ready because you will have the wok on high heat and you don't want to prep your ingredients as the rest of them are burning.

This was fun, but I'm going to get back to Jacques Pepin now. I do love the way he "shops" an onion. Have a great long weekend, everyone. And here's to long, lazy Saturdays-- may we have three each week!
Chinese Fried Rice

2 cups boiled short-grain rice (the rice has to be at least a day old)

1 cup carrots, cut into thin strips, about 1-inch long

1 large green bell pepper, cut into thin strips, about 1-inch long

1 cup green beans, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 large onion, thinly sliced

4-5 scallions or spring onions, greens cut into 1-inch pieces and whites sliced

5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 tbsp sesame or canola or other vegetable oil

In a bowl, mix together:

2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce

1 tbsp hot sauce like Sriracha

2 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp ginger, grated

Set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok or a large skillet with sides that taper out.

Over high heat, add the onions and stir for a minute. Add the garlic, stir for 10 seconds, then add the remaining vegetables.

Stir-fry the veggies until they begin to get just tender but you want them to remain quite crispy. Do not leave them unattended as they might burn over the high heat.

Add the rice and stir fry for a few seconds. Then add the tamari-vinegar-ginger sauce and stir together well.

Stir-fry for a couple minutes more. Add more tamari or vinegar if needed.

For other delicious rice recipes, check out my Peas and Mushroom Biryani, or my Raisin and Nut Pilaf.

Serve hot.

Lovely Lucy

Lima Bean Stew With Swiss Chard

I am a lazy cook.

Yeah, I know, that's not a quality that any self-respecting food blogger should be admitting to, but what can I say? I'm also brutally honest :)

Of course once in a rare moon (read once or twice a year) I love to stand over the stove for a whole day carefully preparing a delicious meal-of-a-lifetime that everyone who eats it will remember forever and ever (or at least I hope!). You know, the kind that, if I don't have a single tiny ingredient, I'd run to the grocery store to get it -- or better, send Desi to get it?

But for the rest of the time, I like meals that I can slap together in under an hour or even half an hour, with anything that's available (and still recognizable) in the fridge, while ensuring that everything is delicious and nutritious at the same time.

This Lima Bean Stew with Swiss Chard is just my kind of dish, then, and one I would make any night when time is short and the temptation to order out is really strong but completely unnecessary.

The stew is really easy to make, wonderful with some plain boiled rice or some crusty bread, and heaven for the palate and for my health and my family's. Since the stew has both vegetables and beans, I don't feel bad at all if I don't have time to make a separate subzi or vegetable side-dish when I cook this up.

I love swiss chard because of how easily and quickly it cooks up and because it's easy to find beautiful, fresh bunches of this delicious green in the summer. But if you don't get it where you live, spinach-- another quick-cooking green-- would be perfect too. In fact, you might want to even experiment with greens that are tougher, since I pressure cook the greens which makes them nice and tender in a short time.

The small lima beans I used in this recipe are wonderful because they hold their shape even after the cooking has reduced them to a creamily soft texture. But again, feel free to experiment with other beans-- black beans or even chickpeas would be great because both have great flavor.

On, then, to the recipe. I need to sit back and revel in the wonderful feeling of doing nothing, at least for the next five minutes.
Enjoy, all.
Lima Bean Stew with Swiss Chard

Ingredients:

1 cup small lima beans, soaked for a few hours, then drained

1 bunch swiss chard, washed and chopped into shreds

6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

2 medium tomatoes, diced

Salt to taste

Put all the ingredients into a pressure cooker or a large pot, add four cups of water, and cook until the lima beans are tender.

In a small skillet, heat:

1 tsp canola or other vegetable oil

Add:

1 tsp cayenne pepper or red chili powder

1/2 tsp turmeric (optional)

(You want to make sure you have your vent fan going full-speed since this will bring the tears to your eyes)

Stir for about 10 seconds, then add to the rest of the stew.

Bring the stew to a boil, adding some water if it's too thick. Check for salt, turn off the heat, and serve hot with boiled rice or crusty bread.

Orange Cake

Over the years I've veganized dozens of recipes for baked goods from the Joy of Cooking, but ironically I had never tried the two cake recipes in this encyclopedic cookbook that are actually labeled vegan.

So this week, with a little time to kill and a craving for something sweet and orange-y, I decided to try my hand, finally, at the Ultra-Orange Vegan Cake.

Like almost everything I've ever made from this cookbook, it bowled me over. It was moist, delicious, perfectly sweet, and-- best of all-- it took me no more than 10 minutes to throw the ingredients together. Yes, it was that easy.

The recipe called for some orange zest. I didn't have an orange on hand to zest, so I instead threw in a couple of tablespoons of Cointreau which is, of course, an orange liqueur. Alcohol AND cake? I couldn't be happier.

As I am writing this post, CNN is running a story on the release from prison of former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. To anyone that's alive and awake, animal lover or not, this man --unfortunately --needs no introduction. In 2007, he shocked the living daylights out of most of us when images of the cruelty he wreaked against dozens of innocent pitbulls splashed across our television screens.

I understand Vick's going to do some work with the Humane Society of the United States -- I presume to raise awareness about how wrong his actions were--- but here's what I really think:

I think people like Michael Vick, who's pulling this HSUS stunt just to revive his career in major league football, don't deserve a second chance and he should NEVER again be allowed to play by the NFL. Honestly, does anyone really believe this man is capable of remorse?

I've had a lot of arguments with Desi over this who tends to be more forgiving, but someone who can electrocute dogs and slam them to death because they are not good enough to engage in bloody fights with other pitbulls should not be put in a position where he can be worshipped as an idol by thousands of children.

Moving on to happier topics, here is the Vegan Orange Cake recipe. Enjoy, everyone!

Vegan Orange Cake

Dry Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:

1 cup minus 2 tbsp orange juice

2 tbsp Cointreau liqueur

(It's easy to measure this if you just add the Cointreau to a cup measure first and then top it off with OJ)

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tbsp vinegar

1 tsp vanilla

Mix together the wet ingredients and add to the dry. Stir until smooth.

Pour into a greased and floured cake pan, preferably lined with wax or parchment paper which makes it easier to unmold the cake.

Bake in a 350-degree oven for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then slide a thin knife around the edges.

Gently remove the cake from the pan and continue cooling on a rack.

This cake is best by itself, but a dollop of whipped vegan cream does no harm, if you know what I mean :)

Aloo Gobi

Aloo Gobi is one of those dishes that you're almost certain to find on the menu of any Indian restaurant-- that's just how popular it is.

It's one of the simplest Indian dishes to make, yet hearty with the robust flavors of cauliflower and potatoes woven through with the delicious spice of cumin, coriander, chili powder and ginger. Aloo Gobi is also a supremely versatile dish-- it goes beautifully with some parathas, chapatis, or just some dal-chawal (dal and rice).

I adapted this recipe from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. Jaffrey deep-fries the cauliflower and the potatoes separately, but I can't be bothered with the fat and the time and fuss required to do this, so I just put my ingredients in one after the other. The result was delicious and healthier minus all the fat.

I've been rather busy these last few weeks, so I've been less chatty than usual. But keeping these posts short is not easy because I just love to vent at the keyboard :)

I didn't want to let too many days lapse, though, before I shared another recipe, so here goes another short post.

Trust me, if at all you miss all the chatting (although I can't imagine why you would!), it'll be back soon!


Aloo Gobi

Ingredients:

3 medium russet potatoes, cut lengthwise into thick fries

1 medium cauliflower, florets separated

1/2 tsp  red chili powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

Salt to taste

1 tbsp grated ginger

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1/4 cup coriander (cilantro) leaves, chopped

1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil

In a cast-iron or any other heavy skillet, heat the oil

Add the potatoes and stir-fry over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the potatoes are almost golden-brown and barely tender.

Add the ginger and stir-fry for 10 seconds.

Add the cauliflower and heat, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.

Add the coriander, cumin, turmeric and chili powders and salt to taste. Mix well with the potatoes and cauliflower and then add 1/4 cup water.

Cover the skillet with a tight-fitting lid and cook on medium-low fire about 5-10 minutes until the vegetables are tender and the cauliflower is cooked but not mushy.

Check salt, then garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Enjoy!

Buckwheat Waffles

I love trying out new ways to make waffles and pancakes, and these buckwheat waffles are a delicious variation on my no-egg waffle recipe.

Buckwheat is not related to wheat-- it's actually a seed, and it's terribly nutritious. You can read more about it here.

I mix up the buckwheat with a lighter flour-- you can use whole-wheat pastry flour or just regular all-purpose-- and they turn out just perfect: crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. These waffles are really low-fat: there's just 2 tbsp of canola oil in the recipe and it makes 8 waffles in my waffle-maker.

Eat these with maple syrup, my favorite way to have them, or top them with some fruit and vegan whipped cream for a very special breakfast.

Here's the recipe. Enjoy, everyone!

Buckwheat Waffles

Dry ingredients:

3/4 cup buckwheat flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Whisk these together in a bowl and set aside.

Wet ingredients:

1 1/2 cups soy milk

1 1/2 tsp egg replacer like EnerG whisked into 2 tbsp warm water

1/2 cup apple sauce

2 tbsp canola oil

Whisk the wet ingredients together and add to the dry ingredients. Mix together but let some lumps remain.

Heat a waffle iron and spray lightly with oil. Make waffles per instructions.

Creamy Roasted Eggplant And Tofu Dip

A reader once called me an "eggplant freak" (in a nice way, of course :)) because of how often I cook with this wonder veggie, and I completely agree.

I love eggplant, it is very likely my most favorite vegetable, and I think that when it's cooked well, there isn't another veggie that comes anywhere close.

Eggplant's also one of the reasons I look forward to summer. I grow some of my own, but I also find all sorts of amazing varieties at the farmer's market, from tiny white, green or purple eggplants to streaked eggplants to skinny Japanese ones.

For this super-delicious, super-easy and super-healthy dip I am sharing today, I used just your regular old bulbous purple eggplant-- the one you can find in any supermarket grocery section.

I seasoned and roasted the eggplant first, and then just gave it a whir in the blender along with some silken tofu and a few spices. Scoop it up with crudites, pita bread or even tortilla chips. Delicious.

Vegan Roasted Eggplant and Tofu Dip

1 large eggplant, cut in half, placed on a baking sheet.

Slice 4 cloves of garlic very thin. Now make slits in the eggplant and slide the garlic slices into it. Take care not to leave the garlic exposed in the oven because it will burn. You can roast the garlic separately, but I think this really helps infuse the garlic flavor into the eggplant.

Drizzle the eggplant with a mixture of 1 tsp olive oil + 1/4 tsp red chilli powder + 1/4 tsp turmeric (optiona) and salt to taste.

Bake the eggplant in a 350-degree oven for about 30-45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center slides in easily. Set aside to cool, then scoop out the flesh from the skin and place it in a blender.

Add to the blender:

1 package silken firm tofu

1 tbsp grated ginger

1/2 cup packed mint leaves

2 tbsp lemon juice

Salt to taste

Add between 1/4- 1/2 cup of soymilk to the blender to help give the dip the consistency you'd like. I made mine rather thick, as you can see.

When the dip is quite smooth, check for salt and add more chilli powder if needed.

Enjoy!

Kashmiri Dum Aloo

My recipe for the day is a classic from Kashmir, the beautiful state in the north of India: Dum Aloo.

Although potatoes are the chief ingredient in Dum Aloo, it is not usually a vegan dish because it includes cream or yogurt, or sometimes both. While one can easily substitute the yogurt with soy yogurt, which works exactly like yogurt in cooked dishes, I prefer instead to use coconut milk and some lemon juice here. The creaminess of the coconut milk is perfect with the spongily delicious texture of the potatoes.

To achieve that texture, the potatoes are usually deep-fried first. I take a healthier shortcut: I marinate the potatoes in some simple spices and roast them in the oven, in their jackets. The baking cooks them and gives the potato skins a crunchy texture, which emulates the deep-frying without the fat, and works beautifully in the final dish. Perfect.

It's Monday night, and it's getting late, so here goes the recipe. Enjoy, everyone, and have a great week!

Kashmiri Dum Aloo

10-15 baby potatoes (If you can't find these, use the smallest potatoes you can find, and halve or quarter them. Then follow the rest of the recipe instructions). If using whole baby potatoes, poke them all over with a fork.

Mix 2 tsp of canola oil + 1/4 tsp red chilli powder + 1/4 tsp turmeric + salt to taste and toss the potatoes in the mixture. Place in a 400-degree oven and roast 30 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through. (Pierce with a fork to test).

1 cup coconut milk

For the masala, grind together using just enough water to keep the blades moving:

1 tbsp garam masala

1 tbsp coriander powder

15-20 almonds, soaked for about half an hour

1 tbsp grated ginger

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp sugar

Other ingredients:

1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil

1/2 chopped mint or coriander for garnish

1 tbsp lemon juice

Heat the oil in a saucepan.

Add the ground masala and stir for a couple of minutes.

Add half the coconut milk and then the potatoes.

Once the sauce starts to bubble, turn the heat to the lowest setting and place a tight-fitting lid over the saucepan. Let cook 20 minutes. Add some water if the sauce dries up.

Add the remaining coconut milk, more salt if needed, and the mint/coriander leaves. Stir well and turn off the heat.

Serve hot with chapatis or with whole-wheat puris, as I did. This also pairs really well with some South Indian Coconut Rice.

More Trying and Tasting From The FatFree Vegan

I tried out two more recipes from Susan's FatFree Vegan Kitchen this week. One was this delicious Banana Coffee Cake.



Now to someone who reads my blog, it will be no surprise I picked up this recipe. I am nuts about banana breads and cakes, and have many of my own versions which you'll find right here.

This cake on Susan's site looked super-delicious, and sounded very different, so I couldn't wait to give it a try.

I made some changes to this recipe, mainly out of necessity. I haven't had a chance to go grocery-shopping for white whole-wheat flour recently, which is the flour Susan uses in this recipe, so I just subbed with half regular whole-wheat flour and half all-purpose. I also used applesauce instead of soy yogurt.

While powdering up the cinnamon sticks in my spice grinder, I threw in two cloves which gave the bread a really delicious, spicy kick. For the rest, I followed Susan's recipe faithfully.

The cake was really delicious, with a delicate crumb and the cooked bananas, all mushy and gooey, tasted sublime.

The other recipe I tried out was an Ethiopian Berbere Stew, a red lentil stew that reminded me a lot of a tomato dal.



The spice mixture used here has so many elements of the Indian garam masala, and more. For instance, it includes fenugreek seeds, which I usually add to my own garam masala powder, but which is not a typical garam masala ingredient-- fenugreek, by nature, is a cooling agent, whereas spices are generally supposed to warm and stimulate the body.

I also loved the ease of preparation. The ingredients all go into the pot and cook together, so there was no sauteeing of onions and garlic first, adding tomatoes and spices, etc. that would usually be required for a dal.

I added some coriander leaves at the very end to this recipe, and it was just delicious. I also used fresh tomatoes instead of crushed, as the recipe instructs, because I've been getting an abundance of fresh tomatoes in the market and I can't resist them. It likely explains why my stew wasn't quite as red as Susan's.

The wonderful aroma that spread through the house as this stew cooked has to be experienced to be believed. Susan suggested serving the stew with brown rice, so I cooked up my Brown Rice Pilaf which went beautifully with the stew, along with some Minty Roasted Potatoes.

Enjoy, everyone, and don't forget to cook and post your favorite FatFree Vegan recipe for Tried and Tasted which I'm hosting this month. Rules are here.

Have a great weekend!

***

Freddie just got a "spring cleaning." Each Spring, the groomer shaves off all of his beautiful long hair so he can be comfortable in the warm months. By the time fall approaches, most of it has grown back and he's ready, fur and all, to face the weather.

I usually get questions from neighbors (yes, sometimes each year) as to whether I've got a new dog. He looks so different. :)

Fidos, Felines and Furry Friends

I am the queen of this house and I know it!

Not many of us have been left untouched by these hard economic times we are muddling through right now. But even harder hit are thousands of pets who are pouring into shelters at unprecedented rates.

I've seen an increase in the number of phone calls and donation requests I've been getting from animal rescue groups, and it is the same story each time: shelters are overflowing with dogs, cats and other pets given up by people who've lost their jobs, had their homes foreclosed, or have been forced to move to find employment.

I am too dignified to take apart a stuffed toy, but I just want to needle Opie.

For many of these animals, this will be the last stop. Dogs and cats who are in perfectly great health and would make the best of pets will be put down because there are not enough homes to take them in. Imagine getting the death sentence for no fault of your own.

There are many great rescue groups that are out there doing the most wonderful work to help save animals, and there has never been a better time to stand up and offer your support. The Best Friends Animal Society and the ASPCA are two such groups that rehome abandoned animals and deserve every penny you can give them.

But even if you can't afford to give money, there are other things you can do.

Just because I don't fit into a cat bed is no reason I won't do it.

The way I have always done it is to foster shelter dogs. As a foster volunteer, I take home a rescue dog and take care of him/her until I can find them a permanent home.  I also interview prospective adopters, answer their questions, and show the dog.

Animal shelters in any city or town are always, always looking for foster volunteers. I've never had a more rewarding volunteer job, and it's not even a job-- it's fun. Fostering an animal is a great way to save not just the life of the animal you take home and help place, but you also free up valuable shelter space for another animal. The reason why shelters end up putting animals down is because they do not have room to accommodate all the animals that pour in each day.

One of the reasons I hear most often from people who say they can never foster a dog is because they say they'll get too attached to the animal and will find it hard to give him/her up to another person.

I'll get back to you later -- I just need some alone time right now.

Sure, both Desi and I get attached to each of our fosters, whether they stay with us for a month, six months or a year. We hate the moment when we have to say goodbye. We miss them, reminisce about each one of them, put up pictures of them on our walls, and often wonder how they are doing.

But never, looking back, do we ever regret that we fostered them, or that they aren't with us anymore. In fact, we only feel real happiness knowing that we found them loving homes where they are happy and cared for. Then it's time to get our next foster, and we're back in love again.

Can't foster? There are other ways to help. I clip coupons from the newspaper and the Internet for dog food, cat food and treats that I can buy cheap or even get for free, and I donate them to the animal shelter which distributes them to pet-parents who can't afford to buy food for their companion animals but don't want to give them up. It helps keep animals in loving homes, and reduces the number of dogs and cats in shelters.

Shelters can also use donations of used goods. Blankets and towels are always welcome. Over the years, my co-workers and neighbors who've lost pets would bring their old toys and any cans of leftover food to me so I could take it to the shelter.

You know I have you wrapped around my paw!

Even just spreading the word about the importance of adopting from shelters can help. It amazes me how many people have misconceptions about shelter animals-- I've had more than one co-worker or neighbor looking to get a companion animal ask me about concerns whether the animal will be "bad" in some way because it's from a shelter. It never hurts to correct such wrong impressions, and to let people know that shelter animals are usually always vetted for behavioral problems as well as health issues, so it's actually safer to adopt from a shelter than it is to buy a cat or a dog from a pet store or a breeder.

Whew. As you can see, I interspersed my post with pictures of my own kids, each one special, each one gorgeous, and each one a rescue. They've never given me a dull moment, or a moment of regret. I think they make a great advertisement for shelter animals, don't you?

Creamy Baked Pasta In A Minty Tofu Sauce

In inspired kitchen moments, I often throw together ingredients I have on hand to come up with a recipe. The results are sometimes great, sometimes okay, and sometimes downright awful.

I don't share the okay and awful ones with you, but I do like to give you the recipes that I love. Like this Creamy Baked Pasta In A Minty Tofu Sauce.

I had always been a big fan of creamy pastas, despite their deserved reputation of being not so healthy. But I'm not always one to hold back on stuff just because I know it's bad for me. After going vegan I at last found a great excuse to keep me in check.

Still, of course, I keep experimenting with ways to make stuff creamy without cream, and tofu has been a great help. I use it to make a creamy quiche, in my roasted vegetable lasagna, and this time I used it as a sauce to bake some rotelle pasta into melt-in-the-mouth deliciousness.

I am on a mint rush right now, and I put a good handful of mint into the sauce to give it great Spring-y flavor deserving of the sunshine outside my window. And for an added kick, I added some garlic and, hold your breath, some roasted and ground cumin.

I know, I know, it sounds unusual, but the sunny warmth of the cumin is really great with the mint and the tofu. You can, of course, leave it out, but you'd be missing something good.

So here we are, finally, at the recipe. Enjoy yourselves, folks!


Creamy Baked Pasta In A Minty Tofu Sauce

Ingredients:

8 ounces of whole-wheat rotelle pasta (you can replace this with ziti or rigatoni or even with elbow macaroni). Cook according to package directions but stop it about a minute or two before it's al dente. This is because it will cook a little more in the oven, and you don't want the pasta to turn ino mush.)

In the last couple of minutes of cooking the pasta, you can toss in some vegetables, like peas or asparagus cut into 1/2-inch bits, or even green beans.

1 package of vaccum-packed silken firm tofu, like Mori-Nu

3/4 cup soymilk

1 packed cup of mint leaves

2 green chillies, like serrano

3 small cloves of garlic

1 tsp roasted, ground cumin

Salt to taste

Put all ingredients except the pasta into a blender and blend until you have a smooth sauce.

Place the cooked rotelle pasta into a square baking dish. Pour the sauce over it, and toss just very slightly so the sauce makes its way through the pasta.

Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 15 minutes. (I used my toaster oven which is the perfect size for this). In the last minute you might want to turn the broiler on so the top layer turns golden.

Remove. Garnish with more herbs if you'd like, and serve hot.

Mint Biryani With Roasted Mushrooms

I haven't gotten around to gardening this year, but my unkempt vegetable patch has already expressed itself in a riot of deep-green mint.


Mint's one of my favorite herbs, and one that I use most often in my Indian kitchen, after coriander or cilantro. Luckily for me, it is likely also the easiest herb to grow, and returns year after year with almost no tending. By spring I already have armfuls I can pick and toss into anything I please.

Mint's also one of the most versatile herbs around: it's great in sweets and spicy dishes alike. Regular old black tea turns into an extraordinary treat when you dunk in a crushed mint leaf. And who doesn't love a mojito? Or two? In fact, Happy Cook just posted a fantastic recipe for a mojito, and I can't wait to make it.

Mint's also good for you-- its cooling properties make it the perfect summer food. It aids digestion and is a great breath freshener.

I use mint lots of different ways in my cooking: I use it as a garnish for curries. I zap it with silken tofu, salt and lemon juice in the blender for a cooling raita. I mix it up with some nuts, garlic and olive oil for a refreshing pesto. And I use it, of course, to make the uber-delicious mint chutney.

But one of my favorite ways to use this divine herb is in this Mint Biryani With Roasted Mushrooms that I'm sharing today.

I used white basmati rice for the recipe, but you can go ahead and make it with brown rice, for some added healthiness. I have separate instructions on how to cook the brown rice. Also, use more mint if you're using brown rice so that the herb's flavor can stand up to the nuttiness of the brown rice.

Here's the recipe. Enjoy, all!

Mint Biryani with Roasted Mushrooms

1 1/2 cups white or brown basmati or other long-grain rice

4 cloves

4 pods of green cardamom

2 1-inch pieces of cinnamon

1 tsp canola or other vegetable oil

3 cups water

Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the cardamom, cinnamon and cloves. When they sputter, add the rice and stir for a minute until the grains start to turn opaque.

Add the water, and bring to a boil. Cover, lower the heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes.

If you're making this with brown rice, change the proportion of water to 3 3/4 cups. Once the water comes to a boil, cover the saucepan with a tight lid and bake in a 350-degree preheated oven for 50 minutes.

Let stand for at least 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, thinly slice:

1 pound of white button mushrooms or crimini mushrooms. You can also go with a meatier mushroom like portabella or shiitake here.

Toss the mushrooms on a baking sheet with 1 tsp oil, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp red chilli powder and salt to taste.

Roast in a 350-degree oven about 20 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender and beginning to caramelize, but not burned.

(Tip: If you don't have mushrooms around, potatoes would also be great here. Cut them into thick fingers, and follow the rest of the instructions. You might need to add a few more minutes in the oven for the potatoes to cook and turn golden-brown.)
In a blender, add and grind:

1 cup tightly packed mint leaves (Add another 1/2 cup if using brown rice. I would also add 1 tsp more of the garam masala and maybe another green chili, but I leave that to your taste.)

1-inch piece of ginger, minced

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

2 hot green chillies, minced

1/3 cup soft tofu (can use soy yogurt as a substitute)

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 cup water

In a large saucepan, heat 1 tbsp canola or other vegetable oil.

Add:

1 medium onion, sliced. Saute until it turns golden-brown.

Add 1 tomato, diced, 1/2 tsp turmeric, and 1 heaping tbsp of garam masala.
Stir and let cook until the tomatoes start expressing oil.

Add the mint paste and stir and cook for about 10 minutes on medium heat. Add salt to taste.

Now carefully add the rice to the mint, using a light touch so as to not crush the grains. Using a fork, mix the rice and the mint paste.

Cover and cook for another 2 minutes on a very low flame.

Sprinkle the roasted mushrooms on top. Biryani tastes especially delicious with a garnish of fried onions. To make this, heat 1/2 tbsp of vegetable oil and saute 1 medium onion, thinly sliced, and 1 tsp sugar. Turn off the heat when the onion caramelizes and turns a deep golden-brown.

Nuts, tossed in with the onions in the last minute of cooking, or raisins or even roasted sunflower seeds make a great garnish for biryani.

This biryani goes off to two great events: JFI: Mint, hosted by Ashwini and created by Mahanandi, and to SWC: Cooking with Greens hosted by Sowmya.

Thanks, ladies!

If you're looking for ways to jazz up your rice, look for more great ideas here.

Aloo Parathas: Revisiting The Basics

Parathas require just that little bit of extra effort compared to making a regular chapati. But the rewards are way more delicious and nutritious, making them absolute winners.

Even those who don't cook Indian food have doubtless had a paratha at a restaurant. And while parathas can be stuffed with just about everything from sweet potatoes to carrot to radish to even tofu, the most basic and ubiquitous version has got to be the gorgeous Aloo Paratha.

It's definitely my favorite, because I love potatoes and firmly believe that despite the fact that most people think potatoes are bad for you, they can-- cooked the right way, by which I mean not deep-fried-- actually be good for you. They are packed with vitamins, minerals and fiber. As with any food, exercising moderation is the best way to have your potato and eat it too.

What's also wonderful about an Aloo Paratha is, you don't have to have every ingredient in any recipe on hand. So long as you have the primary ingredients -- wheat flour, potatoes and some chili powder and salt, you are pretty much good to go. From there on you can, of course, build on the flavors, adding more spices like Amchoor (dry mango powder which is tangy and delicious), turmeric, even garam masala. Finely minced herbs like mint or coriander would be bliss in a paratha. If you use onions, however, make sure you mince them really fine because you don't want big pieces of onion tearing holes into the paratha when you roll it.

This recipe is really simple: a very basic one, but it is pretty much fail-safe. Make it to light up a simple dinner and serve it with any spicy subzi, or even with this spicy vegan kheema, as I did.

And enjoy!

Aloo Paratha

For the dough:

2 cups durum whole wheat flour (use regular whole wheat if you can't find this, but the durum wheat does make softer parathas).

1 tsp canola or other vegetable oil

1/2 tsp salt

Mix all the ingredients and use water to knead into a smooth dough. Set aside for at least half an hour.

For the filling:

3 medium potatoes, boiled until tender, then peeled and mashed or passed through a potato ricer. The potatoes should be smooth-- you don't want any big lumps in here.

1 tsp red chili powder like cayenne

Zest of 1 lemon

Salt to taste

1 tsp grated ginger

Mix together the red chili powder, the grated ginger, the zest and salt. Set aside.

Pull off a 1 1/2-inch ball of the dough. Using some flour to prevent it from sticking, roll out the dough into a five-inch circle.

Now make a smaller, 3/4th-inch ball of the spiced potato mixture. Place it in the center of the rolled-out dough.

Then, gather up the edges of the dough around the potato mixture and press together where the ends meet on top to form a firm seal.

Roll out into a 7-inch circle, using flour to prevent the paratha from sticking.

Heat a griddle. Cook the paratha on either side, about 3 minutes each, until golden spots appear. You can brush on some oil on each side, if desired, although it's not necessary at all.

Serve hot!

Zucchini Muffins a la FatFree Vegan

I've been having the time of my life going through the FatFree Vegan Kitchen blog to find recipes I'd like to cook all this month for Tried and Tasted, the event started by Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen that's making its home right here on Holy Cow! for the month of May.
It's been hard, believe me, only because there's so much to choose from that at first I just couldn't make up my mind what I wanted to make first.

Because it was a weekend, and because I had zucchini on hand, I ended up choosing these zucchini muffins for breakfast.

I was just thinking what a great time it is for cooking from the FatFree Vegan. Summer's around the corner and I'd love to lose a few pounds. And as the term FatFree Vegan pretty much explains, Susan rarely adds any fat to her recipes, which means I can eat great and still know I'm eating healthy. What's more, she also includes the nutritional analysis for each of her recipes, telling you exactly how many calories, fat and protein there is in each serving, among other things. How much better can it get?

I absolutely loved these zucchini muffins which are whole-wheat and still really light and fluffy. They're also mildly sweet. Desi, who has a very sweet tooth, ate them with some jelly, but they are also great on their own.

Here's a link to Susan's recipe. I followed it to the letter and I did not use the cinnamon crumb topping, although I might try it the next time I bake these up.

Enjoy, all, and I look forward to seeing what you cook up from the FatFree Vegan Kitchen over the coming days.

Have a great Sunday!

Tried & Tasted: FatFree Vegan Kitchen

Tried & Tasted, the popular event started by Zuzana of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen, makes a May-long stop right here at Holy Cow! And this month's blog is, drumroll please, the FatFree Vegan Kitchen!

For anyone that's not familiar with Tried & Tasted, this is a thoughtful event meant to appreciate the work other bloggers are doing. In Zuzana's own words, it's an opportunity to thank your fellow bloggers for sharing their recipes by re-creating them and writing about your experiences.

It's easy to celebrate the FatFree Vegan Kitchen. This is a legendary blog that just about anyone who's ever googled up a recipe has to be familiar with. The woman behind it, Susan, is an inspiration to cooks of all tastes and cooking preferences, but among vegans she and her blog have a following that can only be called, for the lack of a better term, cult-like.

Her recipes -- and there are hundreds of them -- are not just healthy, environmentally friendly and cruelty free, but they all look so good, they make you want to rush into the kitchen and start cooking.

And that's exactly what I hope all of you will do beginning now. You have 31 days. Keep the following guidelines in mind as you cook and post your recipes:

-- Pick up any recipe(s) from the FatFree Vegan Kitchen but stay as true to the original recipe as possible-- in this case, it also means you keep the recipe vegan, so do not substitute anything in here with a product that originated from an animal, including dairy products, honey and gelatine.

--Link back to Susan's original recipe post.

--Link your post to this event announcement, and to the original post at Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen. Feel free to use the logo.

--Send me an email at myveganworld@gmail.com with your name, your post URL and a picture of any size.

--The deadline is May 31 and I will try to post the roundup within a week.

Non-bloggers are also welcome to send in their recipes, with a picture.

Simple enough. So get cooking, guys, and have a fun-filled FatFree experience!

I am giving my recurring event, It's A Vegan World, a break this month because, let's face it, I am not Superwoman. Besides, hosting two events in a single month would possibly daunt even her, I'd say. Well, at least a little bit.

It's A Vegan World just had a great month at Priya's blog Akshayapaatram, and next month it will move to Lavi's blog, Home Cook's Recipes, so keep an eye out for it. We still have a lot of world to cover.

Bye now, and enjoy!