Tofu 'Shrimp' Curry And Dill Rice

Years ago I came across this delicious curry and rice combination on an old episode of Julia Child's Cooking with Master Chefs series. Child, the grand dame of American cooking, was hosting Madhur Jaffrey-- a chef who, I think, can easily be described as the grand dame of Indian cooking, at least in the western world.

In the episode, Jaffrey cooked a south Indian shrimp curry and dill rice. The spices, herbs, and flavors she added sounded perfectly harmonious yet vibrantly explosive. I just had to try a vegan version.

I changed up the recipe for the curry quite a bit to make it healthier and leaner, but Jaffrey deserves the credit because had she not made this curry, I never would have created mine. I used a few Mexican peppers to add fire and smoke to my recipe, including two anchos and a couple of arbol chilies. Adjust the spice to your taste because this sauce is quite fiery.

Jaffrey's dill rice was more easily veganized so I didn't have to tweak it much except to replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock. This is my favorite rice recipe and one I've made in my kitchen over and over for years now.

Best. Focaccia. Ever.

I was planning an Italian dinner for my friend Margo and her family recently and I wanted to bake a bread that would appeal to her son Danny who's as picky as any four-year-old can be.

I pondered my Rustic Tuscan Loaf and my Whole-Wheat Ciabatta, but I wasn't quite sure that these fantastic but rather adult breads would hold the required kid appeal. Until I hit upon the idea of this cloud-like focaccia.

The focaccia recipes I've made in the past (including this one from Tal Ronnen) have been pretty good, but not captivating. As I pondered how to make a better focaccia, fate intervened: when I walked into the kitchen and turned on the TV (yes, I plead guilty to watching too much TV), an episode for America's Test Kitchen was just coming on. And they were making focaccia.

Carrot Bread: Low Fat And Wholegrain

Spring arrived early this year, like an unfashionable guest. The cherry trees in Washington's Tidal Basin-- gorgeous with their full, pink flowers -- have already bloomed, days before they were supposed to. The daffodils have been out for a while, and the tulips are beginning to bud. March is all dressed up in weather that would be best suited to May.

Early this morning I woke up when a thunderclap crashed overhead, a common May phenomenon. Opie scurried upstairs to get into bed with me and Lucy ran into the closet to burrow into a hiding place.

To be honest, I feel a little cheated. The anticipation of spring is almost as delicious as the season itself, but this year we have been robbed of it. Just like we were robbed of the snow and of the comforting chill of an icy winter. Meanwhile, my dad in Goa and my relatives in Chennai have been telling us of an uncharacteristically cold winter in these cities where typically the weather-- in my dad's words--tends to be hot for 10 months and hotter for the remaining two.

Eat Your Veggies And Save The Earth.A Guest Post

At Holy Cow! I come at the topic of vegan food from an ethical perspective. But there are many more great reasons to eat a plant-based diet and one of those-- of course-- is the environment.

One of my favorite blogs on the environment, Reduce Footprints, offers many great resources for an eco-friendly lifestyle, including a series of "change the world" challenges that are designed to get a whole lot of people thinking about doing the same green activity during the same time period. "It's the idea that when a lot of little actions are joined together ... the impact can be huge. We hope to take a huge step towards saving the earth," writes Cyndi, the blogger behind Reduce Footprints.

Today, in this wonderful guest post, she shares her insight into the environmental footprint of veganism and why eating a compassionate diet can make our Earth a better place. Read it and then take one of her challenges to do your bit for all of the world's living, breathing creatures!

Eat Your Veggies and Save the Earth

People who choose a vegan diet typically to so for one of two reasons ... they have a deep compassion for animals and/or they want the best health possible.  But did you know that eating meatless meals is also Eco-friendly?  In fact, it's one of the easiest ways to walk gently on the earth.  Why?  Simply put, it takes fewer natural resources to produce one pound of plant-based food as opposed to the same amount of animal-based food.

Here's a simple example...

Whole-Wheat Sourdough Ciabatta

Latest in my adventures in baking with sourdough is this crusty, healthy Whole-Wheat Ciabatta. It is, quite simply, as good as bread can get.

Ciabatta, as you know, is my favorite Italian bread. Its crackling crust, soft texture with those large, airy holes, and delicious, slow-developed flavor are to die for. But so far I've only made ciabatta with white all-purpose flour because that's what everyone does, don't they? And as much as I had dreamed of making a healthier, wholegrain version, it was hard to imagine that whole wheat, with its low-gluten burden, would make a good ciabatta -- or even a passable one.

But baking with sourdough has opened up a world of possibilities in my kitchen. Sourdough is just  a longer-developed biga -- the starter that begins every ciabatta loaf. But because sourdough has been sitting around for so long and has all of those alcoholic gases in it, it helps give breads a better rise. This feature is especially helpful in baking whole-wheat breads which can use all the rising help they can get to avoid turning into dense bricks (every health nut's baked one of those, haven't we?).

Eggplant Pullao

Long ago, when I hadn't yet learned how to boil water, I read an article in a Bombay newspaper about the great filmmaker Ismail Merchant and his passion for cooking. The reporter had spent a day with Merchant as he prepped dinner in a Bombay kitchen for friends and his film crew. I don't remember the details of what he was cooking any more, but I remember that reading about all those sumptuous foods made me long to be there, in that kitchen, eating that food.

So when I came across a hardcover, used copy of the 1994 cookbook, Ismail Merchant's Passionate Meals: The New Indian Cuisine for Fearless Cooks and Adventurous Eaters, while browsing through Powell's Books in Portland (said to be the largest used and new bookstore in the world-- the flagship store occupies a whole city block), I just had to buy it. Even if it meant lugging it back home in my bursting suitcase.