Surprise Dumplings

I didn't intend on making dumplings when I came up with this filling.  I had decided to make a salad wrap with roasted cauliflower, tofu, and red onions, but the liquid from the tofu (which I hadn't pressed) made the vegetables much softer than planned.  They were still firm enough for my salad wrap, which was actually rather good, but as I ate it I thought, "These would make great dumplings."

I had to beg Boyfriend to try these dumplings because I made the mistake of telling him they contained cauliflower.  Add that to the growing list of vegetables that Boyfriend thinks he doesn't like.  After he finally did try one, he said, "Yeah, you're right.  These are good.  I stand corrected."  When he asked, "Do you have more?" I knew these were winners.  And when I asked him how many he wanted, he said, "Eight."

These are NOT Asian dumplings.  Instead, they're flavored with rosemary and thyme.  The maple dipping sauce, which was improvised using a few kitchen staples, is sweet and compliments them well.  Boyfriend liked the dipping sauce so much he bragged about it to his friends: "And she made this dipping sauce for them.  And guess what the secret ingredient was!  Maple Syrup!"

Surprise Dumplings

Note: I don't actually know how many this recipe makes, since I used some of the veggies for my salad wrap, but I would guess it makes over 40 dumplings.

• 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
• 1 red onion, diced
• One 14-ounce block extra-firm tofu, cut into bite-sized cubes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp dried rosemary
• 2 tbsp dried thyme
• package of gyoza wrappers (I used vegetable gyoza wrappers)

Special tool: Dumpling press (You can make the dumplings by hand, but using a dumpling press is so much easier, and the dumplings end up looking beautiful!)

Put the cauliflower florets, red onions, and tofu cubes in a baking dish, and toss them with the olive oil, rosemary, and thyme.  Bake them at 425° for 1 hour, then remove from the oven.  (Watch out for the steam!)

Let the veggies and tofu cool, then pulse them in a food processor to make a coarse mixture.  Fill a small bowl with a bit of water to moisten your fingers.  Place a gyoza wrapper on a dumpling press, dip your finger in the water, and trace the perimeter of the gyoza wrapper with your finger.  (Getting the edge of the wrapper wet helps the wrapper stick together.)  Place about one tablespoon of filling in the middle of the wrapper, and then close the dumpling with the dumpling press.  Continue until you have used up all of the filling.

You can freeze the dumplings for later use, or go ahead and cook them according to the directions on the gyoza wrapper package.  Serve them with the Maple Dipping Sauce.

Maple Dipping Sauce

• 1 tbsp rice vinegar

• 1 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce or tamari

• 1 tbsp medium maple syrup

Mix the ingredients together in a small bowl, and use as a dipping sauce.

My dumpling-making set-up

Mango-Pineapple Tofu

This dish was inspired by Mango Sticky Rice, Boyfriend's favorite dessert.  He asked me to make it for dessert one night, but I suggested that I turn it into an entree.  I served it with coconut rice, which was also very good, but I plan to tweak the recipe a bit.  For now, here's the recipe for our new favorite tofu dish, which Boyfriend described as "the best Thai dish you've ever made."  I described it as "heavenly" (not to float my own boat or anything), and loved the way the warm mangoes melted into the dish.

Mango-Pineapple Tofu

Makes 2 servings

• 1/2 cup pineapple juice (can be from the can of pineapple tidbits )

• juice of 1/2 lime (1 tbsp)

• 1 tbsp minced ginger

• 1/2 tbsp chili oil

• 1/2 package extra-firm tofu (7 ounces), cut into bite-sized pieces (pressed if desired)

• 1/2 cup canned pineapple tidbits

• 1 mango, pitted, skin removed, and chopped

• 1/4 cup raw cashews, roughly chopped (roasted would probably work too, but not salted)

• 1 tbsp brown sugar

Mix together the pineapple juice, lime juice, and ginger, and marinate the tofu in the marinade for an hour.  Heat the chili oil in a nonstick pan over medium-high heat, then remove the tofu from the marinade and add it to the pan.  Stir occasionally.  When the tofu is browned, add the pineapple, mango, and cashews.  Add the brown sugar to the marinade and pour into the pan.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is mostly absorbed or evaporated.

Review of Viva Vegan!

Things are starting to settle down.  I graduated last week, moved out of my old apartment, and am now officially living in the new place in Houston, but I'm still awaiting the arrival of my belongings.  May was a busy month, and the last two weeks I've only cooked a handful of meals for myself.  I hate that.  Hopefully that will change soon.  I have big plans to finally make a dent in my long list of recipes to try out.

For now, I want to gush over the few recipes I did get to try in May.  I bought Viva Vegan!, the new Latin cookbook from Terry Romero, and it is truly amazing.  I've made 6 recipes, and they have all been fantastic.  This is my favorite cookbook.  I have over 30.  That's a big deal.

First, I made the Quinoa-Oyster Mushroom Risotto (Quinotto) on page 130.  It's supposed to be like a risotto with quinoa, but it didn't remind me of risotto at all.  No matter, because whatever it was, it was delicious.  It was the best quinoa I've ever had, and I've had some damn good quinoa.

The next thing I made was the Chimichurri Baked Tofu on page 100, which required making a batch of the Chimichurri Sauce with Smoked Paprika on page 43.  The fresh chimichurri sauce was bright green and tasted very fresh.  When baked with the tofu, it took on a darker color and a smoky flavor.  I loved the sauce both ways, and had some of the fresh chimichurri on the side with the chimichurri baked tofu and quinotto.

My next project was making the Annato-Infused Oil (Aciete de Achiote) on page 31 and the Yellow Rice with Garlic on page 96.  I found the annato seeds at Central Market in Houston.  They're bright red and give the oil its orange flavor, which in turn put the yellow in the yellow rice.  I don't know how to describe the flavor of annato, I just know that I like it.  The oil keeps in the fridge, and during my time off before graduation, I used it to sauté vegetables that I served over the yellow rice.  It gave the vegetables something special.  The yellow rice was also delicious because of the annato flavor.  I'll be making it over and over again.  The recipe calls for white rice, which is what I used, but I'm going to see how it turns out with brown rice.  I'm sure it'll be quite different, but I do like my whole grains.  Below, the yellow rice mixed with mushrooms, spinach, and onions sauteed in annato-infused oil.

The last recipe I tried was the Red Chile Sauce on page 45.  I loved this sauce, but haven't found the right pairing yet.  I tried it with the yellow rice and sauteed vegetables, and it was good, but not quite right.  I made enchiladas with what I had on hand (black beans, mushrooms, and onions) but the flavor of the enchilada filling and the red chile sauce didn't mesh correctly either.  Last night I was thinking that this sauce would be better with enchiladas filled with potatoes, spinach, and maybe seitan.  Then, I looked in Viva Vegan! and saw the Red Chile Enchilada variation of the Potato-Chickpea Enchiladas with Green Tomatillo Sauce on page 135.  Its stuffed with potatoes and the Red Steamed Seitan (which I've yet to try but have heard is, like everything else in this cookbook, fantastic).  I think making the Red Chile Enchilada is the solution for what to do with the giant container of red chile sauce in my freezer.

I love this cookbook.  Love it, love it, love it.  Don't be surprised if you see more of it on this blog.  I use most of my cookbooks for inspiration, but I'll continue to be cooking the actual recipes in this one.

Recipe Reviews from Vegan Yum Yum

I recently tried out two recipes from the Vegan Yum Yum cookbook: one great, one bad.  The first recipe was the Sweet Chili Lime Tofu with Collard Greens and Quinoa:

This tofu dish was delicious- sweet and slightly spicy!  The quinoa and sauteed collards were light in flavor, and when I make this again I'd make extra glaze and keep the collards and quinoa simple.   The real star was the glazed tofu.  Lolo (from the Vegan Yum Yum blog) adds sugar to her sauce for the tofu, which is what makes it "glazey".  I rarely add sugar to anything, but after making this dish I've been adding it to my stir fry sauces quite often.  I also loved her "tofu geometry"- cutting the tofu into triangles.  I am unreaonably finicky about making sure I fry each piece of tofu on at least two sides, and I've found that cutting the tofu into triangles instead of squares really makes it easier to flip the pieces with a spatula.

The other recipe I tried was the creamy broccoli dal, and I'm sorry to say it was very disappointing.  I would love to hear whether anyone else has made it and what they thought of it.  When I had my first bowl of soup, I thought the spices were lack-luster and the soup was not as creamy and thick as I had expected.  I tried the soup again the next day, since broccoli soups tend to be better the next day, but it was just as blah as it was the night before.

Despite my disappointment in the Creamy Broccoli Dal, I still wholeheartedly recommend Vegan Yum Yum's cookbook.  Soon after I bought the book, I made the Red and White Cauliflower Bake and the Baked Mac and Cheeze.  The Mac and Cheeze was pretty good (although not as good as the real thing), but the Red and White Cauliflower Bake was AMAZING.  It has a layer of marinara sauce, then creamy cauliflower, tofu ricotta and finally bread crumbs on top.  It was so creamy that eating it felt sinful, but when I calculated out the nutrition facts it wasn't too bad: about 480 when the casserole is divided into 4 large servings.

I recommend you check out www.veganyumyum.com, if you haven't already.  If you like what you see, buy the cookbook!

Pistachio-Crusted Tofu with Shredded Brussels Sprouts

This recipe arose from a big bag of pistachios and a craving for Brussels sprouts. Don't be put off by the monochromatic picture; it looks better in person and could easily be accompanied by other colorful sides (mashed sweet potatoes, maybe?) if you're concerned about presentation. I served mine with some brown rice I had on hand. The tofu is crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside, and the shredded Brussels Sprouts are a tangy accompaniment. If you don't want to use nutritional yeast, I'm sure that bread crumbs would work. In place of the champagne vinegar, you could also try white wine or a bit of lemon juice.

Pistachio-Crusted Tofu
Makes 1 serving

• 1/4 cup pistachios, ground or chopped
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1/4 package (2 ounces) extra-firm tofu, patted dry and cut into 2 slabs
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard

Preheat the oven to 400°. Mix the pistachios and nutritional yeast on a plate. Coat each piece of tofu with the honey mustard (you probably won't need all of it- just enough for the coating to stick). Coat the tofu in the pistachio and nutritional yeast mixture. Place the tofu on a nonstick baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, turning once.

Shredded Brussels Sprouts
Makes 1 serving

• 1 cup shredded Brussels sprouts (about 5 medium)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 tsp champagne vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Sauté the shredded Brussels sprouts in the olive oil. Test a piece of the base of a cabbage, and once the sprouts are cooked through, turn off the heat and toss the sprouts in the champagne vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Tofu Kale Bowl

I make this ALL THE TIME. Simple and quick to put together. Sometimes I use more soy sauce and no mirin. Of course, there are plenty of ways to change this dish, but I just keep coming back to making it this way for its simplicity.

Tofu Kale Bowl
Makes 1 serving

• 2 tsp peanut oil, divided
• Half an 8-ounce package extra-firm tofu, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 bunch kale
• 1 serving cooked brown rice
• 2 tbsp mirin
• 2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce or tamari

Pan-fry the tofu with one teaspoon of the peanut oil in a non-stick pan. Once the tofu has a golden crust, add the rest of the peanut oil and the remaining ingredients. When the kale has wilted, the dish is ready to serve.

Smoky Tofu, Wilted Chard, and Chai Quinoa

A lot of my meals follow the basic pattern of greens, grain, and protein, but this was my first time cooking with chard. It definitely won't be the last time, because this meal was easy and delicious! This recipe may look like a lot of work, but very little active time is required.

I used ground cloves to flavor the tofu because I wanted it to taste smoky, but changing the spices on the tofu could take this dish in a different direction. Bryant Terry's Rosemary-Roasted Tofu Cubes from Vegan Soul Kitchen would work great.

Smoky Tofu, Wilted Chard, and Chai Quinoa
Makes 2 servings

• One 8-ounce package of extra-firm tofu
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 1 cup brewed chai
• 1 bunch chard (I used red)
• 1 tbsp Earth Balance margarine


1. Preheat the oven to 375°.

2. Cut the tofu into 8 slabs and pat the slabs dry with a paper towel.

3. Mix the olive oil and ground cloves together in a small bowl. Dip each slab of tofu in the mixture, making sure to coat each side.

4. Bake the tofu for 30 minutes, turning halfway through the cooking time.

5. While the tofu is baking, rinse the quinoa then put it in a pot with the chai. Bring the chai to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat. Simmer until the quinoa is cooked.

6. Wash the chard, then separate the stems from the chard leaves and chop the stems. Begin sauteeing the stems in the Earth Balance while you chop the chard leaves. Add the chard leaves and sautee until they are wilted.

7. Plate the quinoa, chard, and tofu, and serve.

Cookbook Review: How it all Vegan!

I bought "How it all Vegan!" a while ago, but didn't really appreciate it until I decided to go vegan. This is not a coffee table cookbook nor a cookbook you flip through for inspiration, and there's no food porn. But this book is more than your typical cookbook- it's a guide to living a vegan lifestyle. My favorite part of this book is the list of ingredients to watch out for and an explanation of why each one is not vegan friendly. If I had kids, I'm sure I'd make use of the "Vegan Kids Stuff" section, which has recipes targeted at kids and fun things for kids to do in the kitchen, among other things.

The book has vegan versions of a lot of the dairy foods I'll miss: sour cream, grated Parmesan, and cream cheese. So far, I've only tried the garlic dill cream cheese on p. 86- pictured above with the book. I can't really say that it tasted like cream cheese, but it was yummy. And it made a nice addition to a tofu sandwich I made- and devoured!

Study-time Sushi

It's finals time so I don't have much time to try out new recipes, but I think study time is a great time to make sushi. It doesn't take much active time to make it, and I can keep a few rolls in the fridge an pop them out whenever I'm hungry. After taking my second final of three today, I devoured the sushi above- a baked tofu and cucumber roll. Here's my lazy sushi recipe:

Lazy Sushi Rice

4 servings

• 1 cup sushi rice
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar (eyeball it)
• 1 tbsp sugar (eyeball it)

The instructions on my sushi rice package say to rinse the rice until it's clear and soak it for 30 minutes, but I don't bother. I also don't dissolve the sugar in the rice vinegar over heat before adding it to the rice. Hence why I call it "lazy sushi rice".

Instructions

1. Combine the sushi rice and water in a pan, cover it, and bring it to a boil. Once it starts boiling, stir, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cover until the water is absorbed. It shouldn't take longer than 30 minutes.

2. Once it's done pour in the rice vinegar and sugar. Just eyeball it and adjust it to taste.

Sometimes I have this rice with a tofu dish, but most of the time I use a knife to spread 1/4 of the batch on a sheet of nori. My favorite rolls (that I am naming as I write this):

• The Franzenator Roll- baked tofu and cucumber- leave the skin on for more crunch. (Named for one of the ridiculous mnemonic devices I used to study for my exam)
• The Thanksgiving Roll- sweet potato and toasted pecans (goat cheese optional)
• The Mushocado Roll- sauteed mushrooms and avocado (also great with goat cheese)

Below: getting ready to roll a mushocado roll, with a little too much rice (about 1/3 of the batch. Lately I've been limiting myself to one serving (1/4 batch) per roll and leaving an inch at the bottom of the sheet on which to place the filling, and that seems to be a better filling-to-rice ratio.

Simple Tofruity Smoothie

I made a tofu smoothie for the first time recently. I had leftover silken tofu from a Vegetarian Times ceasar salad dressing, so I put it to use. The best bananas are overripe ones (with brown spots on the outside) that you peel and freeze in a plastic bag.

Simple Tofruity Smoothie

Makes 1 serving

• 1/3 package of silken tofu
• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1/2 frozen overripe banana
• 1/2 cup soymilk

Put the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth!

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Also, give Vegan Yum Yum's pot stickers a try! They're filled with ground seitan, mushrooms, and chilies. You can use any seitan, but I tried the seitan recipe Lolo used, and it was fantastic! (I found myself munching on slices of it while making the pot stickers) I made these using wonton wrappers and, since I was just cooking for myself, I keep the filling in the fridge and I fry up the pot stickers as needed. I'm glad I didn't make them all at once because they'd be gone quickly!

Sunny Stir-Fry

It's a beautiful sunny day here in Kansas City, so I thought I'd share a recipe that's bright and sunny as well. This is a dish I've made several times, and it uses one of my favorite low-fat methods of cooking tofu. When I say "press the tofu", what I mean is to wrap the tofu in paper towels, and then place a cutting board with weights (big bottle of olive oil, a few cans of soup, etc.) on top. Many recipes will tell you that you need to press the tofu for half an hour, but if you cut the tofu in several smaller, equal-width slices and put them side-to-side with the weights on top, you can press the tofu in a very short time.

Sunny Stir Fry

Makes 2 servings

• 1/2 package tofu
• Pam cooking spray
• 1 medium yellow potato, diced in 1" pieces
• 1 yellow pepper, diced
• 1 cup canned pineapple chunks with liquid
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced at an angle
• 1 habañero pepper, minced
• 1/2 cup coconut milk (I use lite coconut milk, but you can use regular)
• 2 tbsp Thai chili sauce
• 2 tbsp soy sauce

Press the tofu to drain excess liquid and cut the tofu into bite-sized pieces.  Spray a nonstick pan with Pam and fry the tofu medium heat, spraying with more Pam if needed.Mix the coconut milk, Thai chili sauce, soy sauce, and minced habañero in a bowl.  Add the sauce mixture and potatoes to the tofu and let simmer, covered.  While letting the potatoes simmer, peel and cut the carrots, then add them to the pan to simmer.  Dice the pepper and add it to the pan as well.  Once the potatoes, carrots, and peppers are cooked, remove from heat and serve with brown rice or couscous.

Panko-Crusted Tofu with Sauteed Kale

I'm sitting in my con law class right now, paying no attention to my professor. I'm in the back of the room eating my lunch. What a perfect time to start blogging!

The other day I cooked (and ate) kale for the first time. I made Braised Seitan with Brussels Sprouts, Kale, and Sun-dried Tomatoes from my favorite cookbook, Veganomicon. I had no idea how much kale I needed, so I bought two bunches, which was much more than necessary. Since I had so much left over, I made Kale and Sun-dried Tomato Hummus from the Vegan Yum Yum blog. DELICIOUS- and such a guilt-free way to eat hummus!

But after these two dishes, I still had leftover kale. I decided to experiment and created what might be one of my new favorite meals: Panko-Crusted Marinated Tofu with Sauteed Kale. Here's the recipe. I recommend serving it with rice or noodles. Otherwise, the marinade will be too strong for the kale. If not serving with the rice or noodles, saute the kale with vegetable broth and just a splash of the soy sauce and ginger instead.


Panko-Crusted Marinated Tofu with Sauteed Kale

Makes 2 servings
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tbsp minced ginger
• Half package of extra-firm tofu
• 1/4 cup soymilk
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 2 tbsp peanut oil
• 1 small head of kale

Cut half of a block of tofu into four equal slices. You might want to cut each slice in half into triangles either before or after you marinate them.  Mix together the soy sauce, vegetable broth, and ginger. Place the tofu in a plastic bag and pour the mixture into the bag. Let sit to marinate for at least an hour in the refridgerator. 

When ready to fry the tofu, take the tofu out of the bag and reserve the marinade. Pat the tofu dry to remove excess liquid.  Mix together the soymilk and cornstarch in a bowl and allow the cornstarch to dissolve. Using one hand, dip a piece of tofu in the soymilk mixture. Using the other hand, cover the tofu in the panko breadcrumbs.  Pan-fry each piece of tofu in the peanut oil until both sides of each piece are a dark golden brown. 

Place the tofu on a paper towel while you break the kale into pieces, discarding the thick stalks.  Add the kale and marinade to the pan, cover the pan, and remove from heat once the kale has wilted.  Serve the tofu over the kale with a side of rice or noodles.