Thai Spicy Green Beans With Tofu

After touring Thailand, I'm addicted to Thai food.  I mean, I was before, but now it's a daily kinda addiction.  It's just so flavourful and so easy to make vegan and/or gluten free. Lots of fresh veg and tofu make this a plant-based delight. First, saute the tofu - about 10-15 minutes on each side - and set it to cool.  It's kinda tricky to dice when it's wobbly and searing hot.

In the same hot pan, saute a medium onion and bell pepper.  When they're translucent, tip them out of the pan.  Keeping the same hot pan, add a couple cups of chopped green beans.  I prefer long beans, but I couldn't find any I liked at the market.  So, I used "French style" beans, whatever those are.  I like to get the pan quite hot and put a nice sear on the beans.  When they have a few specks of brown, put them with the onion and pepper.  In the hot, hot pan quick sear some diced portobellos.  Again, add them with the other cooked ingredients when they have a bit of colour development.

Make a quick spicy sauce out of:

• A few hundred mL of coconut milk
• Tamari sauce - to taste
• Siracha - ya know, however spicy you like it
• Red curry paste - a spoon or so
• Crushed peanuts - also, a spoon
• Water - enough to thin it down, 100-200 mL

Add the sauce to the hot pan and allow it to settle for a moment, then add in a pile of bean sprouts and turn off the heat.  Add in the, previously set aside, vegetables and mix thoroughly.  Add the diced tofu and a big handful of Thai basil.  Give it one final stir.

Plate it with a nice portion of rice.  I like to use black Thai rice mixed with Jasmine rice.

Tofu Pad See Ew

This is one of my favourite dishes.  It's so flavourful and it's carb heavy :) First, this isn't totally authentic.  Fish sauce plays a major role in Thai cooking.  I like to substitute tamari sauce - its vegan and gluten free.

Start with wide rice noodles.  Soak them in warm water until they're rubberband-like.  They should be flexible and have a bit of stretch.  While they're soaking, fry up some extra-firm tofu.  It's not essential to fry it, but it keeps the tofu from crumbling so much.  Also, fried food is delicious.

Then mix up a seasoning blend.  I use: tamari, tamarind, palm sugar, a whisper of red curry paste and some coconut milk to keep it all liquid in the pan.  I experimented with black soy sauce in this dish.  It's basically soy sauce with molasses.  It's tasty, but contains gluten.  If that's a deal breaker for you, skip the black soy sauce in favour of tamari and a smidgen of molasses.

Add the seasoning and coconut milk mix to a hot pan and drop in the noodles.  Stir it, jostle it, shake the pan a bit.  Be sure to keep the noodles moving to prevent them from clumping.  Coconut milk is high in fat and it helps keep the noodles moving.

When the rice noodles are starting to get tender, add in some chopped vegetables.  I use bok choi, green onions and carrots.  Continue to cook until the vege is slightly cooked - it should still have some bite; not at all mushy.

Finally, add the tofu.  Adding it last will keep it from getting smashed and crumbly.  Give it a final stir and plate it up with some fresh Thai basil.

Sesame Soba with Bok Choy

This is a quick and easy dish.  It's fresh, it's filling and it's great comfort food. Begin by preparing soba - a buckwheat flat noodle - by following the directions on the packaging.

While that's cooking, prepare the bok choy and mushrooms by slicing them and sauteing over high heat with a bit of sesame oil.

Add together the cooked noodles, bok choy, sesame, a whisper of grated ginger tamari sauce and mushrooms.

Plate the noodles with fresh sliced tomatoes.  The whole dish is ready in about 10 minutes.  It's a delight.

Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo

This was a surprising delight.  I found a red pepper recipe from Minimalist Baker (amazing blog).  I had red peppers in the garden.  I was inspired.

First, break down the red peppers and coat with olive oil.  Then, broil, roast or grill until the skin is charred.  This should help it slide off easily.  Mix the peeled red peppers with a few cashews, tamari sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, nutritional yeast and a bit of salt.  Cover the mixture with water and puree in a high speed blender.

Prepare a portion of brown rice pasta to just-before-al-dente.

Add the blender mixture to a hot frying pan with a shot of olive oil.  Allow to bubble and reduce until slightly thickened.  Then, add a scoop of the starchy pasta water and the noodles.  Continue to simmer until the pasta is finished cooking.

It's a very rich and savoury-sweet dish.  I love it!

Spinach-Spelt pasta Ravioli with Vegan Filling

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  This verdant pasta is coloured with fresh-from-the-garden spinach.

I started out by chopping the spinach and olive oil in the food processor.  Not really sure how the recipe would turn out, I added egg-white to the mixture and kneaded the dough with the food processor.  It turned out better than expected.  An eggless, vegan pasta dough should hold up perfectly. Cover and let it rest for 15 minutes. Divide in to two equal portions and roll it out.

The filling's made from: pine nuts, tofu, pumpkin seeds, pistachios, garlic, onion, basil, olive oil, salt, tamari and a squeeze of lemon. Simply add the ingredients to the food processor and blitz. Spoon it or pipe it on to the rolled pasta dough - rice flour keeps the dough from sticking to the counter. Brush water around the dollops of filling to make sealing the pasta easier.  Place the top pasta layer over the bottom.  Press out the air and cut into individual pieces.  I used a handy pasta cutter, but a knife works, too.

Drop into boiling water for ~3 minutes.  Serve hot with olive oil, pine nuts and fresh basil.

Gluten Free Stir-Fry

Often the stri-fry premix seasonings contain gluten or wheat ingredients.  Mixing the spices individually and using tamari (gluten free soy sauce), gluten can be eliminated from this delicious dish.  Deep frying tofu and marinating it overnight allows it to have a pleasant texture and full taste (which is a rare trait for tofu).

Classic flavours compose the seasoning: sesame, soy, onion, garlic, turmeric, chili and ginger.  Mixing Jasmine and black Forbidden rice yield a uniquely hued rice side-dish.