Saturday, August 9, 2008

Tofu Is the New Metal

On Wednesday night, I pulled out an old standby that I'd forgotten about — Please Don't Feed the Bears, a vegan metalcore cookzine with awesome tofu and seitan recipes. It even has a recommended metal soundtrack for each dish.

I adapted a recipe for Szechwan Tofu with Triple Threat Pepper Sauce:


It may not look like much, but this was so easy and delicious! It's fried tofu simmered in a sauce of mirin, soy sauce, garlic, dry mustard, black pepper, and crushed red pepper. The recipe also calls for red and green bell peppers, but I left those out because I wanted a plain tofu dish sans the veggies (I know, I know...all meat, no veggies...blah blah blah).

According to Please Don't Feed the Bears, I should have been listening to Killing Addiction's "Legacies of Terror" demo while making this. But I don't know much about metal, so...if they had a punk rock cookbook, I could probably manage the soundtrack thing a little easier.

I served the tofu over rice noodles, and I also had a side of Sauteed Squash and Green Beans from Vegan Success:


This recipe is really just what it looks and sounds like — squash, fresh green beans, chopped tomato, dried herbs, and soy margarine. It was a tasty way to use up some abundant summer produce.


As for Please Don't Feed the Bears, I highly recommend this cookbook. Not only is it metal as hell, but the recipes have hardcore names like "Indian Tacos of Death," "Seitanic Pepper Steak," and "Terror of Thai Soup." The recipe for "Human Marinade/Baste Dip" actually calls for "the ashes of one fine thin joint (optional)."

And with instructions for corn dogs, "vegan deep friedness," and "Cop-Shop Special" (aka donuts), it's far from health food...which is a good thing in moderation.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Today's been a bit weird for me vegetarian-wise. I ended up eating leftover veggie rice and a hummus sandwich and then had french fries later at MCDonald's because honestly I just could not stand the thought of having a REAL vegetable. It's almost three months now since I went veg I don't know if I can do this for the long haul. But the tofu looks good.

Brad and Ahnah said...

That tofu looks kick-ass. Definately have to find that cookbook.

Pita Wraps sounds good!! Did you have a good time at the show?

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Oooh the Sauteed Squash & Green Beans dish sounds wonderful - as does that Triple Threat Pepper Sauce!

thedalyn said...

Please Don't Feed the Bears is awesome, though I seriously don't recognize a single song they recommend.

James H. Byrd said...

I look forward to your book on vegan southern cooking. I was born in Texas and spent some of my tiny youth in Louisiana, and I've never been able to get the craving for cornbread, greens, hot pickled okra, black-eyed peas, and other southern foods out of my system. And I don't want to!

Your tofu looks awesome. Makes me want to reach out with my fork!

James Byrd
Co-author of Vegan Success
http://www.VeganSuccess.com

Vegan_Noodle said...

Sounds like quite the fun little cookzine! And sometimes I too am in the mood for just tofu, no veggies... so I feel ya on that one.

jessy said...

superawesomeface, Bianca! your tofu looks damn delicious! the sauce looks sooooo gooooood! i've heard of "Please Don't Feed the Bears" - i need to order that one also and "Hot Damn, Hell Yeah". perhaps i'll amazon.com those two. w00t! and looks like you made up for the lack 'o veggies in the tofu with those tasty look'n sauteed yummies! mmmmmm!

man, i love it all!

Jess said...

The recipe for "Human Marinade/Baste Dip" actually calls for "the ashes of one fine thin joint (optional)." HAHA! Wow.

That tofu looks seriously delicious. I have been eating a lot of seitan lately, but I need to get back to my old friend, tofu.

Anonymous said...

Oooh, I own this cookbook but haven't made anything from it, and that looks good. Any other recipes you recommend from it?

Audrey said...

The cookzine sounds interesting ^^
and this Szechwan Tofu looks amazing!