Vegan Mofo: Favorite Spice

Ever since I was a little kid, I've been obsessed with seasoning salts. I remember playing around in my mama's kitchen, developing "recipes" that called for nearly every seasoning blend in her overflowing spice drawer.

Herbs are nice, and powders — like chili, garlic, or onion — are vital to my cooking experience. But I still have the deepest love for salt blends. Paul loves them too, and we're both constantly buying all sorts of seasoning salts. I keep a number of them over my stove — my smoked salts, my lemon-rosemary salt, my sriracha salt, and herbed Aegean blend. But the rest get crammed into our super-unorganized spice cabinet. Out of all the blends though, Tiger Seasoning is my very fave!

Now, I'm sure the health-food types will be completely appalled by this, but Tiger Seasoning contains — gasp! — MSG. And to be honest, that's what makes it so delicious. It's a blend of salt, MSG, dextrose, cornstarch, spices, and garlic. And it makes everything taste amazing. No, it's not health food. But the jury is still out on whether MSG is bad for you. Many people have allergies to MSG, but I don't, so why not use it in moderation? I seriously doubt a sprinkle here and there will kill me.

I actually have to thank my friend Drew (my bestie's partner) for my Tiger salt addiction. I was visiting their house in Little Rock last year, and Drew was like, "You've got to try this stuff!" Now, Paul and I go through a ton of it. It's mostly Paul though, as he likes to eat it by itself (yes, he's weird, and yes, that's horrible for his blood pressure). I just use it on food, and I sprinkle lightly because a little goes a long way.

I always add a touch my ramen bowl. Here's the bowl of Lotus Foods Jade Pearl Rice Ramen that I made yesterday morning with tofu, peas, carrots, and Tiger Salt.

I also added some to this Black-eyed Pea, Corn, & Squash Salad, and it gave it a nice garlicky kick.

I took this salad to a full moon potluck on Friday night, but I omitted onions and garlic from the recipe because one of the girl's has a health condition that prevents her from eating those things. I thought it was a tad bland without those staples, so when I got home with the leftovers, I added fresh garlic, sliced red onion, and Tiger salt. And then the salad went from "meh" to "yummers."