Vegan Palak Paneer

As I mentioned in Sunday's post, Nasoya was kind enough to send me a handful of coupons for free samples of their tofu products and sandwich spreads. Though I typically buy the generic extra-firm Whole Foods tofu, I picked out a butt-load (well, maybe not a butt-load, but several packages) of Nasoya tofu on my last grocery trip. One such find was Nasoya's Lite Firm Tofu.

Now, I'm not exactly into low-fat eating, but I do like to cut calories when taste and quality aren't sacrificed. After all, eating less calories in one meal means I can eat more dessert later. Thankfully, this lite tofu tastes exactly like the regular Nasoya firm tofu. It has 40 calories per serving versus 80 calories per serving, and I'm honestly not sure how they did that. Judging by the ingredient lists on both tofus, the lite tofu contains a few more added vitamins. But for the most part, they have the the same make-up. Maybe it's magic...

Anyhow, I decided to try the tofu in this Vegan Palak Paneer from 101 Things to Do with Tofu:

I've never had real palak paneer, a North Indian dish typically made with cottage cheese and spinach. But I know this vegan version looks very much like the dairy version, which also contains white cubes. It was super simple, and minimally seasoned. The tofu reaches a firmer, more cheese-like consistency after its boiled for several minutes and then drained in a colander.

I served the palak paneer over smoked spelt, a delightful little chewy whole grain from Germany. Mihl from Seitan is My Motor sent me a bag of it in a care package from Germany last year.

Though I've had the 101 Things to Do with Tofu cookbook since October, this recipe is the first I've made from it. It's a cute spiral-bound volume with mostly vegan (some vegetarian), mostly easy-peasy tofu recipes. Worth checking out for some fresh, new tofu ideas.

Wednesday is the last chance to enter my $25 Vegan Essentials gift certificate giveaway. See this post for details.

Superbowl Grub

I only watch one football game a year — the Superbowl. Most years, I pick a team based on their mascot or uniform color because I know nothing about the teams. Some years, I just root for the underdog. But this year, I was all for the Saints. And woooo hooooo ... they WON!

New Orleans is sorta like Memphis' sister city: We both have a lively entertainment district (they have Bourbon St., we have Beale). We're both Southern river towns. Our cultures center around the blues. And after Katrina, hundreds of NOLA folks made Memphis a temporary (and in some cases, permanent) home since the Bluff City is only a quick drive from the Crescent City. Not to mention that New Orleans my family's favorite place to vacation.

In preparation for the Saints' victory, I cooked up a batch of my Seitan Hot Wangz. The recipe will be included in my cookbook:

This is an old photo, but they looked the same this time. My friend Greg, who knows absolutely nothing about football and only came for the free grub, helped me devour these little spicy seitan chunks.

You've gotta have chips and dip for the Big Game, so I took the opportunity to make a recipe I've been dying to try since I got Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet — Cheezy, Oozy Guacamole Dip:

Wow! I was always a fan of Mexican layer dips, and this did not disappoint. A creamy layer of refried beans (I used Whole Foods brand) is spread on the bottom and that's topped with lime-laced avocado. The tastiest layer is the Tofutti sour cream mixed with Simply Organic taco seasoning. Green chilis, black olives, and tomatoes rest atop the sour cream, and it's all topped with Follow Your Heart vegan nacho cheese.

I halved the recipe and it still made a ton. Greg and I ate way too much of this on Sunday, and I had some more for lunch today. And so far, the avocado has stayed a lovely bright green. I'm hoping this stuff will last for a couple more days.

That's all for now. Don't forget to enter my Vegan Essentials gift certificate giveaway if you haven't already. Contest ends on Wednesday night.

Chocolate Almond Midnight: The Remix

I recently received a bunch of coupons for free Nasoya products to review. I typically buy the cheap-o Whole Foods brand tofu because all tofu tastes the same to me. Nasoya is about a dollar higher than the generic stuff. But since it was free, I stocked up on several different Nasoya products, including Nasoya regular Silken Tofu and their Dark Chocolate Silken Style Creations.














I planned to use both products in my attempt recreate Chocolate Almond Midnight, the amazing torte I had at Millennium Restaurant in San Francisco last week. You might remember this photo from my Millennium post. This torte was the best thing I ever put in my mouth:

Though I purchased The Artful Vegan (Millennium's second cookbook) while I was at the restaurant, I later learned that the Chocolate Almond Midnight recipe was printed in their older book, The Millennium Cookbook. Thankfully, Swell Vegan was super swell and e-mailed me the recipe (which she graciously took the time to type out!).

The recipe is a bit different from the torte I had at the restaurant, which was topped with a creamy white chocolate mousse. The recipe from the cookbook didn't include the mousse, but I wanted to try and recreate it anyway by combining the regular silken tofu with melted vegan white chocolate chips and sugar. After making the mousse my way, I realized that The Artful Vegan contains a recipe for their mousse. But it contained cocoa butter, which I wouldn't even know where to find.

I layered my white chocolate mousse atop the Nasoya dark chocolate tofu and baked it in a cashew crust. Then I topped that with maple praline almonds, chocolate ganache, and (not picture here) fresh raspberry sauce:

Here's an inside shot so you can see the layers:

The result? Delicious. But not quite as tasty as the Millennium's version. I loved the fluffiness of their mousse, but my version is definitely a keeper. And that Nasoya dark chocolate tofu — oh my god, ya'll. It's just like chocolate pudding. There's no beany tofu taste whatsoever. In fact, I just ate a bowl of the leftover chocolate tofu by itself.

As for Nasoya's plain silken tofu, I love how it comes in a one-pound package instead of the 12.3-ounce aseptic package. Sometimes you just need a full pound of silken tofu.

Since I changed the recipe for Chocolate Almond Midnight so much, I think it's okay to re-print it here as an adaptation. Here ya go:

Chocolate Almond Midnight: The Remix
Adapted from The Millennium Cookbook

Cashew Crust

1/3 cup raw cashews

3 tbsp turbinado

3 tbsp canola oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/8 tsp salt

Chocolate Mousse

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 package of Nasoya Dark Chocolate Style Creations silken tofu
2 Tbsp. cornstarch (dissolved in 2 Tbsp. water)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp sea salt

White Chocolate Mousse
1/2 cup vegan white chocolate chips
3/4 package Nasoya Silken tofu, plain
1/4 cup turbinado
2 Tbsp. cornstarch (dissolved in 2 Tbsp. water)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Maple Almond Praline

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 cup slivered almonds

Chocolate Ganache (recipe follows)

Raspberry Sauce (recipe follows)

Fresh fruit, cocoa powder, and finely shredded fresh mint for garnish

To make the cashew crust: Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly oil an 8-inch round springform or false bottom pan. In a food processor, grind the cashews until they resemble fine meal. Add the Sucanat, oil, and vanilla. Process again until well combined. In a small bowl, stir the flour and salt together. Add the cashew mixture and mix into the flour, beginning with a spatula and ending with your hands. press the crust into the prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until light brown and dry.

To make the chocolate mousse: In a microwave, melt the chocolate chips for about 30 seconds (check after 30 seconds and if they're not melted, add another 30 seconds). In a blender or food processor, combine the dark chocolate silken tofu, cornstarch slurry, vanilla, and salt. Process, then add the melted chocolate and blend for 2 minutes, or until very smooth and completely combined.

To make the white chocolate mousse: In a microwave, melt the white chocolate chips for about 30 seconds (check after 30 seconds and if they're not melted, add another 30 seconds). In a blender or food processor, combine plain silken tofu, sugar, vanilla, and cornstarch slurry. Process, and then add the melted white chocolate. Blend until very smooth.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly oil the sides of the cake pan above the prebaked crust. Pour the dark chocolate mousse mixture into the pan and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and very gently pour the white chocolate mousse on top of the dark chocolate. Bake for another 25 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, then run a paring knife around the inside of the pan. Let the cake cool to the touch, refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Unmold just before serving (I used a regular cake pan so I didn't unmold ... just sliced it from pan).

To make the praline: In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the maple syrup to a boil. Boil for 1 minute. Add the almond and stir constantly until the maple syrup has completely crystallized onto the almonds and the almonds appear dry.Pour the almonds onto a baking sheet and let cool. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 weeks.

Once the pie is cooled, scatter the praline bits on top, pressing them gently into the white chocolate mousse. Top with ganache.

To serve, cut the cake into 8 pieces. For each serving, pool Raspberry Sauce on a plate and top with a slice of cake. Garnish with fresh fruit, cocoa powder, and mint.

Chocolate Ganache
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsp. soy milk

Combine the chocolate and milk in a small saucepan and melt over low heat. Stir to combine. Allow to cool about ten minutes and then spoon into a pastry bag. Pipe ganache on top of pie in your desired pattern.

Raspberry Sauce

makes 1 cup

2 cups fresh or 10 ounces unsweetened frozen raspberries, thawed

1/4 cup turbinado

In a blender, combine the raspberries and turbinado, then blend to a smooth sauce. Strain the sauce through a fine-meshed sieve. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

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I know it's a long recipe, but it's so delicious! Definitely worth the time it takes to make it. By the way, if you haven't entered my Vegan Essential gift certificate giveaway, the contest remains open until Wednesday. Go here for details.

Pizza and Donuts! And a Free Stuff for You!

Stay tuned at the end of this post for an awesome giveaway!

Last night, I posted pictures of my sweet haul from Vegan Essentials, courtesy of Mama and Papa Crunk. But I deliberately left out the two favorite items in my latest order. I saved the best for last. I may be the last vegan in the world to try Daiya Cheese, and I'm honestly not sure what I was waiting for. Here's my first pack of Daiya Italian Cheese Shreds:

And here's my Daiya gettin' all melty-melty on a slice of Vegan Supreme Pizza:

This stuff is rad. It's way meltier than Teese and tastes way more authentic. In fact, this may be the best-tasting/best-melting vegan cheese I've tried (still haven't tried Cheezly). It was perfect atop this whole wheat crust with homemade tomato sauce, Gimme Lean vegan sausage, bell peppers, black olives, and red onions.

Here's an extreme close-up shot to prove just how melty this stuff really is:

My pizza was seriously amazing, but nothing could top these Vegan Donuts from Larsen's Bakery:

These fresh-baked cuties are available on Vegan Essentials, and they come un-iced to ensure freshness. There's 11 donuts in a box, with the extra space reserved for a tub of sweet, sweet white icing. They freeze wonderfully, so no stress if you can't eat 11 donuts before they go stale (but seriously, if you can't do that, something is wrong with you). Oh, and they're yeasted donuts! That means they're more like Krispy Kreme than Little Debbie. Hells yea.

Here's one that I warmed in the oven, messy iced, decorated with sprinkles, and shoved in my mouth:

Now for the fun part: My daddy (a.k.a. Papa Crunk) called me today and asked if I'd be interested in giving away a $25 gift certificate to one lucky random reader for Valentine's Day. He's paying the tab because he's just awesome like that. So you can order donuts, Daiya, Go Max Go bars, whatever tickles your fancy.

Here's how to enter: Leave a comment on this post letting me know what vegan product(s) you have to order (or would like to order) online because they're not available where you live. If you live in a vegan mecca, like Portland, where everything is available, just mention a product that you can't live without.

For extra entries, tweet a link to this contest on Twitter and leave another comment letting me know you tweeted (or twatted or whatever you call that). You can also post a link on Facebook and leave yet another comment for a max number of three entries per reader.

I'll leave the contest open until Wednesday, February 10th at 10 p.m. CST. A winner will be announced in next Thursday night's post. If your comment doesn't link back to a blog, please leave your email address in your comment (you can write it like this — name[at]whatever[dot]com — to avoid spammers). Your email will be required to send an e-gift certificate from Vegan Essentials.

Happy Contesting!

Check Out My Cool New Stuff

My awesome mama and daddy (and yes, I still call them "mama and daddy" even though I'm nearly *cough* 30) intended on placing a special Xmas order for me from Vegan Essentials. But I asked them to hold off since I knew I was about to start my Adventure Cleanse Tune-up. When the cleanse was FINALLY over, my daddy gave me a spending limit and let me order whatever I wanted! The stuff came in last week.

I got one each of the four Go Max Go Candy Bars. There's the Jokerz Bar, which tastes like a Snickers:

This is the only one I've opened so far, and it does taste very much like a Snickers. That was always one of my favorite candy bars. It doesn't have quite the peanut content that Snickers does, but it's still delish. The caramel is amazing! Before trying these bars, the only vegan candy bars I've had were the Crispy Cat bars and they really didn't impress ... too health-foody. Go Max Go bars taste like real junk food candy bars, but they still contain decent ingredients.

I also got the Buccaneer (like a 3 Muskateers):

The Twilight (like a Milky Way):

And the Mahalo (like a Mounds Bar ... I'll probably be opening this one next):

And I couldn't resist these Sjaak's vegan Miniature Peanut Butter Cups:

Sexy inside shot:

These little guys have a creamier center than a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, and honestly, I think they taste even better.

Bought some more Soy Curls for stir-fries, cheezesteak sammiches, and such:

And some more of my favorite snack — Eco-planet Non-Dairy Cheddar Crackers:

I also ordered a few new products, like this We Can't Say Its Cheese Spread, Cheddar-style:

This stuff has an oatmeal base, and it tastes very much like real cheese spread. It's ridiculously creamy, the perfect topping for my "Triscit-style" Kashi Heart-to-Heart Crackers.

And finally I couldn't resist these Upton's Naturals Chorizo Tamales:

I haven't had a tamale since before going vegetarian in 1994! So you can imagine the magic that happened in my mouth when I bit into these babies. You simply steam them in their husks and un-wrap:

I served mine with loads of jalapeno sauce and a giant salad. I ordered two more products from Vegan Essentials, but they deserve a post of their own. So Thursday night, I'll share my favorite Vegan Essentials scores. And be sure to come back because I'll also be hosting an awesome giveaway.

Unhealthy Food? As If!

After the tragic and untimely death of Brittany Murphy, I re-watched her 1996 breakout film Clueless. And that's when I realized that so much of my life philosophy was shaped by that movie. I was 16 when Clueless came out, and that means I was young and impressionable.

For example, I do believe that Ren & Stimpy were "way existential." And I agree that "until mankind is peaceful enough not to have violence on the news, there's no point in taking it out of shows that need it for entertainment value." When someone sits next to you and crosses their legs toward you, it's totally an unequivocal sex invite. And it's okay to call your girlfriends "bitches" because in the words of Murray, "street slang is an increasingly valid form of expression. Most of the feminine pronouns do have mocking, but not necessarily in misogynistic undertones."

Why am I talking about Clueless? Because I've been cooking up a storm from Alicia Silverstone's new cookbook The Kind Diet. If you don't have it yet, it's a must-buy. Silverstone talks about the importance of going vegan in the first half of the book (stuff most of us already know), but the second half is filled with yummy vegan (and even some macrobiotic) recipes. Every dish is super simple, focusing on the natural flavors of a few ingredients.

For lunch today, I had Silverstone's Azuki Beans with Kobocha Squash:

It's just like it sounds — tender azuki beans, naturally-sweet chunks of kobocha squash, kombu, and shoyu. That's it. It's one of her microbiotic (or superhero, as she calls it) recipes.

I also tried her Ginger-Baked Tofu:

Firm tofu is marinated overnight in a simple sauce of fresh ginger, soy sauce, and a teensy bit of brown rice syrup. Silverstone avoids all forms of granulated sugar in her recipes, even turbinado and evaporated cane juice.

And her Sicilian Collards are to die for:

I typically cook my collards for at least 40 minutes, but these are quickly sauteed for only a few minutes with olive oil, raisins (I used currants), pine nuts, and balsamic vinegar. The vinegar hides any of the bitterness left in the greens. Even my non-greens-loving boyfriend liked this recipe. He said he'd start eating greens if I fixed this regularly!

San Francisco Eats (Continued)

So last night I posted each course of my delicious meal at Millennium Restaurant in San Francisco. Tonight, I bring you the rest of my SF eats, which were damn tasty ... but no match for Millennium's gourmet grub.

I was in town for an Association of Alternative Newsweeklies conference, representing the alt-weekly newspaper I write for — the Memphis Flyer. We stayed at the gorgeous Argonaut Hotel in Fisherman's Wharf. Check out the star pillows!

While the view of the ocean and the Golden Gate Bridge is absolutely lovely in the wharf, the vegan options are pretty much on par with what's offered in Memphis — a few options here and there. I didn't have much time to wander out of the neighborhood for quick lunches and such, but I was pleased with the food I found.

When we arrived in San Francisco — after a 1 1/2-hour flight to Minnesota and a 4-hour flight to SF, we were all starving! So we stumbled into the first Mexican joint we found — Las Margaritas in Jack's Cannery. I had the Vegetarian Fajitas:

After lunch, we had a few hours to kill before our welcome reception in the hotel lobby. I wandered down to the Ferry Building on the advice of Melisser the Urban Housewife. She told me there was a Ciao Bella in there! So I had to get two scoops of Chocolate and Coconut Sorbet:

Lunch on Thursday was this surprisingly delicious California Veggie Sandwich with Luau BBQ Chips and an Anchor Steam Porter at Boudin Cafe:

I'm usually un-impressed by veggie sandwiches, but this one was served on fresh-baked multi-grain bread. And it was piled high with avocado, roasted red peppers, red onion, tomato, lettuce, and a balsamic dressing. Plus, Boudin had these cute little bread animals in their window:

I had dinner at Millennium on Thursday night, and Friday morning was mostly spent in workshops. But I had a few minutes for lunch after my last workshop and before my flight was scheduled to leave. I stumbled on a Johnny Rockets in the wharf, and since we don't have one in Memphis, I got pretty excited. I sat in a retro diner-style booth and dined on this Streamliner Boca Burger:

And these cute french fries:

After I flew out of SF, my connector flight was supposed to take off from Salt Lake City. But it was delayed for 9 hours due to snow in Memphis. Lucky for me, there was a mini-Squatters Pub in the SLC airport. And they had this delicious Tofu Scramble Wrap:

It was really more like tofu egg salad with tomato, onion, cucumber, and cilantro-lime dressing. And it was served on a whole wheat tortilla with chips and salsa. Considering my poor luck finding vegan food in airports earlier in the trip, this was a major score. It almost made my 9-hour wait in SLC worth it. Almost.