Tofu :: so many ways!

I have been twittering often lately that I'm eating grilled tofu - why? because grilled tofu is super easy to prepare, super tasty, & so good for you.

I have been vegetarian for almost all my life. I tried some meat when I was younger but never liked it. At first, I chose not to eat meat based on simple personal preference.

Now as an adult, I am benefiting from the wisdom of my choice :) Whether for your own health, for your family's health, or for the health of our environment, you may find many reasons to eat vegetarian, all or at least some of the time.

You may hear people say they "need their protein" when talking about eating meat, but vegetarian food has as much protein -- and importantly, healthier protein than meat. Plant protein helps lower cholesterol while animal protein makes it worse -- this is one of several reasons vegetarians have less heart trouble, lower cancer rates, stronger bones, and so on.

Growing up in India, I ate many different types of beans, lentils, and legumes which are extremely protein-rich. Tofu is another protein-rich, healthy vegetarian food, one I first tried after moving to the USA.

I enjoyed tofu for a long time before I knew how to make it at home. With practice and some experimentation, my tofu has gotten a lot better. I have also realized how convenient tofu really is -- it is perfect when you don't have much time to cook.

I'm happy to share some of my methods :) First, this is one of the staple lunches I take to work, great for anyone on-the-go:

1 :: Grilled Tofu, for lunch box wraps

I used:

• 1 slab of extra firm tofu, cut into thick slices like you see in the photo
• 1 tbspn Sriracha (a Vietnamese-American hot sauce) - you can skip this and use soy sauce, or any other you may like and that may grill well
  
• 1 tspn chinese five spice
• 2 tbspns olive oil

My method:

1. Heat up your grill pan to medium high. (As hot as you need for quick grilling.)

2. In a large bowl, mix oil, hot sauce, five spice.

3. Dip the tofu slices on both sides in the sauce mix, shake off excess sauce.

4. Place each slice on your grill. Repeat until you have all the slices on your grill or as many as you can fit.

5. When you hear them sizzle or in about 3 minutes, whichever comes first, quickly flip the slices. Grill the other side for another 3 minutes or so, and take them off the grill.

6. Let them cool down, and then cut into bite size pieces for your wrap or salad.

7. My wraps vary with ingredients based on the season, but a typical formula is: grilled tofu, rice or rice pilaf, lettuce, raisins, tomatoes, sprouts, cucumber, and even nuts ... all wrapped in a big, whole grain pita or a spinach tortilla or even a naan!

I love a spicy lunch, and this one is so convenient to eat. I also love the fact that this wrap has so many different textures in every bite!

2 :: Tofu Scramble, with toast

I used:

• 1 slab of extra firm tofu, cut into tiny cubes like in my photo. Squeeze off excess water first if necessary -- this will depend on your brand's or source's packaging.
• half green bell pepper, chopped into a small dice
• half red bell pepper, chopped into a small dice
• 1 tspn of cumin seeds
• 1 tspn garam masala
  
• 1 tspn tumeric
• 1 tbsn olive oil
• 1 tspn salt

My method:

1. In a saute pan, heat your oil on medium heat.

2. Add cumin once it is hot, so that the seeds sizzle.

3. After a minute, add the tofu and rest of the spices.

4. Let it cook a bit, for 5 minutes or so.

5. Now add your peppers and let it cook until the tofu gets a bit crispy, but the peppers are not over-cooked, maybe another 5 minutes. Keep stirring it!

6. Serve it with a freshly toasted slice of bread, or put in a wrap.

There are many more tofu recipes -- like Tofu Puffs, or Tofu-Kan -- which I will share another time :)

Applemint's Spoon Madeleines

I could not resist how cute and simple these spoon Madeleines from Applemint looked, I had to make them! They were so easy to make, a foolproof dessert!

My friend Applemint is such a smart cookie that she eliminated the need for a fancy Madeleine pan. For these Madeleines all you need is spoons. Her photos are brilliant and I can't beat the quality of her work ... she does it like a pastry chef. This is my slight variation, but I give her all the credit for inventing something so beautiful and simple :)

I recommend this recipe to all because it is so flexible. I first made some in tablespoons, adding instant espresso & hazelnuts. Then I made more in teaspoons, with almonds and dipped in 75% cacao from Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire).


The chocolate is produced just down the road from me in the Theo Chocolate Factory, in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. Theo is America's first fair-trade and organic chocolate factory, and they buy beans directly from the source.


We also enjoyed the perfect pairing for the Madeleines. Because this dessert is so beautiful to serve in spoons, it is perfect for tastings! We plan to do a variety of chocolate Madeleines paired with coffee/espresso tastings sometime in the future ... how kool would that be in a town full of coffee lovers!

These Madeleines are so tiny that you can never over-eat them. They are soft, chocolatey, and they just melt in your mouth!

Here is Applemint's original post and recipe - enjoy!

By the Power of Mango -> Pie!

I said on my Twitter I would make a Mango Pie, and here it is. I am not much of a pie girl unless you are talking about pi, because I do love Number Theory, but that's a story for another time ;)

I too often see the same old pies, apples & pumpkin. Why not something more interesting, like a Mango Pie :)

I used:

• 3 cups ripe mango, cut into small cubes (if you use frozen, give it plenty time to thaw else you'll have a soupy pie!)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (I would cut this to 1/4 cup if the mangoes are extra sweet)
• 2 tbspns all purpose flour
• 1 tbspn freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 tspn freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tspn ginger powder
• 2 pie crusts made from the Vegetarian Times recipe -- see that below -- scaled for 1 crust :) because I have a non-traditional, 8" pie dish

My method:

1. Preheat your oven to 425 F (220 C).
2. In a large bowl, toss your mangoes in lemon juice.
3. In a separate bowl, mix all your dry ingredients evenly.
4. Add the dry mix to the mangoes and toss until the sugar is dissolved in the mango juice, and until everything is nicely coated with the sugar mix.
5. Set a pie crust into your dish and add the filling, almost up to the brim.
6. Make sure the mangoes are nice and even, then add the top crust & fold it as you fancy. Make sure you cut vents on the top after you seal the edges.
7. Bake it at 425 F (220 C) for 15-20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 F (175 C) and continue baking for another 20-30 minutes. Your baking time will vary based on the crusts you use, and your elevation -- longer by a couple minutes for every 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) in elevation.

This was the first time I tried this crust. It was the trickiest part as the top looked finished, but it was hard to tell if the bottom was. To avoid this next time, I'm going to try pre-baking the crust before adding the filling. That way I'll know exactly that when the sides and edges are finished, it's finished!

8. When it is finished, the top is nice & golden brown and fruit is bubbling from the center.
9. I topped it off with vanilla ice cream to serve.

The Vegetarian Times 9" Eggless Piecrust

They used:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbspn sugar (I used 2 tbspn brown sugar)
• 1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
• 1/2 tspn salt
• 1/4 cup ice cold water

Their method:

1. Pulse flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor several times to combine.
2. Add butter pieces and pulse a few times, until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
3. Add water to it, and pulse until the dough comes together.
4. Transfer to a sheet or plastic wrap, then shape it out into a nice thick disk.
5. Make sure the dough is wrapped tightly, and let it chill few hours before use -- or overnight, like I did.

Mango :: King of Fruits

I searched all Summer for great mangoes in Seattle, and I have to say they were hard to find. Read on for information on finding mangoes in Seattle, Indian mangoes in New York City, mangoes in India, serving suggestions, and finally some nutrition information.

Mangoes in Seattle
The best mangoes I found were the "champagne" variety, with the best among them at Pike Place Market and seasonal produce stands like Top Banana in Ballard. Champagne mangoes are sweeter and have fewer fibers than most Mexican mangoes. A prime example is pictured above.

Indian Mangoes in New York City
Indian mangoes are still far better than these, however. In New York City, Indian mangoes are expensive but are now supposed to be available, in season, like at Patel Brothers. Indian mangoes arrived in the United States this past May, 2007 for the first time in 18 years, but I wonder if they all arrived on the East Coast and never left!

We saw a YouTube video of 2 greedy Indian brothers who somehow got their hands on boxes and boxes of Indian mangoes, when they first arrived in the U.S. in the middle of the night in New York City -- so, who are these people and why has this been video since been taken down?? Are they hogging all the Indian mangoes? I think so!

Check this out: well-reputed restaurants like Tabla in NYC here - stocking up on Indian mangoes (look at the stacks he's got!). In that post, they are rightly called the "Mango Mafia." If this "Mango Mafia" continues, how will other Americans or Indian-Americans get their hands on them? It isn't fair! The U.S. and Indian governments need to step in, and make sure these divine fruits go straight to local grocery stores and markets like Wegmans, Safeway, Giant, QFC, et al., for everyone to enjoy! If Indian mangoes are only available to a few wealthy (greedy) people eating in fine restaurants, their popularity and shipments will not increase as they should.

Mangoes in India
If you are in India, it's a completely different story. There mangoes come straight from your grandfather's or aunt's farm, or perhaps you picked them yourself from a local tree :) India, the homeland of mangoes & Mango Power Girl, produces half of the world's mangoes. There are varieties you can't imagine, more than 1,000 of them!

The peak of mango season in India is May, and the season lasts from March to August, depending on the region and variety. During those months Indians eat mango in every form. The best way is just by itself, or as a side dish to the meal. Other popular ways include freshly squeezed mango pulp, lassis, shakes, ice creams, raw mango pickles, chutneys, spices, and the list goes on!

My favorite variety growing up in India was Alphonso mango, which originally came from the region I grew up in, Gujarat and the neighboring state of Maharashtra. Alphonso is the variety reportedly now available in the U.S., although again I have not yet found it in Seattle.

Serving Suggestions
I make the most of my mangoes by serving them with complementary fruits, by topping vanilla ice cream (my favorite combination!), or by making a mango shake. Mangoes are best matched with strawberry, kiwi, peach, and pineapple. You can also just cube and eat!



If you feel ambitious and would love a rich mango dessert, try out my fellow blogger, Applemint's Mango Phirni. For our household a nice orange Mango Pie will be next!

For now, I'll be cubing and freezing as many mangoes as I can get for Winter :) Here is some of my frozen crop ... It was hard not to eat all of it fresh, but when I think about how much I'll pay for Trader Joe's frozen mangoes in Winter, it's easy to freeze :-P

Good for you, too! ... Nutrition Information
Mangoes not only taste great, they are great for your health.

Ripe mangoes have enzymes that aid digestion. For this reason, Indians tend to eat mangoes along with a meal, and use dried mango powder as a protein tenderizer and spice blend.

As you may have guessed from their bold color, mangoes are rich in antioxidants and anticardiovascular properties. They are high in iron, beta carotene, magnesium, and potassium. Mangoes top the list of foods recently discovered to fight some cancers. Finally, mangoes are considered perfect food for pregnant women, kids, and just about everyone!

Enjoy mangoes and feel good about it, too!

Crepes for Brunch!

Crepes are such a popular item on our home brunch menu. I really got hooked on crepes the first time I visited Seattle. I ate then at the Crepe de France stand, which is now a proper restaurant at Seattle's Pike Place Market (I have yet to go to Paris!). My husband had been eating at Crepe de France for more than ten years. They keep it simple & serve 'em big for absolutely some of the best crepes I've had, both sweet & savory.

I swore back then that I would learn to perfect crepes. Perfection in form may require some frustration ;) It is all about timing, speed, and the batter. I've tried so many different batters, and all I can say is Practice! Practice! & Practice!

Today we had both savory & sweet crepes for brunch - cheesy, garlic-potato filled and banana, walnut, whipped cream filled! Here is the recipe for the common batter, which you can sweeten up a bit when you make the sweet crepes. I only took photos of the sweet ones, unfortunately!

I used:

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup milk (I add more milk if I think the batter is too thick to move around!)
• 2 tbspns butter, melted
• 1 tspn salt
• 1 tbspn brown sugar (this is what makes them brown - use white sugar if you want them lighter in color!)
• 1 tspn vanilla extract

For the filling:

• vanilla whipped cream - made using vanilla extract and confectioner's sugar
• handful of toasted walnuts
• thinly sliced bananas or whatever fruit you feel like having!

My method:

1. Combine flour and salt in a bowl, and make a well in the middle.

2. Add eggs, milk, and whisk away until all mixed.

3. Stir in the melted butter, and set the batter aside for half an hour.

(This was the batter I used for both savory and sweet crepes, so I added the vanilla and the sugar to the batter after I had finished making the savory. You can add it earlier if you are making only sweet kind.)

4. Use a nice nonstick skillet or a crepe pan on medium heat. I can't stress enough how important it was to get this right -- the right pan really does the trick! Berndes Crepe pan is my favorite.

5. The following needs to happen very quickly and will take some practice:

Lightly rub butter on the pan, once it is heated. Pour about a 1/4 cup of the batter. This amount will depend on the size of your crepe pan -- use less batter if your pan is smaller than 9". Lift the pan & turn it around quickly to spread the batter evenly, coating just the bottom of the pan. Now, put the pan back on the heat. Let it cook for about a minute, until you see the edges lift or see some texture, but don't overcook -- recognizing this comes with practice!

6. Lift gently with a thin edged spatula to flip the crepe. Some people even use a toothpick, or I sometimes find it easier to just use my hands! Let the second side cook for about half a minute & take the crepe off the pan.

Repeat steps 5 and 6 until you have used your batter -- I usually get about 10 crepes using these measurements.

7. For the sweet recipe, I let all my crepes cool a bit, then I layered them with vanilla whipped cream, bananas, and walnuts!



I can't wait to go to Paris -- some day!

Whip it up!

I love pound cake, I love whipped cream, and I eat them both in many different ways. Here is one: pound cake layered with fresh strawberries and raspberry whipped cream.

I used to eat a lot of pound cake when I was in college. It was an easy dessert to keep on hand, and you can customize it with fresh, seasonal flavors or momentary cravings ;) Recently I saw the same pound cake I had enjoyed in college in a grocery store, and I could not resist.

This time, I used my home-made raspberry sauce, which I had prepared this past Summer and stored for a rainy day. I will post the raspberry sauce recipe another time, when I remember to measure ingredients for all you readers :)

For now, though the basic idea is this: fold in flavors you like by replacing the sugar in whipping cream. I make coffee whipped cream to top my brownies, orange-ize it by adding orange zest, lemonize it, this time it was raspberry, and so on!

It is breast cancer awareness month, and so I'd like to dedicate this pretty pink dessert to all the brave breast cancer fighters (and, it's not only women!). There are some much loved women in my family and friends' families who we've lost to it. So, go pink to the cure!

Outsourced [to eat mangoes!]

If you haven't already seen Outsourced, it is a must-see in the line of Bend it like Beckham, Monsoon Wedding, and other great fusion, Indian-Western movies. This film does a brilliant job of capturing the emotions that run with the outsourcing era both in India and the USA. Outsourced also offers real cultural insight, many hilarious moments, and a touching story.

The filmaker has shown exactly what it feels like to be a foreigner in India. My husband, Brian could identify with scenes such as being hounded by cabbies as soon as you land in Mumbai -- except that Brian (lucky boy!) had a Hindi-speaking wife to get those locals off his back ;)

There are many food-related lessons in Outsourced, including:

1. How to eat a mango like Indians do ... my favorite scene :D

2. Indian hospitality surrounding food - No matter how little you have in your home, you offer the best of what you have to your guest, first before yourself.

3. Indians never throw food away. You personally give leftover food to the poor, to anyone in need, or to animals. The fact that millions are living in extreme poverty and hunger in India is felt honestly in this movie. Showing that is a part of the film without dominating the story.

Go see it! For Seattlelites: Outsourced is currently playing at the Majestic Bay in Ballard.

p.s. I also love how Outsourced is about a guy who is based in Seattle. Most of the film is in India, but you do see glimpses of our local city life including Pike Place Market, Westlake Park, our Central Library, mountain views, etc. You hear tuneage from local artist Eddie Vedder. The Indian music was also great, it made me wanna dance!

Keep Me Warm

For warm weather lovers like me, it can be hard to admit Summer is over, but this year in Seattle the suddenly low temperatures make it all too real. It feels like Winter already!

People around here often turn to a seafood chowder. Being vegetarian, to keep me warm I created this Potato Corn Chowder with an Open-Face Grilled Cheese Sandwich. It's the end of warm weather, but I am not giving up yet on warm weather ingredients like corn, chives, and avocado. And, my husband loves corn ... so any corn dish I come up with, I'll always have one happy customer :)

For the Potato Corn Chowder I used:
1 tbsn olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 big clove garlic, finely chopped
2 cans sweet corn, rinsed (if you have fresh sweet corn, then use that over cans any day!)
1 small red potato, boiled, peeled, and cubed
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
a pinch of cayenne
1/2 cup water
a splash of cream, which could also be half & half or a thick milk substitute
blue tortillas chips, avocado cubed, & my home grown garlic chives to garnish

Vegan Tip: Skip the milk/cream & use cans of cream style corn instead of plain corn (they are usually dairy-free)

My method for the Potato Corn Chowder:
1. On medium heat, cook the onions and garlic in oil until soft & translucent.
2. Add the corn, salt, and pepper to the water, and bring it to a boil.
3. Take it off the stove & purée half of it. I used a Braun handheld blender to purée some of the mixture as I had whole kernels of corn. You could use cans of cream style corn and skip the purée.
4. Lower the heat, add the potato, cream, and let it simmer for 10 min.
5. It should become nice and thick, let it cook until it does.
6. Once done, serve it hot in a bowl and top it with a pinch of cayenne, a tortilla chip, cubed avocado, and chives. See the photos above and below :)


For the Open-Face Grilled Cheese Sandwich I used:
1 slice of whole grain bread
1 slice of Swiss cheese
5-6 sweet cherry or grape tomatoes halved
a pinch each of salt & freshly ground pepper

My method for the Open-Face Grilled Cheese Sandwich:
1. Set your oven to broil, so you can do more than one at a time.
2. Butter the slice of your whole grain bread.
3. Place the tomatoes on it.
4. Top it with a slice of Swiss cheese, so you can see the pretty tomato color through the holes :)
5. Sprinkle some salt & freshly ground pepper.
6. Broil for 3-5 min until the cheese is nicely melted and the bread edges are toasted.
7. Serve with a hot Potato Corn Chowder and enjoy some warm Autumn comfort food!

Mom's Peace Kheer

"Go Veg!" and "Love Peace" are two simple mottoes I live by. Today, October 1 is World Vegetarian Day, the kick-off of worldwide Vegetarian Awareness Month. Tomorrow is the birthday of one of our greatest peacemakers - Mohandas Karamchand "Mahatma" Gandhi.

An essential part of Gandhi's personal recipe for peace was being vegetarian. I hope Mango Power Girl helps you learn about and enjoy vegetarian food.

To honor Gandhi and all peacemakers around the world, I give you my mom's recipe for Kheer. Kheer is the popular rice pudding often found in Indian restaurants.

She used:
1 tspn ghee (unsalted, clarified butter)
1/4 cup rice
1/2 cup water (washed and soaked)
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
a pinch of saffron
1/8 tspn or a pinch of nutmeg
1/4 tspn crushed cardamom
some thinly sliced toasted almonds
some thinly sliced toasted pistachios

Her method:
1. In a sauce pan, roast the rice in ghee, on medium heat, until slightly brown.
2. Add the water, cover, and let the rice cook until it is almost cooked, but not completely.
3. Add the milk, bring it up to a simmer, and then turn the heat to low.
4. Add the saffron, nutmeg, cardamom, sugar, and cook some more on low heat until the Kheer thickens. It should really come together with a porridge consistency.
5. Add the nuts and serve hot; or, chill in the fridge and enjoy cold!

Today at a peaceful protest with local monks and students in Seattle, I signed a petition to try and stop the current atrocities in Burma/Myanmar. It was a small act of peace but if you look around, online or in your daily life, you will find many opportunities of your own.

Enjoy this Peace Kheer, and while you do, think: what will you do to stand up for peace? As Gandhi said, "We must be the change we wish to see in the world."