Ma Po Tofu (or Maybe Mala Doufu?)

Whenever I think about Ma Po Tofu I get that Warren Zevon song, "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me" stuck in my head. I'm sure it's because of his inarticulate singing, more like "Po Po Pidifl Me". I can say that because I liked Warren Zevon and was around way back then. We happened to have some incredible Ma Po Tofu in Vermont and it made me want to try to recreate it. I'll be the first to say that this is not authentic*, but damn, is it good! Even if it's not the real thing, it's got all the right flavors. And it's mostly pantry ingredients and super easy, too.

Ma Po Tofu

Sauce
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp chili paste
1 Tbsp black bean paste
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp water (or broth)

1 # extra firm tofu, pressed and cubed
1- 2 Tbsp peanut oil

1/2 cup chicken seitan, minced
1 Tbsp garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp ginger, minced
2 Tbsp green onions, white parts only, sliced thinly
Pinch of white pepper

Mix together all the sauce ingredients except the cornstarch and water. Set aside.

Heat the oil in your wok or frying pan. Saute the tofu cubes until lightly browned. Remove the tofu and set aside.

Brown the minced chicken seitan in the wok, adding more oil if needed. If you don't have chicken seitan on hand, you could sub just about any other protein. Try beefy seitan, minced tempeh or even crumbled up Gimme Lean. Minced mushrooms would work, too. When it's lightly browned, add the garlic, ginger, pinch of white pepper and white part of green onions and cook for another minute or two. Add the tofu cubes and the sauce, turning the heat down so it is just barely simmering. Let simmer 10-15 minutes so the tofu gets all slathered with the sauce. Mix the cornstarch slurry and add it to the pan, stirring because it will thicken quickly. The sauce should really stick to the tofu.

Serve over rice, garnishing with green onions if desired.

*How inauthentic? Really inauthentic!

1. Most recipes I found online use soft tofu. It's gently added to the sauce at the last minute and barely stirred.

2. If a renegade cook used firm tofu, it might be blanched in hot water, but rarely (if ever?) sauteed in oil.

3. The dish is supposed to be red. And oily. (Ewwwww.)

4. No Szechuan peppers here. Just because I don't have any. Next time, I'd add some.

5. No brown sugar either. For some reason, it's typically used. I could have used brown, but I cooked before I researched.

6. This is actually more like Mala Doufu according to Wikipedia. It's Ma Po made with only tofu.

Everything I know about Ma Po Tofu (and Ma Po herself) came from Wiki. Check it out for yourself!

Chicken Seitan Italiano

I love seitan. If I had to pick just one protein between tofu, tempeh and seitan, it would have to be seitan. Second would be tofu, which is pretty interesting considering that I've hated it for about 20 years. More on that in another post.

Ages ago, jdfunks from Get Sconed!, and one of my personal cooking heroes, posted a chicken style seitan recipe that she sometimes uses. I've been meaning to try it ever since and finally did. It's got great taste, picks up seasonings well, cuts beautifully, and is really easy to make. Because I can't leave well enough alone, I'm trying to play with the texture a little. But it's great as is! If you want to check out the recipe, it's here. If you're curious, it makes about 20 oz of seitan, so you'll have some to save or freeze. You'll need a batch of whatever chicken seitan you like to start this recipe.

One more thing: this recipe looks tedious. It really isn't! Most of the ingredients are pantry items. Once the cutting is done, most of the recipe is just simmer time.

Chicken Seitan Italiano
Serves 3 or so

8 oz chicken seitan cutlets
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp herbes de provence
salt and pepper
2-3 Tbsp olive oil (to panfry the seitan, but keep it in the pan after)

1 Tbsp earth balance margarine
1 shallot, diced (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 red or green pepper, diced
1/4 cup celery, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1 cup white wine
2 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp italian seasoning (dried)
2 Tbsp capers
2 Tbsp sundried tomatoes (the oil packed kind, or reconstitute)
2 tsp rosemary, fresh
2 tsp thyme, fresh
2 tsp tarragon, fresh
salt and pepper, if needed- taste before salting!

Heat the pan on medium heat and add your olive oil. Mix the flour, herbes de provence, salt and pepper together. Dredge the cutlets and panfry them on each side. Remove from pan and keep warm in a 200 degree oven.

Reduce the heat to medium. Add the margarine to the pan, then the shallots, peppers and celery. When lightly sauteed, add the garlic and cook a few minutes. Don't let it burn. Add the mushrooms and stir for a few more minutes. Add the wine and lemon juice and cook until it is reduced by half. This may take about 15 -20 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the seitan and salt and pepper), and let it simmer until saucy. If you prefer, add a little cornstarch in broth to thicken it up. Check the seasonings, then serve over the seitan cutlets.

This is another great dish from Isa. It's a tester for the new brunch cookbook and it's a Tempeh Sausage Pastry Puff with Navy Bean Gravy. I've never considered myself to be a sausage and gravy type of person. I was wrong. This is so flavorful and addictive. When you're making it, it works really well if you stick your fork in the gravy then the tempeh mixture and just shovel it in your mouth as fast as you can. At least it worked for me! Another winner from Isa!

MAJOR EDIT: on the left WAS a picture of the dish from Isa...but it turns out I used phyllo dough not puff pastry, so I took it down. Trust me, it would have been prettier with the right dough. But it still tasted incredible! Thanks to Sawdust and Diamonds of the PPK for figuring it out.

Tonight's dinner: oh wait, let me tell you about last night's dinner! Ma Po Tofu! Recipe coming soon!

Amazing Oatmeal Chip Cookies (Recipe)

As you've seen on my blog, I've made a lot of cookies since starting this. I'm lucky to be a tester for Kelly and Garrick. I've even made a few of my own recipes, adapted others... but this one is a RockStar. No kidding. You can make them softer, you can make them crisper, but you can't beat the buttery, delicious taste.

Amazing Oatmeal Chip Cookies
About 2 1/2 dozen

1/2 cup earth balance
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp molasses
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (use dark if you have it)
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups regular oats
1 cup chips (butterscotch! or chocolate)

Preheat oven to either 350 (softer) or 375 (crisper).

Cream the margarine and oil together. Mix in the vanilla, maple syrup and molasses. Then mix in the sugars. Whisk the dry ingredients (except the chips) together in a different bowl, then slowly add to the wet ingredients. Mix well, then stir in the chips.

Drop the cookies on a lightly oiled (or parchment covered) cookie sheet. They spread a little, but not dramatically. Using about 2 Tbsp of dough, pat the cookie down to about 2 inches across and 1/2 inch thick.

Bake at 350 for softer cookies, 375 for crisper cookies for about 12-14 minutes. Let sit on the cookie sheet for a minute or two before removing to cooling rack, or they'll break.

The butterscotch chips are the very best in these cookies. But they're really good with chocolate chips (or no chips!), too. I happen to have a stash of butterscotch chips from our trip to Vermont, so I'm using them a lot. Thank you, Price Chopper!

These cookies have a lot going on for a cookie and I hope you try them!

Spicy Cold Asian Noodles for Hot Days

We had these amazing Spicy Noodles when we were in Vermont. They are a terrific, flavorful tide-me-over or a great side with sandwiches. Of course, I had to try to recreate them when we got home. It's easy, quick and tasty... just the kind of thing that packs well for lunches and picnics. As always, adjust the heat to suit yourself, rather than the people you are serving. (Just kidding!). These aren't crazy hot as written.

Spicy Cold Noodles
Serves 4 as a side dish, generously

1/2 pound angel hair pasta
1 T. sugar
3 T. white vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chili paste
1 Tbsp tamari (or soy sauce)
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 cup - 1 cup matchstick cut cucumbers
1/4 cup scallions, thinly sliced

Cook the pasta according to directions. Run under cold water to stop the cooking and drain well. Mix all the rest of the ingredients except vegetables together, then stir into cold noodles. Add the cucumbers (as much as you like- they give a nice crunch) and scallions. Add salt (or more heat) if you want. Chill before serving.

If you happen to be in Vermont and want to try the real thing, we got them at Healthy Living in South Burlington. The label said something like Sunja or Sinja? All I could find on line was a place in Waterbury... it may or may not be the same. Either way, these are delicious noodles! Make them in the morning and all you have to do for dinner is fix some tofu and some vegetables.

The Post I Warned You About = Testers!

Since we've gotten home, I've been cooking. A lot. Like I said in the last post, I really missed it on vacation. To make up for lost time, I dove right into all the latest tester recipes for Isa and Crack of Noon. In other words, no recipes for you here! But I did just read at the PPK that you can preorder her book for under $13.00! Here come the pictures. Are you ready?


First up: Bagels! Let me just tell you that these are perfect. Some of the other testers are dressing them up with seeds, salt, you name it... and everyone is giving them rave reviews. We managed to save a couple from yesterday to have as sandwiches today. The texture on these is a knock-out.

Nothing like a little Garden Herb Spread to top your bagel. Yum!


How about this Creamy Avocado Potato Salad? It's a great twist with fresh flavor.. and it's kind of green! Who doesn't love green food?










This is a serious tofu dish. The sauce is work of art and this whole thing just combines to create a whole lotta happiness. Maybe Isa should call it Whole Lotta Happiness, but she's not. It's Tofu Benny.



Sauteed Collards and Sausages-- really delicious. For the record (and I'm nothing if I'm not honest), I actually used Chard. In her intro for the recipe, Isa says it's ok (more like she can't stop you) if you choose to use prepackaged sausages. I actually bought some for this, but then broke down and make my own from her recipe. I'm glad I did, but it's good to know there is a time saving option when you feel a crunch. That recipe is from way back in February, so if you haven't made it yet, get on it! They're so good!

Tonight's dinner: something with chicken seitan and asparagus.

No, We Didn't Stay in Vermont....

Cherry Berry Muffins

but we really, really didn't want to come back to Ohio. We had an amazing time and ate lots of good food. Here's a brief recap. If you just like that muffin, skip down to the recipe.

We did a lot of traveling on backroads, which means almost any road in Vermont. We'd gotten a couple of food ideas from the internet. Places that were supposed to exist didn't anymore, other places had sprung up, and still others we just ambled in and they happily worked something out with us. We got a great grilled vegetable sandwich in a tiny town called Danby, got to eat at Stone Soup, found a restaurant that was about the size of a closet (really nice people, super cozy) in Bennington called Marigold Kitchen who did soy cheese (and great pizza)...but the highlights would have to be A Single Pebble and Healthy Living. Both of these are in the Burlington area.

At A Single Pebble, we found out that the owner's wife was vegan. Talk about giving you confidence in ordering! I had the Sesame Beef (seitan) one time and General Chou's Chicken (seitan) the other time. Jim had the Salt and Pepper Tofu (we can safely say the one in V'con is better, but this was great) and Ma Po. I actually ate an entire meal with chopsticks, much to my surprise! That midwest habit of using a fork is hard to break. We both decided that this is our favorite restaurant ever, so we had to eat there twice.

Healthy Living, which is really a natural food store, has incredible sandwiches! The paninis there have me lusting about buying a panini press, which I know I don't need. Great seitan, loads of vegan options and very reasonably priced. I also had Berry Nog Smoothie there...words can't express how delicious it was!

We got a quick lunch at The Skinny Pancake in Burlington. They have a Vegan Monster crepe! They happened to be out of tofu on the day we were there, but even without it, this made a great lunch.

I can't leave out Strong Hearts Cafe in Syracuse. We stopped there on our way up and on our way home. It was wonderful to have an option while traveling, especially one so close to the highway. We love the atmosphere and had two good meals there. Get this - you can pick from 5 kinds of seitan for a a sandwich!

I really thought we'd be able to try Wheeler's Ice Cream... but no luck finding it. However, we did hit a Price Chopper and picked up some vegan butterscotch chips! We also went to several farmer's markets and were awed by the beautiful vegetables. If only we'd had a kitchen!

Since I can't really leave this post with no real food, here are the muffins I made for the car ride. It's veganized from King Arthur Flour's Basic Muffins .

Cherry Berry Muffins (with two cool tricks!)
Makes 10 large or a dozen reasonable sized muffins

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 cup soy milk
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup oil (it's optional in the original, but I use it)
1/2 cup soy yogurt
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
zest from 1/2 a lemon
1 1/2 cups sour cherries and blueberries (mixed)

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. (Yes, really, 500 degrees!)

Lightly oil your muffin tin.

It's your typical muffin method. Mix all the dry ingredients together, then mix the soy milk, vinegar, oil, soy yogurt, lemon juice, zest and vanilla in a separate bowl. Here's a cool trick from the original: right before you mix your liquids into your dry, add the fruit to the dry ingredients and stir. It helps keep them from sinking and disperses them throughout the muffin. Nobody wants a fruit muffin with no fruit! Add the liquids to the dry and mix very lightly. You can have some lumps which are better than tough muffins. Scoop them into the tin and pop in the oven. Now for trick #2: as soon as you put them in, drop the temperature 40o degrees and bake for 15-20 minutes or until done. The purpose of the hot oven is to set the muffins and keep them higher. Try it, it really works!

You can tell, the options are endless with this one. Go wild!

Interestingly, there were a lot of gluten-free options in Vermont. Menus and stores had whole sections dedicated to celiacs. The awareness of veganism is much greater than here in Ohio, but it seems that state loves it's cheese! But it was so nice to try to order in a restaurant and not have the server's eyes cross when we mentioned the V- word. We're heading back in October and are already counting the days. I was surprised how much I missed cooking... so get ready! Loads of testers recipes will be posted soon.

Civet of Seitan and Courico Tacos!

Civet of Nonboaring Seitan

Yet another take-off of a Bourdain recipe, originally called Civet of Wild Boar. I thought civet was some kind of musky scent (appetizing, I know), so I looked it up in my Scrabble dictionary (yes, it was handy). They define it as a catlike mammal (still unappetizing and getting worse), so I looked online. In this context it's a stewlike concoction usually made with gamier animals that have been marinaded in red wine, leeks and onions. Ooookkk. At least it's making sense, even if it sounds disgusting. I took the easy way out and subbed seitan and can say this would satisfy any hard-core meat eater. This looks a little more involved than some of the recipes, but it comes together in a big way and isn't as complicated as it sounds.

Civet of Nonboaring Seitan

8 oz seitan ( about 1 cup), cut in 1 inch cubes
2 carrots, cut in 1 -1 1/2 inch lengths
1 cup onion, sliced in 1/2 moons
1 cup leeks, sliced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup red wine

Salt and pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil (for searing)
2 Tbsp eb (for searing)
1 Tbsp flour
bouquet garni*
1/2 cup wine
1/2 cup broth
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp grated dark chocolate

Day 1: Marinade the cubes, carrots, onions, leeks and garlic in the red wine in ziplock bag overnight.

Day2: Using a collander over a bowl, strain the liquid out. Pick out the seitan, but keep everything else in the collander. Keep the marinade liquid in the bowl, too. Heat the oil/eb in a large frying pan. Toss the seitan with a little salt and pepper to season. When it's sizzling hot, sear all sides of the seitan, then remove it and set aside. Keep the pan hot, and add the rest of the vegetables. Turn the heat down to about medium and cook until the vegetables start to carmelize, probably about 15- 20 minutes. Stir in the flour, cook for about 2 minutes. Stir in the 1/2 cup of wine in the second batch of ingredients and reduce by 1/2. Add the seitan, bouquet garni, broth and reserved marinade. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until thickened and saucy.

Now from here, the recipe sounds a little crazy. Pick out the seitan and the carrots. Yes, really. Put them aside. Using that same collander in a bowl, strain out the other vegetables. We're wastefully done with those. Put the seitan, carrots and the saucy part from the bowl back in the frying pan and heat. Stir in the vinegar and grated chocolate. When it's heated throughout, check the seasonings and eat.

*A bouquet garni is just a fancy way of saying tie together a stalk of parsley, 2 stems of thyme and a bay leaf. Mine didn't stay together at all and it doesn't matter because it just stays with the vegetables you throw out. So just toss them in.

We had this with Israeli cous cous on the side. Bad move. It really calls for some kind of potato. Or you could get away with rice or maybe eggless noodles, since it's a lot like a stew.

You can't really see it in the picture, but we also had CSA cauliflower with that CSA brocooli! Delicious!

Whew, that was a lot of typing! For a break, feast your eyes on this tester for Crack of Noon: Courico Tacos with Caramelized Pineapple Salsa. I think it might be my all time favorite taco idea. So much flavor, with a good amount of heat balanced with the incredible salsa! The cookbook would be worth the cost for this recipe alone.

Courico Tacos with Grilled Pineapple Salsa

Tonight's Dinner: Joni's Cheater Mac and Cheese (again). We need something quick and easy. We're getting ready to go to Vermont and planning a food fest there: Pennycluse (never been there), A Single Pebble and Stone Soup, of course. We're hoping to get some great food in Albany on the way and find lots of other cool places and things! If you've got a suggestion, let me know.

Chili Almond Crusted Seitan with Sour Cherry Jalapeno Sauce

I know, it's a mouth full to say. But one bite and you won't be saying a whole lot besides "mmmmm". I am really happy with how this turned out. It's easy but tastes complex. It's too bad fresh sour cherries have such a short season, because this could be addictive. I'm sure you could use frozen cherries, too.

Chili Almond Crusted Seitan with Sour Cherry Jalapeno Sauce
Serves 4

4 chickeny seitan cutlets (about 10 oz)
1- 2 Tbsp oil for panfrying

Breading:
1/4 cup almonds, ground
1/4 cup panko crumbs
1/4 tsp lemon pepper
salt

1/4 to1/3 cup vegenniase
1-2 Tbsp soymilk
1/2 tsp chili powder

Sauce:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 c red onion, diced
1 Tbsp jalapeno pepper, diced
2 cups sour cherries, pitted
1/8 tsp lemon pepper
pinch chili powder
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp sugar
salt (and pepper, if needed)

Get the sauce going first. Saute the onion and jalapeno until just cooked. Then add the rest of the ingredients and let simmer until it becomes more of a sauce. This will probably take about 15 minutes. Mine really thickened up, but if it's being stubborn you could always add a little cornstarch or arrowroot. It simmers and reduces and tastes amazing. Add the salt and pepper if you need them.

For the cutlets, mix the vegennaise and chili powder, adding soymilk until it's a little more spreadable. The measurement range is because of the differences in cutlet size. Mine were about 2.5 ounces each and I needed 1/4 cup.

Mix the dry ingredients for the breading. Heat a little oil in frying pan to pan fry the cutlets after breading. When it's hot (and your sauce is almost done), smear the cutlets with the vegennaise mixture, dip in the breadcrumbs and pan fry until done. Top with the sauce, garnish with almonds and dig in.

You could definitely sub tempeh for this, or even tofu. We really liked it- and hope you will, too!

On a completely different subject, a huge thanks to Celine from Have Cake, Will Travel. She sent me the most adorable Cakespy notecards! I'm torn between wanting to write notes and wanting to save them forever. Thanks so much, Celine! Check out her blog for recipes that never disappoint.

Tonight's dinner: Pad Thai from VwaV!

Artichoke Spread and Texas Chocolate Cake!

Face it, the best things about food are sometimes appetizers and dessert. I could live on just those two courses for probably about 1/2 the week. The other 1/2 of the week, I'd think all I'd been eating is junk food. But hey, it happens.

The artichoke dip was originally going to be an artichoke bruschetta modeled after a few online recipes, including one I found at allrecipes.com. I figured all I had to was work that vegan magic and it would be a quick and easy make-ahead appetizer. Like all recipes, it evolved a little when I was dabbling and I decided it was too good as a spread or a dip to pop it under the broiler. If you make this, it's your choice. We had it alongside traditional tomato bruschetta, served with crostini.

Artichoke Spread

1 6 oz can artichoke hearts, drain and chop finely
1/4 cup red onion, diced finely
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp oregano
2 Tbsp nooch
1 Tbsp sundried tomatoes (the oil kind) diced finely
1/3 cup vegennaise
salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all together and refrigerate for an hour or so before serving. On to the dessert!

My mom had this brownie recipe that uses 1 cup of butter and 4 eggs. It made these incredible brownies, but with that many eggs, I haven't tried to veganize it. I haven't had the brownies for years, but they came really close to this recipe from Bigmouth Strikes Again. I did the 1/2 recipe, using 1/2 yogurt and 1/2 ener g, baked in an 8 inch square pan, without nuts because...ewwww. They came out great! They're not overly sweet or densely chocolatey and they have a terrific texture. Thanks so much for the recipe! By the way, check out her website for a more flattering picture.

Fresh cherries are in season here and I'm trying to make the most of them. Stay tuned!