Bánh Mì Chay for Lunch!

I've been craving a good vegetarian Vietnamese sandwich for eons now. A few weeks ago, I visited my parents who live in Albuquerque. When running errands, my mom and I ended up at Talin World Market, an absolute godsend for stocking up on Asian groceries in these parts. Its lesser-known neighbor, Talin Supermarket (the white building on the south end of the parking lot) is actually a little deli that serves bánh mì and other Vietnamese delights. Their vegetarian sandwich is stuffed with marinated, sauteed tofu, cucumber, cilantro, and thin slices of fresh jalapeno. Back at home, I've found the fresh baked bolillo loaves at the local Mexican grocery have exactly the right crispy crust and light crumb inside for a fantastic bánh mì, so my lunch plans were set!

Bánh Mì Chay!

2" chunk of an English cucumber. Thinly sliced.
1/4 c. cilantro
julienned carrots
1 fresh jalapeno chile. Thinly sliced.
Mayonaise
Maggi or Bragg's or other soy sauce
1/2 package of extra firm tofu
1/4 c. vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce

Slice the tofu block in half lengthwise, and marinate in the vegetarian mushroom oyster sauce. It can be for as short as 10 minutes. This was a new ingredient for me. I took it at my mother's insistence, and she almost always uses it to marinate tofu. It's a bit like a sweet, dense soy sauce. If you don't have any, I'd probably just use soy sauce with a little bit of sugar dissolved into it.

After marinating the tofu, brown it in a pan with a little vegetable oil. Turn it so that each side gets browned. Remove from the pan and drain on some paper towel. Then slice into uniform slices. Mine were about 1/4" thin.

Prep the bread with some mayo on each side. Not to much here. I used Japanese Kewpie mayo, because using our Veganaise seemed a little weird to me.  Then give it a squirt of Maggi or Bragg's or soy sauce. Again, not too much. I basically drew a line in soy across each side of the sandwich. You don't want to saturate either side!

Then pack it with your fixin's. I laid out the tofu slices on one side of the bread, then layered carrot shreds, cilantro, cucumber slices, and chile slices on the other and squeezed it shut. I actually used a tiny serrano chile from the humongous harvest I had all summer last year. I have a TON of tiny, fiery serranos in my freezer still. My mouth is burning, but it was totally worth it!

When I do this again (probably tomorrow), I'll probably pickle a little of the carrot shreds with some cucumber shreds in some rice vinegar and sugar and salt. My only complaint today was that it was just a tad dry. But I am thrilled I won't have to wait until my next road trip to ABQ to enjoy one of my favorite things!

Pineapple-Soy Glazed Tofu recipe that Zips stumbled upon

So Zipper has stumbled upon the web discovery engine StumbleUpon.com and is completely hooked. It's her new evening pasttime. She's clicked off Vegetarian Recipes among her fields of interest, and so stumbled upon the basis for our new dinner adventure: Pineapple-Soy glazed tofu.

The original recipe called for pineapple preserves, orange or pineapple juice and diced pineapple chunks. Having just peeled and cored our first perfect pineapple of the summer, I just substituted finely minced pineapple for the preserves and juice portion. One of the user comments also suggested adding 1/2 c. sweet and sour sauce, which we don't have. So I looked up several recipes for that too, which I'm including. The result is deeelicious. I'm only sorry we didn't have any more bell pepper (used it last night in the tagine) or green onions. We agreed that cashews or peanuts would also be a great addition to this. But once you have the sauce down, you'll be great to go!

Sweet & Sour Sauce

1/4 c. ketchup

1/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. white vinegar

1/2 tsp. granulated garlic

1/4 tsp. dry mustard

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1-2 tsp. soy sauce

1 Tb. cornstarch

Mix these together in a microwaveable bowl and heat it for 1 min. Stir and heat it 1 more minute until cornstarch is "cooked" and the sauce is glossy. Yields about 1/2 c. (would also be great with spring rolls!)

Pineapple-Soy Glazed Tofu

1 package firm tofu cut into cubes or slices (I sliced mine and pressed it to drain out the liquid-- lay them out on several paper towels, cover with another paper towel and set a cutting board on top. Then add weight to the cutting board to press the tofu)

1-2 Tb. oil (I used half sesame and half veg. oil)

2 cloves minced garlic

After the tofu has been drained/pressed for 10 minutes, heat the garlic in the oil and brown the tofu on both sides. Lower the heat and whisk together:

1/2 c. finely minced fresh pineapple (and whatever juice leaks out of the fruit while you're chopping it)

2-3 Tb. soy sauce

1/2 Sweet & Sour Sauce

Pour these into the tofu and add 1/2 c. diced pineapple (cut it the same size as the tofu). Now would also be a good time to add other veggies-- bell pepper, baby corn, whatever strikes your fancy. Simmer tofu and pineapple in the sauce until well incorporated and heated through. Serve over brown rice with sliced green onions and cilantro.

Tofu Scramble, Homemade Pancakes and Blackberry Sauce from Scratch

I'll say it. I'm a zombie in the morning. Can't think. Can't wake up. Can barely open a can of cat food. And can barely figure out how to feed the kitties without dumping the can onto their little furry heads. Last semester we relied a lot on quiche (egg/feta/spinach and egg/broccoli/cheddar) to get us out the door with little thought or effort. Now that we've been moving away from eggs, and breakfasts involving mostly frying, it's been really exciting (and, yes, challenging) trying out new hearty breakfasts. That's what led us to breakfast quinoa. And has inspired the creation of my tofu scramble:

I really really despise tofu scrambles at most restaurants. Anything that "scrambles" tofu to the texture of mushy cottage cheese and then tries to "trick" you into thinking they're eggs by dying them yellow with turmeric *shudder*. From awful places we've eaten at (Annapurna's in ABQ) and beloved places (Flying Star), a good tofu scramble seems like the vegetarian holy grail. (Here's the key: it's NOT EGGS! It's not going to taste like eggs! So it doesn't have to look even remotely like eggs!) So I've taken matters into my own hands.

I happen to really like tofu. The way it tastes "raw," its texture, the way it sautes, the way it takes on flavors. So I dice up an onion and brown it in a little veggie butter, then add tofu that I've squeezed the moisture from, and break it apart with my fingers. I guess this is the "scrambling" part. I don't mush it up. I don't break it all down. I haven't tried whizzing it in a blender with some soy milk and mustard (as Post Punk Kitchen has you try). I just leave it in fork-worthy chunks and let it brown in the pan with the diced onion. The fun bit is adding sazon. This is the secret ingredient to my mom's fried rice recipe. We get the culantro con achiote flavor of sazon. This is what turns it orange and delicious. I use about half a packet. And a little black pepper. When it's all browned (and orange-ed) evenly, it's ready to go. I add some fresh cilantro (and maybe some green onion) at the end. and NO turmeric.

Okay, and the promised pancakes from scratch are the Perfect Pancakes from Vegan Brunch. They're delicious. Rich, flavorful. Hearty enough to carry a couple slices of bananas in the batter. (There's also a recipe for Pumpkin Pancakes. Zips is waiting until it's properly fall before we crack into those!) So we made 'em and drizzled maple syrup along with a Blackberry Sauce I Macguyvered in the moment. (Maple syrup is sweet and rich. Blackberry sauce is tart and rich. Knock yerself out!)

Blackberry Sauce (perfect for pancakes, ice cream, cheesecake, whatever!)


2 c. blackberries (I used ones I had frozen)
2 Tb. water
1 Tb. sugar
1/4 c. apple (peeled, diced finely)


Put everything in a pot together and bring to a simmer. Mash the apple against the side of the pan as it cooks. The apple works as a natural sweetener (less sugar added), and the fruit pectin in it helps thicken the sauce (no extra thickeners to add). Once everything has simmered and broken down, puree everything (I used my hand blender). Then strain out the wicked blackberry seeds so your loved ones won't walk around all day trying to get them out of their teeth.
Zips liked it all. Especially the maple syrup. Couldn't keep her face out of the pancakes!