Tried and tasted – Yogi Tea

As we approach late summer, it’s cooling down a bit. That means that here in Houston, our projected high is “only” about 92, still too hot for hot tea. I drink a lot of fruity iced herbal tea during the approximately seven months of summer we get. Sometimes, though, chai is nice for a change.

This Yogi Tea from A Life (Time) of Cooking was absolutely perfect over ice with some vanilla soy milk and a squirt of agave nectar. I didn’t know where to find licorice root, though, so I substituted star anise. This goes out to Tried and Tasted, hosted this month by Yasmeen of Health Nut.

It’s a Vegan World: Malaysian Tofu Curry

I’ve never met a cuisine from a hot climate that I didn’t like. I loved Thai food and Indian food at first bite. I grew up eating Mexican food, but I can still remember the first times I was introduced to cilantro and cumin as individual ingredients. With the cumin especially, I swooned. I couldn’t get enough. It’s surprising, then, that I’ve never tried Malaysian food. I’m glad I did; I have a new love. (I’m not blushing. The flush is from the chilies. Really!)

For It’s a Vegan World: Malaysia, I chose to veganize this Malaysian chicken curry recipe using tofu and some extra coconut milk in place of evaporated milk. I loved that I had nearly everything on hand for this. I only had to buy tofu, lemongrass and coconut milk. In fact, I meant to buy some green beans and carrots for this recipe, but I forgot, and used vegetables I had left over from other dishes.

Malaysian Tofu Curry

14-16 ounces extra-firm or firm tofu
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ginger powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk lemongrass, minced
1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
1-2 green or red chilies, minced (I used jalapeños)
2 tablespoons curry powder (I used sambar powder)
2 tablespoons minced curry leaves

1 cup water
3/4 cup coconut milk
1-2 cups vegetables of your choice (I used daikon radish, red bell pepper, and green peas – other good ones would be carrots, green beans, cauliflower or mushrooms)
chili paste to taste (I used Sriracha hot sauce)

Prepare tofu as for Baked Tofu Triangles. Set aside.

In a dry frying pan, toast coconut, garlic powder, turmeric, ginger powder, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes until lightly toasted and fragrant. Set aside.

Heat oil in frying pan to medium hot. Sauté onion, garlic, lemongrass, ginger and chilies for 2-3 minutes. Add sambar or curry powder and curry leaves and sauté for 2 minutes. Add water, coconut milk and vegetables, and simmer until vegetables are crisp-tender. Add coconut and tofu and heat through. Serve with rice.

Serves 4

Baked Tofu Triangles

It’s a good thing I had eaten tofu in a Chinese restaurant and knew I liked it before I tried cooking it at home. I fried it, and it was an unmitigated disaster. It was bland, gelatinous, and half of it stuck to my no-stick pan. I tried it again with a hotter pan and more oil, and it was better, but still not great, and it made the kitchen smoky. Finally, I found a recipe in Vegetarian Times that gave instructions for cubing and baking it. This worked, resulting in tofu that was golden and chewy. I’ve made tofu like this ever since. It’s nearly foolproof, and the tofu can bake while you put the rest of the meal together.

These triangles are tasty plain with sweet and sour sauce or buffalo wing sauce, and they’re perfect in other dishes, like Pad Thai or curry.

Baked Tofu Triangles

1 lb. firm or extra-firm water packed tofu

1 teaspoon vegetarian chicken-flavored broth powder or salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Drain tofu and pat dry. Slice into ¾-inch slices. Depending on how you slice, you’ll have 4 or 8 slices. Cut slices into triangles as if you’re slicing a pie - making 4 triangles if you started with 8 tofu slices, or 8 triangles if you started with 4 slices.

Sprinkle tofu triangles with broth powder or salt lightly. Bake on a greased baking sheet for about 35 minutes until golden, turning slices over once during cooking.

Guacamole on my mind

We eat a lot of guacamole at my house. It’s a must when we have tacos or fajitas, and sometimes we have it just because. I think the best guac is the simplest – no tomatoes, peppers or onions. If I want those, I’ll have salsa or pico de gallo. Sometimes, I’ll add some chives or green onions, but usually it’s just four ingredients.

Avocados are ripe when they give just a little bit, similar to a pear. If they’re quite soft or feel liquidy inside, they’re over-ripe and likely to be completely brown inside. If you open them up and see just a little bit of brown, though, you can remove it with a spoon and use the avocado. The best avocados available to me are the small, dark Haas ones, but use what’s best for you. We don’t mind biting into a bit of raw garlic, so I use a whole clove and just mince it, but if any of your diners are timid with it, put just half a clove through a garlic press.

Claire’s Guacamole

2 small or 1 large avocado
1/2 to 1 small garlic clove, minced or pressed
juice of 1 lime
salt to taste, about 1/4 teaspoon

Cut through the avocado from stem to bottom all the way around. Twist it to separate it into two halves. Remove the pit with a spoon. Cut a cross-hatch pattern in the avocado flesh and remove the flesh with a spoon into a small bowl.

Add garlic and lime juice and mash with a potato masher or a spoon. Add salt to taste.

Serves 3

Millet Crunch Granola

The heat has been here for close to three months, and as it does eventually every year, it’s taken my appetite away. I really only feel like snacking, so I’ve resolved to at least have healthy snacks around. I first made this granola to use up some millet I had from another experiment, and it turned out to be the best granola we’ve ever eaten. As I always do, I made it as close as possible to the original recipe the first time, and then played around with it on subsequent tries attempting to make it even better. In this case, the original is the best. (The secret is the tahini.)

Popcorn Focaccia

Yes, you read that right. It’s focaccia made with popcorn! This audacious recipe comes from The Cornbread Book by Jeremy Jackson, and is easily the best focaccia I’ve ever made. It also makes an outstanding pizza crust.

First, you’ll need to make some popcorn, pick the unpopped kernels out, and turn it into flour. You can do this easily by grinding a cup or so at a time in a blender. One quarter cup of kernels will make more than enough popcorn flour. I think the tastiest popcorn for this bread is the kind popped in oil in a big, heavy pot (left unbuttered), but you can also use microwaved popcorn, just make sure it is plain and home made, like this, and not flavored, commercial stuff.
I have a unique way of making bread that I learned from another cookbook, one now out of print. It involves using a stand or hand-held electric mixer to do most of your kneading for you. If you want to make this completely by hand, you’ll want to knead it for at least 5 minutes. This is a double recipe, as I like to bake some and save some in the freezer for pizza crust. I’ve also replaced half the all-purpose flour in the original with whole wheat.
Popcorn Focaccia

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 to 3 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups popcorn flour
scant 2 teaspoons sea salt, plus extra for the tops
A 1/4-ounce packet of yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water (105-110 F)
1/4 cup olive oil, plus extra for the bowl

Whisk together the all-purpose flour, 2 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour, the popcorn flour and salt and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the water, yeast and olive oil and beat briefly with an electric mixer. Add approximately 1/3 of the flour mixture, and beat on high for two full minutes. (Set a timer; don’t cheat). Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat on low for 2 full minutes. Stir remaining flours in by hand. If the dough is too sticky to handle, add more whole wheat flour, up to 1/2 cup.

Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead briefly, until ingredients come together and the dough is smooth. This should take no more than a minute or two.

Coat a medium bowl with olive oil and add the dough. Rotate dough in the bowl to coat the top. Cover and place in a warm spot in your kitchen to rise.

When the dough has doubled in volume – this might take an hour or longer – punch down the dough and divide into two. If you are freezing some, now is the time; place into a lightly oiled container. Divide remaining dough into two pieces and spread each piece into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Salt the tops, if desired. Cover and let rise again until puffy.

Preheat the oven to 450. If you have a pizza stone, use it, and allow the oven to heat the stone for about 30 minutes while dough is rising. Slide dough onto a baking sheet or directly onto the pizza stone, and bake for 10-12 minutes. Rap on the bottom of the bread with your knuckles. If it sounds hollow, it's done.