Baked Tofu in Thai Peanut Sauce

If you like satay then you will love this. It has the same kind of sauce but with tofu and instead of stick , its in the bowl and you can have it with warm rice. By the time your rice will cook, your tofu dish will be ready. Since I am having with rice, I don't like dry dishes, I need some kind of sauce to clean the dish. So I had the leftover peanut sauce , just heat up that , add baked tofu in it and enjoy it with rice along with my eggplant stir fry. 

You can just bake the tofu and have it as it is or add it in salad or noodles. 

 

Ingredients :

1 block of firm tofu

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 tbsp. finely chopped ginger

3 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 tbsp. rice vinegar

1 tbsp. Tamari sauce / coconut amino

2 tbsp. regular or spicy sesame oil

1 tbsp. agave syrup / maple syrup / honey

1 tbsp. Thai sweet chili sauce

if you prefer, green onions on top

Method:

Take the tofu and pressed and take out as much water as possible.

Meanwhile we can make our sauce, 

Warm the peanut butter for few seconds in microwave so its easy to mix it. 

Add ginger, garlic, rice vinegar, tamari sauce, sesame oil, agave syrup and Thai sweet chili sauce. Mix it and test the taste, adjust the seasoning as per your liking. 

Cut Tofu  in your favorite shape. Don't make it too small pieces.

Take your baking try and put the aluminum foil and oil spray on it. 

Dip the tofu in sauce and put it on baking dish. 

I did air fried my tofu at 375 for 15 minutes , turning after 6 or 7 minutes. You don't need to make it brown or crunchy just cook enough to coat the sauce.

You can do it in traditional oven also, just keep an eye so it don't burn. 

when all tofu is done, and cool it for few minutes, heat a pan and add rest of the sauce in it. 

Add water to thin out the sauce little bit, at the time of the serving add the baked tofu pieces in it and mix it and serve it immediately over rice .

Poblano Veggie Balls Soup - Poblano Albondigas with Ancho Chile Soup - Vegan

I just love roasted poblano peppers flavors so always looking for the dishes where I can use this , This is a very famous soup which can be make with meatballs and rice so instead of using rice I used soy granules and use vegan meatballs and make this hearty soup and had it with my Jalapenos ginger beer. It was perfect heat in the soup and drink to give me warmth. If you want  you can add tortilla chips on top of it too and you can use rice also to make traditional way to make it but it takes longer and I wanted to make it fast so I just used soy granules which was fine by me. 

Ingredients : 

4 vegan meatballs

2 poblano peppers

1/4 cup soaked and dry soy granules

1 red onion chopped in matchsticks

1.4 cup frozen corn kernels

2 tbsp. mashed chipotle peppers in adobo

2 cups vegetable broth

1 tbsp.  Ancho Chile powder if not use paprika powder

salt to taste

1 tbsp. garlic powder

1/4 tbsp. oregano

1 chopped fresh jalapenos , saved few rounds for garnish

2-3 garlic cloves chopped

1 tbsp. oil

1 green capsicum cut in slices length wise

Method : 

Char poblano on direct gas flame from all sides.

When its done, put it in paper or plastic bag and close it so with the moisture in side  the skin get soften and its easier to remove it.

Once its cold enough to handle , remove the skin and take out the seeds from inside and cut it in strips and keep it aside. 

Heat a big pan, cook your frozen meatballs in it from all side and take it out.

In same pan, heat the oil and add garlic and cook for few seconds, then add onion and cook till its soften. 

then add chili powder ,broth and oregano and add meatballs in it too so it cooked from inside and juices goes inside too. 

If you are planning to add rice then add now and adjust the broth quantity and cook.

since I am not adding rice, I add granules and chopped poblano and capsicum in it and mix it.

Add chipotle peppers in it and cook it all in slow to medium flame for 6-8 minutes till everything is combined.

When you got the desired thickness , shut it off.

Serve yourself a nice bowl of soup with fresh jalapenos on top and if you wish  fresh coriander leaves and some tortilla chips and enjoy.

Jackfruit Biryani - Kathal Biryani

By now you all know that biryani is my favorite food , I prefer biryani over roti subji and believe me its not that hard to make it , I have made quite a bit of all different kind of biryani but this one was left out, so made it. I got frozen Jackfruit from Indian grocery store and defrost it and put it in spices and made biryani, it was perfectly spiced and moist. 

Ingredients:

2 cup basmati rice - soaked

2 cups frozen jackfruit pieces

2 tbsp. ghee

1 onion thinly sliced

1 tbsp. ginger garlic paste

2-3 green chilies slit

1 bay leaves

2 tbsp. sindhi biryani masala

2 pods of Cardamom 

few cloves, black peppercorns, cinnamon stick, star anise, badi eaichi (all the whole spices)

2 tbsp. Kashmiri red chili powder

1 tbsp. red chili powder

1/2 tbsp. Turmeric powder

1 tbsp. cumin coriander powder

1 cup yogurt

salt as per taste

1.4 cup fresh mint and coriander leaves

Method :

First defrost jackfruit pieces so it can absorb the flavors of the marinade.

In a big bowl, add yogurt, biryani masala and mix it. Add jackfruit pieces in it and mix it nicely.

Keep it in this marinade for at least half an hour. 

In that time, heat the heavy bottom pan and add water , twice the quantity of the rice, 1 tbp, ghee , salt , star anise in it. 

Once water boils, add rice and cook till its 70% done.

Take the rice out and discard star anise from it.

Now in the same pan, add ghee, then add all the whole spices and cook it for few seconds. 

Then add onions and cook it , till its pink in color.

Add ginger , garlic paste, green chili and cook for 1 more minute. 

Add Jackfruit pieces with the marinade and mix it. Add all the powder masala and salt for the masala, remember we have salt in rice.

Now cook the jackfruit till its cooked 70% , take one bowlful of masala out.

Now Layered masala, rice, mint and coriander leaves, masala, rice and mint and coriander leaves. 

You can add fried onions on it too.

Cover it tightly and cook it on low flame till its cooked 100% and all the water is evaporated.

When its done, shut off the gas. 

Leave it untouched for 10 minutes , you don't want to break the rice.

Serve warm biryani with cucumber raita or dal or as it is. 

Vegan Kimchi

I made kimchi before also but that time it was for my husband so it was mild in flavor and little different spices than regular one.  Since last few days was craving for real spicy kimchi and got the big head of napa cabbage , when I was cutting the cabbage , my husband said don't make it too spicy, I also want to eat it , I said no I want to eat this so I will add spices as per my taste, But being a good wife and thinking about him, I have added not that much pepper powder in it and still in mild side but its 100% vegan so we can enjoy it since outside ready made kimchi looks very good but all has anchovies in it and can not eat that. 

Ingredients :

1 Large Napa Cabbage

3/4 cup sea salt or regular salt

Ingredients for paste

2 tbsp. rice flour

4 cloves garlic finely chopped

4 tbsp. either gochugaru or Korean red pepper flakes or spicy red pepper powder

1 tbsp. Kashmiri red chili powder for color

1 tbsp. Vegan fish sauce

Few pieces of white radish lengthwise chopped

2 green onions cut  lengthwise

Few ginger pieces cut lengthwise

Method : 

Cut the cabbage in quarter lengthwise and remove stem then cut into bite size pieces

Put the cabbage in big strainer and sprinkle handful of salt. Mix it nicely so everything is covered by salt. 

After 3-4 hours, you will see that cabbage has released the water. Now wash it thoroughly under running water and drain completely. 

For the paste, in a bowl, add rice flour, garlic, gochugaru, Kashmiri red chili powder and fish sauce.

Mix it nicely .

in a big mixing bowl, add paste, vegetables and cabbage  and mix it, if you have sensitive skin wear gloves and then mix it or use a spoon.

If you like you can add sesame seeds too. Now transfer to a air tight glass bottle and make sure bottle is not full , it has space to ferment. 

Close tightly and let it leave it on kitchen counter for 2-3 days , the more it sits the nice it taste. 

Once its ready take it out and enjoy as it is or with your favorite food.