I've been meaning to write this recipe up for over a year now. It is fairly labour intensive. It was also incredibly delicious. Definitely a keeper!

The author notes that they wanted to come up with a vegan chorizo "for omnivores", something that was as good as the meat-based version, something that nailed the flavour and gave textural variety just like the original. The texture is great. It cooks up beautifully. And, what's more, I think the flavour is better than any meat-based chorizo I've ever had. This isn't just an adequate vegan option, or even a tasty one. I actually prefer it over any other chorizo out there (including the meat-based ones)!

Vegan Chorizo

Slightly adapted from Serious Eats

Ingredients

• 350g extra-firm tofu, frozen
• 1 fresh poblano pepper
• 1 c. dried Puy/French lentils, cooked and drained
• 1 dried Guajillo (or other relatively sweet) chile, stem and seeds removed
• 1-2 dried arbol (or other hot chile) chiles, stem and seeds removed
• 1 dried ancho (or other rich, fruity) chile, stem and seeds removed
• 2 Tbsp. raisins
• 1 whole chipotle in adobo + 2 Tbsp. sauce from can
• 2 c. water
• 200g plain tempeh
• 1/4 c. coconut oil (or vegetable shortening)
• 1 onion, diced
• coarse sea salt
• black pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. dried oregano
• 2 tsp. dried Mexican oregano (if you can find it)¹
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds, toasted and ground
• 1 tsp. coriander seeds, toasted and ground
• 3 whole cloves, toasted and ground
• 1 Tbsp. yellow or red miso paste
• 1 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 1/4 c. red wine vinegar

Directions

1. Thaw and drain tofu. Cut into thick (~2cm) slices, wrap in a tea towel or similar and press out some of the moisture (you don't have to be super thorough about it). Set aside.
2. Adjust oven rack to 10cm below broiler and preheat broiler to high.
3. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil and place poblano on top.
4. Broil, turning occasionally, until blackened on all sides.
5. Remove from oven and wrap foil around poblano to form a tight seal. Set foil-wrapped pepper aside.
6. Reduce oven temperature to 160°C (325°F).
7. Spread cooked lentils on baking sheet and bake until mostly dry and crunchy (20-30 minutes).
8. Microwave dried chiles for ~30 seconds to toast.
9. Combine dried chiles, chipotle, adobo sauce (from chile can), and water in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover and microwave until simmering. Let stand for at least 2 minutes.
10. Pour chile mixture into blender and purée until smooth.
11. Use a food processor (or a knife) to blitz tempeh and tofu into small pieces about the texture of ground meat.
12. Unwrap and peel the poblano pepper. Discard skin, stem, and seeds. Mince the cooked flesh.
13. Melt oil/shortening in a large pot of medium-high heat.
14. Add onion and minced poblano. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until softened (~5 minutes).
15. Add garlic, oregano, Mexican oregano, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, and cloves. Cook for another minute or so.
16. Add mixo paste, soy sauce, vinegar, and puréed chile mixture.
17. Add crumbled tofu and tempeh.
18. Add baked lentils. Mix well.
19. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
20. For a moister texture, add 2 Tbsp. water.
21. For a drier, well-browned texture, add 2 Tbsp. of oil and continue cooking until liquid has evaporated and crispy bits start forming (~15 minutes).
22. Use anywhere you'd use Mexican chorizo.
23. Keeps in fridge for up to a week or can be frozen for several months.

Pro tip: This chorizo is amazing mixed into scrambled eggs for breakfast! Especially if you add a little cheese. It's also great on nachos.

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¹ I'm pretty sure I just left out the Mexican oregano when I made this. I'm sure it'd be lovely if you can get it, but it was still amazingly tasty even without it. ^Back

I just got back from vacation and am trying to get back into the swing of things at home. First order of business was, of course, to sort out groceries and some sort of meal plan for the week. I decided to consult a handful of Cook's Illustrated magazines for inspiration.

I gravitated toward this recipe because it reminds me of one of my favourite eggplant dishes: fish-fragrant eggplant. As it turns out, that very dish was the inspiration for the flavours in this one! Now, recipe as written, I didn't find this quite as tasty as fish-fragrant eggplant. It is a good deal easier and healthier though (no frying the eggplant first). And I think the slightly lacking flavour should be easy enough to remedy.

For now I've just added a little miso paste and some reconstituted dried mushrooms to try to bump up the umami factor. In future I would soak the mushrooms first and then use the soaking liquid as the base for the sauce. I'd also double the scallions. (I really like scallions!) I'd probably bump up the garlic a little too. I've rewritten the recipe below to reflect these changes.

Braised Eggplant with Soy, Garlic, and Ginger

Adapted from Cook's Country September/October 2019

Ingredients

• 12 dried black mushrooms
• 1 1/2 c. boiling water
• 1/4 c. shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
• 1 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 4 tsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. doubanjiang/toban djan/Asian broad bean chili paste
• 1 tsp. white miso paste
• 1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch/corn flour
• ~1kg eggplants¹
• 1 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 tsp. ginger paste
• 1/2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
• 2-4 scallions, sliced thin

Directions

1. Pour boiling water over mushrooms and let stand for at least 10 minutes.
2. Trim 1cm from top and bottom of each eggplant. Halve crosswise. Cut each half lengthwise into two pieces. Cut each piece into 2cm wedges. Set aside.
3. Drain mushrooms, reserving liquid, and remove stems. Discard mushroom stems. Slice caps thin and set aside.
4. Combine mushroom soaking water, wine, soy sauces, sugar, chili paste, miso pate, and cornstarch and whisk until sugar has dissolved.
5. Heat large pan over medium heat and add canola oil.
6. Add garlic and ginger paste to hot oil and cook for 30 seconds.
7. Add eggplant wedges and sliced mushrooms to pan.
8. Pour sauce over contents of pan and increase heat to high.
9. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.
10. Uncover and cook, occasionally swirling pan, for an additional 10-15 minutes.
11. Drizzle with sesame oil and sprinkle sliced scallions on top.
12. Serve over rice².

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¹ Either Italian or Asian eggplants will work for this. Avoid very large eggplants as they will tend to disintegrate during cooking. ^Back
2 I seasoned my rice with black peppercorns, star anise, and cinnamon. For 2 c. of (uncooked) brown rice I added 1 star anise, 1 cinnamon stick, and ~half a dozen black peppercorns as well as a tsp. or so of ghee. I think a few greens probably wouldn't've gone amiss either, but I didn't think of it 'til just now. I think black kale or maybe even a bit of gai lan would probably work well. ^Back

Adrak Lasson Waale Chana Masala (Gingered Chickpeas)

In 660 Curries, Iyer calls out this curry as being deceptively easy to make, and he's right -- despite the lengthy ingredient list, 90% of them just go straight into a blender, and most of the rest of the preparation is letting the curry simmer while you mostly ignore it. This makes a delicious, mild curry that keeps well. If you're in a hurry, you can prepare the sauce ahead of time and keep it in the fridge until you're ready to cook the rest of it.

Ingredients

• Sauce
• 1 large tomato, cored and coarsely chopped
• 1 small red (or medium yellow) onion, coarsely chopped
• 4 slices of fresh ginger (~5x2.5x0.4mm), coarsely chopped
• 4 large garlic cloves
• 1-2 fresh green Thai, cayenne, or serrano chiles, stems removed
• 15mL coriander seeds
• 10mL cumin seeds
• 1 cinnamon stick, shattered
• 5mL coarse salt
• Everything Else
• 4 slices of fresh ginger (~5x2.5x0.4mm), julienned
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 30mL canola oil
• 10mL ground Kashmiri chiles (or 2.5mL cayenne and 7.5mL sweet paprika)
• 2.5mL ground turmeric
• 125mL freshly chopped cilantro
• 750mL cooked chickpeas (I found that two 540mL tins works out to about the right amount of chickpeas once drained)
• 5mL Punjabi garam masala
• the juice of 1 medium-sized lime

Procedure

1. Combine all sauce ingredients and 125mL water in a blender jar. Blend into a homogeneous sauce.
2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
3. Stir-fry the julienned ginger and minced garlic until they sizzle and are lightly browned, 1-2 minutes.
4. Add the sauce, ground chiles, turmeric, and half of the cilantro. The sauce will start to boil. Simmer, partially covered, until the sauce develops an oily sheen, 5-10 minutes.
5. Stir in the chickpeas and 250mL water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low and simmer, covered, until the sauce has thickened and the chickpeas has softened and absorbed the flavours of the sauce, 25-30 minutes.
6. Stir in the garam masala, lime juice, and remaining cilantro. Serve.

I know I've made strawberry ice cream at least once before. I followed the recipe from the little booklet that came with my ice cream maker. I can no longer find the booklet. A quick internet search lead me to a recipe on Epicurious. I found it unusual that it used only cream with no added milk, but decided to give it a go anyway. It seems to have turned out well: nice flavour, no lurking ice crystals. I might try replacing some of the cream with milk next time though, just to see if the recipe still works with the lower fat content.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Slightly adapted from Eipcurious

Ingredients

• 450g fresh, ripe strawberries
• 3/4 c. (vanilla) sugar
• 3/4 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/8 tsp. salt¹
• 2 c. heavy (35%) cream²
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)

Directions

1. Hull the strawberries.
2. Add sugar, lemon juice, and salt.
3. Mash with a fork or potato masher. Set aside for a few minutes, then mash again.
4. Set aside (preferably in the fridge) for 10 minutes.
5. Drain off most of the juice and add it to the cream.
6. Add vanilla extract to cream mixture (if using). Mix well.
7. If you prefer a smooth, homogeneous ice cream, you can purée the strawberries and add them to the cream at this point. Personally, I prefer to leave the strawberries as they are and add them partway through churning to create a chunky, fruity ice cream.
8. Turn on ice cream maker.
9. Pour cream mixture into ice cream maker.
10. Allow to churn for 15-20 minutes, until ice cream has increased in volume and started to solidify.
11. Gradually add macerated strawberries (if you didn't purée them and add them earlier).
12. Allow to churn for another 15 minutes or so.
13. Turn of ice cream maker and quickly scoop ice cream into container and transfer to freezer.

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¹ I totally forgot to add the salt. ^Back
2 Next time I'd probably try 1 c. heavy (35%) cream + 1 c. whole (3.25%) milk. ^Back

TF and I used to make this quite often when we were students. It's cheap, it's easy, and it's quick. It's also pretty void of nutritional value if you just have the noodles and sauce without added veggies or protein... but that's pretty par for the course for student fare.

Since I no longer really enjoy just eating big bowls of starch, I braised a little bok choy with some garlic and ginger to go with my noodles. If I'd had the energy, I would've also added some baked tofu for protein. It's still not a great meal nutrituion-wise, but it's okay as a quick fix once in a while. Especially if you can use something like whole wheat spaghetti or soba for the noodles. (Not necessarily the traditional choices, but tasty and a little more nourishing than plain noodles).

Dan Dan Mien

Slightly adapted from Goons with Spoons

Ingredients

• noodles
• sesame oil
• 3 parts dark soy sauce
• 3 parts light soy sauce
• 3 parts black vinegar
• 2 parts Laoganma (spicy chili crisp)¹
• 3 parts natural peanut butter (or toasted sesame paste if you have it)
• 1 part brown sugar
• bok choy and/or other veggies (optional)
• meat and/or tofu (optional)
• green onions/scallions (optional)

Directions

1. Cook and drain noodles.
2. Toss with a little sesame oil to prevent sticking.
3. Combine soy sauces, vinegar, Laoganma, peanut butter (or sesame paste), and brown sugar. Mix well.
4. Portion noodles, add any veggies or protein as desired, spoon sauce over.
5. Garnish with chopped scallions (if using).

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¹ Original recipe calls for 3 parts chili oil and 1 part Sichuan peppercorn. I opted to use Laoganma (or, rather, a Laoganma knock-off) instead. ^Back