plum tomato tofu

Following on from my plum sauce success, I've been trying it out in dishes. We only had a little bit of tofu left, which I chopped up (rather inelegantly) and marinated, then broiled with some veggies & tomatoes. It was so good! Kind of like a scrambled tofu, without the scramble.

Plum Tomato Tofu
250g tofu
1 tbspn plum sauce
1 tbspn soy sauce
1/2 tbspn tahini
1 tbspn olive oil
2 - 4 spring onions, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
1/2 zucchini, sliced (or, whatever veggies you like)
1 large / 2 medium tomatoes, chopped

First, chop up the tofu and marinate in the plum sauce, soy sauce & tahini for at least 10 mins.
Grill it on a flat frypan (reserving the marinade) with the olive oil until the tofu develops a nice golden colour.
Add in the spring onions, carrot & zucchini & fry until the vegies are just starting to cook.
Add the chopped tomatoes & leftover marinade, turn down the heat and let the dish cook for about 10 mins.

The tomatoes should break down and start to disappear, and the tofu should develop a crunchy crust (I thought it ended up tasting slightly bacon-y, in a good way).

I served mine with rice & dumplings (momos).

Super Easy Pizza

I always think of homemade pizza dough as being rather labourious, so I was happy to see some on Where's the Beef that promised to be dead easy. Hooray! Chris & I gave it a go, and it really is!

You can see the recipe here, we followed it exactly, but let the dough rest for about 30 mins, allowing it time to double in size and get all nice & puffy. The dough on the left had been sitting for about 10 mins, and looked almost exactly as it did when we made it - giving it that extra 20 mins was a good idea.

Our toppings were nice & simple, and made use of the incredibly large bunch of silverbeet we'd received in our vegie box.

Tomato Pizza:
Tomato
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
Basil

Sprinkle the tomatoes & garlic with a pinch of salt & let sit for 10 mins (to release excess tomato juices & get rid of garlicky garlickness).
Pour off the excess liquid.
Mix in olive oil & basil - voila!

Silverbeet Pizza:
Silverbeet
Onion
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Oregano
Artichoke hearts
Pine nuts

Blanch some silverbeet in boiling water then cold water.
Squeeze out the extra juices.
Slice the silverbeet finely, then add some lemon juice, oregano & olive oil.
Put it on the pizza, and top with the artichokes & nuts.

Yum!
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Healthy Tomato Soup

I was inspired by the recipe for Creamy Tomato Soup in my (recently purchased) Veganomicon cookbook - I am terrible at following recipes, I always think my variations will be better. I wanted to give this soup a bit of a health kick, so I added some lentils and other healthy bits and pieces, and it is fab! I made such a huge pot though, I ended up distributing to various family members. Here's the recipe (I actually made a double quantity but have halved it for you).

Healthy Tomato Soup
Serves 6 - 8

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1sp chopped rosemary
couple of sprigs of thyme
pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup red lentils (soaked overnight if possible)
2 large potatoes, sliced thinly
1/4 cup white rice or buckwheat (or a mixture)
1 tablespoon ground almonds (optional)
2 litres stock / water *
100g sundried tomatoes (not the ones in oil, just plain ones)
1 x 810g tin crushed tomatoes (I like ardmona brand)
salt, to taste
fresh basil (optional)

Fry onion, garlic, herbs & pepper in the oil for about 5 mins, or until the onions are starting to brown slightly.
Add the stock / water, lentils, potatoes, rice & optional almonds. Boil for about 15 mins, or until the lentils are tender.
Add the sundried tomatoes and more stock / water if necessary and simmer on a low heat for 20 mins or until the lentils are soft and the tomatoes have plumped up.
Blend the soup well (a stick mixer works great), add the tinned tomatoes and blend again until smooth.
Add salt & pepper to taste, feel free to chuck in some fresh basil.

* I used water, but sploshed in some soy sauce for a bit of extra flavour