Quickest veg stir-fry with Za’atar

I tried Za’atar in Kuwait and I fell in love with that stuff. It’s a mix spice with a lot of stuff in it; mint, sesame seeds, oregano, sumaah, thyme, marjoram and a lot of other stuff I can’t figure out. Lucky for me I don’t need to.

I’ve bought enough Za’atar to last for a really long time (smart thinking)  But if you can’t get your hands on some of this stuff, then you can try making your own. That link seems to have covered it.

There’s really not much to talk about this recipe. Make it and you shall know.

What you need:

1 red onion

1 ts of ginger + garlic paste and more garlic if you will

about 250  Mix vegetables, or whatever you want to stir fry

2tbs  Za’atar

40gm cottage cheese/paneer/tofu

salt as per your taste-buds (or dietary requirements)

1 tbs (good quality) oyster sauce

20gm of grated processed cheese (optnl)

1 tsp oil

What to do:

1. Saute veggies in oil, starting with onions, ginger garlic paste and the harder veggies progressing to the softer ones. Throw in the paneer/tofu/cottage cheese

2. Add salt, oyster sauce and Za’atar. Cover and cook on a low flame for about 7 minutes or so.

3. Cover with processed cheese. Dig in.

I used mix veggies from a pack. So easy.

Frozen cubed paneer? Awesome, no chopping required.

My new comfort food? Definitely.

A bowl of this stuff would make me really comfortable right now.

Sugarcane and tofu pops

This is remotely like the cake pops I did last time but this was fabulous!!

This is originally a Vietnamese which uses chicken and a lot of Asian sauces but I used soy and vegetables and my own spice combination to flavor. Whats really cool about it is the use of sugarcane as sticks.. you are not supposed to eat them! it just adds flavor to the dish and also serves as a stick to hold I suppose you could call it a vegan variation of a chicken lollipop/wings/drumstick.

What you need:

¾ cup of tofu, mashed (store bought or homemade)
½ cup of mixed not too watery vegetables (peas, carrot, potato,corn etc; finely chopped)
1 onion finely chopped
1 green chili finely chopped
1 flake of garlic, chopped
1 tsp Coriander finely chopped
Salt as per taste
around 15 sticks of fresh sugarcane around 3 inches long each
2 tsp of corn flour
4 tbs of rice flour to coat
oil for deep frying

What to do:

1. Stir fry the vegetables for a minute and place in mixing bowl.
2. mash tofu and add to vegetables. Add cornflour and form into small balls.
3. Coat around each sugarcane stick dip in rice flour
4. Deep fry on medium till golden brown
5 Drain on paper towels, serve with ketchup

I know, I know.. its not the best picture.. but u get the idea.

Lets zoom in shall we?

Organic, vegan, low fat, paper thin PIZZA!

I hope you die hard sloppy-joe lovers don’t hate me for desecrating the full fat, soft, cheesy, deep pan pizza.

All my experiments generally start with a craving and this time it was pizza. I created something that is remotely close to a pizza as we know it but is still technically a pizza.

It was delicious in an organic, vegan, low fat way and it was a fun eat.

What you need: (for two large pizzas)

(For the base)
2 cups wholewheat/ grain flour
5 gm fresh yeast
1 tsp EVOO
salt
water

(For the topping)
1 cup grated firm tofu (buy it or make you own)
¼ cup shredded cabbage
¼ cup sliced mushroom
2 tbs peas
¼ cup chopped bell pepper
1 red onion finely chopped
2 flakes finely garlic chopped
1 green chilli chopped
EVOO to saute
Oregano and salt to taste

(For the sauce)
2 tbs barbeque sauce
¼ cup tomato ketchup
¼ cup tomato puree/paste
fresh basil leaves, torn
2 tbs water

What to do:

(Base)
1. Mix all ingredients for the base and work into smooth dough. Leave to rise in a drought free place.

(Topping)
2. Heat evoo in a wok. Stir fry vegetables starting with garlic, chillies and onions then adding the rest (except for the tofu). Add salt and oregano as per taste. Stir fry for only about a minute.

(Sauce)
3. In the same wok add the ingredients for the sauce and simmer for a minute.

(Assemble)
4. Punch out the risen dough and roll out till paper thin. Top with sauce, then vegetables and sprinkle the grated tofu all over. Bake in a 180°C preheated oven for 20 minutes then reduce heat to 100°C and bake for 20 minutes more till the base is crisp.

Oh Soy!

I saw this show on T.V. a while ago teaching you how to make soy milk and tofu at home without any fancy gadgets.

I was so fascinated by its ease that I bought 2kg of soy beans that very day. It was simple, you were supposed to soak the beans in water overnight and blend them with water the next day. After that you simply needed to push it through a cheesecloth and presto! Soy Milk!

You could boil that Soy milk with a little coagulant and voila! tofu! I did it for two days in a row, smug as ever about my great achievement. And then that evening my ego deflated.. big time. I fell ill. Got a disgusting nauseous feeling and I knew it had to be the tofu.

I did not want anything to do with tofu or soy milk for weeks. And then I read this article on Bryanna’s Blog. She clearly mentioned two critical things:1. Soak the beans in boiling water and 2. Boil the milk for about a half hour!

So the reason for the naueseousness was undercooked soy milk!
So I did it again.. only this time I did it right! wow I feel great! the tofu tasted even better than before and no nauseous feeling this time!

What I did:

took 2 cups of soy beans and soaked them in boiling water over night

next morning this is what happened; the beans just blew up!

Then I had to grind them first with a little water and then more water till I got this thick paste.. which I pushed through a cheesecloth, and that lovely amber liquid is the Soy Milk!

I had to wind the cheesecloth several times and completely squeeze out the soy milk till this is how the husk looked; completely dry. If you don’t feel like throwing this away, don’t! u can always use this as a replacement of soy protein in dishes.. but remember to cook for at least 1/2 an hour, because I learned the hard way, you don’t need to do that 🙂

You boil the lovely amber colored soy milk till it almost boils over on a high flame. Then reduce the flame to low and cook for about a half an hour, stir frequently. Turn off the flame.

When the milk is a little cool, turn on the heat again and add about 2-3 teaspoons of vinegar and see if it starts breaking up.. if it does, you don’t need to add more if it doesn’t, add more!
Push this through a cheesecloth and place in a colander and weigh down with any heavy object.

Once dry ease away from the cheesecloth, and behold! Tofu!

You can stop reading here and do you own thing with the tofu. You can store it in the refrigerator in a little water and be sure to change the water everyday. But if you want to know what I did with it.. read on!

I sliced them up.. it is a bit crumbly. I put some rice flour in a bowl and mixed it with a bit of salt and oregano and dipped the pieces of tofu in it.

and fried them. The reason I dipped them in rice flour is because it gives a wonderful crisp coating and at the same time rice flour absorbs less oil than wheat flour.

Drain them on paper towels.. OK I cheated. I coated pieces of cottage cheese with the same flour and flied them after I fried the tofu. Can u guess which is what?

These taste great with any kind of sauce. You can eat them just this way or do what I did above, stir fry them with veggies and any stir fry sauce! YUM!

What a day!