Fantastic Mango Dip.

There was a half mango left in my fridge and I it had to be a dip. So I made the best mango dip today, using three ingredients:

- half a very ripe mango
- few leaves fresh mint
- 1 tsp soy sauce 

Puree everything together, et voilá: creamy, fruity, fresh, luscious, colourful, fancy but ridiculous simple and quick. It's perfect for a lot of hearty, spicy dishes and fried stuff.

I ate it to fried tofu slices together with mashed potatoes (sprinkled with coconut bacon) and salad.

Mashed potatoes are one of the best things and I truly don't understand how it's possible that there are people who don't recognize the importance of mashed potatoes. To vary my mashed potatoes I cooked them today together with a kohlrabi. I had a purple one! They're very pretty (but look the same like the pale green ones, once you've peeled them).

- potatoes
- kohlrabi
- vegan butter
- salt
- rosemary
- soy or rice milk

Dice potatoes and kohlrabi (kohlrabi dices should be smaller than your potato dices) and cook in slightly salted water until very tender and almost overdone. Drain the water and mash with vegan butter, salt, rosemary and a splash of soy or rice milk until fluffy and creamy.

Fried tofu slices are also simple as hell: cut tofu into thin slices, marinate in soy sauce for a few minutes and then fry the slices in (olive) oil until the edges get golden brown and crispy. Some garlic is highly recommended.

There are lots of coconut recipes out there, I used this as an idea but I skipped the liquid smoke and used shoyu instead of tamari. AND: I made it in a pan, this version is a bit quicker. Just use a very slightly oiled pan on medium heat and stir very often.

Slightly spicy veggie stew.

This is a very hearty, slightly spicy, very satisfying, curry-ish stew.

- onion
- red curry paste
- carrots
- fresh spinach
- frozen edamame
- tahin
- fennu greek
- paprika
- soy sauce
- soy cream
- oil


Fry finely diced onion in a little oil until translucent. I used olive oil but use any oil you prefer.
Add some red curry paste to your taste, I only had half a teaspoon. If you like your food spicy use a bit more! Stir pretty well and add diced carrots. Add fennu greek and paprika, stirring all the time. 

Add some water, until the carrots are just covered. Let cook for a few minutes until the carrots are almost done, then add the very, very, very good cleaned spinach leaves. Stir, then cover your pot with a lid and let simmer for two minutes so the spinach will kind of wilt. 

Add the frozen edamame, a little bit tahin and soy cream (you can use coconut milk as well, I only had soy cream and it was really good), stir again and then season to taste with soy sauce.
The tahin makes the stew creamy and yummy, make sure to try it!

Orange-Sage Scrambled Tofu.

- 200g tofu

- piece of ginger

- some fresh leaves of sage

- 1 orange

- salt, pepper

- dash of smoked paprika (optional, use regular paprika otherwise)

- 1 tblsp oil

Heat the oil and fry crumbled tofu on medium heat. Grate a big piece of ginger and add together with salt, pepper and (if you have some) smoked paprika to tofu. Stir well.

Peel the orange and cut out the filets. This is way easier as it sounds, but you need a very sharp, big knife otherwise you'll just have a mushy lump of orange in your hand.

Then cut the sage into thin stripes and add together with orange filets to tofu, the tofu should already have some golden brown spots. Stir carefully and fry for another 5 minutes on medium to low heat.

Even if you don't have smoked paprika this dish has a warm hearty flavour by the sage, while orange and ginger give a fresh and fruity (but not very sweet) note.

I love scrambled tofu and always try new variations. Most of the time I don't have an idea beforehands, I just have the idea that I want scrambled tofu.

Of course I have a basic recipe, but sometimes I want a new flavor - then I'll throw in whatever I have in the kitchen and might be suitable. 

This was one of the best scrambled tofu variations I've ever had and I'll defintively keep that in mind. Yum!

Scrambled Tofu w/ Potatoes.

Potatoes and tofu are two of the best inventions ever!

- 1 large potato

- 200g tofu

- 1 tbsp margarine

- seasalt, fresh ground pepper, paprika, curry powder, vegetable broth

Grate the potato and fry for two minutes in margarine ( I didn't peel it. Depends on the potato.) Add crumbled tofu and fry for about 10 minutes on medium heat. Add spices to taste (I just used a hint of curry) and stir occasionally. That's it.

Potato-Carrot-Curry w/ Green Tomatoes

- red onions

- garlic

- carrots

- potatoes

- TVP flakes (or big chunks cut into strips)

- apricot-peach jam 

- green tomatoes

- corn starch

- cinnamon, paprika, curry powder, cumin, sugar, salt, pepper, vegetable broth

Like most of the time, I can't give you measurements. I used a big pot and I know that I used 2 litres of water, we had about 4 big portions (with rice).

Fry finely diced onions in 2 tablespoons oil until trunslucent. Add smashed garlic and spices and stir well for about 1 minute, make sure not to burn the spices.

Add a small cup of water and let boil this mixture for 2 minutes, stir occasionally.

Dice carrots and potatoes. Add 2 litres cold water to the onion mixture and immediately add carrots and potatoes, stir well and let cook.

When the water is boiling, add the TVP soy and green tomatoes ( I had quite small ones and just cut them into halfs, if yours are bigger ones cut them into quarters) and let cook for about 20 minutes. Add vegetable broth and maybe a bit more spices, as the TVP soaks a lot of flavour.

Add the apricot-peach jam and stir well. Mix 1 tablespoon corn starch with water and add to the boiling mixture while stirring well. A lot of stirring, hm? The mixture will thicken a bit and gets creamy, lower the heat and stir for another 5 minutes.

If you don't have green tomatoes, leave them. Red tomatoes are much sweeter and would add a totaly other flavour and might be to sweetish. On the picture you see my version without the green tomatoes, was also quite good, but I liked it much better with the green tomatoes. I had a tomato plant and the last fruits wouldn't turn red and as was end of October I thought that I maybe should use them and this curry was the result.

Serve with rice.

Braised Tomato Tofu w/ Lavender Potatoes.

400g tofu

1/2 chinese cabbage

1 small can tomatoes

2 carrots

red onion

garlic

1 teaspoon olive oil

vegetable broth

a bit orange juice

200g potatoes

1 teaspoon dried lavender

salt, pepper, rosemary, mint, light soy sauce

yoghurt (optional)

Cut the carrot and onion into dices, the cabbage into slices, smash tha garlic (as many cloves as you like, I used three) and put in a casserole with some water and the olive oil.

Cut tofu into slices and drape onto the veggies, sprinkle everything with soy sauce, rosemary, mint (I used fresh herbs) and a bit fresh ground pepper. 

Than pour the can peeled tomatoes over it and spread til everything is covered. Mix some vegetable broth with hot water (I used the empty tomato can, half filled with liquid) and add.

Bake everything in the open casserole for about 20min in the oven, gas mark 4. After 20min add a dash of orange juice and bake for another 15-20 min.

While the tofu braises in the flavoured tomatoes cook the potatoes with some salt and dried lavender. I used red potatoes and left the peel because it's less work and I like unpeeled potatoes a lot. Serve together and add some yoghurt or Tofutti sour surpreme to the potatoes, if you like.

Penne with chard and cherry tomatoes

Fried chard with cherry tomatoes and a little cheezly, served with penne: