Spicy Pineapple Coconut Curry Tofu! Whew!

Hello again, my lovelies! Hope you're all doing well and ready for your summer. The title of this post is definitely a mouthful. It was a delicious mouthful, though...I promise. I made it last night for dinner and thought I'd share with you.

Normally, I wouldn't make such a hot dish in 80+ degree weather, but you already know how it goes when I have a curry craving! It's the daggone Trini in me!  

So...a little backstory. This dish was inspired by a lunch date that I had with the hubbs about a month ago. We went to a vegan restaurant in Atlanta called Loving Hut, and he had some kind of veggie-coconutty-curry sauce dish thingy that he was having some kind of love affair with. It smelled amazing, and I made a mental note to make something similar at home. I gathered what I thought might make a similar dish and went into the lab! 

If you're new to tofu, it's made from soybeans. It has no taste/flavor, and basically takes on the flavors of whatever you season it with. You can scramble it, bake it, fry it, grill it, put it in smoothies and desserts...do whatcha like! I don't eat soy frequently anymore because of its high estrogen content, and the fact that most soy in this country is a GMO (genetically modified organism). However, when I do, I make sure it's non-GMO and organic. Got it? Cool. 

Everything was going perfectly...until I broke my own cardinal rule. More on that later. Here's how to make it.

Nikki's Pineapple Coconut Curry Tofu

Prep: 10 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

14 oz firm or extra firm organic tofu, drained 

2 Tbsp extra virgin coconut oil

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1/4 cup organic coconut cream or milk (not the carton stuff!) I use Native Forest brand

1/4 cup water

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

2 Tbsp curry powder (or to taste)

1 tsp ground cumin

2 Tbsp tamari sauce, divided in half

1 habanero pepper, chopped (or milder pepper if preferred)

4 Tbsp pineapple juice

4 Tbsp crushed pineapple

3 stalks green onion, chopped (including white part)

Himalayan or sea salt to taste

Fresh ground black pepper to taste

How to make it

*Heat oils in frying pan

*Press tofu between paper towels to remove extra moisture

*Cut tofu into 1 inch cubes

*Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper into frying pan, and sauté garlic until lightly browned.

*Remove garlic and place in bowl

*Place tofu in large frying pan and brown on both sides, about 5-7 minutes each side over medium heat

*While tofu is cooking, combine coconut milk, water, curry powder, cumin, pineapple and juice, habanero pepper, and 1 Tbsp tamari sauce in bowl. Whisk together.

*Transfer cooked tofu to bowl with garlic. Add chopped green onions and remaining tamari sauce. Combine well.

*Return tofu to pan and add sauce. Reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer for about 10 minutes to combine flavors. 

Serve with cooked brown rice, quinoa, couscous, potatoes...or in this case, I made rice noodles for the teenager. He was quite happy.

I have to admit...it came out pretty freaking good. I was feeling myself. Literally...I felt an eyelash or something go into my eye, and went to remove it. The burn that ensued was indescribable. I was pretty sure I had washed my hands after chopping the habanero pepper. After all, this wasn't my first hot pepper rodeo. I always tell my clients and my friends to wash their hands with soap after handling hot peppers. Thoroughly. None of that mattered at that moment because my right eye was on fire.  A quick spray of water later from my retractable kitchen faucet, and all was well again. The joys of being a chef =)

Until next time,

Love and Happiness,

Nikki

Allow Me To Introduce You Two

Hello again, my lovelies! I hope all is well in your world.

You guys already know that I'm on a mission to keep myself and you all on top of the best of health, beauty, fashion, and wellness. When I feel like something got past me, I get highly annoyed. What am I rambling about, you ask? Ok, ok. Allow me to introduce some of you to a sly little bugger who's been hiding in the shadows of my almond milk and coconut creamer. Now, I have to take some of the blame since I hadn't been making my own almond milk at home like I used to. Sometimes convenience is not worth it.

Carrageenan 

As I got into the habit of reading the labels of everything, I became confident at my ability to spot non-vegan and also unhealthy ingredients. Then I found out what 'natural flavors and colors' meant (that's a post for another day), and I was on extra alert. Soon, I noticed the ingredient "carrageenan" in my favorite old brand of store bought almond milk and also coconut creamer. Alarms went off and I decided to do some investigating. Now, I'm not an alarmist or extremist. I know I can't protect myself from every potential harmful exposure to food or environment. Yet, I want the ability to be made aware of what's being put into my food. 

After doing extensive research from many different sources, this is some of what I found:

"All told, I recommend avoiding regular consumption of foods containing carrageenan. This is especially important advice for persons with inflammatory bowel disease." Andrew Weil, M.D. (Source)

"...are a family of linear sulfated polysaccharides that are extracted from red edible seaweed. They are widely used in the food industry, for their gelling, thickening, and stabilizing properties. Their main application is in dairy and meat products, due to their strong binding to food proteins. Carrageenan is a vegetarian and vegan alternative to gelatin in some applications, although it cannot replace gelatin in confectionery like jelly babies.While some indicate that carrageenan safely passes through rat GI tracts without adverse effect when it is a dietary ingredient,^[2] other animal dietary studies have observed colitis-like disease and tumor promotion. (source: Wikipedia) 

"Research links the controversial food ingredient carrageenan to gastrointestinal inflammation, including higher rates of colon cancer, in laboratory animals." (Source: Cornucopia)

"Research from Joanne Tobacman, MD, professor at University of Iowa College of Medicine, scientist and carrageenan expert, discusses valid concerns that digestive enzymes and bacterial action convert high weight carrageenans to dangerous low molecular weight carrageenans and poligeenans in the human gut—linked to human cancers and digestive disorders. Tobacman’s evidence and conclusions are based upon human tissue samples, not animal studies." (Source)

So this is important not just for vegans like myself, but for anyone who consumes dairy products and may have digestive concerns...or want to prevent any! Yeah, that covers a lot of us.

Here's a shopping guide for you so that you can have alternative options. Go a step further. If you see your brand on this list that uses carrageenan, be vocal about it! Some companies have removed the ingredient because of increased consumer awareness and demand. I've switched from Blue Diamond to Silk Pure Almond, but I will be going back to making my own almond milk now. It's so easy and tastes so much better. I'll blog about it in the near future.

Well, the moral of the story is to research anything you don't recognize on labels or in recipes that you are putting into your body. Don't be Chicken Little and worry that the sky is falling, but just be aware! You and your family deserve the best.

Until next time.

Love & Happiness,

Nikki

Coconut Milk to the Rescue!

Hello my lovelies! What a summer! It is flying by. The kids are already back in school (that's how they roll in the south...no waiting for after Labor Day down here!), and I can feel the days starting to get shorter. Forget that! I decided to ignore all the signs that autumn is right around the corner by walking around the house in my bathing suit, making fruit juice cooler spritzers, sitting in my backyard under the umbrella beside my pretend pool, and of course...making pizza! When my sister and I were kids in Brooklyn, we'd have pizza pretty much every Saturday during the summer after going to our Girl Scouts meetings. Nothing on earth like NY pizza-hands down.
Just because I'm now vegan doesn't mean that I was going to give up my love of pizza...nope. I usually just make a tomato based one (see my last post), but this time I wanted some "cheesy" goodness.
I love coconut milk, and always have a can or three on hand (not the watered down refrigerated carton stuff, but the really creamy canned type. Just make sure your can is BPA free). There's usually fresh coconuts in the house as well. Native Forest is a canned brand that is both organic and BPA free.
I knew I could make a white sauce that would satisfy my "cheesy" desire using coconut milk, garlic, and other spices. I went on a hunt and...yes! I was finally inspired by the sauce in this recipe by Sweet Beet & Green Bean. Plus, it looked deeelicious!
Here you go.

Nikki's Spinach &Tomato White Sauce Pizza

White Sauce
2 garlic heads
1/2 cup organic canned coconut milk (see my note above)
Salt & pepper to taste

Crust
1 3/4 cup unbleached flour
1/4 cup oat flour (or you can just use 2 cups total unbleached all purpose flour)
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp dried oregano and rosemary
14 tsp allspice

Toppings
3 cups baby spinach
1 large onion,  chopped or sliced
1 cup kale, roughly chopped, stems removed
1 large vine ripened tomato, sliced
3 thyme sprigs

Sauté all in 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Ok, Now What?

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cut off tops of garlic heads. Brush with a bit of olive oil. Place on foil or baking sheet in oven for 45 min to an hour.
3. Make dough for crust. Mix yeast, sugar, allspice, oregano and rosemary in small bowl. Add warm water (not hot or you could kill the yeast...eek!). Within 5-10 minutes, it will proof, or foam.
4. Add olive oil and salt to yeast mixture. I used a mechanical sifter to add the flour to ensure adding slowly and evenly, but you can just make sure you add slowly. Add a bit of flour to counter, table, or cutting board and place dough onto it. Knead gently for about 30 seconds to 1 minute and form into a ball. Place in bowl, cover with towel and set in warm area to rise (this took an hour or so for me).
5. Sauté above veggies, except for sliced tomatoes. Lay tomato slices in pan after and gently heat each side for about a minute. Set veggies aside.
6. Take garlic out of oven after an hour, they should easily pop out of casings once cooled. Pour coconut milk into blender, add garlic cloves, salt and pepper. Blend until even.
7. Once dough is ready and about doubled in size, preheat oven to 450 degrees and lightly flour your hands. Place dough in baking pan (I used my pizza stone), and shape into a crust, shaping edge. Or you can be a fool like me and try to spin in the air as if you have that gift and dare it not to fall on the floor!! Ha ha. Thankfully, it didn't...and it was fun. 
8. Brush the pizza crust with about a tablespoon of olive oil and place in oven for about 10 minutes to lightly brown.
9. Remove crust from oven, pour coconut garlic sauce over crust and add all veggies except tomatoes. Layer tomatoes on top. Remove thyme leaves from sprigs by grasping with thumb and forefinger and using other hand to pull leaves off in opposite direction. Sprinkle over tomatoes.
10. Bake at 450-475 for another 10-15 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!!!

So? It was totally worth it! You could not taste the coconut milk at all...it just gave the sauce a creamy, cheesy texture and the garlic flavor was amazing. The crust was to die for. So easy and delicious. Soft and chewy and the edges slightly crisp...just how I like it. Great pizza...will add it to my arsenal. True to pizza form, it's even better the next day! If you try it, let me know.

That's it for now my lovelies! My first "Vegan Mommies" interview was completed and will post next. Enjoy the rest of your summer while you can. Until next time,

Love and Happiness, 

Nikki