Chickpea Curry, Carrot Dal and Tofu Parmigiana
Hi everyone,
As we sink into the darkest time of the year, I hope you get a chance to slow down, take some time off and enjoy the little things. For me this week, that’s been cookies delivered to my door (thanks, Daniela!), persimmons that have finally ripened and phone calls with dear friends far away. Much-needed punctuation marks in a year that feels like a big long repetitive run-on sentence.
I started this newsletter on a whim in January, and this is my 29th issue (!). Is there anything you’d like to see in issue 30 and beyond? Let me know! And as always, send me your favourite plant-based recipes, takeout and ingredients so I can share them with the whole list.
Recipes I’ve tried
I really enjoyed this Mushroom Tempeh Stroganoff, which obviously is for mushroom lovers. And tempeh lovers, though it’s more tempeh-beginner-friendly than slabs are.
This Chickpea Cauliflower Curry is a cozy meal in a bowl. Next time, I’ll replace one of the cans of coconut milk with stock or water – it is very rich.
The grated vegetables in this Quick Carrot Dal are a nice touch, though I gave up on grating the onion in my old grater and chopped it instead. I skipped the radish pickle because I forgot to save the radishes we had bought, and I used a few slices of pickled jalapeños instead of the green chilies, which worked really well. It’s delicious with a side of naan.
For the sourdough groupies, these Sourdough Pumpkin Pancakes were excellent. They’re just lightly pumpkin-spice-y, and have really nice texture.
Recipes I want to try
I have my eye on this Gingerbread and Cranberry Tart, and the other recipes in the article look delicious, too.
Eric Vellend’s Tofu Parmigiana in the latest Food & Drink looks taaaasty.
Things that are recipe adjacent
Hannah Sung covered Chicago-based vegan Korean TikTok-er Joanne Molinaro in her newsletter At the End of the Day, which you should subscribe to. Recipes for vegan Korean food almost make me want to spend more time on TikTok.
Alicia Kennedy shared some tips on veganizing recipes.
I’m still figuring out the best uses for the sauces and seasoning salts I bought from local startup Zing. So far I’ve discovered that the chili crisp is excellent tossed with in-pod edamame, and the garlic spread goes really well with roasted potatoes.
Restaurants
We got takeout recently from Omusubi Bar Suzume, one of the food stalls at Dundas and Bathurst. The ume (salted plum) and shiso omusubi (aka onigiri) are excellent.
I’ve also had my eye on Meena Sharma’s Punjabi vegetarian takeaway since Suresh Doss mentioned her on Twitter, but she keeps selling out before I can get to it.
For those who like me have immense guilt about all the black plastic takeout containers, Unboxed Market has launched a zero-waste food delivery offering called Room Service. The catchment area is small so far but it looks like they’re planning to expand.
Gift ideas
Vegan Mexican restaurant La Bartola is selling some of its sauces on their own and in gift baskets. Plus tequila.
Flour company Almanac is selling bags of northern Ontario wild rice. One dollar from each bag sold goes to a social enterprise giving young Indigenous people opportunities to study science via outdoor education.
These lip balms sold at Unboxed Market are my favourite ever, even before considering that they’re made by a small business here in Ontario and packaged in paper tubes. Unboxed also carries plenty of other giftable beauty products, including plastic-free razors.
It’s not food, but it is good for your health, and one of the good things that has happened for me in 2020 is an actual almost-daily yoga practice (never achieved before in 25 years of doing yoga). The trick for me is to be realistic – I mainly do half-hour classes, and always in the morning when I have motivation. If you know someone who would benefit from endless excellent yoga videos, all ad-free, I recommend a subscription to Ekhart Yoga. And closer to home, a gift card to a local yoga studio or teacher who has online classes would be lovely as well. I’m a big fan of Darcie Clark, and YogaSpace on Ossington is offering both regular streaming classes and special themed workshops.
See you next time, and Happy New Year!
The footer
Eat More Plants is a weekly newsletter by Kat Tancock, sharing recipes and inspiration for vegetarian and vegan dishes, restaurants, products and more. Please reply with your own tips so I can include them in a future issue, and send this newsletter to your friends.
Missed an issue? View the archives online.
Looking for somewhere to eat? All my restaurant recommendations are saved in this Google Map.
Looking for something to cook? All previous recipe recommendations are saved on this Pinterest board.
Oh, and if you want, you can follow me on Instagram.