🌱Eat More Plants: Issue #31
Welcome to the last week of February. I hope your cozy winter meals have been delicious.
Recipe roundup
I really enjoyed this Honey, Soy and Ginger Braised Tofu recipe from Meera Sodha. I used an apple instead of a pear. Next time I would reduce the sauce before adding the tofu back in. I think you could bake the tofu instead of frying it and it would still be tasty.
I’m on a marmalade kick, and a reducing-food-waste kick, so I tried this recipe for marmalade using orange peels. It turned out, but I do recommend following one commenter’s advice and cooking the peels for a lot longer before adding the sugar if you want them to be soft, not chewy.
I made the Smitten Kitchen take (chickpeas instead of pasta) on a baked feta and tomatoes recipe that’s apparently been going around on TikTok, so maybe you’ve made it already? Mine ended up too watery, which I think is the fault of the fancy goat feta I used. But a lot of people rave about it, so I would try again. It is very fast to make.
I also made Smitten Kitchen’s Mushroom Bourguignon recipe, mostly so I could crack a can of red wine, but also to go with a big bag of noodles in our cupboard.
I came across some cheese curds and combined them with miso gravy (my recipe is from Fresh) and home fries for some excellent vegetarian poutine. Drop the cheese and you have vegan fries and gravy, also delicious. The gravy recipe makes lots, so halve it if you think you might not get through it all.
From the archives, repeated in my kitchen recently: David Lebovitz’s Cream of Cabbage Soup, this kale salad with apples, this other kale salad with pumpkin seed oil and pumpkin seeds (but not peaches, lately), and this super simple but always satisfying red lentil soup.
In food delivery news
Yesterday for lunch I had the mushroom-tofu banh mi with a side of slaw and a matcha-pandan-coconut iced latte from Rustle and Still, and you should too.
We’ve done a couple of dinner “experiences” from La Bartola, and they’re a lot of fun. There is enough food in one meal for “two” for at least two meals.
The cauliflower and falafel sandwiches at Tut’s Egyptian Street Food are very enjoyable.
We got a dinner kit from Azhar for Valentine’s Day that was extremely good (and also lasted us more than two meals). They’re mostly doing bread, dips and other to-go items right now, but you can’t go wrong with those, either.
Chef Ken Yau makes really good Mapo Tofu dumplings, and delivers them frozen to your house, no less.
Next on my list is Tsuchi Cafe, a new vegan Japanese place on College. (We tried their mochi truffles and they were 😍.) I’ve got my eye on the “chicken” karaage and the matcha tiramisu.
I’m also planning to do an order for pickup from Natural Japan Eats. Once upon another lifetime I had her rhubarb mochi at the Brickworks and it was extremely good. And the nearest pickup location to me is Musoshin Ramen, which has a few different vegan dishes I also want to try.
If items like vegan caramel corn, s’mores and cinnamon rolls are on your wish list, try Just Plant It, and let me know how they are.
Reading list
It’s disappointing, but not surprising, to learn that Canadian dairy cows seem to be dining on palm oil. I would be a lot happier with more transparency in our food system. (Read more about the environmental and ethical problems associated with the palm oil industry here, in The Guardian.)
Fast Company covered some efforts to combat the food waste problem.
This is a good roundup of some cold-weather vegan meal ideas.
Until next time!
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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.
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