Peanut Curry Tacos Because Taco Cleanse

Good evening and welcome to Blog Update After Two Gin And Tonics Night! Now that I've "achieved" "adulthood," just two cocktails can make for some pretty entertaining VEGAN MOFO so let's get this party started like we're 25 and we're up past our 10 pm bedtime!!

I have little to say about this dish, other than obviously it combines three of my favorite things - curried tofu, peanut butter and tacos. This is pretty simple and quick(assuming you don't regularly spend 20 minutes looking for spices like I do), and tasty to boot, so I'm pretty proud of this dinner. Perfect for the working mom!

#joke #neverhavingchildren

(headlamp edition because it's dumpster night)

Here's the stuff you'll need for these yumtown tacos (serves 2-3 because #singlelady and #leftovers):

1/2 small/medium onion, chopped
2 Tbl olive oil
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp thyme
1 Tbl curry powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbl Texas Pete or other Louisiana style hot sauce of choice
1/2 a crown of broccoli, chopped
1/4 block extra firm, well-pressed tofu
2 Tbl nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 Cup chopped red cabbage
2 Tbl natural peanut butter
1/4 Cup coconut milk
also corn tortillas #duh
fresh cilantro

Get yourself a medium-sized cast iron skillet, and heat 2 Tbl olive oil in it over medium heat for about a minute. Toss in your onions and sauté for about 5 minutes. Toss in the cayenne pepper, paprika, thyme, curry powder, black pepper and salt, chili powder and garlic powder and mix thoroughly. Stir over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes. Add the hot sauce and stir to mix evenly.

Next, add your chopped broccoli and sauté for another 5 minutes. Toss in the tofu and make sure everything is evenly coated with spices.

Once evenly coated, add your nutritional yeast coat evenly. Toss in the red cabbage and stir another 3 minutes. Finally, stir in the peanut butter until it is homogeneously mixed throughout the veggies. Stir in the coconut milk and cook on medium heat another 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool.While you're at it, heat the tortillas using a small skillet (no need for oil or butter here) over medium heat for about a minute at a time, then flip.

Spoon the mix onto freshly toasted tortillas, and top with fresh cilantro. Need I even say it? Best paired with a freshly cracked PBR.

(Side note: these are good for boosting morale after a highly unsuccessful dumpster dive. It sucks that you can't hit the jackpot every time.)

Simple Green Curry Soup

GRACIOUS ME do I love anything curry. Green curry, what will we do with you? I am in love. For life, green curry. I am yours for life.

So this post is less of a recipe and more of a love letter to green curry. I do love making my own curry paste from time to time, but this wasn't a cooking-intensive day so we shall save that recipe for another time.

Here's how I made this soup-for-one. It is literally easy. Literally.

Stuffs:

1 clove minced garlic
2 small yukon gold potatoes, washed and chopped
1/2 carrot, sliced
a couple stalks cauliflower, chopped
1/3 package tofu, drained and pressed
1 T green curry paste
1 tsp yellow curry powder
1/2 C spinach, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 C coconut milk
1/2 C almond milk
1/2 C water

Bring oil to a current over medium-low heat, then saute garlic. Add potatoes and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Add carrots, cauliflower and tofu, followed by curry paste and other spices, and stir to coat veggies evenly. Cook veggies another 5 minutes, stirring frequently, then add the spinach and cook another 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then add coconut milk and simmer for 5 minutes. Finally, add almond milk and water, and simmer until evenly heated throughout.

Green curry, I'm not sure I could love you more. One of the most delicious meals I have ever had in my life (this is a very serious matter) was the green curry soup at Roots, on Bardstown Rd. in Louisville. I spared no emotion in relating my feelings to my server, Guy, who seemed to appreciate my appreciation. I feel silly just simply saying "it was a spiritual moment" -- I wanted to go buy Guy a Christmas present. I felt like we were friends. I almost got him hot pink socks from Urban Outfitters.

I confess, I was simply trying to replicate this soup tonight. Of course, it couldn't hold a candle, but I offer you this poem, green curry soup, as a token of my love for you.

He Wishes For the Cloths of Heaven

W.B. Yeats

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams, green curry soup.

Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

In autumn, I could eat squash like ice cream.

Wait, that’s false. Squash is not like ice cream. It’s squash. Acorn squash, actually, is a winter squash, closely related to zucchini and yellow crookneck squash (RIGHT?!). But it is, indeed, buttery and delicious on its own.

Let me also preface this recipe by mentioning that I made this curried kale and quinoa dish to enjoy while watching the MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES kick some Oklahoma City ass this past week. That’s right ladies. My old boys from the dirty south are tops in the league right now, and Memphians are geeking out like their 3rd-chair-trombone boyfriend just won homecoming king. “FINALLY THE WORLD UNDERSTANDS!”

So first preheat your oven to 350. Then work on your curry. Here’s what you’ll need:

1 acorn squash
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 an onion, chopped
1 tsp green curry paste
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 can coconut milk
1 cup chopped kale (or however much your body needs, depending upon your level of hangover. I mean what.)
1 cup cooked quinoa
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp cumin
sriracha to taste (we’ll call this one “optional” though we know it’s not really “optional”)

Begin by sauteing the onions and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until translucent, about 3 minutes.

OH, but first you need to stick your squash in the oven, once its preheated. Slice the top off first, and save it for a rainy day. Scoop out any stringy parts or seeds in the cavity and stick that sucker in. If you are scared of squash, it being so vegetable-y and all, feel free to coat the inside with a thin layer of Earth Balance. But this really shouldn’t be necessary. Remember: ice cream.

Back to the curry. Once the onions/garlic are ready, add the spices - the paste and the curry powder, along with the cumin. Cook for a minute or so, until the paste gets bubbly. Add the chopped kale and cook 5 minutes. Finally, add the coconut milk and let simmer for 10 minutes, covered.

Once your squash is ready (it should roast for about 20 minutes total), remove it from the oven and scoop out a copious amount of the flesh, in order to fashion a bowl. Use this squash for a topping to your curry (or eat it NOW). Fill your bowl with the quinoa curry, dot with sriracha, and watch your homeboy Tony Allen do what he do.

Check here for daily updates on the Grizz - Three Shades of Blue is one of my favorite Grizzlies blogs!

Cashew Curry Tofu

Curry is my favorite dish IN the world. Normally I use a canned paste or make my own, but this one was a lazy curry so I just used curry powder.

Heat rice to a roiling boil then cover and simmer. Meanwhile, sauté onions and garlic until translucent. Add diced potatoes and cover, let simmer 15 minutes. Add lightly fried tofu (fatty!) and stir a few minutes. Add half a can (or however much you’re in the mood for), of coconut milk, raisins, cashews and curry powder. Cover and simmer another 15 minutes. Serve hot over rice.