This blog combines three of the things I love the most; Cooking, Crystal and cooking with Crystal! We spent a lot of our time while living together in New York making, talking about and going out to eat delicious cruelty-free cuisine and now that we're apart we spend equal amounts of time sharing delicious recipes! Sorry that I've been absent for a while. I don't have a functioning camera, and I hesitated to write until I had super beautiful, step-by-step pictures. I finally said, "Screw it!" and decided to finally add my first post. Hope you enjoy!
We make a great team, but each of us has our strengths. Crystal is the more creative one; no matter how broke we are, she can always whip something that looks and tastes amazing using random odds and ends in the kitchen. I'm more of a converter; I spent the first part of my vegetarianism-turned-veganism taking my favorite dishes and making them cruelty-free.
Did I mention that I'm half black? Well, I am (don't worry, I'll remind you constantly) and Soul Food is one of the ways I connect to and celebrate this part of my culture. I worried I would lose that connection when I first made the decision to cut meat from my diet. Soul Food is known for being high fat, sodium heavy and meat based and even attempting to veganize my some of my favorite dishes was a daunting and, in my veg-virginity, a completely unappetizing thought. But try, I did! Over the past five years I've transitioned from vegetarian to vegan, from a diet high in meat substitutes and processed food to one that is more natural and plant and grain based and I've finally come up with a dish that is humane, healthy and even more delicious than the salty, fatty, greasy ones of my youth.
Buffalo Tofu Chunks, Collard Greens and Cornbread
I decided to make this last week after I randomly purchased some pecan praline syrup from Big Lots and wanted to incorporate it into my buffalo sauce. I ended up using it in every single dish in this meal. Do not easily dismiss food from discount/dollar stores. Many of them have interesting international cookies, crackers and condiments some of which are all-natural AND vegan! The following also use two cheap and easy vegan cooking staples: No-Chicken Broth, hot suace and Earth Balance. As long as I have these two items and some produce I can make just about anything.
COLLARD GREENS
Prepare Crystal's collard greens recipe before making anything else. Collard greens are best enjoyed when they've been cooking for eons (or hours if you don't have that long!) I made mine exactly like this, EXCEPT that I topped them with three strips of Fakin'
once they were cooked.
CORNBREAD.
This is a combination of a recipe from theppk.com and my own experimentation. Ingredients from cornmeal to canola oil are from the website, but I took liberties with cook time and added a topping!
*2 cups cornmeal
*1 cup flour
*2 tbsp baking powder
*1/3 cup canola oil
*2 tpsp raspberry sherry vinegar
*2 tbsp Pecan Praline maple syrup
Topping:
*1 cup applesauce
*2 graham crackers broken up
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Whisk wet ingredients in large bowl
3. Mix dry ingredients together in medium bowl
4. Add dry ingredients to wet and pour mixture into greased 5x9 glass baking tray
5. Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown and passes "toothpick test"
6. Remove bread, top with broken up graham crackers, applesauce and a drizzle of the syrup
7. Bake for an additional ten minutes, or until glaze bubbles
BUFFALO TOFU CHUNKS
Sauce:
*1 package extra-firm tofu
*1 bottle hot sauce (I use both Frank's Red Hot and Sriracha Sauces)
*1 cup Earth Balance Natural Spread
*2TBSP Maple Syrup
Breading:
*1/2 cup flour
*1 cup crushed graham crackers
*1/2 cup cornmeal
*Desired seasonings (I used cayenne pepper, garlic salt and lemon pepper)
*4 cups soy milk
1. Drain package of tofu and let sit on paper towel to absorb moisture
2. While the tofu sits for a moment, mix flour, cornmeal and seasonings in a tupperware bowl with lid or a plastic bag
3. Crush graham crackers in a plastic bag and put in separate bowl from flour cornmeal
4. Pour soy milk into a separate bowl
4. Heat desired oil in either an old pot or a deep-fryer if you have one. I use an old pot, in which case I fill it about half way with oil that I reuse and heat on HIGH.
5. Cut tofu into desired chunks. I like my tofu a little crispier so I cut one block into about 12 strips and then cut those strips into halves.
6. Test your oil before step 7 as the tofu should go straight from breading to oil. I like to make a little dough-ball with flour and soy milk and wait for it to float to the top.
7. Take a handful of tofu chunks at a time. Coat them first in soymilk, then put them in your flour-cornmeal mixture. With desired container sealed, shake tofu strips so they are entirely covered in mixture. Dip briefly in soy milk again then immediately roll in crushed graham crackers. (It's important to make the transition from soy milk to graham cracker a fairly quick one, or you'll lose the first layer of breading. This double-dipping method is the result of years of deep-fried experimentation and failure. Any crackers or breadcrumbs will do, but I thought the graham crackers would be a nice compliment to the maple syrup.)
6. As Crystal mentioned in an earlier post, we found that coffee filters are a cheap and easy way to soak excess grease from the various things we like to fry. You can lay these out on a plate while the tofu is cooking.
7. In a microwave-safe bowl, heat earth balance for 30 seconds or until melted and combine desired amount of hot sauce (I used about 2 1/2 cups of Frank's and just a squirt of Sriracha) and maple syrup and mix with fork.
8. Using metal tongs, remove tofu from heat when breading has reached desired crispiness (about 5 minutes) and allow to soak on coffee filters or paper towels.
8. Once all tofu is cooked, toss the chunks into your buffalo sauce!
I was REALLY pleased with the taste the maple syrup gave everything. It made the cornbread taste "buttery," and gave the tofu chunks a rich after-taste and cut down on the spice.
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