Tofu Korma

Indian food is great stuff to veganize at home! Most of it is already vegetarian or very veg friendly and just needs to have coconut milk and Earth Balance substituted for ghee or yogurt. Once you master Indian food you have full license to sit back and smugly update your facebook status with comments about how you've successfully ventured into international cuisine and that you're instagram photos of food are actually... interesting.

Cooking Soundtrack:  Rudra - Asura Mardhini

You will need:
1 frying pan
Non-GMO canola or grape seed oil for sauteing
1 package extra firm tofu, pressed
1/2 yellow or sweet onion, chopped
1 can tomato sauce
1/3 can light coconut milk
scant 1/4 cup earth balance
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 inch fresh ginger, minced
1 cup brocolli florets
1/4 cup green peas
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t coriander
1/2 t turmeric
1 T garam masala
1 T chili powder
1 T lemon juice
dash of sea salt
dash of cayenne pepper
black pepper to taste
(optional) cooked rice to serve with your Korma

*Don't forget to press the water out of your tofu or it will taste watery and bland.*

First of all, don't be intimidated by the length of the ingredients list. Most of it consists of spices and you can throw them all in the skillet in no time. If it gives you peace of mind, just put them all in a small bowl before you start cooking and then throw it all in the skillet later.

Start by chopping your onion into little pieces and saute it in a tablespoon of oil in your frying pan on medium-low heat. While that's cooking, mince your garlic & ginger and toss these into the frying pan, too. When the onion is almost translucent it's time to pour in the tomato sauce and coconut milk. This mixture is going to look a little weird at first but as it cooks it will start to turn reddish brown and resemble a curry. Stir it up! If the tomato coconut mixture starts to pop and splatter at this point, you need to turn down the heat just a tad. 

Now dump in all of your remaining spices and stir them in, doing your best to keep them from sticking to your spatula. If you're using frozen vegetables, toss them in now. If you're using fresh vegetables, wait about 5 minutes so they don't get too mushy. 

Adjust your heat to medium so that your korma gradually starts to pop and boil. Once it reaches this temperature, turn the heat down a little bit so that it doesn't make a mess by splashing korma all over your stovetop. You want just a little bit of bubbling. Toss in your tofu now.
If you are using a rice cooker, now would be a good time to turn it on since your korma will be done in about 18 - 20 minutes.
After another 5 minutes, add your Earth Balance. For some reason, it tastes better if you add the Earth Balance near the end of the cooking process. Stir it in slowly. No need to fuss over it, it will melt eventually. Add your lemon juice a couple minutes before turning off the heat. You'll know it's done when the korma is a nice brownish red color and tastes good!

Serve it over rice.

Photos coming shortly.

**Another great Indian metal band is Bhairav but they don't have an album out yet. I found a video of them on youtube with poor sound quality but you can still tell they totally rock.

Next cooking class: Sunday, June 23rd in Hollywood, CA.

Celery Root Hash

This bizarre-looking root is actually quite delicious! Don't be fooled by its knobby, Harry Potter-ish appearance. It's available in most grocery stores in the muggle world but unless you have real magic powers you are going to have to shred the heck out of it in a food processor. Now get those blades goin' and get this thing cookin!

Soundtrack: Iron Maiden - Flash of the Blade

You will need a chef's knife, paring knife, food processor with a grater, frying pan and vegetable peeler.

Ingredients:

1 large celery root, peeled and grated

½ onion, diced

dash of salt and pepper

1 T sage

2 T olive oil or non-gmo canola oil

1 clove garlic

Don't be scared. You can do this!

Directions:

Start by peeling the whole celery root with a vegetable peeler, and then cut off any remaining knobby parts with a paring knife. Next, use a chef's knife or paring knife to cut the celery root into pieces small enough to be run through your food processor. Set your food processor on the largest grating setting you have and grate all of the celery root.

Next, dice your onion into very small pieces.

Begin sauteing your celery root in about 2 T of oil on medium heat. Add the sage and salt and pepper to taste. Saute for 10 minutes, slowly stirring the celery root in the pan.

Now, add the onion and garlic and turn the heat up to medium high until the celery root begins to brown. Let the celery root brown and darken on one side, then turn it so that the other side can darken. Most of the celery root should be browned after about 10 minutes of cooking.

Serve hot with gravy.

*Celery root is also really good in Cajun food and Thanksgiving dressing/stuffing.