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.