The Perfect Lunch for Work

It's been awhile since my last post, and I have gone through many changes in my life over these past few months. For starters, I began working again after a 2.5 year break. If you are like me, the first question that comes to mind: what am I going to take to work for lunch? I am personally not a fan of buying lunch everyday. Regardless of how subsidized the food may be in your corporate cafeteria, or how many creative options you have around your workplace, nothing beats a home made lunch in terms of taste and cost.

Sandwiches are a standard take to work type lunch, but they don't have to be boring. During my second week of work, I made a fantastic sandwich that I ate all week, and could continue to eat everyday because it was jam packed with flavor, textures and color. The arugula and cucumber offers freshness, the mushrooms and tofu give some chewiness, the toasted bread gives crunch, and the hummus adds moisture and tang. I have the luxury of a toaster and toaster oven at work, but even if you don't, this is a great cold sandwich as well. I brought all items in separate containers, toasted the bread, warmed the tofu and mushrooms in the toaster oven, and assembled the sandwich.

I usually make my own hummus, but I just did not have the energy, so I bought a prepared hummus from the grocery store. I have tried quite a few different brands, and nobody can beat Sante Fontaine brand hummus. I am still trying to mimick their texture and flavor in my own hummus! They have been able to mesh together the perfect smoothness, tanginess, and a nice light garlic flavor, which is great bonus when you are taking it to work!

The picture below is an actual sandwich sitting on my desk at work. yum!


Arugula, mushroom, hummus sandwich

1 tbsp olive oil
10-12 cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp brown sugar
salt to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
8 slices of extra firm tofu, 1/2 inch slices
Fresh, rye or light rye sourdough bread
Prepared hummus (Sante Fontaine brand is recommended)
Organic baby arugula
Cilantro
Thin sliced cucumbers

Marinade for tofu

1/4 cup soya sauce
1 tbsp vietnamese chilli sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
Fresh squeezed lime juice from 1/2 of a lime

Directions
1) Mix together marinade ingredients and place in a deep dish pan. Lay tofu slices in this marinade and with a spoon, pour marinade over tofu. Let this sit in the marinade for at least 30 minutes. 1 hour is ideal. Set aside.
2)Heat oil in a saucepan and add mushrooms, salt to taste and sugar on medium heat.
3) When the mushrooms heat up, they will begin to sweat and cook through.
4) Allow the mushrooms to cook in their own juices until most of the liquid has evaporated. Set the mushrooms aside.
5) In a separate pan (ideally a cast iron pan), heat oil and place marinated tofu slices in the hot oil over medium heat.
6) Flip tofu slices once the first side browns. Allow second side to brown and set aside.
7) Toast bread to your liking and spread hummus very generously on both sides of the bread. Layer ingredients in this order: mushrooms, tofu, cucumber, arugula, cilantro.

Enjoy!!!

Thought that you would never like eggplant?

Have you ever found those little mini eggplants at the market and wonder what you can do with them? Probably not, but now if you ever see them in the grocery store, hopefully this post will entice you to pick up a few and make this stuffed eggplant recipe.

Instead of baking these eggplants in the oven, I steam them. Steaming the eggplants allows for quicker cooking and ensures that your eggplant stay soft, and come out almost creamy. This is a great side dish if you are making a dal and rice dinner, or even with some chapati/rotis and a really good, hot mango pickle, yum!

Ingredients

2 tbsp ghee or unsalted butter
1 cup of raw mixed nuts such as peanuts, cashews and walnuts, ground fine in a coffee grinder
1/2 cup chick pea flour (besan)
1 tbsp salt (add more or less to your taste)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin powder
8-10 small eggplants

Directions

1. Heat ghee/butter in a pan on medium heat.
2. Add ground nuts and chick pea flour.
3. Stir around constantly to prevent burning.
4. Once the mixture has lightly browned in color (probably takes about 10 minutes), turn off heat and add all spices. Mix well. Set aside to cool.
5. You have two choices for cutting the eggplants for stuffing. You can either make two cuts cross wise almost all the way through the eggplant's length, and stuff each eggplant, or cut each eggplant in half lengthwise and spoon as much filling on top as you can.
6. Fill a large pot so that the water comes up about 3/4 of an inch. Place your stainless steel steamer in the pot, and carefully place each eggplant in the steamer. Be careful not to spill any filling!
7. On high heat, cover the pan and steam for about 15 minutes, until the eggplants are cooked through.

Yum!

Little Asian Treasures....

These fantastic, guilt-free, savoury treats came about on accident. I was staying with a friend of mine in Toronto, and she had this 'moms in the area' meet n greet type event one Friday night. It was an appetizer potluck, so she wanted a suggestion for something simple and tasty. I recommended making bite sized tofu 'quiche'.

One of the ingredients to make the crust part is wonton wrappers, which the grocery store conveniently ran out of that day. So I bought phyllo pastry instead.

Okay, long story short, I was concerned with using phyllo as the crust in the mini muffin tin, in fear that it wouldn't crisp up. So instead I made little pocket type things, brushed with lots of butter. I can't remember why we changed up my standard spinach tofu filling, but we did and it turned out great! Now these are somewhat time intensive, but if you are looking to impress and have the extra time, they are well worth the effort.

Ingredients

Crust
8 sheets of phyllo pastry
melted butter

Filling
2 tbsp cooking oil
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 onion, finely diced
1/2 carrot, finely diced
1 bell pepper, finely diced
1 block of firm tofu, crumbled finely with your fingers
1/2 bag of spinach, washed well and finely chopped
3 tbsp soya sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp Vietnamese chilli sauce
2 tbsp good quality sesame oil

Directions:

1. Start the filling first. In a large pan or wok, heat the oil on high heat.
2. Add ginger and onion and reduce to medium heat.
3. When onions soften (about 3 minutes), add carrot and put on medium low heat covered for 5 minutes.
4. Uncover and add bell pepper and cook for another 3 minutes.
5. Increase heat to medium high and add tofu and spinach. Mix this up until the spinach has wilted.
6. Reduce heat to medium low and add all seasonings except sesame oil. Adjust the flavors to your liking.
7. Remove from heat and mix in the sesame oil. Set this mixture aside uncovered to allow the steam to release.
8. Generously brush 4 sheets of phyllo with butter and layer on top of one another. Cut into about 3-4 inch squares.
9. Add a tablespoon of the mixture in the middle of each square.
10. Now for each square, cover the filling by bringing up the corners of the square, and giving it a good solid pinch to create a little 'sack' of yumminess! Keep pinching until it stays. You may rip a few, don't worry - these are for you to enjoy!
11. Continue the filling process until you have created as many appetizers as you would like. Leftover filling can be eaten on its own, and leftover phyllo can be used by making baklava!
12. Bake the little appetizers in a 350 degree F oven for about 15 minutes, until they are crispy and golden. I would try to serve these fresh out of the oven if possible.

Restaurant Review #5 - Bloom Cafe - Toronto, Ontario

So an out of town friend of mine was visiting Toronto one weekend. Like me, she is vegetarian, so I thought I could take her to a vegetarian joint in town. I would normally take any Toronto newbie to King's Cafe, but they are renovating for a couple of months, so I thought I would try Vegetarian Haven, located on Baldwin Street. So we decide to meet at the restaurant on a Saturday at 1pm. No big deal. Until I get there and realize that they don't open until 2pm.

Now, what restaurant opens up on a Saturday afternoon at 2pm, and not for Saturday lunch? I was very annoyed. But, I think it worked out for the better, because I noticed price increases on their menu, and that did not make me happy either. If any Vegetarian Haven owners are reading this, please have some sense and open up your restaurant for lunch on Saturdays!

Anyhow, it wasn't that big of a deal since we were on a strip where there are at least a dozen or so restaurants. One small cafe caught my eye. I had never seen it before, so we decided to try it out. It is called the Bloom Cafe. Really nice, simple decor, but no music. Silence. Also, it was empty. That usually worries me, but I decided to give it a try anyways (mainly because I am not a major fan of most of the Baldwin Streets restaurants).

My friend and I ordered a FABULOUS tea called Quite Pink. Apparently this cafe is known for their blooming teas and using flowers like globe amaranth . They pre sweeten with tea with honey and some sort of pomegranate flavor that the lady would not tell me about.

For lunch, we had miso soup, onigiri and tofu pitas. The miso soup was good, but nothing spectacular. Tasted like the miso soup that I make at home from miso paste. Onigiri are these japanese rice triangles filled with various fillings. I picked avocado/cucumber and kimchi. It was alright, al little bland for my palate. Finally the tofu pita was fantastic. The sauce on the tofu made this whole pita. It tasted like a mix of miso paste, chili paste, ginger, soy, and something a little sour.

Overall, it was a good meal, not great. I would go back to try other things on their menu, in particular, the teas! One great thing about the food at Bloom, is that it is not heavy at all. We were definitely full, but we did not feel bloated or super, can't walk type of full.

This restaurant is not fully vegetarian, but very veg friendly!

Bloom Cafe
45 Baldwin St.
Toronto, Ontario
www.bloomtea.ca

The Magic called...Curry Leaves!

Many of you have probably never used or even seen a curry leaf before. Also known as kadi patta, and limbdo, if you can get fresh ones, they are very fragrant, lemony leaves that you can throw into curries and soups. I love them. But, they are ever so hard to find unless you know of a very well stocked Indian grocery store.

You do need to be careful with these leaves. Each leaf punches a lot of flavor, so you don't want to over do it. I particularly like them in dals (Indian lentil soup) and potato curry. I have not experimented with curry leaves in non-Indian foods, because I can rarely get my hands on them, but I am sure with the right combination, they would be fabulous.

Here's my all time favorite dal recipe, but even this lentil, called toor dal is somewhat difficult to find unless you can get to an Indian grocery store.

Ingredients

1 cup toor dal
3 cups water
2 medium sized tomatoes, diced
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
salt
1 tsp turmeric
6 curry leaves
2 tsp coriander powder
lemon
cilantro

Directions:
1. Boil dal in the water until very soft and mushy. Feel free to add more water if necessary. Should take about 40 minutes to cook through.
2. In a large heavy bottomed pot on high heat, add oil. Once oil is hot, add mustard and cumin seeds. When they start to pop, add the tomatoes and stir quickly to prevent splattering.
3. Reduce to medium heat, and add some salt, curry leaves,turmeric, coriander powder. IF you have cayenne pepper or a hot green chillie, throw 'er in if you want some spiciness to this dal.
4. Once tomatoes are mushy, add the cooked dal and increase the heat to high. Add some additional water if you feel it is too thick. The thickness of this dal all depends on your preference.
5. Let this boil for about 10 minutes. Turn heat off and add some more salt to your taste and lemon.
6. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy!

This dish goes really well with some basmati rice, and is perfect for a chilly winter's day!

Perfect Basmati Rice without the Rice Cooker

Some people swear by their rice cooker, but I have never had one and don't find the need for one. I would rather save precious kitchen cupboard space for a Vita-Mix or even a food dehydrator!

Basmati rice is of long grain type, and is the kind that I use most often. I use it mainly when I am making an Indian or Persian meal, and would use a jasmine rice for Thai or Chinese.

I have been cooking Basmati rice by this method for years, it is very difficult to mess up. The presoak cuts the cooking time of the rice, and also creates a nice, fluffy, distinct grain of cooked rice.

Ingredients

1 cup basmati rice, washed 3 times
1.5 cups water
1 tsp salt
1 bay leaf

Directions
1. Soak rice for at least 10 minutes. 1 hour is ideal.
2. Put all ingredients into a heavy bottomed pot on high heat until it begins to boil.
3. Lower the heat to super low (on a scale of 1-10, the heat should be on 1). Fully cover the pot with its lid.
4. Allow the rice to cook for about 12 minutes, then taste a few grains from the top of the rice. If it is cooked to your liking you are done! If not, check if there is any water left at the bottom of the pot by tilting it. If there is no water left, add a few tablespoons and cover the pot for another 5 minutes. It should be cooked by this point.

Hot, fluffy, fresh basmati - yum!

Roasted Tomato Garlic Bell Pepper Soup

Red, orange and yellow bell peppers become sweet, smooth, and soupalicious, once they are roasted in the oven. Their flavors concentrate into these sweet melt in your mouth morsels.

This particular soup also makes use of roasted tomatoes and garlic, the perfect combination with the roasted bell peppers. I dont even put any salt or pepper in this soup. I just roast, peel, blend and serve. Such simple ingredients, and so good!

Ingredients

4 tbsp olive oil
4 tomatoes, cut in half
3 bell peppers, cut into large chunks
1 head of garlic, with a slice off the top to expose the top of each garlic clove

Directions
1. Toss all ingredients with the olive oil and place in a large casserole dish, with the flesh side face down. Make sure the garlic head gets a decent drizzle of oil as well.
2. Roast at 375 degrees F for about 45 minutes, or until bell peppers are soft and the skin is starting to char.
3. Remove from oven. At this point, you can either throw the tomatoes and peppers into the blender, or you can remove the skins of the tomatoes and peppers and then into the blender.
4. Carefully pick out the softened cloves of garlic and put these in the blender too.
5. Blend away until super smooth, and serve while it is still hot! Otherwise, heat on low heat then serve.