November 10, 2011

Vegan-A-Day: Pan Fried Tofu Triangles with Soy-Sesame-Ginger Sauce

'Now I can look at you in peace; I don’t eat you anymore.' ~ Franz Kafka, while admiring fish in an aquarium

Almost every cuisine in the world boasts of many dishes that revel in their beautiful flavours of various veggies, fruits, seeds, beans and aromatic oils. Indian cuisine is no different, where for every 3 people, 1 is vegetarian. For ages, eating a satisfying plant cuisine is strongly imbibed into our traditional, every day food along with complex spice combinations.

Now, being a vegan is like taking a step further - living without meat or any kind of animal products. It is often a misconception that Veganism is like depriving yourself from what you love to eat. I think, all it needs is a little creativity to think beyond a plate of calorie-rich proteins.

When Harini threw the 'One Day Vegan' challenge at us, I wondered  What it’d be like to be a vegan, just for a day?. I was curious to know how does it feel like to live without eating any animal products (in my case, it is just milk with cereal for breakfast & yogurt/buttermilk at the end of every meal)? - A challenge that would put all my ideas to test and it really did!

I asked TH to do this challenge along with me, but let me tell you upfront: He is a die-hard-yogurt fan. With a lot of convincing, he agreed to this Vegan challenge with me. Our breakfast and lunch went well, just as planned, but by dinner time, he just couldn't stop himself from having that one glass of buttermilk! While, I went on to successfully complete my challenge. Yay! :-)

Here is our menu for the day:

Breakfast: Wholegrain Idlis with Sambar (Click here for the recipe)


Lunch: Pan fried Tofu Triangles with Soy-Sesame-Ginger-Sauce and rice (recipe follows)



Dinner: Roti and Nimbu Masoor Dal (made with Olive oil) (Click here for the recipe)

As a part of this challenge, Harini is also having a giveaway by collaborating with folks from Krya, whose main motive is to - "create natural, environmentally sustainable products that one can use around the home.Read more about them here, who they are and what they do. :-)

 Recipe: Pan Fried Tofu Triangles with Soy-Sesame-Ginger Sauce


Ingredients:

200 gms of tofu (I got mine from M K Ahmed, Bangalore - Ka Kim's variety)
2 tbsp canola oil
salt and pepper
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced

For Soy-Sesame-Ginger Sauce -

2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp chilli sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp water
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp sesame seeds, lightly toasted

Preparation:

1. Place the tofu on a cutting board and a bowl with filled water on it (for 10-15 mins). Make sure the pressure is not too much which can crumble the tofu. Pat it dry with a paper towel. Cut into triangles.

2. Season the tofu triangles on both sides with salt and pepper and then spread each side with some garlic.  Lightly coat the slices with the flour.



3. Heat oil in a skillet and add these flour coated tofu pieces. Cook on both sides, until slightly crisp golden brown. Set them on paper towels, to drain off the excess oil.


4. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients listed for Soy-Sesame-Ginger sauce. Make sure you have a balance of flavours and neither of them is too over-powering.

5. Drizzle some sauce on the tofu triangles and Serve with rice on the side. Yum!

Verdict: One thing I realised is that, it is not that hard to be a vegan, especially for we, Indians. It is a way of life, once has chosen to live and I commend them for that choice. Truth to be told, I really really missed my tangy buttermilk with ginger & coriander, which I am so used to having at the end my dinner. Time to get inspired from Lataji and make her 'Vegan Moarkuzhambu' I guess. :-). Thanks Harini for this challenge, now I know, how & what it feels like to be You, even though it was just for a day! Kudos.

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10 comments :

  1. Love the tofu triangles! lovely pictures Siri!

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  2. I guess being vegan is not tough for Indian Vegetarians .. Most of our south Indian dishes are all vegan but like you said, giving up on buttermilk n curd rice is very difficult n not to forget ghee with some Rasam :)

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  3. Gorgeous ..... I m in love with ur Tofu click....

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  4. Excellent Siri! These tofu triangles sound a fab idea!

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  5. Fabulous pictures... delicious..

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  6. Siri, I am floored! By the pictures as well as the recipe. Love the clicks of the tofu triangles! Thanks for the great entry.:)

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  7. Siri..looks great...I do shop in MK ahemed..

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  8. This sounds great! Way to rise to the challenge =)

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  9. Like the tofu! Probably the only thing is to give up milk for me.

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  10. Lovely Siri - So heartening to read about your effort to convince your husband and work out recipes to try out the one day vegan challenge.

    The recipes look awesome as well - have your tofu triangles on my "to try" list .

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'Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it' ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Siri

 
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