This basic Japanese curry is a weekly staple at our house. At first, I hesitated to share this "recipe" (I say that because it's very easy), but I decided to go ahead with it when I thought about our vegan/vegetarian friends. Most of them are musicians, some are broke, but they're all always hungry or at least down for some curry. The reason this is the "hungry musician's curry" is because 2 people can eat off of this for 2 or 3 days and it's cheap. When we're feeling pressed for time or cash; we run into the store, grab curry mix, canned vegetables and a fresh onion before rushing back home. It's also a meal you can toss together to impress lots of people, really quickly and on a dime. It smells incredibly inviting. Don't feel embarrased if someone catches you with your face over the simmering curry, inhaling its fragrant fumes. If you're afraid of traditional curry, this is a great place to start. Japanese curry isn't as jarring as some Indian curry can be (though I do love them all). Serve this with steamed rice and soy sauce and you've got quite a meal.  

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pkg Extra Firm Tofu, drained
• Veg Oil, for frying
• 1 large Onion, sliced
• 3 T Veg Oil, for sautéing
• 2 1/2 c Carrots, sliced (or 2 cans)
• 2 1/2 c Potatoes, sliced (or 2 cans)
• 3 c Water
• 1 pkg S&B Golden Curry Sauce Mix (Mild or Medium)
• 2 c Prepared Steamed Rice (or more depending on how many servings you'll need)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Fry Tofu in Oil on MEDIUM HIGH until golden. Set aside.
2. Sauté Onion in 3 T Oil until translucent. Also, this would be great time to start your rice.
3. Add Potatoes and sauté for 1 min.
4. Add Carrots and Tofu.
5. Add 3 c Water.
6. Increase temperature to HIGH and allow everything to boil.
7. Once water is boiling, add the curry mix and throughly incorporate all ingredients.
8. Once curry mix is dissolved, simmer for 15 min.
9. Set aside for 5 min and serve with steamed rice while hot.

There's a famous ranch in Texas called King Ranch. I've never been but I'm certain (after a bit of research) that this is where this casserole was "born". My mom used to make this when I was in highscool and it was so good. I know I said we wouldn't make Mexican again, but this is purely Texan food. This cassrole is spicy, with a vegan cream of mushroom soup and a vegan cream of chicken soup, made from scratch as its base. It's mixed with seitan, onion, green bell pepper, tomatos, and lots of melty vegan cheese in between layers of crunchy corn tortillas. This is so hearty. Don't even try this if you can't handle spicy. It's perfectly spicy, if you like spicy. I promise it's not that type of spicy that makes you think "people who eat this don't care about the taste! They are torturing themselves!" I always think this whenever something is unnecesarily spicy. This casserole is not.

INGREDIENTS

Cream of Mushroom Soup: (taken from fat free vegan's base for green bean casserole, slightly varied)

• 8 ounces of Mushrooms
• 3 cloves or 1 1/2 teaspoons Minced Garlic
• Pinch of Cayenne
• Salt to Taste
• 3 T Flour
• 3/4 C vegetable broth
• 3/4 C soy creamer

Cream of (not) Chicken Soup:

• 3/4 C water
• 1 Not Chik'n Bouillon (any vegan chicken bouillon will do)
• 3 Tablespoons Flour
• 1/4 C Soy Creamer

Casserole:

• 1 Onion, chopped
• 1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped
• Vegetable Oil to saute vegetables
• 1 cream of mushroom soup recipe
• 1 cream of (not) chicken soup recipe
• 10 ounce can of Rotel (or any other tomatos and green chiles)
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 Teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/3 teaspoon of Black Pepper
• 6-8 Corn tortillas
• 2 Cups shredded Follow Your Heart vegan Gourmet cheddar Style (soy) Cheese
• 1 box of White Wave chicken style seitan

Directions:

Prepare cream of mushroom soup:

1. Lightly oil a pan and saute mushrooms. Add in garlic, cayenne, salt and pepper.
2. Whisk flour into vegetable broth and add to mushrooms.
3. Simmer stirring until thicker. Add creamer and simmer 5-10 minutes.

Prepare cream of (not) chicken soup:

1.  Boil water. Add in bouillon. When dissolved, add in soy creamer. Whisk for a few minutes and add in flour.
2. Simmer for 5 minutes or until thick.

For the casserole:

1. Preheat to 350 F
2. Saute onion and bell pepper in canola oil.
3. Add cream of mushroom and cream of not chicken soup to the mushroom mixture.
4. Add rotel, chili powder, salt, garlic powder and pepper.
5. Allow the mix to simmer on low heat.
6. Add in whitewave chicken style seitan.
7. Line the bottom of a casserole dish with torn tortilla strips.
8. Top with seitan/soup mixture.
9. Top with a layer of cheese.
10. Repeat above 3 steps.
11. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

There are lots of names for these (Doushabao), but we just call these "Sweet Buns". They are the sweet version of the other savory baozi. Here they are after steaming:

If you've ever been to Veggie heaven and had theirs, this tastes exactly the same. I had to have a recipe because every time Chris and I would go there, we'd have to share one. One Saturday morning, I surprised him with these at home. This is my recipe which is pretty much a mix several Chinese recipes/methods:

For those of you who have never had this sweet red bean filling:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azuki_bean

And for those who want to know more about bao:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baozi

You'll be pleased to know that this recipe is very easy.

It's easier if you can find red bean paste at your asian market. It's even easier if you have a bread machine. I've made this with my hands many times with the same result, so no worries if you find yourself without a bread maker.

These need to be steamed. If you don't have a traditional steamer like me, you can use your pasta boiler pot with just enough water on high.

If you have any problems or questions, feel free to email me or leave them in the comments section.

This makes 12 medium sized or 6 large buns.

INGREDIENTS

Inside:

• 3 c Prepared Red Bean Paste/Filling
• 12 (or 6) parchment paper squares

Dough:

• 4 c Flour
• 1 t Instant Yeast
• 1/2 c Vegan Sugar
• 1 1/4 c Water

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Mix flour and yeast in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, dissolve sugar in water.
3. Mix contents of both bowls (at least 10 minutes)
4. Once is doesn't stick to the bowl or your hands, separate into 12 or 6 equal lumps. **note: If it keeps sticking, add a bit of flour. This is 50/50, here. It happens.**
5. Get 12 or 6 pieces of parchment paper squares prepared.
6. Take each lump, roll them into balls, flatten them on work surface.**I usually cover my cutting board with parchment for this**
7. Drop 1 Tablespoon of sweet red bean filling on to the center of each dough circle.
8. Bring up the sides of the dough around the filling, and seal. I usually just roll around in my hand after sealing to make a smooth ball again.
9. Place the ball on a parchment paper square.
10. Repeat steps 7-9 until you've finished all of the dough.
11. Cover and let double in size for atleast 1 hour.
12. Steam on high for 15 minutes, and enjoy.

IF YOU HAVE A BREAD MAKER

This is a bit easier on you and you don't fill until the end. Either method will result in the exact sweet buns. I do it this way normally, because I can put all ingredients in the bread maker on the "dough" setting and go on to other things knowing that it will mix and rise in the machine.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Put all DOUGH ingredients in the machine.
2. Select "dough" setting.
3. After the dough has risen, follow above steps 4-9.
4. Steam on HIGH for 15 minutes.

TO MAKE FILLING/PASTE FROM SCRATCH

Below is a recipe for sweetened red bean paste, if you want to make it from scratch. This is not my recipe (and I haven't tried it myself) so use it at your own risk. It's easy enough to find the sweet bean paste at a local Asian Market. I'd recommend buying it over making it from scratch for your first time with these sweet buns. It can be tricky.

INGREDIENTS

• 2/3 cup Red beans
• Water
• 1/4 cup Maple syrup
• 1/3 cup vegan sugar
• 1/4cup canola oil for frying

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Rinse and drain your beans
2. Soak overnight
3. Boil your beans in water and simmer for 2 hours or until soft.
4. Drain your beans.
5. Puree your beans in a blender.
6. Press them through a sieve or cheese cloth to remove any water
7. Add in maple syrup and sugar
8. Heat up oil in pan
9. Fry beans on low and stir until the mixture is a very thick paste
10. Keep stirring to prevent sticking
11. Cool and store in a fridge until needed.

I call this vegan lasagna "real lasagna". Every time I serve this to a meat-eater, they confide "this tastes like real lasagna!" I've been wanting to share this almost embarassingly easy lasagna recipe for a very long time. You'll have to excuse the shots as they are sub par but come earth day we'll have a new camera to go with our new blog. Try this one out on your non vegan family and friends - this is impossible to mess up.

INGREDIENTS

• lasagna noodles (if using no boil noodles add 25 degrees to your oven)
• 4 cups pasta sauce (like Prego, but check the ingredients)
• 1.5 lbs of lightlife smart ground beef style crumbles (or 2 boxes)
• 1 Block Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzorella, Teese or other melting vegan cheese
• 1 Tofu Ricotta Recipe (see below)
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano

Tofu Ricotta

• 2 T olive oil
• 1 pkg firm tofu (water drained, pressed)
• 1 can sliced mushrooms (small can, about 1 1/2" tall)
• 1 can sliced black olives (small can, about 1 1/2" tall)
• 3 T tahini
• 1 T nutritional yeast
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/8 t pepper
• 1 t sage

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. In a food processor, mix all tofu ricotta ingredients and refrigerate.
3. Cook pasta sauce and crumbles over med-hi heat
4. Add in oregano and any other spices you like (I always try something new here.)
5. Bring to a low simmer
6. If you have to boil your noodles, do that now.
7. Prepare a 9x13 dish with a light coating of oil to prevent sticking
8. Spread a thing layer of sauce on bottom of pan
9. Put down 3 noodles, followed by more sauce
10. Now you can layer a thick spread of tofu ricotta
11. Cover tofu ricotta with FYH vegan gourmet or "cheese" of your choice
12. Repeat steps 9-11 until you've run out of noodles.
13. Bake for 45 mins.

This is my lasagna before it was baked. I used no boil noodles here, folks.

Right out of the oven.

Here's my piece next to some amazing garlic roasted brussel sprouts a la Vegan With a Vengeance. Don't worry brussels, I only have eyes for you.

Goodnight!

Tomorrow morning: Sweet Buns