Shakshouka. What a lovely sounding name. This dish, originating from the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions, is often prepared with poached eggs on top. But for our purposes scrambled silken tofu works great. The superb blandness of it sprinkled with a little black salt mimics the neutral taste of egg whites set against the pungent spices […]
Category: Main Meals
Vegetable Biryani with Chick Peas
Biryani is what my hubby might to refer to as rice-with-bits. Whenever I ask him “what shall we make for lunch?” he invariably says “rice with bits!” He loves rice-with-bits. The best Biryani I’ve tasted was at Benares restaurant in Madrid. It’s delicate flavours inspired me to come up with a vegan version for the Zen […]
Carrot & Burdock Ginger Stir-fry
This is another favorite recipe from Japan. It conjures up fond memories of Fujidera, Hojosans countryside temple nestled at the foot of Mt. Fuji. The monthly zazenkai is followed by a lovely potluck with little dishes carefully prepared by each member, and this was one of them. Eighteen years on I finally I decided it […]
Chinese-style Black Bean Sauce with Veggies
While making a Chinese-style veggie dish at my brother and sister-in-laws, I suddenly realized I’d forgotten to buy tofu. By chance Stef and Jen had a can of black turtle beans in the cupboard. Seeing them jogged my memory; black bean sauce (made with fermented soy beans though!) is regularly used as a flavoring in […]
Fried Soya-Meat Substitute
I was in Amsterdam this week seeing friends, and couldn’t help noticing that the restaurant we were visiting had arranged their menu for the National Meat-Free Week campaign. It reminded me that it might be time to post this little recipe to echo the sentiment. So, this is for the vegetarian in you even if […]
Spiced Spinach
Tenkei loves cooked spinach so when we serve curried lentils as a main dish, I like to serve this instead of a green leafy salad. I vaguely remember that when we used to dine out at the local Indian restaurant in the 1980’s green leafy salad was not on the menu. If someone asked for […]
Rosemary Red Lentils
When visiting my mum recently I was happily making tea* for the seven of us (my brother and his wife were coming over with some of their kids). I’d prepared the rice and vegetables, but forgotten to buy tofu. Whoops! I needed a quick fix, and fast. Scanning the cupboards revealed a bag of red lentils. […]
Oven-Baked Tofu
Someone once asked me how did you make the tofu so crispy? At first I was mystified, but then realised they must have meant the tofu that was baked in the oven instead of fried in a frying pan. I do it quite often these days as it’s more convenient to make in large batches […]
Japanese-Style Noodles with Hot Broth
The last Friday of the month at Kirigayaji in Tokyo, Hojosan holds a zazen-kai evening (meditation gathering). After sitting zazen and chanting the Sandokai all the members come together to slurp down soba noodles with great abandon. It’s a very simple dish to make if you can get hold of the ingredients (check your Asian market for good deals!). […]
Caribbean-style Kidney Beans & Veggies
When I was an art student in Manchester, my friend Mark used to like to cook from a small paperback called The Frugal Cookbook. There was one recipe that was easy to make, and one that I could never get enough of; Jamaican Stew Peas. Beans and rice with coconut, thyme and black pepper. A delicious, comforting combination – […]