Thai Massaman Curry & Dairy Free Baking Chips

I was inspired by my cousin's Thai curry pictures to make it for myself for dinner. I have so many tins of different flavor curry pastes in my pantry. I think most people who are sort of familiar with Thai food know of spicy Panang or Red or Green curry. I picked something different- Massaman which is a southern Thai curry that is Muslim in origin. This curry is a result of early Muslim traders who brought spices like cardamom, turmeric, cinnamon, cumin and cloves from India and the Middle East to the south coast of Thailand. This curry has a lot of these spices and is beautifully fragrant and very tasty! I used potatoes, tofu, broccoli, carrots and peas in my curry.


All the ingredients I used for this curry.


This came out really nice.

Thai Massaman Curry

2 TB canola oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large potato, peeled and cut into cubes
2 carrots, sliced
1/2 to a full can of massaman curry paste (this can be spicy so use as little or much as you like - store the leftover paste in a little ziploc bag in the freezer)
2 cans coconut milk
1 head of broccoli, florets seperated and stem thinly sliced
1 can sweet peas, drained
1 package extra-firm tofu, drained and cubed
2 TB soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
juice of one large lime


Heat oil in a large pot on medium heat. Add onions, garlic and ginger. Saute for a while until onions are browned and a bit soft. Add potatoes, carrots and curry paste. Stir around to coat, then add coconut milk and stir. Bring to a boil. Add broccoli. Add soy sauce, sugar and lime juice. Lower heat to medium low. Add tofu cubes and peas. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or so or until potatoes are thoroughly cooked. Serve over hot rice.


My mom's birthday is coming up and we're having a big bash for her. She requested white chocolate macadamia nut cookies for the party. At first, I was not sure where I could get dairy free white chocolate chips and I had heard that kosher markets may have them. After traveling up and down West Pico in the Beverly Hills area for an hour yesterday, ducking in and out of various kosher markets, I came out empty handed! But today a lovely person at the PPK message boards directed me to a kosher market on Santa Monica Blvd. which is miles closer to my house! And this is what I got:


2 bags of the white chocolate, a bag of coffee flavored(yum) and a bag of pretty rainbow colored chips. Can't wait to try these out. As far as regular chocolate chips, I can find dairy free ones at Trader Joe's (the semi-sweet) or at the grocery store (the semi-sweet as well. Brands: Guittard and Ghirardelli)

Sharing the vegan love...

Over the holidays I was able to get in touch with lots of family, one of who is N. my dear cousin on my father's side. She is very much interested in healthy eating and asked me questions about vegan cooking and eating. I gave her some recipes to try and gave her my blog info. As of a few days ago, she has completely surprised me by deciding not to eat meat and has become very excited about vegetarian cooking! I am super proud of her and I can't wait to share with her more recipes and the joys of being meat free. You know, when I tell people about my choice and how good it feels, a lot of them seem interested in trying it. And if just one person tries going meatless at least once a week that is amazing enough for me! But for my cousin to really go for it, I just can't tell you how happy and proud I am!

We've been emailing back and forth and this morning she emailed me some pictures of what she's been cooking up. These look absolutely fantastic!


First up: Thai Green Curry with Bamboo Shoots, Tofu and Yams. Heaven! She based this curry off of my recipe here.


Served over what we call in Thai "Kanom Jean" which translates as literally "Chinese Dessert", hehe. It's not a dessert but a very delicate and thin noodle.


What looks like a delicious bean salad. I have to ask her more about this. It's calling my name!


Me thinks these are Isa's chocolate chip cookies! I shared this recipe with my whole family at christmas. Yum yum...

Can't wait to see more of her cooking!

Pasta. Again!

It's just too easy. I made this last night after staring into the refrigerator for about 5 minutes, totally stumped as to what I felt like having. I saw broccoli. I saw grape tomatoes. I also saw olives and "Parmezano Sprinkles"*. I'll make pasta! Luckily I had a box of angel hair pasta in the cupboard. Not my favorite (I'm into spaghetti and linguine) but it would have to do. I sauteed the broccoli, tomatoes and some garlic in olive oil, cooked the pasta and tossed it all together, adding lots more olive oil, 4-5 more cloves of crushed garlic and the olives. I sprinkled some crushed red pepper flakes and the vegan parmesan (not pictured) over the top. It was delicious. It made a mountain of pasta so we'll be having it again tonight.

*"Parmezano Sprinkles" is a recipe from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. It's a vegan parmesan cheese substitute which uses almonds, miso paste, nutritional yeast and salt. Email me if you want the recipe! devilandmouse[at]yahoo.com

Soup and a Sandwich.

Some days you just can't be bothered. You want something quick with little or no effort but still something that will satisfy your hunger. I've been under the weather for the past few days and I feel better but very lazy to cook. Last night, I just wanted something warm and easy to eat. My throat is still bothering me and I felt like eating more soup. I got a book for x-mas called 'You Won't Believe It's Vegan!' and looked through it to find this easy split pea soup. It's just a matter of throwing things in a pot and stirring every now and again. It was good and I liked it but my favorite split pea soup will always be the one from 'Vegan with a Vengeance', I think because it's got curry powder in it!


Served with some sesame crackers.

Today for lunch I wanted something easy as well. A sandwich fit the bill perfectly. And I had all these great ingredients: lavash bread (an Middle Eastern flatbread), homemade hummus (I also used a recipe from 'You Won't Believe It's Vegan!'), red bell peppers, romaine lettuce, tomatoes and spinach. Everything was ready to go so I just spread some hummus on the bread and layered everything in there. I put more hummus on top of the veggies and drizzled lemon juice and olive oil on top and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Cucumbers would have been good in here too. Or any other crunchy veggie for that matter.


Here it is before being carefully rolled up. I got the whole wheat lavash bread from Trader Joe's. For about 2 bucks you get a package of about 6 large flatbreads. You can also cut the bread in half to make a smaller wrap.


A healthy sandwich with creamy hummus (protein!) and lots of crunchy veggies.

Carrot Almond Soup

Here's another Gillian McKeith recipe from the You Are What You Eat cookbook. As you may know I am going to do a 3 week detox in February, cooking and eating solely from this book. I whipped a half batch of this soup this morning to have all day while I rest up with this cold. It's dead simple, just carrots, celery, garlic, onions, veggie bouillon, cilantro and water boiled up then blitzed in a blender with ground almonds. It's very good too. Slightly sweet and full of nutrients. I feel very healthy eating this soup. Take that chest congestion, runny nose and cough!!!!

Edit: This recipe can be found online here.

Pita Pizzas

For lunch today I made pita pizzas. I haven't made these in a while. I keep forgetting to do so when I have an abundance of pitas which I did. So I made a couple pizzas with the leftover marinara from last night, lots of cold fighting foods: garlic and onions, red bell peppers, sliced tomato and spinach. All you do is spread the pitas with your sauce, top with veggies and heat in a 400 degree F oven for about 15 minutes. Quick, easy and gives you extra time to lay in bed and doodle around on the internet (which is what I've been doing all morning). Before I ate my lunch, my husband (who gave me this cold in the first place!) produced a half shot of Absolut Peppar which he claims will fight my cold. It was actually quite nice. It's basically vodka with a hint of Tabasco sauce.
So onto the pizzas...


Once out of the oven I topped them with a fresh spinach salad that was dressed in olive oil and lemon juice. These were so good. The pita crusts were nice and crispy and the overwhelming garlic flavor was amazing.


And some fries. Hey why not?

EDIT: Black Eyed Peas salad for good luck!

Happy 2nd Vegan Anniversary To Me!

It's hard to believe that 2 years have hurtled by since I decided to stop eating animal products. It's been a great journey so far and will be ongoing. Being vegan has become such an important part of who I am and not a day goes by that I don't feel good about my choice. I feel like a new person, one who is healthier, more compassionate and happier with myself. I honestly didn't think at first that it would be as easy as it has been. I was asked on Christmas at our family party whether I craved meat at all. And I can honestly say that I haven't. One of the reasons is that I don't see animal products as food and the other is the fact that there is just so much really good and really satisfying food that I can enjoy. I am very excited about food and it's because of this that I have been successful with staying on track. If anyone asks me about being vegan, I push the positive aspects of the food as much as possible. I think more people need to understand that vegetarian food is no longer "health foody granola" kind of food. There is just so much more to it and it's really fantastic that I am able to share it here on my blog. I tend to not push the animal cruelty aspect of it because I know that it will most likely turn people off. I know because I was one of those people that didn't want someone to "tell me" that what I was eating was bad for my health as well as contributing to animal suffering and pain. That was a realization and understanding that I had to come to on my own.

So here I am, two years down and ready to take on another. I've got so many recipes and cookbooks that I want to try and share here. It's business as usual!