Vegan Good Eats

Purple Basil Coconut Crusted Fried Green Tomatoes with Mango Salsa

I believe this recipe needs no introduction, but since I like to write, I will anyway.

The Paula Dean in me wanted to do something, well, southern. The type of dish I could practice with pseudo southern twang as I figure out a way to incorporate deep fried techniques into everything, substitute donuts where bread should be, and pretend a stick of butter is a standard ingredient in all recipes, including a peanut butter and jam sandwich.

Well, I didn’t quite go [...]

Vegan Har Gow: Traditional Chinese Dumplings with Shiitake and Red Spinach

Don’t you love learning new words in a different language you do not speak? I am silly as I love to practice my pseudo make-believe accent and attempt to sound authentic. Then I laugh at myself and cook. Then eat.

Dumplings are so flexible. Once you know the technique, you can fill them with whatever you like. Although these are traditionally made with shrimp, I am known for ignoring tradition. After all, I am a cultural mutt and think things get [...]

Vegan Tempeh Lettuce Wraps

I have to acknowledge that indeed, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro has an acceptable selection of vegetarian and vegan menu items. Their tofu lettuce wraps have been a recent addition, but I believe mine are better, because most home cooking should be, and because I use tempeh and wild mushrooms.

A perfect summer appetizer, light lunch, or meal, one can add a myriad of different accompaniments other than the lettuce cups to create exotic flavor combinations and textures. The presentation is stunning, [...]

Improv: Tropical Kale Salad & Ginger Citrus Dressing

Although most of the time we are tempted to go shopping for the ingredients we need to make something specific, it is quite fun to open up a quasi stocked fridge, pantry, and fruit bowl and see what sort of culinary concoction we can come up what will satisfy our foodie urge while feeding our creative impulse.

I know, I probably have more ingredients than most. Moral of the story, buy good wholesome food and learn about it.Throw everything you have [...]

Asian Breakfast: Mu shu Tofu Scramble with Oyster Mushrooms & Bok Choy

I just bought a new wok. Although sometimes I am tempted to find the toy with most gadgets, this time, I was allured by the simplicity of a timeless cooking vessel. None of the non-stick coating bull crap but rather the traditional iron thing that needs to be seasoned and treated like a prized possession that gets passed down from generation to generation.

Shogi Hibachi Express: I pick the ingredients, you cook, clean, can you pay?

I love discovering new restaurants. More so, I love discovering new restaurants that have vegetarian and vegan options. Although Asian restaurants are typically very accommodating with their myriad of bean curd, tempura and curry dishes, it sometimes feels like they are looking at me for not ordering their specialty sea bass with whatever, the craw fish who cares, or the fillet doesn’t matter.

As a student (for a very short time) at Michigan State University, I was a regular at a Mongolian [...]

Chinese Mushroom Steamed Buns a la Dim Sum

I am sure you have heard the joke: “I’ll have dim sum… And dim some more.” Well if you do not remember it, then you weren’t obsessed with Will and Grace circa 1999. I was, and still am thanks to Karen’s whimsical, dysfunctional and unpredictable zingers. Like Karen’s addiction to prescription drugs washed with martinis, it is easy to get carried away eating dim sum as traditionally, carts go around the restaurant and it is up to you to keep [...]

Vegan Banh Xeo: Traditional Vietnamese Crepe

Up until recently, I had no idea what Banh Xeo was never mind how to pronounce it. It just seemed like an exotic name that needed more investigation. So I did some investigating. I researched, I googled, I youtubed, I library-ed, and most importantly, I ate. I visited a couple of restaurants and ordered one doctored up. The traditional Banh Xeo is filled with fatty pork, shrimp, and dipped in stinky fermented fish sauce made from aging decomposing anchovies in [...]

East Meets West with Sake Spiked Gazpacho

Blasphemy or brilliance?

Globalization and the Internet have made this little planet a whole lot smaller. I can chat roulette with a random person from Ulaan Baatar, skype with a friend strolling in Vladovostok and receive million dollar transfer offers from Ndugu, originally from some small town in Nigeria now living comfortably in the London suburbs. Ndugu has a big dilemma and needs to transfer large sums of money urgently to my bank account. As a generous thank you, I get [...]

The Carrot Cake to Shame Chocolate Cakes

You either love it or hate it. One thing is for sure, as a kid, the first time I heard of carrot cake I thought the adults around me had gone insane. Who uses a vegetable for dessert? It was only later in life that I developed a pious adoration, similar to sweet potato pie, sweetening up my savory dishes, dipping fries in ice-cream and being obsessed with chocolate covered pretzels.

Carrot cake come in many variations. From the dried cornucopia [...]