Vegan Thai recipes (Tom kha, Thai apple salad)

Tom kha as prepared at the cooking class

You know how when you go to a Thai restaurant and ask about the fish sauce they say, "We don't put fish sauce in that." If you're like me, you're probably always kind of wondering if that's really true. We recently attended a vegan Thai cooking class and one of the instructors said when he was offered that "no fish sauce in here" assurance at a restaurant recently, he added that he was extremely allergic to fish and would become very sick very fast if he ate any. The waitress went off to the kitchen, engaged in a long conversation, and returned to inform him that all the sauces were created from pre-made mixes, and they all contained fish sauce and MSG. She added that all Thai restaurants use these sauces and anyone who tells you differently is lying. I'm not saying that's an absolute fact, but it makes me wonder.

It reminds me of a similar conversation I had a few years ago with my son. He had a friend working at a popular and esteemed Thai restaurant whose staff had assured us many times that we were not eating fish sauce. This friend said that all the sauces were made from mixes that contained not only fish sauce, but many other items that we would certainly not want to eat. I know when I go to a restaurant that all may not be as it appears, and I'm making a choice to trust the restaurant to tell me the truth about the food they serve. But I'm feeling a bit uneasy. We don't have any vegetarian-only restaurant choices where we live (this will change when we move) and if we want a night out without cooking, we have to take our chances.


Pad Thai photographed at the cooking class

Most of the time we cook our own food, and we just took a cooking class at Willy Street Coop to get some pointers on making Thai food, one of our favorite cuisines (except for the fish sauce!) at home. In the cooking class, taught by holistic health counselor Carrell Casey, we learned to make three very easy and delicious Thai dishes. We made Tom Kha, Pad Thai and Thai apple salad. The soup (tom kha) and pad thai were too salty for me, though they really tasted good. I'm making a few changes to get the sodium level down. The original soup recipe had 1/2 cup tamari, and regular vegetable broth. There was also red curry paste which contains salt. I'm using low-sodium vegetable broth, and much less tamari. I also added a green vegetable (bok choy) to the tom kha. I'm going to print my slightly revised recipes, and you can further revise them to suit your personal preference. The salad was tangy, refreshing and so simple to make. I'm not changing that at all!

I'm going to start with the soup and dessert and post the pad thai later, as we still have a few kinks to work out of the recipe. Although the pad thai worked perfectly in class, it hasn't worked so well at home. The first try was horrible looking and not so great tasting. I think we had a little problem with the tamarind. The second version tasted and looked fine, but was not very authentic, as several of the ingredients were missing. When we get it right, I'll post it. In the meantime, try the tom kha and the surprising apple dessert. (You can control the spiciness of the soup by adding more or less chili and curry paste.)


Tom kha (adapted and printed with permission)

• 1 can light coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons red or green curry paste (Thai Kitchen makes a vegan version)
• juice of 1 lime
• 3 tablespoons tamari
• 1 tablespoon agave syrup
• 2 fresh green chilies, minced (less if you don't like spicy food)
• about 10 mushrooms, sliced
  
• 2 carrots, sliced into half moons
• 1 large or 2 small onions, diced
• 2 cups low-sodium veggie broth
• 1 package firm tofu (16 oz.), sliced into thin triangles or cubes
  
• 1 bunch bok choy, shredded roughly

1. Saute onions and carrots in a soup pot or wok. When soft, add mushrooms and saute for a minute or two. Add bok choy and saute about 1 minute.
2. Add veggie broth and coconut milk (Keep heat medium so milk doesn't burn.)
3. Add curry paste, lime juice, tamari, agave, tofu and chilies. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Thai apple salad from the cooking class

Thai apple salad (printed with permission)

• 4 large apples, quartered, cored and thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon agavé syrup
• 1 green chili pepper, chopped fine
• pinch of salt
• 6 cups torn leaf lettuce or whole romaine leaves

1. Mix lime juice, agavé, chili and salt in a bowl.
2. Cut apples, add to bowl and toss to coat.
3. Serve over a bed of lettuce.

Think "dairy-free" means "no dairy?" Think again. Our cooking class included information on food labeling from a vegan perspective. Here's a link to how to interpret food labeling terms.
http://www.exploreveg.org/resources/ingredients.html

Take time for tea

One of the sad things about leaving the place I've called home for so long is knowing that I won't be able to spend time with old friends whenever I want. We'll soon be 2,000 miles apart. So, the last two weekends have included time just to relax and talk with friends I don't see enough of because we're always so busy. Now that time is limited, we're trying to catch up. I live two blocks from a beautiful tea house and it has been our meeting spot of choice. It's a converted old house with many intriguingly decorated rooms on two floors. The tea house is also an art gallery so there are changing exhibits on the walls, and unique jewelry in the cases.

I often choose rooibus tea since it's high in anti-oxidants, has no caffeine and tastes really good, but this time we both had a mint blend. Below you can see the cozy corner where we sat, and the photo below that is one of the other, somewhat more exotic, rooms. If you ever find yourself in the Madison, Wis. area, I recommend Ma Cha Tea House for a soothing spot to sip tea and relax.

What's cooking? Udon, veggies, Vietnamese soup

It's been a stressful week as we're trying to find a place to live in the city where two of our our kids and their families live, nearly 2,000 miles away from where we live now. We've got our kids helping by visiting in person the places we find online, but it's still confusing to know what to do. We found what seemed like a perfect house to rent, but the kids think it might be a little too urban and not "neighborly" enough, and also too far from one of their homes. They looked at another one tonight they think would be good, but it's only for one year, which means we'd have to move again in a year. One minute I'm excited to be moving near the kids, and the next I'm upset about leaving our home and friends, and freaked out over how complicated the whole thing is. Not much of my energy has been going towards creative cooking, but that doesn't mean we haven't been eating well. We've been depending on old (and newer) favorites that we don't have to think about. I'm posting a meal my son made (he doesn't use recipes, and I walked in to late to see what he did) and a great soup we've been eating ever since I saw it on Vegan Feast Kitchen. Bryanna has graciously allowed me to reprint her recipe, and I've noted the changes we made to suit our tastes.



Here's a delicious udon, tofu and green pea stir fry created by my son.


The udon was accompanied by a red pepper, bok choy and mushroom dish, plus rice.

Make soup!
The following great recipe, which we recently tried and loved, comes from Notes From the Vegan Feast Kitchen written by Bryanna Clark Grogan, and is reprinted with permission. I loved it so much I wanted to share it with my readers.

Vegan Vietnamese Fisherman's soup

BRYANNA'S VEGAN VIETNAMESE "FISHERMAN'S SOUP"
Servings: 6
The fresh-tasting soup, despite the long list of ingredients, is easy to put together. (If you are really in a hurry, you can use chopped garlic and ginger from jars, and already-shredded cabbage in a bag.) It's very low in calories and fat, but filling and spicy. You can use authentic Vietnamese ingredients, or substitute more common North American ones, still with good results. Bean sprouts are a must, though!

• 6 large dried shiitake (or Chinese black forest) mushrooms
• 2 cups boiling water
• 3 cups good-tasting vegetarian "chicken-style" broth
• 2 cups shredded cabbage (I use savoy)
• 1 can (19 ounces) pineapple tidbits, unsweetened, with juice
• 1 large onion, chopped or thinly sliced
• 2 medium carrots, in matchstick pieces
• 1 cup canned or fresh diced tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 stalks lemon grass OR 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
• 2 tablespoons sugar or 1 tablespoon agave nectar
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped (1 teaspoon)
• 1 teaspoon Asian (fish-free) red pepper sauce (or to taste)
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 8 ounces medium-firm tofu OR extra-firm silken tofu, cut into small cubes (can be reduced-fat)
• OPTIONAL: 2 tablespoons dulse flakes or nori flakes OR a small piece of kombu seaweed

Last-minute additions:

• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped mint, basil, or cilantro (or 2 teaspoons dried)
• 2 tablespoons tamarind concentrate or paste OR 1/4 cup lime or lemon juice
• 2 pinches salt

Garnish: fresh bean sprouts, and chopped or slivered green onions for garnish

1. Soak the dried mushrooms for 30 minutes in the 2 cups boiling water, covered. After 30 minutes, drain them, saving the soaking broth. Trim off the tough stems, which you can discard. Slice the mushroom caps thinly. While the mushrooms soak, prepare all the other ingredients.
2. In a large pot, mix the broth, cabbage, pineapple and juice, onion, carrot, sliced mushrooms, mushroom soaking water, tomatoes, soy sauce, lemon grass or lemon peel, sugar, ginger, optional seaweed, garlic, red pepper sauce, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then turn down to medium-low and simmer, covered, just until the cabbage and carrots are crisp-tender-- about 15 minutes. Add the tofu, stirring gently, and simmer about 5 more minutes.
3. Add the herbs, tamarind concentrate or lemon or lime juice, and salt.
4. Taste for seasoning. Serve each bowl topped with fresh bean sprouts and slivered green onions.

Our changes: We used low sodium vegetable broth, bok choy instead of cabbage, only 2 tablespoons of tamari soy sauce and no extra salt. We added fine rice vermicelli and yuba. (Yuba is Chinese, not Vietnamese, but we really like it.) We didn't have bean sprouts this time.