Tofurky Kielbasa Sweet Bites

3 Dec

About 10 years ago I was out with a bunch of friends “parrandeando” – which in Puerto Rico is when you go from house to house in Christmas time singing “parrandas”, which is our very typical version of Xmas carols. 

The idea of “parrandas” is to create a group of friends who will surprise an unsuspecting friend while they’re sleeping and wake them up playing music outside…  the person who was woken up opens up their house to their surprise visitors and offers them things to eat and drink while the group continues to sing songs.  Afterwards, you take the friend you just woken up with the rest of group to wake up another friend… and so forth about 3-4 times in a night. 

I remember when I was little to go in “parrandas” with my parents, in a huge long line of cars that would visit people and play music all night long.  Now with neighborhoods having access controlled gates is not as easy to sneak up on someone and surprise them in the night, but we have our ways to get around that…

So, back to the recipe… the thing is that about 10 years ago in one of these parrandas we went to wake up a friend of my then-boyfriend.  His wife made these kielbasa pieces covered in strawberry preserves… they we’re heavenly!!!  They were sweet and spicy all at the same time.  They became a staple every time we had a get-together to watch a basketball game or a boxing match.

But since I became a vegetarian, I had not had these polish sausage wonders.  One of the last times I went to Whole Foods in Miami I saw these Tofurky Kielbasa sausages.   I had never seen them in PR, although I now know Freshmart has them.  When I saw them I wondered if they tasted just like I remembered, but the second thought was… I need to try if they’ll work to make the polish sausage sweet bites I remembered and loved…

 kielbasa-sweet-bites

TOFURKY KIELBASA SWEET BITES

2 Tofurky Kielbasa sausages, sliced on a bias
1/3 cup strawberry preserves
About 1 tbs canola oil

 

When I used to make this using the real sausage, the sausage rendered a lot of fat that later I had to drain… but because the Tofurky has almost no fat to it, we will sauté them in a bit of oil…

kielbasa-pieces

  1. In a large skillet, heat the canola oil over medium -high heat.  Once the oil comes to temperature, add the Tofurky kielbasa pieces and sauté them lightly until they reach a nice golden color.
  2. When they have all a nice golden color, turn off the heat of the stove and add the strawberry preserves.  It will heat up and soften with the residual heat of the skillet.  Toss the kielbasa pieces with the preserves until they’re all well coated.
  3. Transfer them to a dish and allow them a few minutes before eating them.  The preserves will be too hot if you attempt to eat it right off the skillet.

 

I also like to eat these Tofurky Kielbasa sausages with some ketchup and mustard, like a hotdog.  I usually slice them in half length-wise and grill them in my George Foreman grill…  nice!!!

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Tofu-chón

2 Dec

Here in Puerto Rico is very typical to celebrate Xmas with pork… or as we say in Spanish, Lechón.  People trying to be more health conscious have then tried to take the flavors used in making a lechón but with turkey, calling it Pavo-chón – pavo from the Spanish for turkey and chón… well, you get the drift.

But being vegetarian, I’ve lived without lechón or pavo for about 10 years of my life now.  But I have not been vegetarian all my life, so even though I do not miss eating the actual meat, I do still get allured by the smells of the seasonings and what I remember they taste like.  I am sure I am not the only one that feels that way… there’s no need to be ashamed of it.

So if people found a way to season turkey to make it taste like lechón, why can’t we do the same with TOFU??

   

I say what the heck!! Let’s give it a try… and the thing worked.  So now you can have your tastes of the past, but with a greater consciousness that you will not be damaging the lives of other living creatures in the process.  Isn’t that the true meaning of Christmas and the Holidays??

 

TOFU-CHÓN

1 block of extra-firm tofu, drained
About ¼ cup of adobo – or you can make your own blend, like I show you here
1 cup of Water or vegetable broth
The juice of 1 lemon
Canola oil Spray
 
  1. After draining the tofu block, cut it into ½” thick slices.  Place them on top of a sheet pan with about 3-4 layers of paper towels.  Cover the tofu slices with 3-4 additional layers of paper towels and place another sheet pan on top.  Weigh the tofu slices down with a few heavy books for about 1 hour.
  2. After the hour has elapsed, I usually take the top layer of paper towel and squeeze out as much liquid as possible from it.  Take the sheet pan that used to be on top and now make this your bottom sheet pan, place the squeezed paper towel your bottom layer of paper towel, transfer the tofu slices into this new bottom, squeeze as much water as possible from the former bottom layer of paper towels, place now on top of the tofu, place the former bottom sheet pan on top of the paper towels and weigh again with heavy books for about an extra 30 minutes or so.  I like to really press the tofu dry…
  4. In a medium skillet sprayed with canola oil spray over medium heat, we’ll bring some color to the tofu slices. We do not want to sear them fully, but doing this will help the marinating liquid penetrate even more…    
  6. While we’re heating the tofu slices, we prepare the marinade… mix together in a bowl you can cover well the water, the juice of the lemon and the adobo mixture.   Place the tofu slices that have been heated a bit and gotten some color on the skillet in de bowl with the marinade.  Cover the bowl and let the tofu marinate for about 4-6 hours.  Do not do this overnight because they might get too salty… 
  8. After the marinating time has elapsed, take the skillet again, spray again with canola oil and place over medium high heat.  Pat dry the tofu slices and place on skillet.  Sear until you get a nice brown color on the tofu.

 

You can serve this over rice… a nice rice with corn (arroz con maiz) or even a rice with pigeon peas (arroz con gandules) would be good local typical combinations.  This time around, I actually had it with a goat cheese couscous with walnuts, which is certainly not the traditional accompaniment.  I also used these inside a Tortilla Casserole I will be sharing with you soon enough…

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Incredible India… Kebabs

1 Dec

To my former knowledge, kebabs were some sort of brochette or food skewered by either a metal or wooden stick.  You see them in Middle Eastern restaurants… shish kebabs being the most popular.  I always order a kebab in my favorite Middle Eastern restaurant which is a brochette of vegetables. But in India… kebabs are something different.  Particularly vegetarian kebabs…

Kebabs are patties of mixed vegetables and grains served with a variety of sauces or chutneys.  You could see our first kebab experience in ZEST, a fine dining restaurant at the DLF Emporio Mall in Delhi.

We celebrated Annie Mariel’s birthday in the nicest restaurant we could find in Varanasi, The Great Kebab Factory.  They offered us a vegetarian prix fixe dinner that included a series of kebabs for appetizer, main course and dessert accompanied by a selection of breads.

Here’s what we had for dinner…

The meal started with a salad… which was kind of nice, because we didn’t see a lot of salads in any of our menus… this one had, tomatoes, cucumbers and watermelon with a pineapple dressing.  The Latin in me did not taste the pineapple a lot… but it was somewhat there.

Subz Galouti Kebab – their signature kebab, made with yam and green vegetables

Paneer Tikka – a piece of the traditional paneer cheese seasoned with Indian spices…

Makai Matar ki Seehk – A mixture of corn, green peas, lentils and Indian spices… this was my favorite one by far.

Kale Chane ki Tikki – this was another kebab supposedly stuffed with cheese.  I never saw or tasted the cheese…

Subz ke Tinke – this was a skewer of fresh vegetables…  and we thought we would never see a skewer here.  How wrong we were.

The food was accompanied by various choices of naan, our favorite one the garlic one.  It tasted just like Italian garlic bread, which was a nice break from the Indian spices taste. 

Also, a selection of sauces and chutneys were provided for us to mix with our kebabs – tomato, cilantro, peanut and my favorite, tamarind.  The sweetness and tanginess of the tamarind helped me offset the spiciness of most of the kebabs. 

We did not get to choose our desserts; they just bring you a frozen dessert which tasted a lot like corn with cinnamon ice cream and 3 other choices of typical Indian desserts.  One was a sweetened rice dish with cinnamon, cardamom and raisins, which tasted very similar to an Arroz con Dulce.  The other two I was not able to decipher much… and the tastes were not that thrilling either.

    

Because we are so friendly, we received a cake from the hotel management and we decided to share it with our table neighbors…  

I hope Annie Mariel had a great time at her birthday dinner and I also hope you get to try out the wonderful kebabs so typical in Indian cuisine…

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Adobo

30 Nov

I’ve come to believe that food tastes as good as the seasonings you put on it…

A lot of people steer away from vegetarian food because they believe it tastes bland or boring.  But it all comes down to the seasonings.  And in Latin cooking, ADOBO is a key part of the seasoning.  Adobo is used mostly on meats, poultry or fish, but vegetarian cooking can also benefit from a sprinkling of this delicious seasoning.

For Puerto Ricans, adobo is a mixture of various dry spices mixed together with salt.  Anything we cook, we first sprinkle some adobo on, wait for a few minutes for the flavorings to penetrate and then cook.  The typical flavorings in an adobo mix are salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and dried oregano.  There are versions that may include also cumin, paprika or even dehydrated lemon pieces.  You need to be cautious to look for a brand that does not include chemicals or additives, like MSG… but most good brands do not include it. 

                     

                        

     

You can find adobo in any supermarket here in Puerto Rico – it’s a staple in our cooking.  But you can certainly find it also in the Latin section of your supermarket if you live outside of Puerto Rico.  But if you can’t find adobo already packaged, it’s something fairly easy to make and store in your cupboard… here’s how:

ADOBO

1/3 cup Kosher or Sea Salt
2 tbs Garlic Powder
2 tbs Dried Oregano
1 tbs Onion Powder
½  tbs Coarsely Ground Pepper
  1. Mix all this together and sprinkle on your favorite food to season.
  2. Keep it in a dry, cool place to avoid the salt from clumping. 

I use adobo to season my Potatoes a la Angie, to season my Portobello Burgers, and to give flavor to roasted potatoes.  You can also sprinkle it on top of any frozen veggie burgers so you can taste how the flavor greatly improves…

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Cranberry Trifles

27 Nov

It’s been a few years now that I gift Cranberry Preserves as a Xmas gift.  People love it…

Cranberry juice is popular here in Puerto Rico, but eating fresh cranberries is not.  I usually get asked by EVERY cashier at the supermarket every time I buy the Ocean Spray bags of fresh cranberries what do I make with them.  It’s super weird…   I usually explain to them that I make a jelly with them… but now I can also mention that I make these trifles too… which will bring us to a different dilemma with them – explaining what’s a trifle?

I like this recipe because it makes use of any leftover cranberry preserves you might have from Thanksgiving and looks super pretty too.  We made them last in wine glasses, but you can certainly make them in a large trifle dish too.  I got the inspiration for this dish from the Everyday Food December 2008 issue.   I like it because you can prepare some parts ahead, buy some others and just assemble… and if you purchase the pound cakes, no baking necessary.

 

CRANBERRY TRIFLES

2 cups of cranberry preserves – recipe here
1 loaf of pound cake – or make this recipe for egg-less yellow cake here… – cut up into 1” cubes
1 tub of whipped topping
½ cup passion fruit juice
  1. In your preferred presentation dish assemble first a layer of the cranberry preserves at the bottom.
  2. Then place a layer of cake cubes.  Dampen them with a little passion fruit juice using a pastry brush.                                                
  3. Place a layer of cranberry preserves on top of the layer of cake.
  4. Place a layer of whipped topping on top of cranberries.
  5. Continue layering this same way until you reach the top of the dish you’re serving it in… finishing with the whipped topping.

Place in the refrigerator for about an hour before serving.  This will allow the flavors to mix in together.

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