Vegan and Lovin’ it

This is one of my favorites because of the strong peanut and garlic flavor in it. It’s quite easy to prepare, the ingredients are cheap, and it’s also very healthy. Mind you, I don’t usually measure my ingredients so I’ll just give an approximate here, it’s really up to you whether you want less or more of something. Some people don’t like their lumpiang ubod to be too garlicky, some do.

INGREDIENTS
1 kilo ubod (I’m not sure what it’s called in english)
green beans, cut into thin diagonal pieces
1 1/2 square of tofu, crumbled
minced garlic
chopped onions
potatoes cut into thin strips
chopped peanuts (with the skin removed)
salt and pepper
Lumpia wrappers

You can also add julienned carrots and small pieces of button mushrooms (I like mine with them) if you want.

For the garlic sauce:
Brown Sugar
Soy Sauce
Cornstarch
Water
Minced Garlic

INSTRUCTIONS
Saute the minced garlic and onions over low fire. Add the peanuts when the onion begin to look a bit transparent. Add the ubod and other vegetables, stir very well. Add the crumbled tofu. Add pepper and salt to taste. Once the ubod looks soft and the potatoes are cooked, turn off the heat and put in a bowl.

Prepare the garlic sauce while you let the ubod cool down before you wrap them in lumpia wrapper. To cook the sauce, mix soy sauce, sugar, garlic and cornstarch with water. Put in a pot and cook over low head, stirring occasionally. You can wrap your lumpia while the sauce is cooking. Once your sauce has the right thickness, turn off the heat and leave the pot covered.

I don’t really know how to wrap lumpia in a way that will make all of them look alike. If it’s your first time to wrap, it’s okay if you don’t get it right away. Just put a spoonful and a half of your ubod near the top of the wrapper, roll the top part down, fold the sides, then roll the whole thing all the way down to get something that looks like this:

You can seal the wrapper using water, it’ll hold. You can eat your lumpia like this, with sauce on top, or you can fry it and make vinegar with garlic, onion, and pepper.

HEALTH FACTS
Did you know that garlic is a good antioxidant, which means that it can help protect your body from free radicals that can cause cancer. It can also help you regulate high cholesterol levels.

My husband absolutely loved what I cooked for lunch today. It’s delicious and it’s also quick and easy to prepare.

INGREDIENTS
Brocolli (1 small head)
Snow Peas
Asparagus
Minced Garlic
Finely chopped Onion
Bellpepper
Chopped Tomato
Tofu
Light Soy Sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive Oil

DIRECTIONS
Slice up the tofu any way you want, I preferred to slice it in strips so it won’t get too crunchy. Fry it in oil,  be careful not to overcook it. Once it’s light brown, turn off the heat and set the tofu aside. Mix some soy sauce, water, salt, and pepper in a bowl, set this aside (you may also add cornstarch if you want the sauce to be a bit thicker). Saute the garlic in a little bit of oil over a low fire. Add the onion when the garlic is a little brown (don’t make it too brown or it will taste bitter. Put the chopped tomatoes in once the onions are a bit transparent in color. Cook until the tomatoes are soft and then mash them up. Add all the vegetables, add the soy sauce mixture, and the tofu. Stir for a few minutes or until the broccoli turn into a dark green color. Turn off the heat and serve.

Health Tidbits:
Broccoli contains Isothiocyanates which is a very potent cancer-fighting agent. A study at the Johns Hopkins center shows that Brocolli contains compounds that trigger the body to produce sulforaphane which manufactures enzymes that fight cancer. It also contains ample amounts of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, vitamin C and zinc. Broccoli also contains Vitamins B1 (Thiamin), B2 (Riboflavin), B3 (Niacin), B5 (Pantothenic acid), B6, B9 (Folate), Vitamin C and A. Read more here.

Breakfast today is vegetable salad. It’s sayote, carrots, cucumber with some red bell peppers on top. To prepare the vegetables, I wash them first and then immerse them in water with rock salt for about 15 minutes before I peel and slice them. For the dressing, you can try organic soy sauce with a little honey and cayenne pepper, or some natural ceasar’s salad dressing like what my husband had this morning. We bought it a few weeks ago at Healthy Options. I prefer mine without the dressing, except if i’m eating green leafy vegetables. We also had fresh buko to go with this salad. Delicious.

One of my favorite dishes before I turned vegan is chicken curry. I decided to make a vegan version of this dish and it turned out to be very good. Not something you’d call a “watered-down version of the real thing”.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 red bell pepper
1 carrot
2-3 potatoes
garlic
onion
tofu (I used organic tofu but the white one is okay too)
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil/sesame oil
Coconut milk
curry powder

PROCEDURE
Saute the garlic with olive oil over a very low fire. Add the onion when the garlic is already a little brown. Add the coconut milk mixed with a little water, stir continuously so the coconut milk won’t look curdled. Put the carrots, potatoes, and red bellpepper in. Put the curry powder (it’s really up to your taste, how strong you want the curry flavor to be), stir continuously. Season with salt and pepper until the taste is just right for you. Put in the tofu cubes. Cook until the potatoes are done.

That’s it! It’s very easy to cook and quick to prepare. You’ll notice the rice we used is still the white rice. Brown rice is actually better but we haven’t gone to the grocery to buy our supply for the week yet. Anyway, my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed this dish for lunch today. Try it, it’s delicious.