mole,magic yuba, vast amounts of Dutch junk food.

Oh my. I met up with Tulmeltje, who was in Scotland on a piping gig. We did an exchange of fun and junk foods, as vegans are prone to doing when they meet up. Part of the fun is that somebody else has read all the ingredients for you and you can just eat the stuff with reckless abandon (though that would cause some sort of insulin coma in this case... it would be a vegan coma). I had mentioned a few posts back that I love salt licorice, and I think she brought me enough to last several lifetimes. Thanks! Also, what you see in that jar at the back is *spreadable cookies*. I kid you not. Aaaaaand, a tote bag with a viking playing the bagpipes!!!! Oooooh! All the other kids in the veg store are going to be so jealous! I am so cool! Yay for vegan meetups! It was a lovely afternoon and even though I have an unreasonable fear of meeting new people and have been called "a bit much" on more than one occasion, it all went swimmingly. Tulmeltje was nice and not scary at all and funny and smart and everything. We climbed Arthur's Seat, which seems to be what I do with all my visitors. 

Other than that,... I made mole and magic yuba for a dinner party this weekend. What you see here are the leftovers... Mole: dry roast about 2 tbs each of ground sesame seeds, ground almonds, and crushed coriander seeds, along with 5-6 crushed black peppercorns, 2 crushed cloves, and 1tbs of crushed cumin seeds. Throw in a few crushed peanuts if you want. Oh come on, you know you want to. If you plan on using dry chillies (smoked ones), you can add them here. When that's all toasted, put in in a bowl and set it aside. Then fry up one chopped onion and 3 cloves of chopped garlic. When the onion gets translucent, add 4 tbs unsweetened cocoa, half a tsp of cinnamon powder and the spices/nuts from earlier. Keep frying until it starts sticking, then add either a can of chopped tomatoes, or 5-7 actual chopped tomatoes, plus enough veg stock to make a nice thick sauce. Add a handful of raisins. If you're using canned chipotle (in adobo sauce...yum), add 5 or so of them here, plus a goodly amount of sauce. Add some salt. Chuckle to yourself at how good the kitchen smells. Let that simmer until it's all reduced and yum (about 30 mins), and then blend the whole mess. Take out some or all of the chilies beforehand if you want it less hot. Return the whole blended mess to a pot and add in 30-50 grammes dark chocolate, stirring until it melts. Done. This is best done the night before, because it tastes SO MUCH BETTER the next day.

I served this over magic yuba, which is not actually magic, but IS actually yuba (dried tofu skin). It's available in most asian supermarkets. Rehydrate a package of it in water. Drain. Make the following marinade: 1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari, just less than 1/4 cup maple syrup or agave, a tsp of mustard, a tsp of marmite, some oregano, about 2 tbs balsamic vinegar, 1 tbs really olive-ish olive oil. Also, make the following filling in a bowl: 1 block smoked tofu, frozen, thawed and crumbled (or plain tofu mixed with smoked paprika), 1 tbs capers, choppped, a bit of marmite (scant tsp), smoked salt, pepper, a heaping tbs of tahini, some nutritional yeast if you have it (in that case skip the marmite) and enough rice flour to soak up any liquid. You now need a pan with a tight-fitting lid. Now, using half the yuba, layer a few sheets of yuba in a pan, a bit of marinade, a few more sheets, a bit more marinade.. when you've used half the yuba, put the filling on it and fold the edges around the filling. Top with the rest of the yuba sheets, layering with marinade. Dump the rest of the marinade on top. Add a bit of water, and cover with the lid and cook/steam for a good half hour. Check periodically to make sure you haven't run out of liquid and begun welding the yuba to the pan. Then, if you have a broiler, drizzle olive oil on the top and stick under the broiler. If you have no broiler, you will have to pan-fry the whole mess. Good luck. It will kind of look like mock duck. Flip it over, drizzle, and broil the other side. Done. It's sort of stuffed mock duck-ish, but better. Some day, I may get around to posting a more picture-heavy how-to on this one. Anyway, put mole sauce on it, and sprinkle everything with cacao nibs and eat it on rice or with corn tortillas. We also had olives and the most lovely green salad ever (with flowers!).

A confession: Day to day, I mostly cook indian-ish or japanesey food. Oddly, I don't seem to post much of that. Huh. I mean, I make mole about twice a year. Sheesh. But it is yummerific.