That would be unlucky #13.
[I dedicate this deliberately ugly photo to my brother who called me last week and suggested to me that I stop photographing my Meatless Monday meals. While he may be right, I consider that at least half of the fun.]Believe it or not, it tasted delicious. But… It looked like ______. (See above photo and fill in the blank below in the comment section.)
It all started with baked tofu.
And brown rice.
And coconut milk.
I should know better than to ad lib. When Morgan asked what I was making, I demurred. When pressed I said, “Ummm. I’m not sure. Some type of coconut rice and…” (voice fades out). She knows the drill. She said, “It doesn’t always go so good when you do that, you know.”
And so, the 15 year old was right. How it pains me to say that.
Let me also say this: baked tofu is disgusting. And I actually like tofu. Maybe I did something wrong. Or maybe it was low quality tofu. Is there such a thing? I think, by baking all the water out of it, it concentrates the flavor. In this case, the flavor ended up tasting like metal. The texture was cool– nice and chewy– but the taste was *blech*.
So, this will be an I’m-Not-Sharing-The-Recipe Meatless Monday, because frankly, you’d have to be pretty hard-up to want to make it. Not to mention that I doubt I could replicate it. Let’s see if I can even remember the general ingredients:
- Brown Rice
- Baked Tofu
- Lite Coconut Milk
- Shallots
- Basil Paste
- Kale
- Oh MY GOSH! I JUST REMEMBERED: Pickled Eggplant! Which actually added a nice amount of ‘brightness and acid.’ [I’ve been watching Top Chef. Can you tell?]
- Toasted Cumin and Mustard Seeds [The Indian food jag rears it’s delicious head]
- Cilantro
- And…. drumroll please…. Since I didn’t have mint, I used Mint Tea, which I thought was brilliant.
I’m sure there was more, but let’s just leave it at that, shall we?
The craziest part? We sat down. My family said nothing. They served themselves up.
And they ate it.
I’m still shaking my head. Maybe they really are that afraid of me?