The Smiling Onion

Vegetarian and Gluten-free Cooking

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Asian Tofu Salad

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If you’ve ever taken any sort of culinary or food science class, you may know that there are two types of cooking methods: dry-heat cooking and moist-heat cooking. Dry-heat is where your sautéing, roasting, baking, and frying lie. And moist heat is your boil, steam, simmer, and stew! (That’s by no means an exhaustive list of all moist/dry heat cooking methods, but it gives you a general idea.)

Anyway, it turns out I’m a dry-heat girl by nature. My go-to cooking methods are sautéing, roasting, baking, and pan-frying. Sure, I steam and boil on occasion (fried pasta would be pretty gross and I do like to blanch my greens and boil potatoes for mash now and then) but on the whole, my cooking routine generally begins with a skillet, some oil, and an onion.

In this heat, however, standing by a hot skillet babysitting a stir-fry is just not appealing. So when the craving for some tofu hit, I decided to boil it. Now if you’re like me, and you’ve spent your entire tofu-eating life baking, frying, or sautéing it, you may have some doubts about whether boiling is even possible. I know I did. But guess what?! It is! And it’s quite delicious and refreshing when seasoned well, chilled, and made into an Asian tofu salad like this one. In fact, taking foods I’m used to cooking one way and giving them a completely different treatment is definitely something I’d like to do more of. It helps me stay inspired, be creative, and not get stuck in any cooking ruts (which 90 degree weather can definitely precipitate!)

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Vegan Caesar Salad Dressing (Soy-Free and Nut-Free!)

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I’ve always been a caesar salad coveter. At restaurants, potlucks, cafeterias … I’ve often caught myself ogling that pile of romaine with the luscious, creamy dressing and fantasizing about bite after bite of delicious, crispy, creamy, sinful goodness.  I was devastated the first time I learned that, while there was no visible meat to speak of, the dressing harbored what I considered to be a dark secret: anchovies.

Mind you, I was well aware of most foods that had hidden meat – beef stock in French onion soup, chicken stock in so many classic veggie soups, lard in Mexican beans – and I was never that enraged by any of it. The hidden meat was enough to keep me far away, but that was fine with me; there was no coveting – no looking longingly at a neighboring table’s order and imagining what it would be like to eat it.

With caesar salad, however, I’ve embarrassed myself more than once. There is something about it that is just so tantalizing. So when vegan caesar dressings started popping up in some vegetarian restaurants, I was super excited. Until I went rice-free, that is. Because guess what all vegan caesar salad dressings (that I’ve ever seen) have in common? Miso! And guess what miso is made from? Soy and rice.

So I decided to create a vegan caesar-style dressing that is soy-free, nut-free, and grain-free. It uses sunflower seeds as a base, and is caesared-up with roasted seaweed sheets (the ones that come in the little seaweed snack packages) and umeboshi vinegar. It is very easy to make, requires zero planning (you don’t have to soak the seeds or anything), and has a creamy, salty, savory, tangy flavor that should work for all your caesar salad needs. I’ve tried it massaged into kale, on romaine, and as a dip for carrot sticks. While you won’t taste anchovies, you will get that creamy texture and savory flavor that (in my opinion) is the defining feature of a caesar dressing.

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Hot and Sour Noodle Soup

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Thanksgiving has come and gone, and with it, my capacity to eat heavily, heartily, and indulgently. Luckily, that ability lasted just long enough to use up all the delicious Thanksgiving leftovers. But Friday’s pie for breakfast and let’s-eat-every-hour-because-we-can mentality has left me craving something nourishing, cleansing, and light. Something to banish the sluggishness that comes from two straight days of overindulgence.

This hot and sour noodle soup is the perfect antidote to the Thanksgiving hangover. I’ve never been one for wavering between indulgence and deprivation (I think that’s pretty silly) so this soup is in no way deprivation food. It’s deeply flavorful, and provides everything your palate could want – saltiness, sourness, sweetness, crunch – it’s all there.

And it’s there with a nourishing quality that is most welcome right now.

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Pumpkin “Mac and Cheese” (Dairy-Free!)

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This pumpkin mac and cheese is everything I look for in a mac and cheese – it’s super creamy, uber-savory, and deeply buttery. It also happens to look great in a ramekin. But there’s no cheese. Or butter.

If you’re skeptical, I don’t blame you. I’ve had my share of dairy-free mac and cheese  and I’m not really a fan. Imitation cheese is just never as good as the real thing. But here’s the beauty of this recipe – there’s absolutely no imitation cheese involved. None whatsoever. There isn’t even any miso or nutritional yeast or any of the other ingredients often used to make something taste “cheesy.” But somehow, this dish manages to mimic the feeling and textures of eating mac and cheese in a way that is surprisingly close to the real thing.

A caveat: When it comes to mac and cheese, people have strong opinions about “the real thing.” Please don’t make this expecting it to taste exactly like your favorite version of the classic – it definitely won’t. Unless, of course, your favorite version happens to be one that will give you delicious pumpkin-scented mouthful after creamy mouthful, with just a hint of sage and some caramelized onions thrown in for good measure.

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