Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The Rules of Taco Night


While I do all the writing for the blog, my husband and I share the cooking, photography, and baby chasing fairly evenly. And, taco night is my husband’s favorite. I don’t think he had it as a child; I certainly did not. But, he gets very excited when I pull out our bulk bag of frozen tortillas.

Recently, on a nice evening, my husband and I whipped up quick tofu tacos. There is no recipe, but instead a plan.

I decided to pass on our vegan (vegetarian) taco rules to Dhivya's AWED event:
For the base, we almost always use tortillas, but we have been known to use dosas and rotis made of maida. This base can be fried, but really that takes so much time, only do it when you have had a terrible day.
For the filling, I like something with protein and a varied texture. While we have been known to use TVP or processed fake meat, I have come to prefer scrambled tofu (cooked with veg. Worchestire, chili powder, and cumin). We often add chopped raisins, cinnamon and almonds to this “meat” taking a page from Rick Bayless. Or, we might use adzuki beans and black beans, smashed and refried and topped with fresh cilantro. Another good filling is frozen tofu that is shredded (which looks like chicken). This can be flavored with lemon, a smidge of tamarind, cinnamon and cumin and paired with sauteed mushrooms.
I am fairly convinced the toppings are what turns my husband on about Taco night. We usually have a number of toppings available, including soy or almond cheddar, shredded lettuce, slivered cucumber, julienned carrots, sliced mushrooms, olives, soy or regular yoghurt, queso fresco, cheddar. My husband makes a wonderful roasted tomatillo salsa and I make an enjoyable mango salsa that have both made there way on to tacos.

We often pair our tacos with brown rice, spanish rice, or black beans, but it is also good with sweet potato hash browns.

4 comments:

Siri said...

Yummy tacos..:)

DK said...

I love tofu and use it for everything under the sun but never ever did i think of pairing it with Tortillas. This is so healthy version of regular Taco filling. Love it. Thanks for sending it to the event. :)

MPG said...

I make similar ones, these look great! You should enter enter this here the contest closes tonight at midnight!

manju said...

how have i been missing out on taco night??? apparently i visit on the wrong days. i'll just hope i'm in the vicinity the next time you're on a mango salsa kick.