sweet and sour soup

Asian Night

Kate requested Hot and Sour Soup, but I wanted a spin on the stand-by favorite. I guess we were playing with words, but during menu making, someone must have said 'sweet and sour' instead of 'hot and sour.' Thinking, why not?, I made a 'Sweet and Sour Soup.' All the elements that make a great Hot and Sour Soup are in this dish, and so is the sweetness that makes a Sweet and Sour dish unique.

Instead of using vinegar to sour it, I used lime juice and tamarind. If you've ever had one of those big jars of tamarind in your fridge, I'm sure you have wondered what else besides Indian it can be used for. And although a little extra sugar at the end is fine in case the sweetness is not enough, I used crushed pineapples for the bulk of the sugar.

As for the heat, I used one Thai chili, just sliced in half not all the way through the stem, but not much else. My family, especially the kids, aren't as into spicy as I am. You may add as many Thai peppers as you like, however.

I used a well-pressed tofu (Tofu Xpress) so it doesn't fall to mush during cooking, mushrooms, broccolette, diced green beans and scallions.

Cost Breakdown

onion, garlic, lemongrass: $.75

mushroom, broccolletes: $3

tofu: $2

tamarind, tamari, lime: $.50

green beans, chili: $1

crushed pineapple: $1

Total to make 5 servings:

$8.25

Sweet and Sour Soup Recipe

reuben

Late in the posting, but this was an after-St. Patrick Day Reuben. I decided to follow Tami's lead from American Vegan Kitchen and make Reubens after I made Corned Seitan.

(Incidentally, she has announced that she is writing her new cookbook!)

Not really much to say about Reubens...except that they are divine! In fact, I made this for the Vegetarian (Vegan) Workshops I conducted at my homeschooling conference a few weeks ago. It was well received and I was excited to have presented to a few chefs, a few vegans and others in various stages toward vegetarianism. Attending the workshop hopefully fueled their fire, sparked their interest and added to their arsenal of nutritional knowledge.

 A healthy, informed vegan is one that stays vegan!

There are four sandwiches in the picture below and not a single one was left over. If you haven't made a Reuben yet, you are missing out. Make your seitan a few days before or a few weeks before (and freeze it). That way you just need to assemble the sandwich. Make The Radical Reuben and skip the peppers and onions if you want.

Cost Breakdown

bread: $2

seitan: $3

Daiya: $2

1,000 Island sauce (homemade): $1

sauerkraut: $1

Total to make 4 sandwiches:

$9.00