Colors..colors and more colors. A veg hotch potch!

Okay...it seems like forever that I have not posted. Part of the reason being that I am truly busy with and upcoming conference next week in San Francisco. It is my favorite city in USA!  And guess what is the most exciting part of this conference?  This should be easy :)

guesses...guesses? :)

It is the Food.. and here comes another fun part...Blogging. I will be posting about the foodie delights here, but I have started another blog, about communicating science and I am going to blog about ocean- climate-environment related presentations which I plan to attend. I am interested in presenting results and so on...but really so much blogging and lots of food explorations! This is what I am really looking forward to :) And all of this around my birthday too!

Moving past updates (read excuses), I have to say that my Tiffany's has not seen much action. But that doesn't mean, there have been no jewels :) I had an Yam and some tofu. I bought them with the intent of making something with them (can you believe I have never used these in my cooking?). I never got around to them. So this sunday I decided to clean my refrigerator of veggies and I cannot even start to tell you..how this clean yo ended being one of the best recipes I ever invented! 

Let me show you how good this looks and we can yak later.

Ingredients:

1 pack of Tofu. Firm and organic works best. 

1 chinese eggplant. Chopped into bite size pieces

1 Yam. Chopped into bite size pieces

1 Red bell pepper. Chopped into bite size pieces

A handful of green beans.Chopped into bite size pieces

half a tsp of all spice. You can also use whole cumin or nigella. Or a combine all three or any two and use half a tsp of the mixture. Would be grand!

1 tsp of freshly grated ginger

A pinch of turmeric. Optional. Use it if you like some color and would like to use its many health benefits

A pinch of Paprika. Optional. For color.

A wedge of lime.

3-4 tbsf olive oil.

2 cup of veg stock or warm water. take the stock out of the refrigerator half an hour before using. will add to the flavor as the edge goes off the cold stock.

Salt and black pepper for seasoning

This is real simple. Stir- cover- cook.

Okay, with the tofu. You have two choices.

a) you can shallow fry the tofu cubes. This makes them a bit firmer and adds crunch. Also some calories.

b) you just use the raw cubes. Will work real fine too.

Anyway, with the rest. Heat oil in a pot. Make sure pot is big enough to hold all the ingredients. When oil is hot, add the allspice and ginger. Wait a few secs for things to crackle and release aroma. Add the yams and stir. Cover and cook for ~ 2 mins with constant stirring.


Before I add anything else. let me just show you how awesome it looks even in the pot!

Okay now, back to the adding-stirring :)
Add the eggplants. Stir, over and cook for ~  2 mins. Add the beans. Do the same process for another 2 mins. Keep stirring guys. Finally add the bell pepper. Repeat the process for ~1 minute. Squeeze the lime all over. Add the turmeric and paprika if you are using them. One BIG stir. Add the stock or water.  Add the tofu cubes (fried or raw) Cover. Lower heat and let cook through. ~ 10 minutes. Keep checking to make sure that bottom is not burning.

Season with salt and pepper.

Voila! you have the prettiest, and healthiest (if I may) dish ever. Just look at the colors!  A mix of veges from Africa and where not and spices from Middle east and India.  Experimenting is fun :) :)

Happy eating and healthy living!