Tofu Frankies

Lavash breads are a staple of places like Turkey, Armenia, Iran. Here in the US, I came across Lavash breads at a speciality grocery store, that sells Mediterranean foods. It is quite similar to the roomali rotis we get in India, in fact they will work just perfectly with any curry dish.

I have been seeing the bread at Trader Joes (read my favourite store) for a long time now and wanting to try it out too. So I finally got it and thought of trying out wraps.

Why tofu? Well firstly my husband being a vegetarian doesn't get enough proteins and so I figured I need to give him protein at least once a day. Though he does have dals, but we don't have Indian everyday. So I really have to think hard in order for him to get his share of proteins for the day. He likes tofu, but only in Thai food, hence I figured that I need to camouflage it and serve it to him,and eureka!!!!!!, wraps.....What better way to camouflage, than to wrap it.

I don't think I am making any sense, here goes the recipe

You will need

• Lavash bread- 2 sheets, (or you can use tortillas)

For the filling

• 1 boiled potatoes
• 1 green bell pepper (chopped)
• 1/2 onion (chopped)
• tofu-1 cup (crumbled)
• tomato sauce- 1/2 tsp
• chily sauce- 1/2 ts
• Lemon juice- 1/4th tsp
• salt and pepper - to taste
• sour cream- 1-2 tbsp
• oil- 1 tbsp

You will have to

1. Heat oil in a pan.
2. saute onions, till transparent. Add the bell peppers. saute
3. add the boiled potatoes, along with the tofu.
4. Add the salt and pepper, along with the tomato sauce and the chilly sauce.
5. Mix everything up , slightly mash the potatoes and mix it with the tofu. Add the lemon juice.
6. Heat the lavash lightly,
7. Place a spoonfull of the mixture in the center, add a little sour cream and roll the lavash all around.
8. Cut through the center.
9. Serve as is. Or keep it prepared and warm in the oven, everyone will love it.

Enjoy

FOR THE SAKE OF SOY

I need to really thank sia of moonsoon spice to host the JFI-SOY event.
It actually fits perfectly as an ingredient for life. A wonder food, that is an excellent source of healthy nutrition to the body.
Back in India, when I worked as nutritionist, soy was something I prescribed to all my patients.
textured vegetable protein is the most famous form of soy that is available in India, under the brand name of nutrella.
when I came here to the United states, I was in awe to see the different forms of soy foods available. from soft to firm tofu, from soy flour to garden burgers, from flavoured soy milk to soy ice creams, it was tasty to go all soy.

my husband is a vegetarian, so for me to give him his daily protein I thought I had a lot of choices. but alas....husbands are like fussy kids. You have to keep trying out different forms of the same thing. he loves tofu and the soy patties that we get for burgers. that's about it.
the textured soy, he is not a great fan of.
a few days back we went to whole foods and picked up lemon herbed soy kebabs. they are available under the brand of "yves". My husband was open to the idea of trying it out. but once again, all in vain. he did not like the taste. so I had to come up with something that satisfied his palate. I thought let me make like a tawa fry with bell peppers and onions. something like tandoori shimla mirchi chicken but with soy.
It actually tasted lot better, and the addition of veggies gave it a good crunch with lots of flavour.


here is the recipe. and off it goes for the JFI-soy event.

You will need

• soy chunks (you can use nutrella, or the store bought soy kebabs)
• tomato-1
• onion-1
• green bell peppers-1 big
• ginger and chilly paste- 1 tsp
• red chilly powder- 1/2 tsp
• garam masala-1 /2 tsp
• tandoori masala- 1 tsp
• chaat masala- 1/2 tsp
• salt to taste
• oil- 1 tbsp

You will have to

1. heat oil in a pan. saute the chopped onions, along with the ginger chilly paste.
2. add the tomatoes and saute. add the chopped bell peppers. add salt. cover and cook for a few minutes.
3. now add the soy chunks. along with all the spices. mix up everything . let it cook on high flame for a few minutes. scrape all the masala from the sides of the pan.
4. empty out in a plate. serve hot. you can add a few drops of lemon juice too.

NOTE:you can make this with soy chunks too. just soak them in hot water half an hour before. the same can be made with tofu too.

have a great weekend