Gettin' creative with salad.

I eat a lot of salad, especially now that it's too hot to turn on the stove, I'm too busy and poor to make something new every night. 

So I mixed a couple of recipes from The Moosewood New Classics, threw in some left overs, got some beets and tomatoes to add color and voila! 

A curried tofu and corn salad that's worthy of any high class vegetarian/vegan restaurant. 

In other news, I'm in major lack of grill depression. I don't have the balls to put one on my fire escape, so if you have one in NY,  I will trade many, slightly charred, tasty things in exchange for a grill take over. 

Curried Tofu (from Moosewood New Classics)
1 packet firm tofu
1 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves- pressed
1 c onion- minced
1 jalapeno- seeded and minced
2 tbsp curry paste
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp braggs liquid aminos

-Press the tofu for 15 mins. Cut into bite sized pieces.
-Heat the oil in a skillet, saute the garlic, onions and jalapeno until the onions are golden, about 15 mins. Mix in the curry paste, turmeric, cumin and soy sauce.
-Add the tofu to the skillet and cook on low heat for 10 mins, stirring often, until heated through.

Curried Corn (adapted from Moosewood New Classics)
1 c shallots- chopped
1 jalapeno- seeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves- minced
2 tbsp olive oil
4 c frozen corn
1 tbsp curry powder

The actual recipe calls for coconut milk. I omitted it because I didn't want to the corn to be over saturated with liquid going into the salad (read- I didn't have any). 

-warm the oil in a sauce pan, add the shallots and jalapeno and saute for 3 mins. Stir in the curry powder and saute until the spices darken, about another 3 mins.
-stir in the corn. Saute until heated, add salt and pepper to taste.

To assemble curried tofu and corn salad (a Hannah original (patent pending))
1 c quinoa

3 bell peppers- chopped

grape tomatoes- sliced in half

4 beets- chopped

-Put everything in a big bowl. Mix around. 

-season with salt, pepper, sriracha and curry powder to taste. 

I've been on a major RadioLab kick. 

I spend most of my commute listening to podcasts, but I've run into the unfortunate problem that sometimes Ira Flatow's soothing voice and dense topics on Science Friday puts me to sleep and I get too distracted by the various MTA characters/subway drama to really commit to an episode of This American Life. And the TAL stories often make me cry, which can be mildly embarrassing and unwanted attention getting at 10am on a Wednesday. 

RadioLab is the perfect medium, a mix of science and story, weird soundscapes that jolt one awake and make you stride that fine line between being intrigued and thinking too much. 

Plus, I'm in awe of the online community they are making through social media. 

And let's be honest, the only reason I listen to Science Friday is for the rare and priceless times when Ira F gets pissed off.