Organic Vegan Buckwheat Noodle Tofu Salad

I was debating what to title this. It's not really Thai, but I suppose it's "Thai-inspired." It's incredibly easy to make, but you'll need to get things in order to pull it off quickly.

N.B. Ingredients should be organic whenever possible. The only thing I wasn't able to find organically was the toasted sesame oil.

INGREDIENTS:
1 package Buckwheat Noodles (three bundles)
Non-emulsified peanut butter
3 large green onions
1 handful curly parsley
1 large lemon
1 large carrot
4 cloves garlic
ginger (to taste)
chili powder (to taste)
1 pound extra firm tofu
salt
fresh basil

NOTES: The peanut butter I used was organic from Woodstock Farms. It was non-emulsified with a layer of oil on top. This means you'll have to stir it up in the jar before using. It also usually means that this kind of peanut butter will be a wee bit looser than conventional peanut butter (great for sauces, but not as great for a PBJ sammich). I've also found that it's a bit looser than freshly-ground peanut butter.

DIRECTIONS:
Heat up a wok, but do not add oil. Dice the tofu and sear the tofu until crispy. Stir every now and then to prevent sticking to the wok. While the tofu is cooking, Put about three big heaping spoonfuls of peanut butter in a mixing bowl. If I had to guess, I'd say use about 2/3rds of a cup. Juice the lemon and remove the seeds. Mix that into the peanut butter. Add the toasted sesame oil. Add salt, chili powder, and freshly grated ginger to taste. This mixture should have the consistency of a thick sauce, so you may need to add more toasted sesame oil. When the tofu is crispy, place it in a bowl to cool.

Start boiling water for the noodles in a large pot. While you're waiting for the water to roil, mince the garlic and add to the sauce. Grate the carrot and mince the parsley and green onions. Add to the sauce along with the tofu. Mix together. Boil the buckwheat noodles for a few minutes until al dente. Drain, and then soak for about a minute in ice cold water. Drain again. Return noodles to pot and then mix in the sauce. Roughly chop up a couple handfuls of fresh basil and add.

Serves 4.

Cheap Organic Sprouts (in a week)

My gf and I love getting a wee plastic tub of fresh sprouts from the grocery store, but the cost can be kind of bad. Nutritionally, there's more in a small bin of sprouts than a big ass bowl of salad. I've seen sprouting kits online, and after a bit of trial and error, it's rather easy to go from this

to this

in about a week.

This is all you're gonna need:
1.5 tbsps of organic seed mixture
4" square of organic cheesecloth
1 stout rubber band (I found the kind used to bunch up celery works best)
1 20 oz mason jar.

Getting good organic sprouting seeds doesn't require boocoo money. In fact, even if you do this often enough, you'll get really good sprouts for a fraction of what they'd cost in hoity toity health food stores. Just go to amazon.com and type in "Organic sprouting seeds." Wheatgrasskits has a great selection as well.

Put the seeds in the mason jar. Cover with the cheesecloth. Secure it tightly with the rubber band. The cheesecloth should be taut, or else this isn't gonna work. Soak the seeds for the first night (about halfway will be good). Drain the seeds in the kitchen sink, and fill with water. Drain again slowly and leave the jar tilted slightly (resting against something like the wall) or in the sink. You don't want the seeds to completely rest against the cheesecloth. It's there to provide a permeable barrier for oxygen and water. If the cheesecloth is obscured completely, the sprouts will go bad or won't grow at all. You'll need to keep it somewhere dark or out of direct sunlight for about the first 3 - 4 days. Every day, you'll need to fill the mason jar with water, and drain carefully a few times a day. This allows the seeds to evenly get air and water.

After about 2 days, you should notice that the seeds have begun to sprout. After about 4 days, you should see the sprouts grow considerably, and you may see some leaves. After about 4 - 5 days, keep the jar of sprouts on the windowsill (but still tilted). You'll still need to fill the jar with water and drain the seeds. After about a week's time, you have a jar full of super duper tasty sprouts.

Vegan Buckwheat Soba Noodle Salad

After getting the packaged buckwheat noodle salad sold in plastic bins at Whole Foods & Health Nuts, I thought to try my kung fu. This is more or less raw & organic.

1 8oz package of organic buckwheat soba noodles
1 1/3rd cups organic Arame seaweed
2 organic carrots
4 organic scallions
1/3rd (or so) organic purple onion
1/2 a bunch of organic parsley
1/2 cup organic TVP (textured vegetable protein)
1 1/2 tbsps organic chia seed
Organic ginger
Organic sesame oil
Seasoned rice vinegar
salt

Crush the arame seaweed and soak in fresh cold water for about 20 min. While that's soaking, finely dice the scallions, parsley, & onion. Combine in a large bowl. Grate the carrots and toss that in as well.

The seaweed should have doubled in volume. Drain, but save the water in a separate bowl. Toss the rehydrated seaweed in the bowl of chopped veggies. Use the seaweed water to rehydrate the TVP. That should take about another 20 - 30 min. Grate some ginger into the veggies, and add the seasoned rice vinegar and sesame oil to taste. There should be very little water left over from rehydrating the TVP. Use that and a wee bit more water to rehydrate the chia seeds. Start boiling water for the noodles.

Once the water is boiling, reduce heat a wee bit and cook the noodles on medium - high for about 6 min. Drain in a fine mesh colander and wash with cold water a couple times. Add the noodles to the veggies and toss. You may need to add some more oil, vinegar, and salt to taste.