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Tofu “Sour Cream” and a Vegan Okra Raita
December 14, 2009 | 24 Comments
“Americans can eat garbage, provided you sprinkle it liberally with ketchup, mustard, chili sauce, Tabasco sauce, cayenne pepper, or any other condiment which destroys the original flavor of the dish.” ~ Henry Miller
Replace “ketchup” with “yogurt” and he’s talking about me. As a kid, food was a convenient excuse to eat yogurt.
I was one of those non-fussy kids who ate anything as long as it had a white tangy blanket of dairy to insulate it from my tastebuds. Everything that landed on my plate (except chocolate) got baptised – rice, bread, veggies, fruit, sausages, eggs, salty stuff, pappadams, boondi laddus and all that strange stuff they served at weddings.
I liked my yogurt plain and sour – always homemade with full-fat buffalo milk, with is much thicker and creamier than cow’s milk. (And that was the only dairy I ate.) I had two basic formulae.
For stuff I liked, the yogurt:food ratio was 1:1. For strange/weird/smelly stuff, it was 2:1. Worked every single time.
My biggest sacrifice when I turned vegan was yogurt. Last night, suddenly, those memories came flooding back. I was confronted with green beans and cauliflower. I looked around to mask the grassy taste and funky odour. No luck. So I made some tofu sour cream. Today, at lunchtime, the green beans and cauliflower slid down my throat without a problem.
I’ve made soy yogurt before and it’s quite simple, but I don’t always have it on hand. Plus, it requires some planning and the results are not always consistent.
The store-bought versions often have sugar. I do prefer the texture and flavour of soy sour cream, though. Have you read the label on the Tofutti “Better than Sour Cream”? Ghastly.
Ingredients: Water, expeller pressed natural oil blend (soybean, palm fruit and olive), maltodextrin, soy protein, tofu, non-dairy lactic acid, organic vegan sugar, blend of natural gums (locust bean, guar, cellulose, xanthan and carrageenan), vegetable mono and diglycerides **Contains Soy**
The Tofutti “Better than Sour Cream Supreme” is even more scary.
Ingredients: Water, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Isolated Soy Protein, Maltodextrin, Tofu, Non Dairy Lactic Acid, Cellulose, Locust Bean, Guar And Carrageenan Gums, Sugar, Salt, Vegetable Mono And Diglycerides, And Potassium Sorbate (Added As A Preservative).
Instead of reading miles of labels with toxic ingredients, why not just make your own? I don’t eat tofu very often – maybe twice a month. When I want the quasi-yogurt, I want it NOW. Having some silken tofu in the fridge is an easy way to achieve that. I actually like the flavour of this.
TOFU SOUR CREAM (VEGAN)
(Yields a bit more than 1.5 cups)
1 block (16 oz.) of silken tofu (regular, not lite)
2 tbsps fresh lemon juice
3/4 tsp date sugar (or sweetener of choice)
salt to taste (1/3 to half tsp)
Blend everything together. That’s it.
**If you use lite silken tofu, you can add a tbsp of vegetable oil to make it creamier.
Now compare this:
2 tbsp Tofutti “Better than Sour Cream” – 5 grams fat (2 grams saturated)
2 tbsp Tofutti “Better than Sour Cream Supreme” – 7 grams fat (5 grams saturated)
2 tbsp homemade tofu sour cream- 0.75 grams fat (unsaturated) (I used Azumaya brand silken tofu)
I love okra and since I’m not trying to mask the flavour, I make a raita-type of dish. This is usually made with regular yogurt or sour cream. (Low fat is fine.)
Raita (yogurt salad, much like the Lebanese Jajik) can be made with fresh veggies (cucumber, mint, tomatoes) or cooked (blanched spinach, pumpkin).
OKRA (BHINDI/LADY FINGER) RAITA
Wash some okra. Pat it dry and slice it thin. Then saute or bake sliced okra in a teaspoon of oil with a little salt until crisp. Use cast iron if you can.
Add it to the tofu sour cream. I like to use 2 parts sour cream to 1 part cooked okra.
Seasonings:
Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan.
Add
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
a couple of sliced fresh chillies (red or green)
a few curry leaves (optional)
When the mustard seeds pop, add the mixture to the okra-sour cream mix and garnish with fresh chilies.
Okra facilitates the propagation of good bacteria referred to as probiotics – like those in yogurt – and helps the biosynthesis of Vitamin B complex.
This goes to Yasmeen’s Healing Foods Event @ Health Nut, where one of the ingredients is Okra.
- bee
Filed Under: Dairy/Cheese, NUTRITION, Okra/Ladyfinger, silken tofu, sour cream, Soy/Tofu/Tempeh, Tofu, vegan recipes, vegetarian recipes, yogurt
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24 Comments
This is brilliant. I love tofu – eat it more than a week with Asian food. But then, I’m no vegan. Plus being South Indian, yogurt was a must. I love, love it and eat it with everything. Like you
However, now when I have vegan friends home, I feel horrible eating non vegan food with them. So I skip it! So, this is a brilliant alternative when I cook Mexican for instance!
My sister was like you, she mixed everything served on the plate with huge amounts of yogurt, sometimes we were left without yogurt.
Love the 2nd click with the towers of Okra and the simple vegan version of the okra raita.
Bee, I have trouble eating tofutti better than cream cheese , the tub lies unopened and is thrown away after one or two tastings… I always keep tofu on hand for a vegan fritatta or for shakes. This is a great idea and bhendi is a favorite of ours. I only started eating yogurt after I turned sixteen, bcos my mom told me i wont get pimples if I eat yogurt, I still have trouble with the smell and it has to be a certain taste .. if it turns sour , there is a high chance I might throw up just smelling it ! i use it regulary as a cleanser though and use rose water for toning . Great stuff for the skin .
I too love yoghurt (as you can guess from the name of my site). I think I used to eat curd rice with a separate serving of yoghurt and used to get mercilessly teased by my cousins… who cares?
love this raita recipe
aaah! I make tofu sour cream too and vegan mayo! Of course for low fat purposes! I love curd/yogurt and I married another yogurt freak. between us its going to be hard to eliminate it…
But though I like yogurt a lot, I mix it with something or the other – I feel it makes vegetables tastes better, although I have no problems eating them as they are too! My mom had some tough times making me eat like ‘normal’ ppl
Yogurt makes (almost)everything tastes better, I agree. I was going to pick up Tofutti cream cheese to try it out. Thanks for pointing out the crap in their products.
I love curds and thick curds are my favorite with spicy food. I have this strange habit of eating spicy noodles with a cup of yogurt on the side. Have eatne tofu only once but not much to my liking. The ingrdient list for the store bought sour cream tofu really is scary! But I love curd and okra pachadi. first time I ate it some 15 years ago in Saravana Bhavan and was hooked to it. I can eat a bowl full without anything to accompany
The picture looks gorgeous Bee !
My favorite food as a kid was always curd rice with super spicy okra on the side. I could live on that for days!
Even today, the only way I can swallow brussel sprouts and turnips is if they’re covered with thick, creamy yogurt.
Bee, lovely photos..I too am trying to turn vegan..yogurt is onething I am still not able to give up..i even eat pizza with curd..Here tofu etc costs a fortune and never tasted it too..
btw, i made your vegan fruit and nut cake and posted in my blog.
I am one of those ppl who don’t like youghurt ( plain ) made like this i like or like raitas etc….. my hubby always use sou youghurt ( i run away from them) he use soy youghurt as he dan’t digest the normal one.
Never made soy youghurt home and after you saying it is not easy, i think i will keep on buying from the shop.
Love that pic of okra standing in a row.
A friend ate Chinese food with yogurt since it was a must-have at all meal times! Your post reminded me of that!
simple and nutritious,one look at the long complicated ingredient list,I’d definitely go for this vegan fresh natural homemade sour cream any day.I almost never ate yogurt as a kid,even now it very occasional ,which is not the case with my better half who can’t go a day without it, mainly for its digestive benefits.The vegan raita with goodness of okra is a superb idea.Thanks for participating
Great photo of the okra! The vegan sour cream looks good, too.
First I have to congratulate both of you for winning the Best Designed Indiblog. Great Job Jai and Bee. I wish you had won the other 2 categories too.
Vegan raita is such a neat idea.
Please check this link, if you have not already seen it.
http://www.indibloggies.org/category/announcements/results
Congrats on the well-deserved win ‘Bandits!
I feel a bit the same about yoghurt – but I don’t always have it in the house – maybe I should have that block of tofu there for days when it is not about – sounds delicious
Yogurt was my way of turning all adult food into “baby” food for my son when he was growing up.
Congratulations Bee and Jai ! Hugs to you !
I still love dousing anything I eat with yogurt – makes my world go round and EVERYTHING taste better! Thats why I could never go vegan, unfortunately. It would be so interesting to know what you guys eat regularly – like a meal diary of a whole week from the jugalbandhi kitchen. Have been curious about that ever since you guys talked about eating more raw food. I tried to do that for 2 days and failed miserably.
Bee,
The quote, minus the ketchup, describes my husband –he would replace the ketchup with hummus but everything else is right on. I’ll try your sour cream recipe soon. It sounds great especially in this okra dish. Your turnip greens (Sag Gonglu) is still one of our family’s favorite.
All the best,
Alexa
I make this with orange juice but it gets a little sweet, more like a dip. I thought lemon would make it too sour but seeing that you made it, I too will give it a try. Congrats on winning the best Designed Indian blog! Truly, I haven’t seen any blog as well designed as yours:)
Love the pictures and recipe! The colours really pop on the screen!
This made me laugh as I think of my daughters with their plates piled high with rice and then smothered in plain yogurt. Some furious mixing, a dash of salt, and what looks like a pile of mush is now their comfort food. When we ate vegan I found the wildwood brand of plain soy yogurt to be the closest tasting to dairy yogurt. This raita looks interesting – especially because, as much as I adore almost every vegetable in the world, I’m a little leery of okra. I should give it a try!