Curried Split-Pea Soup, Bean 'Muffins', Unfried Noodles, Tofu

The first two cooking adventures here are from a new e-cookbook by a cyberfriend of mine. You can find more about them here http://beanvegan.blogspot.com/2007/06/new-cookbook-just-out.html, but the recipes are, naturally, not mine to give.

ERIN'S BEAN 'MUFFINS'
This is such an innovative recipe - and so simple to make. The trick is to match the herbs, spices, etc. with what you plan to use the 'muffins' for. That's no big ask :) I have made them twice now - the first time as an experiment (not quite believing they'd work), the second at the express request of my dh, who seems to have become addicted to them. These are ever so slightly sweetened and have allspice mixed in. I put a scrap of chopped walnut on each of this batch to remind us which ones were which, since the options for flavourings are limitless. Portable beans? Great idea!



ERIN'S SPLIT-PEA SOUP, CURRIED VERSION
There are practically as many versions of split-pea soup in the world, I swear, as there are cooks to produce it! Erin's is, however, excellent - from his new e-cookbook - and we will probably make this version from now on! Lovely. I should say, however, that I made the 'variation' he suggested, and found it worked beautifully. For someone who cooks without salt, I found the spices he suggested pepped up the taste buds wonderfully. (And I thought I was clever with spices myself!) This soup is a winner!



UNFRIED NOODLES
Once in a while I like to break the rules and have a little 'pasta', asian style. These noodles below are of course from white rice, not quite the whole foods we generally live on. But they cook very quickly - a quick blanching in boiling water, then can
be mixed with a barely stir-'fried' (no oil) selection of whatever suitable vegetables are in the fridge and dressed with a sauce made from low-sodium soy (about a Tbsp or less for two of us), some jarred garlic, jarred minced ginger, sambal oelek (jarred Indonesian condiment of finely minced chilies), a tsp peanut butter, and a tsp of cornstarch in a little water. Not quite mee goreng, but still tasty and, equally important, quick!



CHILLED TOFU
And sometimes on a hot day, or when in a hurry, I like to have so-called 'firm' silken tofu with a salad (any kind) - not together, but separately of course :) since silken really isn't firm and doesn't lend itself well to mixing except very very gently. Rather than heat it (I like it in a Hunan-style sauce over rice), on such days I like it cut into cubes with a drop or two of low-sodium soy sauce and a sprinkle of finely chopped green onions. It doesn't get much simpler than that!