Monday, October 13, 2008

On The Sauce, And a Reminder

When I went home two months ago for a short visit, I met a cousin of mine from the US whom I had not seen for the last five years. The conversation veered round to food as it often does and we found ourselves discussing the cooking shows on TV here. This cousin grew up in the US and the shows here must have come as a big culture shock.

As the conversation progressed, her expression deepened from one of puzzlement to shock to utter disgust. She had watched a programme that morning where salad was one of the items on the menu. " ... And then she put in an entire bowl of mayo into the salad! An entire bowl. And she added apple, corn, cabbage {some other stuff which I don't remember now}, oh yes, carrots, and olives! Now tell me, Sra Akka, olives? And she (the lady featured in the programme) has the gumption to say very blithely that this mayonnaisey stuff is ideal for a weight-loss diet? No wonder these people eat like this and then wonder why they're not losing any weight!"

The less said about our TV shows featuring home cooks the better. I have nothing against the recipes involved, but find it hard to control my laughter when I hear the nutritional/weight loss advice that comes with it. As my cousin has ranted for me, I won't be adding more on that count. I only hope she's not provoked into another rant if she ever comes across this blog and reads this post - like that virtuous TV cook, I'm not going to make any claims as to its goodness or its unbearable lightness of being. It is, however, going to make her happy, I hope. And for me, it was a conscious experiment in Western vegan food - it's tofu mayonnaise and I'm sending it off to MBP-Sauces, originally conceptualised by Coffee.



What is mayonnaise?

I found the original recipe here. However, as I didn't have any sugar substitutes, I used ordinary sugar, so I can't confidently call it vegan.
Further, I had some powdered mustard seed (the pickling variety) and that's what I used in place of stoneground mustard. Even the one teaspoon that I used imparted a hint of bitterness to my mayo though that wouldn't deter me from using it.
I used a teaspoon of pepper too.
In place of the cider vinegar, I used some mirin as it has been lying unutilised in my kitchen since January.

Ultimately, the tofu mayo was made with:

250 gm silken tofu
1 tsp "strong" mustard
1 tsp pepper
Salt, to taste
3-4 tsp mirin
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tsp sugar

Put all ingredients into the food processor and process till creamy.

It's mid-October and we're at the halfway mark for My Legume Love Affair-Fourth Helping. Don't forget to send in your entries! The details are in the sidebar.

32 comments:

  1. Silken tofu in mayonnaise. So this is it. I've seen aversion with soymilk but it had a lot of oil in it. :(
    If I can find silken tofu, I'm trying this.
    Btw, any idea how long this keeps in the fridge?

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  2. ...well weight loss is relative no? compare that to all the deep fried, carbs recipes, and it looks positively like lean cuisine.

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  3. Oh! How I never tire of taking a dig at our cookery shows on TV....I can imagine the shock ur cousin would have had...LOL :)

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  4. Sra I have never tasted silken tofu but had tofu once. Somehow it did not suit my taste. Yeah about the Tv shows I watch only one. Thats Pravai Muniyamma's Gramathu virundhu in Kalagnar TV. she cooks real good stuff with localy available ingredients and its all from our gandma's kitchen and we used to try most of them and they've become regulars now. For the rest I keep away from those rantings atleast :)

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  5. I have never made mayo with tofu.
    Will try with tofu.
    But i always make home made mayo with egg, lime juic,oil,peper and salt and mustard.
    Ofcourse the cook is correct, when she said mayo is good for slimming down, the way she aded in that salade one will shit the hell out , so that has to be a slimming down :-)))))

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  6. hey first time here nice blog with very nice recipes..

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  7. Now THIS is a healthy mayo! :)

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  8. Sra, in the US it is not so much the cooking shows giving dubious nutrition information but stick thin model look alikes who are cook show hosts encouraging folks to cooks with gobs of butter, cream and what not. I am of the opinion that a cook show hosts looking like that should only advocate health foods :) I am biased here obviously but they all mislead one way or the other.

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  9. silken tofu in mayonnaise sounds good .. this is a healthier version ...

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  10. Tofu in mayo..I wouldn't know the taste until I taste it...Am waiting for the details by the way....

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  11. Thanks for the recipe Sra....i have been meaning to try out the eggless mayonnaise.

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  12. Healthy mayo sounds great. Looks so nice. Will try it soon. YUM!

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  13. Ha ha. My mom keeps sending me some dubious low fat Indian cookbooks from back home. For the life of me I don't see what quite qualifies them to be branded as such.

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  14. May be a bowl of tofu mayo will slim down? Haha LOL :) I got to try this one!

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  15. Silken tofu is so versatile. I make milkshakes with it.:)
    I like how you've used it here.

    Just noticed the event you're hosting. Do you think my last post would qualify?

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  16. I have seen folks who are on "a diet" going crazy with the full-fat dressing at the salad bar! But I do love my mayonnaise though, the unhealthy one :)

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  17. I somehow never like mayo very much but this one seems a good recipe! I wonder where I will find mirin though!

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  18. This is an interesting recipe Sra. What did it taste like? I had vegan mayonnaise once at a retaurant and I believe they called called it nayonnaise! Not sure if that's what it's called or if it was just a quirky name used by the restaurant.

    Mamatha

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  19. wow sra, this looks delicious. Silken tofu, here I come :) I am also hoping to post a recipe before the deadline is over for your event!

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  20. Thats so neat!..hope your cousin find herself here..hehehh..

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  21. I have a block of tofu desperately waiting to be used! I eat salads at restaurants but never at home, may be the mayo will coax me into eating some.
    and Nirmala, I used to watch Paravai Muniyamma's show when I was there, she still has it going ?...those were the days I stepped into the kitchen only to bother my mom, and I would watch the show to look at the vessels and tools she uses, and to give my mom a running commentary of the show as she dishes out snacks and tea in the kitchen, evil me!

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  22. hey, one Q, my last two posts were on lentils but I did not read about your event until today :( Can I still add a link in the post and send them to you ?

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  23. Hi folks, sorry, not replying individually this time.
    Priya, you're welcome to send me the details.

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  24. Oh, and thanks for all the comments. :-)

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  25. i love these packets of parathas (NOT) we get in the indian store here hich scream "cholestrol free" when they are made with partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil. and i have often been told in india by people trying to lose weight that "i eat less rice and no rotis, but nothing has changed." how about exercising? and eating less carbs as a whole?

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  26. What a lovely idea Sra. I'm not a fan of mayonnaise, but could imagine eating this quite happily. The more stuff is just too rich for me. I like the bit of mustard and mirin you've added.

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  27. sra, u and mayo..don't go together.. no call it something else.. like healthy spread, dip, protein butter.. please don't call it mayo!!

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  28. i ditto sig's comments....i have seen people douse their salad's with dressing. I have also seen people overdoing the olive oil coz it is healthy....they do not get the concept that despite it being healthy...it is still 'fat'...u need to use it in moderation...LOL

    Rajitha

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  29. In the U.S., dressings (most are high in fat, sugar or both) are a sizable % of a woman's daily calorie count, ruining the slimming benefits of eating salad to begin with.

    Nice use of silken tofu. I've just started experimenting w/ it.

    (Posting MLLA4 recipe today...a salad. ; D)

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  30. Hey Sra, thanks for checking on me :) Just been a bit off colour and in no mood to blog and click pics, tho' there are lot of legumes cooking in my kitchen everyday! Btw, you can pick any of the legume recipes off my blog -there are a few there- if it's within rules. See ya later!

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  31. Been away for long. Looks like you've done a lot in the meantime. I tried this yesterday, and N liked it. We just ground the regular mustard. Is that how it is supposed to be?

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