Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Daiya Pizza - Vegan MoFo post 4


Day 4 of Vegan MoFo. I seriously should have scheduled a lot more posts (I just had 3 lined up) well in advance. Now, instead of writing up blog posts, I've been spending all my online hours MoFo blog hopping!

It's too hard to resist. I'm discovering all these awesome blogs and with all the criss-cross interactivity happening between mofoers all over the interwebs (blogs, twitter, facebook...), I feel like I'm a part of this large, global community of warm and friendly people and I wish veganmofo would last forever!

Today's post is going to be quick and simple. But not without a back story of course. :oP

In my pre vegan days, I was never a fan of cheese. When our parents took us to Wimpy (a pretty nice UK based fast food restaurant that existed here in Bangalore before the icky US fast food chains flooded India and wiped Wimpy out), sis and I always asked them to put very less cheese on our pizzas. And that was only because they claimed they couldn't make them cheese-less because the toppings wouldn't stay on then. So when I went vegan, 8 years ago, I never even gave a second thought to cheese.

Then last year, when DH and I visited the US for a few months, we got to taste Daiya vegan cheeze for the first time at Sugar Plum Vegan Café at Sacramento. I never knew cheeze could be so delicious!!

So a couple of months ago, when my cousin's friend was visiting here from the US, we asked her to please please please bring a pack of Daiya for us (packed safely between ice bags of course) in her luggage and she very kindly did so. :)

Needless to say, I've been using it very sparingly to make it last and thankfully, a little does go a long way.

The other day I made this pizza. Looks yum, huh? :D

Daiya Pizza

I'm still working on getting a perfect pizza crust (mine's pretty yummy but it's more like bread than crust) so I won't post the recipe for that here. But here's how I made the topping:

Daiya
1 Pack Tofu - pressed gently to squeeze out water, patted dry and cubed
3 Ripe Tomatoes - quartered
3-4 cloves Garlic - chopped roughly
Nutritional Yeast
Balsamic Vinegar
Jaggery (or other sweetener)
Tabasco Sauce or Chilli Powder (or a bit of both)
Dried Oregano
Pepper
Salt

Put everything, except Daiya and Tofu, into a blender and liquefy.

Add Tofu cubes and toss.

Pour the sauce over olive oil coated, partially baked pizza base.

Sprinkle Daiya over everything and bake for about 20-25 minutes.

Slice and serve hot.

Enjoy! :)

9 comments:

  1. Daiya is global and so is pizza!!! How cool is that? I can smell your pizza rising over here. Wimpy was too wimpy to risk making a vegan pie :)(he had to live up to his name) Great post!
    I know so much to keep with during MOFo.

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  2. yummm... reminds me that i havent made a pizza in a while!. yours looks totally fun!
    i hear u about the posts.. though i have posts lined up.. i get all tired and lazy about writing up a decent post:) break day for me is in order

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  3. have you been using the same package of cheese for a few months? Just curious, as I wondered how long it would last.

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  4. Thanks ladies! The pizza tasted just as good as it looked. I could have reduced the quantity of the Daiya though. Since this was my first pizza after getting the Daiya, I went a little overboard with the sprinkling. :oP

    Richa, I don't know if I could take a break! This daily posting has gotten so addictive!! LOL Since I've already run out of the scheduled posts, I've been staying up till 2am every night to get a post done for the following day. And to think that when I signed up for MoFo, I thought I'd just do weekday posts and be done with it. :oP

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  5. StarCityVegan, yeah the Daiya seems to be lasting in my fridge. I had no idea if it would but had to get a pack anyways. We got it at the beginning of August and whatever's left of it is still okay. The best before date on it is 30th October 2011 (though it does say to finish the cheeze within 7 days of opening the pack). I might finish it by then.

    It was the same case with the Earth Balance buttery sticks. They were absolutely fine in the fridge for over a year! Probably would have lasted longer too if we hadn't finished it.

    I guess being very careful while using it like not touching with wet utensils or fingers and also replacing the pack in the fridge immediately all help.

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  6. I am also a lover of Daiya.

    MoFo is seriously fun, and I love when it comes. I always get a little bummed when it's over, too.

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