Tofu Neat Balls

Vegan food is a cuisine in its own right!

Yes, it’s absolutely possible to make all kinds of vegan alternatives that perfectly mimic their animal versions. More power to the awesome brands proving this each day.

But the beauty of vegan cuisine is that you don’t *have* to mimic a damn thing if you don’t want to! 😃

You can just make completely new plant based food that’s unlike anything else. Simple mindset shift. Huge game changer.🤯

I didn’t develop the recipe for these Tofu Neat Balls with any intention to make them taste like meatballs. ✨🌱 They shine with their unique texture and flavours without trying to be anything but themselves. (I don’t need to spell out the life lesson metaphor in there for you, do I? 😜)

Here’s how I made them. Use the recipe as a starting point and modify it to suit your tastebuds and ingredient availability.

 

Tofu Neat Balls

Main ingredients:
3 blocks tofu – gently pressed to squeeze out as much water as possible and then mashed
3 T chickpea flour
2 T oats
1 tsp arrowroot powder
1 tsp psyllium husk

Flavouring ingredients:
tomato paste
tamarind paste
garlic paste
nutritional yeast
dried orange peel powder
chilli flakes
dry herbs
salt

• ☄️Mix everything together 
• ☄️Taste and adjust the flavours 
• ☄️Shape into balls and place on a baking tray 
• ☄️Bake in an oven at 200°C (400°F) for 20-25 mins until they’ve firmed up a bit 
• ☄️Gently flip them over 
• ☄️Grill for 10 mins

 Notes:
📝 These balls are on the softer side. They’ll break if you mix them with the spaghetti 🍝 , so serve them on top.
📝 They make a yummy snack by themselves, dipped in hot sauce and enjoyed.
📝 Here's a different version of the Spaghetti and Neat Balls (a recipe post from over a decade ago inspired by my friend Karol).

Best way to Bake Potatoes ever!

Step aside potato wedges, shove off hasselbacks, we have a new baked potato dish in town, and it is daaaamn yummy.

Last week, my friend Smitha Hemadri shared her method for steamed and baked potatoes. 😱 The moment I saw it I knew I HAD to make it RIGHT AWAY!

The simplicity of this recipe just blows my mind. It has literally ONE ingredient – Potatoes.

• Scrub and clean potatoes very well, and remove the eyes
• DO NOT peel them (you’ll see how the skin turns out to be the *tastiest* part by the end)
• Pierce all over with a clean needle or toothpick (but be careful that the toothpick doesn’t break off into the potato 😂)
• Steam the potatoes whole for 20-30 mins, depending on the size
• Preheat oven to 250C (450F)
• Line the steamed potatoes on a baking tray and then, this is the most important bit, gently press down on each one using something flat and heavy (I used a rock). They should get crushed lightly and open up, but not mashed completely. If they fall apart a bit, it’s okay (the larger potatoes do this), very gently squish the bits together into one crumbled mass.
• Bake for 30 minutes
• Serve hot

That’s it! No salt, no oil, no garlic, no herbs. Nothing else required.

If you like, you can drizzle a little hot sauce over it and serve (Bhut Jholokia FTW 🔥), but you won’t believe how freaking scrumptious it tastes just on its own.

The gentle crushing is the KEY here. It creates multiple textures while baking. Soft in some parts, crispy and crunchy in some. Like seriously, I can’t even explain it in words. You have to try it to get what I mean.

Oh and as a chef, you might get very tempted to add things into the crevices before baking – crushed garlic, vegan butter, olive oil, salt, herbs, pepper, nooch... I really wanted to! But resist the temptation. Just make these potatoes plain, at least the first time.

You need to experience the pure potato flavours and textures in all their glory. 😃

If you try this, let me know how you like it. Also, Smitha is the queen of highly creative, super healthy recipes. Check out more of her Insta posts if you’re into eating clean.

Bite Sized Okara Patties – What's Okara, and how to use it?

"What do you do with your Okara?"
“Wait, did you mean Okra?”
“No, no. I meant Okara only.”
“What’s that now?” 🤨

When you make plant mylks, some of them need straining right? The leftover paste is Okara. It refers to soy pulp, but the term can loosely be used for other mylk pulps too.

When I make peanut curds, I don’t strain the mylk. I feel the pulp gives the curd a more thick and creamy texture. Plus the fibre is a good prebiotic. (Also I’m too lazy to strain it).

But the designated peanut curd maker in our house is way too particular about the texture. He claims that the pulp makes the curd pasty and insists on straining the mylk every single time. 🙄 And since peanut curd is made at home at least once a month (curd rice is a staple at our monthly Bengaluru Vegans Potluck), there's a constant supply of Okara at home.

A bit of the pulp can be mixed into chapathi/bread dough, gravies, sambar, etc. But there’s always more pulp than can be used this way. So more often than not, it sits in the fridge getting old and then we have to compost it.

Dry and tasteless as it is, Okara's still full of healthy fibre and easily digestible proteins. I always feel guilty about wasting it.

In my pursuit of using it up creatively, I made Okara Choco Chip Cookies last year. The recipe was a combination of this one from The Okara Project, and my signature Chocolate Chip/Chunk Cookies. They were daaaammmmmnnn yum! 🤤

But my tummy flab quavers in dread at the thought of cookies appearing every time we have Okara at home. 😂

So lately I’ve been making savoury snacks with it instead – patties, cutlets, neat balls…

You mix a bunch of stuff into the paste, shape and bake. Once you get the hang of it, it’s quite flexible to experiment with.

The three key things to keep in mind are – textures, flavours and binding.

🌺 Since Okara is bland (all the tasty stuff goes into the mylk), it needs super strong flavouring. Be verrrry generous with the spices and seasonings you put in!

🌺 Good binders are important to counter the moisture. I’ve tried random combinations of corn starch, arrowroot powder, psyllium husk, flaxseed powder, Banamin's gota/vada mix*, etc.

🌺 The Okara by itself doesn’t have an enjoyable mouthfeel, so mix in some crunchy/chewy ingredients for texture. I’ve done chopped mushrooms, seeds/nuts, crumbled tofu, leafy greens…

Then it’s just a matter of shaping and baking. I usually do 200-220°C for 15 mins, gently flip them and then bake for another 15 mins. The temperature and baking time depends on the size of the patties/balls, and how wet your mixture is. So adjust accordingly.

Here's a recipe for you. Use it as a guideline and do your own thing. There's plenty of potential for variety. :)

Raspberry Wasabi Tofu and how my work has taken over my life

Most of my friends are probably sick of hearing this, but I love my job, I love my team and I love, love, love the fantastic food I get to eat at my super awesome workplace. :)

Before I joined the Carrots family, I insisted that I have a flexible work schedule so that I have plenty of time to pursue my existing passions - the primary ones being my blog here and my artwork. But a week into the start of my career as Countess of Cuisine and Jollification (yes, that's my real designation) my world started to revolve around my life at Carrots. On the days I was at home, I often found myself thinking, "oh it would be so nice to be at Carrots right now." I figured that once the novelty wore off I'd get back to being myself again. Four months down the line, I've begun to accept that nothing of that sort is about to happen. :P

Of course the downside to all of this is that certain other areas of my life have begun to suffer. I barely make jewellery anymore and I haven't touched my favourite toy, polymer clay, in forever. I don't spend time experimenting in the kitchen as often as I used to and as a result there's a lack in blog-able content.

I've been feeling a little more guilty about my fairly silent blog than any of the other stuff. So you can imagine my delight when I was going through some old food photographs and found this recipe that I had created long ago but missed sharing here. Two recipes within a span of one week. Yes! :D

Raspberry Wasabi Tofu

1/2 block Silken Tofu
3 T Bread Crumbs

For the marinade:
3 T Raspberry Wine Vinegar
1/2 tsp Wasabi Paste
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/4 tsp Sugar or Liquid Jaggery
Salt

- Whisk the marinade ingredients together in a wide glass bowl
- Drain the tofu and slice it into large squares
- Place the tofu in the marinade and gently toss to coat
- Cover and keep in the fridge overnight (about 8-10 hours)

- Heat a pan or skillet on medium heat
- Put the bread crumbs on a plate
- Dip the tofu into the bread crumbs and coat it on all sides
- Toast the tofu on the hot pan

- Keep a close watch and flip carefully a few times during the toasting
process to ensure the bread crumbs don't stick to the pan
- Once the crumbs are browned to your liking, the tofu is ready
- Serve with your favourite hot sauce (you know it's Tabasco Chipotle for me) drizzled over the tofu
- Enjoy! :)

Veganosaurus Raw Food Theme Full Recap - Vegan MoFo 2013 Day 17

It's the last day of the Vegan Month of Food! I'll miss having something awesome to look forward to on the blogosphere each day. But I definitely won't miss the freaky stress associated with having to post every single day. Ha! In fact, I'm taking a break from my blog for the next week (at least). A well deserved holiday.

Over the last month I've shared a series of raw, vegan dishes here. Unfortunately I wasn't able to do 20+ recipes like I'd intended to. :( But I'm glad that at I'm getting at least 17 posts done for MoFo this year.

It's been a really good challenge to create these raw recipes. I've enjoyed it so much, I think I'll be creating raw foods more often. :)

Thank you everyone who has visited me here and at my various social media spaces (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest) throughout this month. Your supportive comments about my recipes, HowDo clips and time-lapse videos have been really encouraging. :)

I think I've had as much fun participating in Vegan MoFo this year as I did last year. Here's a link to my Vegan MoFo album from 2012 if you want to see what I did last time.

I am highly inspired by all the wonderful recipes I've been seeing on my fellow MoFo blogger's spaces! I'm going to spend the next few days just blog hopping and drooling over the goodies. :) Ahhhh bliss!

I'll leave you now with a recap of all the Vegan MoFo posts on my blog throughout this month. Enjoy! :)

Day 1 - Raw Almond Mylk

Day 2 - Healthy Green Smoothie

Day 3 - Fruit Sweetened Almond Mylk Ice Cream

Day 4 - Making Sprouts and Green Cilantro-Mint Chutney(chutney recipe by Dr.Nandita Shah)

Day 5 - Raw Almond Mylk Pulp Vadai/Cracker Sandwiches

Day 6 - Stuffed Bajji Menasinakayi (Banana Peppers) with Walnut Cilantro Pesto

Day 7 - Creamy Tomato Basil Soup (guest post by Manasa of Cure yourself with Food)

Day 8 - Raw Zucchini Fettuccine and Sun Dried Tomatoes in Cashew Sour Cream Sauce

Day 9 - Raw Cinnamon Apple Crumble with Date Almond Sauce

Day 10 - Melon Mustard Gazpacho

Day 11 - Mid-MoFo Recap and Giveaway

Day 12 - Ruby Smoothie

Day 13 - Fermented Cashew Garlic Cheese

Day 14 - Noochos Gracias Raw Soup

Day 15 - Frozen Basil Seed Pudding

Day 16 - Lemon Lavender Spoon Cream (guest post by Ashlee of The Little Foxes)

A Recap and a Giveaway - Vegan MoFo 2013 Day 11

Wow, we've just crossed the halfway point of Vegan MoFo! I started out intending to do at least 20 posts this month and hoping to do a few more than that if possible. So completing half the posts in the first few weeks, despite the daily distractions I've been having, what with blog hopping and drooling over the delicious goodies created by other MoFo bloggers, is something I'm really happy about. :)

For today's post, it seems apt to do a recap of all the recipes I've shared so far. Enjoy! :)

My theme for Vegan MoFo 2013 is Raw Vegan Foods.

Day 1 - Raw Almond Mylk

Day 2 - Healthy Green Smoothie

Day 3 - Fruit Sweetened Almond Mylk Ice Cream

Day 4 - Making Sprouts and Green Cilantro-Mint Chutney(chutney recipe by Dr.Nandita Shah)

Day 5 - Raw Almond Mylk Pulp Vadai/Cracker Sandwiches

Day 6 - Stuffed Bajji Menasinakayi (Banana Peppers) with Walnut Cilantro Pesto

Day 7 - Creamy Tomato Basil Soup(guest post by Manasa)

Day 8 - Raw Zucchini Fettuccine and Sun Dried Tomatoes in Cashew Sour Cream Sauce

Day 9 - Raw Cinnamon Apple Crumble with Date Almond Sauce

Day 10 - Melon Mustard Gazpacho

*Phew!*

And now, to celebrate the success of the first half of Vegan MoFo, I'm giving away something special that I handmade just for this occassion. :D

I present to you, the Kitchen Ninja Necklace!

For those of you who don't know, I create vegan art jewellery under the brand name Art by Susmitha. My favourite materials to work with are polymer clay, copper, silver, brass, gemstones and vegan crystal pearls (made by Swarovski). I've been making and selling my jewellery online for about ten years now.

My long time global store is on Etsy - http://artbysusmitha.etsy.com
And I've had an India specific store on ItsHandmade for a little over a year - http://art-by-susmitha.itshandmade.in

Art by Susmitha has its own pages on Facebook and Twitter. And shares a profile with Veganosaurus on Instagram and Flickr.

I made the focal pendant of this Kitchen Ninja necklace with copper. I hand stamped and textured it with special fonts and texturing hammers. Then I fired it to obtain a beautiful rainbow patina, highlighted the letters and finally hand polished it to bring out all the details.

I added the pendant to a long hemp chord and finished it with copper components. You slip the necklace around your neck and adjust the length by sliding the polymer clay bead at the back up and down.

Since I know many girl Kitchen Ninjas and boy Kitchen Ninjas, I designed this necklace to be worn by men as well as women. :)

If you'd like a chance to win this necklace for yourself or for the Kitchen Ninja in your life, visit this link on my Facebook Page and follow the instructions.

Enjoy! :)

Post by Art by Susmitha.

Stuffed Bajji Menasinakayi with Walnut Cilantro Pesto - Vegan MoFo 2013 Day 6

Last Thursday, we had a little freak out session at Veganosaurus Headquarters, but by the end of the day things had calmed down. After successfully posting a raw, vegan recipe for the fifth day of Vegan MoFo all of us went to bed with peaceful smiles on our faces, blissfully unaware of what was in store for us the following day. *insert ominous music here*

On Friday afternoon, our Internet's phone line went dead! *Gaaahhhhhh* I was left to depend on the data plan on my phone to have access to the Internet for the long weekend. Yes, I did freak out for a while but soon I decided to go with the flow, and calmed down.

How did I keep up the morale around here, you ask? Well, I just did not bother to mention anything about the phone line to Veganosaurus, Kip and the other monsters. Thankfully, they were too busy stuffing their faces with Gowri and Ganesha festival food to wonder why I wasn't Vegan MoFo-ing. And so, all was peaceful in these parts through the weekend. And before they could figure out what had happened, we got our precious Internet connection back! *sigh of relief*



Today I'm back with a very special recipe I put together, Stuffed Bajji Menasinakayi with Walnut Cilantro Pesto. This recipe could work with any kind of Chilli Peppers, but I decided to use these because they are very easily available locally (they're commonly used to make deep fried snacks called Bajjis), are the perfect size for stuffing and can be enjoyed raw because they are not overly spicy.

Before I move on to the recipe, I just have to make an appeal. My fellow Vegan MoFo-ers, if you have Captcha Text/Word Verification for commenting on your blogs, please, please, please disable it! At least during MoFo. It's such a slow, painful, annoying process to go through when someone wants to leave nice comments on your blog posts. If you're wondering why you have so few comments on your posts, it's very likely because of that darned Word Verification. Try disabling it for a while and see what a huge difference it will make. And if you're worried about those pesky spammers, just put your comments on moderation like most of us have. That way, you can publish the genuine comments and report the spam ones.



And now, Stuffed Bajji Menasinakayi with Walnut Cilantro Pesto. Since this is a recipe I totally invented, I thought it would be good to have a step-by-step video tutorial plus a text version of the recipe for it. Here you go...

 

 

Stuffed Bajji Menasinakayi with Walnut Cilantro Pesto

For the filling:
1 C Moong Sprouts (Mung Bean Sprouts)
2 small Carrots - grated
Lots of Lemon Juice
Salt

* Mix, cover and keep aside for half an hour for the flavours to blend.

For the peppers:
4 Bajji Menasinakayis (Banana Peppers)

* Make long, lengthwise slits in the peppers and carefully scoop out the seeds using a spoon.
* Save the seeds for the pesto and keep the peppers aside.

For the pesto:
1/2 C Walnuts
1/2 C Cilantro
1 T Raisins
1 fat clove of Garlic
Seeds from the de-seeded Bajji Menasinakayis
Salt

* Grind everything together.
* Add a little water and blend well into a creamy paste.

How to proceed:
* Stuff the hollowed out chillies with the sprout mixture.
* Place them on a plate and pour oodles of pesto over them.
* Enjoy! :) 

 

Raw Almond Pulp Vadai/Cracker Sandwich - Vegan MoFo 2013 Day 5

Day 5. Wondering why I'm posting so late in the day? We had an incident at Veganosaurus headquarters last night. I was happily blog hopping, when suddenly, the laptop charger stopped working! It would be bad in any other situation, but during Vegan MoFo...it's a freaking disaster!!! And to top it off, the Apple store I went to this afternoon didn't have the appropriate one in stock. They told me it would take them a whole week to get it for me. Aaaarrrrrrrghhhhhh!!!

*deep breath* *deep breath*

Okay okay, I know I'm being melodramatic here. But if I'm this way, imagine what our mascot was like. The stress really built up from last night and by this evening, when it became unbearable, someone exploded into a screaming fit!



After being all screamed out, Veganosaurus just dropped down and gave up on this cruel, cruel world. That's when Kip hopped by to see what the ruckus was all about. He just said a quick hello and was hopping away, when Veganosaurus, who couldn't bear to see his cheerfulness decided to drag himself to Kip to share the depressing news.

It was at this point that I had to pull myself together and interfere before a damper was put on everyone's mood around here. After all, Veganosaurus headquarters runs on joy and cheer. Without those two ingredients, we're doomed.

We did a healing, gratitude meditation where we focused on the many other gadgets around our home which *do* work fine. In the end, everyone was calm and feeling thankful that we have other ways of getting today's blog post done. So finally, here we are! :)

Remember on the first day of MoFo, in my Almond Mylk tutorial, I spoke about saving the pulp after extracting the mylk? Today I'm going to share one of the things I like making with the pulp. This is a recipe for my Raw Almond Pulp Vadai/Cracker type thingies. They just involve mixing a few things into the almond pulp, shaping them into vadais and sun drying them. Simple to mix up but they take a long time to dry, especially in the kind of cloudy weather we've been having here. They are worth the patience though. Especially if you're on a completely raw diet and would like to have something snacky.

Raw Almond Pulp Vadai (Cracker) Sandwiches

For the Vadais:
1 batch Almond Mylk Pulp (approximately 1 1/2 C)
1 Carrot
5 Green Chillies
3 Cloves of Garlic
3 T Sesame Seed Powder
1/4 tsp Asafoetida Powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
Salt

* Grate the carrots
* Crush the green chillies, garlic and salt together

* Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix them well with your hands
* Taste and adjust the flavours and spices to your liking

* Shape the dough into rounds and flatten them in between your palms
* Place them on a plate that's been lined with wax paper

* Dry them under a hot sun for a few days, flipping them every other day, until they are completely dry
* In case of dull weather, you can place the vadais in your oven at 70°C and dehydrate them by leaving the door of the oven slightly open

* Do this for a few hours each day, over a period of 4-5 days, until they are dry
* Whether you're sun drying or oven drying, in the nights, keep the plate in your fridge, uncovered, because it helps to dry them out more

* You can eat these vadais plain but they tend to have a dry mouthfeel and not too easy to swallow. So it is best to enjoy them with a creamy dip or turn them into pretty tomato sandwiches.

For each Sandwich:
1 Vadai
2 slices of Naati Tomatoes (or other juicy variety)
Tulsi (Indian Basil) Leaves
Crushed Black Pepper

* Place the vadai in between the tomato slices
* Top the sandwich with chiffonaded tulsi leaves and some crushed pepper
* Bite into them and taste the delicious textures and flavours
* Enjoy! :)

Balsamic Thyme Baby Potatoes and Preparing for Vegan MoFo 2013

It's looming and I'm going crazy! Yes, it's that time of the year again. The time to freak out and go nuts because yet again I've committed to blogging about vegan food every day (or at least every weekday) of the month for a whole month.

Vegan MoFo 2013 is in September this year, folks. And guess what, *someone* decided that the stress of daily blogging just wouldn't be enough. Yep! I had to go and add a challenge into the mix. I'm doing a RAW VEGAN FOOD theme this year.

My hubby is partly to blame for this because *he* was the one who was like, "oooooh why don't you do a smoothie for every day of Vegan Mofo?" And since the raw food idea was already in my head, all I needed was his oh so helpful suggestion to make me believe creating 20-30 raw food recipes in a short span of time would be a super bright idea. So I replied, "yeah, totally! Smoothies are a great idea and instead of just smoothies, I'll do all kinds of raw foods." And before I knew it, wheeee I was signing up for Vegan MoFo and typing out my theme as Raw Vegan Food.

So now you know why my blog's been recipe-less for a couple of weeks now. I've been so busy thinking up recipes for next month that I just haven't been able to share my non MoFo recipes with you here.

Today I thought, before the excitement and the mad rush and the sheer awesomeness of Vegan MoFo begins and takes over my blog, I'd better drop in here and give you all an update. And while I'm at it, here's a nice baked baby potatoes recipe I made recently.

Balsamic Thyme Baby Potatoes

1/2 kg Baby Potatoes

Marinade ingredients:
2 T Balsamic Vinegar
3 T Nutritional Yeast
1/4 tsp Jaggery Syrup
1 tsp Tabasco Sauce
1 tsp Coconut Oil
Thyme
Salt

Optional for drizzling:
Tabasco Chipotle Sauce (which I very lovingly refer to as "glug glug")

* Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a rolling boil.
* Wash and scrub the potatoes well.
* Pierce them all over with a fork.
* Drop them into the boiling water and cook for about 10 minutes.
* Drain and keep aside.

* Meanwhile, whisk all the marinade ingredients together.
* Toss the baby potatoes in the marinade, cover and allow to soak in the flavours for 6-8 hours.

* Line a baking tray with aluminium foil or wax paper.
* Pick the potatoes out of the marinade and arrange them on the baking tray (save the remaining marinade liquid).
* Pre-heat oven to 200°C / 400°F.
* Bake the potatoes for 30 minutes.
* Increase the heat to 250°C / 450°F and bake for another 15 minutes.

* Serve the potatoes hot, drizzled with some of the marinade liquid and Tabasco Chipotle Sauce.
* Enjoy! :)

Couscous Stuffed Tomatoes with Sriracha Grilled Tofu and Green Olives

I have a deep seated love for stuffed foods - momo, ravioli, paratha, masala dosa, grilled sandwich, rice paper wraps...I really enjoy making and eating these dishes. But what I love most of all are stuffed vegetables! There's something so delicious about a fat, healthy, outer vegetable layer bursting with a variety of textures and flavours on the inside when you bite into it.



Potatoes, tomatoes, capsicums (peppers), zucchinis, brinjals (aubergines) and ladies fingers (okra) are the most commonly stuffed vegetables. But one can always get creative and stuff all kinds of other local vegetables too. What are your favourite veggies to stuff?

This recipe was inspired by a bunch of cute, little, local, naati tomatoes that I got my hands on. It was almost as if they came with labels that said, "STUFF ME" in big, bold letters. hehe





This is yet another recipe that I created for Global Graynz who in turn gathered all the required ingredients and turned them into beautiful packages. If you live in India and would like to make this recipe at home, then visit the links below to source the ingredients super easily by purchasing any of these Chef's Boxes. There are three kinds:

1. Rare/Exotic Ingredients (home delivery to anywhere in India)
2. All Packaged Ingredients (home delivery to anywhere in India)
3. All Ingredients Including Fresh/Perishable Ones (available in Chennai only)




Couscous Stuffed Tomatoes with Sriracha Grilled Tofu and Green Olives

For the Tofu:
3/4 Block Mori-Nu Silken Tofu
Sriracha Sauce
Oil for greasing
12 Green Olives (pitted)

Drain the tofu and gently pat it dry with a clean cloth or tissue.
Slice into cubes.
Lightly grease a non-stick baking tray and arrange the tofu cubes in a single layer.
Drizzle Sriracha sauce over the tofu.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200°C for 15 minutes.
Increase the heat to 250°C and grill for 10 minutes.
Allow to cool slightly.
Skewer the tofu and olives on toothpicks and keep aside.

For the Stuffed Tomatoes:
12 Small, Firm Tomatoes
1/2 C Couscous
1/4 Block Mori-Nu Silken Tofu
10 Cloves of Garlic
1 Small Onion - I used White Onion
1/4 tsp Cinnamon Powder
1/4 tsp Chilli Powder
12 Capers (optional) - can be replaced with sliced green olives
1 T Oil - I used Coconut Oil
Salt

Bring 3/4 C of lightly salted water to a boil.
Stir in the couscous and turn off the heat.
Cover and keep aside.

Cut the tops off the tomatoes.
Using a small spoon, very carefully scoop out the insides of the tomatoes and keep aside.
Roughly crush the garlic.
Finely chop the onion.

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the coconut oil.
Add the crushed garlic and onion and stir fry until they have softened.
Crumble the tofu over this and stir for a minute.
Add the scooped out insides of the tomatoes, cinnamon powder, chilli powder and salt and mix well.
Cover and allow to simmer on low heat for a few minutes.
Add the cooked couscous and mix well.
Turn off the heat and allow to cool for a short while.

Now generously stuff the couscous mixture into the hollowed out tomatoes.
Optionally, press a caper or a slice of olive on top.
Place the tomatoes in a single layer on a greased, non-stick baking tray and grill at 250°C for 10 minutes.

Serve hot along with the skewered tofu and olives.
Enjoy! :)