Please try to be patient with me. This is my first review of a movie.
I had an aha moment this weekend. I don’t have to eat meat.
I have a bit of a thing for Documentaries. Depending on my mood, the topics might vary from health to history, plants to politics, or science to technology. A few weeks back, I saw a post on Facebook for a new movie coming out. It’s called “What the Health”. This is the latest film by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn, makers of “Cowspiracy”. Viewers watch as they have discussions with doctors and others about the impact of the meat based diet on people, the animals, and the planet.
Watching this documentary I was reminded that there is more to living a plant based life than just what meat does to you and your body. The movie covers impact on the animals, and the communities near the large processing plants. One of the aha moments for me came during discussions about contributions made by various parties to popular organizations.
I have been moving towards plant based diets for some time. If and when I consume animal products, I try to source humanely raised animal products. Yet, again I feel the need to take a step back. I am not trying to tell anyone what they must do, but if you are reading this, I hope you would at least consider the concepts as presented. Perhaps you will consider consuming less meat, or at least become more aware.
I was impressed greatly by the film.
All of this brings me to the recipe for the day; Szechuan Eggplant and Tofu over Quinoa pilaf, with raw veggies on the side.
It was Sunday afternoon, I had worked a half day, and I was trying to get comfortable and watch the movie. I could not cook fish or meat while watching the movie. I decided to take a shot at a great tasting vegan meal.
I try to use as many organic products as possible, but even there, I’m not perfect, so here goes.
I get an idea or a feeling when I’m about to cook. So I knew I wanted brown rice mixed with red quinoa. That turned into ½ Organic brown basmati, ¼ red quinoa and ¼ mixed mung bean pilaf. What can I say? I live to mix it up. Pretty straight forward. I used a rice cooker. In this case it was about 2 cups of dry with 5 or so cups of water, salt, pepper, a drizzle of sesame oil and a shake of hot pepper flakes.
I love Szechuan eggplant, yet, I wanted to keep it as healthy as possible. I did some googling and mix matching of recipes. (from Spice Ame Cooks and connoisseurusveg) The first suggested cubing and baking the eggplant first. I loved this idea, as eggplant has a tendancy to absorb oil, water, or basically everything. Preheat 425 F/220C. Dice to smallish cubes, drizzle with some good olive oil, salt, pepper and pop into the oven for about 17 – 20 minutes, until brown on the edges, soft in the middle. I must say, this was brilliant. Should out to
Next, I mixed up the sauce and put it down to set. I loosely used the sauce recipe from Spice Ame Cooks but I threw in a bit of hot and sweet jam and sweet chili sauce as I didn’t get the hot/sweet/tart thing going correctly the first try. In short, I skipped the fish sauce, used Tamari for Soy, Rice Vinegar, bean sauce, sesame oil, stevia, and the above mentioned sweet jam and sweet chili.
I chose a sprouted organic spicy tofu, which I then pan fried on my comal in cubes, browned on each side, per connoisseurusveg
Once the eggplant was done cooking, I threw some garlic in my skillet with the sauce, added the eggplant and crispy tofu and cooked it down a bit.
Now for the assembly. Scoop of quinoa mix. Scoop of eggplant. I used one of my trusty magic mandolins to julienne carrots. I sliced a quarter avo and added a few sliced grape tomatoes.
Heavenly. Just heavenly and not too terribly labor intensive either.
By the time it was ready, I was only about 30 minutes into the movie. I was able to enjoy my dinner and the movie.
If you want to learn more about the movie, check out What the Health
I also highly recommend a newly favored blog and podcast by Rich Roll, and I can’t wait until Julia’s new book on This Cheese is Nuts! comes out.
Don’t believe the myth about needing to eat meat. Don’t be afraid of the veggies, they’re not going to hurt you, and will make feel great!
#EatToLive
#WTHfilm
#WhatTheHealthFile
#MakeNewChoices
The Janet Lee 