Sequestration Meal #288

 

This is one of those things that isn't colorful and therefore not that much to look at, but trust me, it has plenty of veggies in it. This was my attempt at the recipe for vegan haluski at Connoisseurus Veg. I didn't have fresh parsley or chives for the garnish suggested, so I just had my brownish dish and liked it. It's remarkable that it took me so long to try this, when after all I do live in a Polish neighborhood. 

Of course my noodles weren't traditional or even an approximation, but I think gemelli were pretty in this dish anyway. Haluski is generally egg noodles and cabbage sautéed together in a skillet, and sometimes one would add bacon, ham, or sausage. For this, Connoisseurus Veg gives us a recipe for some of the best tofu I've ever eaten! Seriously, I would eat that tofu again all by itself. I was sad that I only had so much tofu as the recipe asked me to put in, because I would happily have eaten more. I suspect it has something to do with the combination of liquid smoke and vegan butter, because as good as soy sauce and maple syrup are with tofu (which the recipe also includes), they've never astonished me the way this tofu did.

I do think there is something a bit too greasy about this dish for my tastes; my vegan self can't easily handle as much oil all at once as this has, though I think my omnivore self would have. I think egg noodles absorb more oil or something because I could imagine, if I call upon my distant past self, how different an experience that might have been with egg noodles. But this is not a problem. We just have to adjust. If I made this again, I would use half the vegan butter suggested and add some water or broth to help the cabbage and onions cook.

This also represented an opportunity to put caraway seeds in something, which I very much appreciated.