Review: The Sexy Vegan Cookbook by Brian L. Patton

The Sexy Vegan Cookbook: Extraordinary Food from an Ordinary Dude by Brian L. Patton
Published March 15, 2012; New World Library
Paperback, 256 pages
Objective rating: 4/5

Patton shares over 100 vegan recipes in The Sexy Vegan Cookbook, which covers the basics of cooking, from slicing vegetables to finding the right type of tofu to recreating favorites without meat or dairy.  Brian gives recipes from cocktails to breakfast sandwiches to desserts. There are appetizers and nachos, pizza and tuna-like sandwiches as well as salads, pasta, and main dishes. (publisher)

Here is a stand alone recipe that you can make without prior preparation of vegan foods. Sounds pretty delicious to me!

Curried Fried Tofu Salad
One 14-ounce block of extra firm tofu, drained
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons curry powder
3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour (or another flour, like garbanzo, rice, etc.)
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
1/2 head red leaf lettuce, roughly chopped or torn
1/2 medium cucumber, thinly sliced
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1 medium beet, grated
1 medium carrot, grated

Dressing:
1 small Thai chili, minced (you can use less depending on how hot the peppers ae=re)
1/2 teaspoon tamarind paste
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon low-sodium tamari or soy sauce
3 tablespoons extra-virgin oil
1/4 teaspoon agave nectar

Slice the tofu crosswise into six 1/2-inch-thick rectangles. In a frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Spread the curry powder, flour, and salt and pepper on a shallow plate, stir to combine, and dredge both sides of the tofu slices in the seasoning. When the olive oil is just barely starting to smoke, carefully place the slices in the frying pan. Let them fry on one side for 3 to 4 minutes, until browned. Then flip and brown on the other side, 3 to 4 minutes. In a small bowl, combine the lettuce, cucumber, scallion, beet, and carrot, and toss with the dressingl Pile the salad on a plate and place the fried tofu on top in an artful fashion.

Makes 2 entrees or 4 appetizers

Comments:Some vegan recipes in the book require special ingredients, so the book gives you recipes for making seasonings and sauces and foods to save for use in more complex recipes. For instance, the book gives recipes for My Balls (pretend meatballs) and Pretend Italian Sausage, Pretend Breakfast Sausage Patties, Pretend Canadian Bacon and Pretend Chipotle Sausages, Mexican Chorizo (all vegan and no meat) so you can use them in more complex dishes such as vegan Jambalaya, Spaghetti and Balls, and Lasagna Fauxlognese.

Though the start up of cooking vegan may be time consuming at the beginning, I would recommend the cookbook to anyone who is serious about going vegan or using some vegan dishes in  their diet.

Thanks to the publisher for a complimentary review copy of the cookbook.