Cooking with Damiera October 11, 2006

Me: How did you find the recipe for the coconut milk dish? Did you make it up, or find it in a cookbook?

Dave: Our guitar player is from New Orleans, and they are world renowned for their cooking. So he just adjusted a lot of his recipes, and we would just experiment with that. We are always traveling, so we offer to cook for the people we are staying with, because they put us up for the night. We buy basic ingredients and then see what we can make. Once we ended up with some curry paste and some tofu, and I knew that you can curry tofu, so we just put everything in a pot, and it came out to be one of the best experiments yet.

Me: So when did you decide to go vegan?

Dave: I went right from a "normal" diet to eating vegan two years ago, because the more that I learned, and the more that I read, the more that I would attach that knowledge to everything I would eat. So every time I ate, I wouldn't enjoy it. I needed a way to eat, and not have to think about all that I learned. So I went and stayed with a vegan friend in Toronto, and just ate everything she ate. And it was incredibly easy!

Me: Did you read any books or visit any websites that got you thinking about going vegan?

Dave: The very first book that started a chain reaction to start reading other books, and wanting to learn about factory farms and the excessiveness of what we consume was Fast Food Nation. That book got me curious, and then I started to learn more about dairy farms and factory farms. I got to see factory farms the first time on this tour, because they hide them out in the middle of nowhere.

Me: Do you have any advice to someone who is thinking about going vegetarian?

Dave: Knowledge is better than ignorance. Always accept what your curiosity finds.

And now for the food!

The most successful and flavorful thing that we have stumbled into is this curry and coconut milk dish.

one can coconut milk
1 package extra firm tofu
mushrooms, sliced
green onions
broccoli
garbanzo beans
red curry paste (or you can get away with using powdered curry, but cook the milk longer and add some kind of thickener to it)
green pepper/red pepper
snow peas

Cook all the vegetables in a pan together, but boil the broccoli in the coconut milk. Then when the veggies are primed, add all together in a big pot, and simmer it down. Add the curry to taste, and if you're bold, get some cracked red pepper and chili powder going on to spice it up. Serve in a bowl; eat with chopsticks or a slingshot.

So try it out. I did, and it was insanely good. And look for good things to come from Damiera in the next few months.

xoxo-lara

P.S. For more delicious eats, check this out.

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