Laogong Sour Phad Thai

We all have - I hope we do anyways! - that one exotic dish we tried on that one vacation that we dream of spending the rest of our lives eating, but can't because of geography and ecology and all the rest...and then we think, 'Wait! Surely there's a recipe with decent substitutes! I'll try that!' Well, what follows is exactly that, a blend of phad thai 'substitute' recipes.

Vegetable Rogan Josh

Although Indian food wasn't part of my family's daily norm, it was definitely part of our home culture and I remember it featuring at many dinners growing up. While I don't remember rogan josh ever making an appearance at home, it's a dish I've long loved to order when eating out (especially with mutton - oh my yum!) and it was exciting to finally try my hand at it! I remain in love with it, and I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!

Greek Potato Stew

This was adapted from this recipe. I hope any Greeks out there aren't offended by the modifications I had to make! This was certainly a lovely, basic stew great for a cold Lenten night!

Massaman Curry Tofu

I loved all things Thai long before I first got the chance to visit Thailand, and massaman curry chicken has been a favorite among favorites. I was reminded recently of how long it's been since I had massaman anything, and so I decided to slightly adapt this recipe to take it from carnivorous to vegan. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

New Year's Pumpkin Soup

This recipe came together rather by accident - a mix of homesickness for fall in North America, a pumpkin sighting at my local grocery store, the Haitian tradition in my family of having some sort of pumpkin soup (soup joumou) on New Year's, and the delightful discovery of smoked tofu for sale at a 'meat' shop (protein shop?) near work. You may not have smoked tofu available where you live, and if that's the case I am profoundly sorry. It seriously rocks my world! Depending on what I've had in the house I've substituted potato for the tofu and it makes an equally lovely soup, so use what you've got available!