Vietnamese Style Sandwich

Greetings, fellow vivants! Here I was, wondering what was the first veggie-friendly, easy-to-prepare, delicious recipe that I was going to post. Last evening, I used some leftover cashew tofu from the neighborhood Thai restaurant to fix myself a Vietnamese style sandwich, and it turned out quite good, so I thought to myself, "Why not?".

A Vietnamese Sandwich, (aka Bahn mi), is usually a toasted French roll that's piled with Vietnamese flavored goodies like pickled (or fresh) carrots, onions, cilantro, jalapeno, a Vietnamese mayo, and grilled meats or tofu. There's a hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese cafe in San Francisco that serves the best Vietnamese sandwiches I've had. Unfortunately, I'm sworn to secrecy, and I could tell you, but then I'll have to kill you - you know how that works!

The next best thing that I can do is share with you how I made my Vietnamese-style sandwich with tofu (a veggie bonvivant, after all!) , which turned out quite tasty, if I may say so myself! The name of the game is understand the essence, and play with the ingredients to suit your taste and mood!

I didn't have any french rolls, so feel free to pick up your favorite loaf. I've tried it with honey-wheat bread, and also a cracked wheat bun. I'm not sure how it'll taste with say, something like Pita, but knock yourself out!

Here's what I used:

Bread - toast it
Spreads - mayo and horseradish (YUM!) , and Sambal Olek (YUM again!!)
Leftover cashew tofu from Dusita Thai (in Sunnyvale and Santa Clara) (YUM yet again!!!)

Veggies
Some julienned carrots
Some onion (cut into strips)
Basil and cilantro (from my own garden! :-) )
Julienned jalapenos (ok, I actually used Serrano, as that's all I had on me). Remember to take the seeds out first, and the membranes - these are the spiciest parts of the pepper.

Directions:

Toast the bread.
Spread a mix of mayo and horseradish on either side.
Take a few pieces of tofu and some veggies from leftover dish, microwave them.
Cut them up and pile them on one side.
On the other side, add the julienned carrots, jalapenos, onions, basil and cilantro.
Sprinkle a generous portion (ok, just kidding, be careful and add to suit your taste (whimp levels)) of Sambal Olek.
Close the sandwich.
Enjoy!

To make the meal more interesting, I also boiled some corn-on-the-cob. I rubbed it with butter, sprinkled some sea salt (thanks, Archana! :-) ), and some paprika. Nice side. A dash of lemon/lime juice would do nicely too!

Let me know what you think!
Also, if you played around with the recipe, and liked the outcome, I'd be interested in that too!

Cheers,
Sridhar

Vegetarians and Protein

One of the biggest questions that a person who wants to switch to a vegetarian diet (or is just curious about it) has is how does one receive sufficient protein, given the lack of animal protein and the paucity of protein in vegetarian diet.

The recommended requirement for daily protein is calculated from the maximum normal BMI, your height, and your level of activity. It corresponds to 0.8 grams of protein per Kilogram of body weight which is the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for low levels of activity, 1.1 grams for moderate activity, and 1.4 grams for vigorous activity. (Source http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html - see "Grams of protein per day") .

For a person weighing about 160 lbs, who is moderately active, that would work out to (72.6 Kg * 1.1) = 79.86 gms of protein per day, or about 58 gms of protein if your level of activity is low.

Another consideration for vegetarians is "complete protein" vs. "incomplete protein". A "complete protein" (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_protein) provides required quatities of all 9 essential amino acids (the building blocks of proteins). Animal protein is complete. Plant proteins are generally not.

However, combinations of different vegetarian foods can provide all the essential amino acids, and they don't have to be eaten at the same sitting. Some examples of complementary protein dishes are rice and beans, rice and lentils, hummus and pita bread, peanut butter sandwich, mac and cheese.

Here are some more links to check out for the curious.
http://www.mypyramid.gov/tips_resources/vegetarian_diets.html
http://www.savvyvegetarian.com/articles/protein-veg-diet.php

So the name of the game is having a good varied diet for a healthy vegetarian diet. Be adventurous and explore new territory, especially if you're switching from a meat diet, as you may not know enough balanced vegetarian dishes, and end up eating an unhealthy and unbalanced vegetarian diet. I hope to explore delicious vegetarian dishes as I go along.

Coming back to daily protein intake, let's take a look at where good amounts of protein can come from:

A glass of 2% milk gives you about 8 gms of protein.
A glass of 1.5% buttermilk gives you about 9 gms of protein.
A glass of (mmm mmm.... delicious Silk) soy milk (I love Silk Chocolate Soy Milk) gives you 5 gms of it.

A slice of cheese is about 7 gms of protein.
A slice of whole wheat bread is about 4-5 gms of protein!! That's about 20 gms right there for 4 slices!
A serving of quinoa gives you 5 gms - it is also an interestingly different and tasty alternative to rice.
A serving of whole wheat cous-cous gives you 8 gms of protein.

This list just scratches the surface. Thus, you can see that a vegetarian diet can provide quite adequate quantities of proteins. Just like in any kind of diet, a balanced diet is quite crucial.

Enough already! Give me some tasty veggie dishes that don't leave me hungry and craving food and overeating and packing the fat!!

Patience, my dear Watson! Do come back soon! I'll start posting some delicious recipes, I promise!

Gotta run now!
Ciao,
Sridhar