
Tonight’s dinner was made from the brilliant Veganomicon. I love this book.
This is the only vegan cookbook I’ve ever made anything nice out of, although a lot of the ingredients are items I’d find difficult to get hold of in London, let alone in a small village in Kent.
I kept quiet about it being vegan to The Meat Eater until he’d told me (without prompting or being kicked under the table) how nice it was and how he liked the fact that although I had spilt a lot of curry powder all over the hob, there wasn’t too much curry powder taste to it (probably because I’d spilt it all over the hob…).
The original recipe calls for Seitan Cutlets but I swapped that for tofu.

Ingredients (serves 4)
½ pound fresh udon noodles or dried udon noodles
Curry roux sauce
2 tablespoons peanut oil
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons curry powder
½ teaspoon garam masala
½ cup vegetable broth
2 teaspoons sugar
Udon stir-fry
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 large yellow onion, sliced into thin strips
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into thin strips
1 hot red chili pepper, sliced very thinly (optional)
1 block of tofu, cubed
½ pound broccoli florets, sliced into bite-size chunks
¼ cup vegetable broth
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
Prepare the curry roux sauce
Combine the flour and 2 tablespoons peanut oil in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture browns to the colour of rich caramel and smells toasty, about 10 minutes or less. Stir in curry powder and garam masala, and cook for another minute while stirring constantly. Switch to using a wire whisk, then pour in the vegetable broth in a steady stream. Whisk in the sugar and cook the roux, stirring constantly, until a thick sauce forms, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
To prepare the stir-fry
Heat the 2 tablespoons of peanut oil in a large (at least 11-inch) non-stick frying pan or a wok and cook the sliced onion for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened and translucent. Add the ginger, red bell pepper, hot chili, and tofu, and stir-fry for another 5 minutes, until the pepper starts to soften. Add the broccoli and stir-fry for 4 to 5 minutes, until it turns bright green.
Add the udon noodles to the stir-fried vegetables, sprinkle with soy sauce and stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes.
Whisk ¼ cup of the vegetable broth into the curry roux sauce in the saucepan. Pour the sauce over the udon stir-fry and stir to coat everything completely with the sauce. Stir and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the sauce is simmering and the noodles are warm. Remove from the heat and serve.