A Moroccan twist on a Tapenade - Sumac & Cherry Tomato Chutney

I think it's time to take a break from the Indian cooking for Vegan MoFo day 8 and dive into different flavours this time. At home I usually cook Indian food about four times a week. But the rest of the time you will find me making Italian, Mediterranean or south east Asian food. If you open my fridge you will immediately know how crazy I am. It is about to burst but I still want to buy so many things to stuff in it.

Before I go any further, let's see who I found today: Chocolate and Beyond's Andrea from UK. I'm going to try making those 'Cheezy Jackets'.

How is this recipe a twist on a tapenade? For one it has no anchovies and secondly it has no olives. This chutney has all the flavour of a tapenade without the original ingredients. It is a beautiful red blob of yum. You will see why shortly.

I found an Indian variety of Cherry Tomatoes which I dried in the oven without any oil or salt. These tomatoes are oval in shape and pack a slightly more sour punch. To enhance the sourness, I added a few Mediterranean inspired ingredients like orange peel and preserved lime and to top it off some Wild Sumac.

You need:

1 cup sun-dried or oven-dried cherry tomatoes
1 tsp Sumac
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 a Preserved Lime
1 tsp chopped candied orange peel
2 tsp Olive Oil

Put everything in the blender and blend till smooth.

Store it in a jar topped with some olive oil.

Serve with Pita Bread or regular bread. Use it as a sandwich spread or in a salad dressing.

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Vegan Caesar Salad

The usual recipe for a Caesar Salad contains, besides the lettuce and croutons, some egg, some fish and of course some Parmesan Cheese. In India, the fish and eggs are usually replaced by Mayonnaise for the vegetarians, so that still leaves us non dairy eating folk out of this salad since we still don't get Vegenaise or any vegan cheese alternative in India. I used a simple replacement for the mayonnaise leaving the basic ingredients the same.

This replacement is an adaptation of my friend T's invention that I have also used to add some 'cheese' to the Eggplant Lasagne. I love her for making this and I know I am going to add it to many more recipes.

For the Salad:

Lettuce Leaves (you can use as many kinds of lettuce you find!)

A handful of cherry tomatoes, halved (I like some colour in my salad)

Pepper

Salt

A dash of Worcestershire Sauce (always placed right next to Soy sauce!)

Croutons (I cut up bread into small cubes, drizzle some oil and herbs and bake it till it's crunchy)

Lemon Juice

For the cheese/mayo replacement:

1 block of firm tofu (200gms)

Olive Oil

2 cloves of Garlic

Squeeze out the water from the tofu by pressing it between your hands. Break it up and put it into a blender/ chopper. Let it get mushy and look almost like spoilt curd (you can grate it alternatively, but I find the blender easier). Heat one teaspoon oil in a pan, add some garlic, and add in this tofu puree. Cook it well while stirring at intervals till the tofu softens, which will happen in about 5 minutes or more. Add some salt.

In a large salad bowl, add in the lettuce, tomatoes, pepper, garlic, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce salt and mix well. When the tofu-cheese has cooled down add it in. Refrigerate before serving and don't forget the croutons.

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