366 Healthful Ways to Cook Tofu and Other Meat Alternatives [Paperback]

Robin Robertson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1996

This collection of spicy vegetarian recipes features great dishes from the world's cuisines, including the U.S., South America, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, making it an exciting and flavorful journey for the palate. Each recipe is completely accessible and easily adapted to anyone's kitchen, containing only ingredients that are widely available. And dozens of these recipes can be made in a snap.

Organized by region, each chapter includes recipes for appetizers, soups and stews, salads, side dishes, main courses, and dressings and condiments. Robertson provides a basic introduction to the spices and techniques common to each cuisine, along with delicious classic vegetarian dishes, adaptations of meat-based dishes, and her own creative recipes, including:
-- Spicy Okra Gumbo
-- Mexican Rice and Bean Salad with Cumin Vinaigrette
-- Pasta alia Putanesca
-- Braised Cabbage with Cardamom
-- Spicy Ginger Dumplings

Using chilies as the main source of heat, these recipes range from mildly spicy to nearly incendiary, so there's something here for everyone! With creative yet simple recipes and nutritional analyses for each, "Some Like It Hot" is sure to inspire even the most devoted meat lover to eat vegetarian.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although health is the main impetus behind this collection, strangely, there's no mention of studies this past summer (reported in the New York Times) showing that a diet including soy protein (according to one, a mere 47 grams or less than two ounces per day) can significantly lower cholesterol. Chef and cooking teacher Robertson has organized her recipes for tofu, tempeh, seitan and TVP (texturized vegetable protein) into chapters on soups and stews, pasta dishes, appetizers, main dish salads, one-dish meals (not to be confused with another section on "Casseroles, Gratins, and Risottos"), burgers and a catch-all called "Under Wraps, Stuffed and Skewered" Best sections are "Sauteed, Seared, and Grilled" with recipes like Ginger-marinated Seitan or Lemon Tofu with Almond-Mint Pesto, and "Stir-Fries" with Shiitake-Tofu Stir-Fry. Less convincing are those dishes that try to hard to imitate meat standbys (Seitan Pot Roast) or Cassoulet, made with seitan and poached tempeh. Recipes for desserts, a course in which tofu can be made truly delicious, are sorely missed. Because many people have ignored meat substitutes, which have been around since the early '70s, Robertson's scanty introductory materials also seem to be a lost opportunity.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Plume (April 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452275970
• ISBN-13: 978-0452275973
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #867,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A longtime vegan, Robin Robertson has written nearly twenty cookbooks, including 1,000 Vegan Recipes, Vegan Planet, Vegan Fire and Spice, Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, and Quick-Fix Vegetarian. For more information about her books and for sample recipes, visit her website at www.globalvegankitchen.com and her blog at http://veganplanet.blogspot.com.

Before she began writing cookbooks, Robin was a restaurant chef and cooking teacher. When she left the restaurant business in the late 1980s, Robin became vegan for ethical reasons. Over the years, she has fine-tuned her plant-based diet into an eclectic and healthful cooking style which she thinks of as a creative adventure with an emphasis on the vibrant flavors of global cuisines and fresh ingredients. In addition to writing cookbooks, Robin writes 'The Global Vegan' column for VegNews Magazine.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely delicious!, April 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: 366 Healthful Ways to Cook Tofu and Other Meat Alternatives (Paperback)

If you have some tofu, tempeh, or other meat alternative in your fridge and you're not quite sure what to make for dinner, this book is perfect. The recipes are all extremely flavorful and most are quite simple to prepare. Most recipes incorporate easy to find ingredients, but the results are outstanding. I highly recommend this book for new and old vegetarians alike.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Quite, December 26, 2001

By 

Terrance H. Heath "terrancedc" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 366 Healthful Ways to Cook Tofu and Other Meat Alternatives (Paperback)

I was enthused about this book when I bought it, and have been pleased with how the recipes I tried turned out. However, I have to take issue with the use of the word "Healthful" in the title, because some of the dishes contain too much oil and other fats to be considered healthful in my book. I still managed to get good results while using less oil, etc. than the recipes suggest. The recipes are good, but if you are watching your fat intake, be forewarned.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding cookbook, July 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: 366 Healthful Ways to Cook Tofu and Other Meat Alternatives (Paperback)

I have a lot of vegetarian cookbooks but recipe for recipe this one never fails to succeed. The ingredients are simple, the instructions straightforward and the results can't be beat. The author primarily uses tofu, seitan, tempeh and lots of other recipes that use beans, pasta, etc. She has a chapter on one pot meals which is great when you want to keep things simple. The only thing I don't like about this book is the title. The recipes are so outstanding that this is really a gourmet book but you'd never know it from the title!