Thai Curry With a Side of Bananagrams

The Chef: Joni and Osha Thai restaurant

The Menu: I ordered a side salad, samosa, and yellow Thai curry with onions, potatoes, tofu, and red peppers.

The Goods: Thai food: the can’t-get-enough-of-it, punched with coconut-curry flavor, best-leftovers-ever cuisine. Seriously, Asian food is probably the best stuff on this earth and I would love nothing more than to have masala dosa, ginger-garlic stiry-fry, and Burmese veggies in my life every single day. While some of our staff are getting to dine on authentic Thai cuisine on the VegNews Vacation in Thailand right now, the rest of us are finalizing the details of the articles to appear in our January+February issue. But, not until we duke it out in a mid-lunch Bananagrams competition. Editors playing word games—that should count as work, right?

Burmese Deliciousness

The Chefs: Joni and Yamo Burmese restaurant

The Menu: Spicy Burmese vegetable curry made with carrots, mushrooms, okra, broccoli, eggplant, zucchini, and green beans, served with rice.

The Goods: During an awesome date with my boyfriend at Burma Susperstar celebrating the much-anticipated arrival of the September+October issue last night, I developed an uncontrollable obsession with Burmese food after my first bite. Fortunately for me, I got to indulge in round two of Burmese deliciousness at Yamo, just down the street from the VNHQ. While not the elegant atmosphere of the acclaimed Burma Superstar, this hole-in-the-wall had a line out the door, with people waiting for access to one of the 10-or-so prized stools at the bar in front of the open, bustling kitchen. Yamo’s skilled chefs seemed used to the lunch rush, and managed to get everyone in and out as quickly as possible, giving me just enough time to savor every last carrot, broccoli, and grain of rice, doused in Sriracha sauce, before delivering the bill. Walking back to the VNHQ on this chilly, cloudy San Francisco day, the curry kept me warm from the belly out; I will surely be back to Yamo’s in the near future to feed my newfound Burmese cuisine obsession. 

Thai Pumpkin Curry

The Chef: Colleen + Vanida Thai Kitchen

The Menu: A delicious Thai pumpkin curry with tofu, broccoli, carrots, and red bell pepper, all over steamed Jasmine rice. Heaven!

The Goods: There's nothing like handy restaurant leftovers to satisfy a Friday lunch. Our local favorite Thai eatery, Vanida Thai Kitchen, offers dozens of vegan options, but it's hard to beat its sumptuous pumpkin curry. Plus, the servings are so large that leftovers are always part of the deal. Speaking of Thai cuisine, have you signed up for the VegNews Food Lover's Tour to Thailand? We just received word that there are just a few spots remaining, so if you're interested in joining us, sign up! We'll be experiencing incredible Thai cuisine, visiting the world-famous Phuket Vegetarian Festival, taking cooking classes, getting Thai massage, hiking, snorkeling, and so much more. We hope everyone has a terrific weekend, and Café VegNews will be back next week with delicious vegan eats!

Potato Curry & Super Salad

The Chef: Lyndsay

The Menu: A delicious, hearty Thai curry including sweet potatoes, russet potatoes, chickpeas, bell pepper, and mushrooms all mixed in a lovely almond milk-curry sauce. Lyndsay balanced this rich dish with a simple side salad of arugula, romaine, and red cabbage.

The Goods: Lyndsay has a knack for preparing tangy, tasty curries, and we love when she busts out one of her signature veggie-filled feasts. In addition to her lunch talents, Lyndsay also has a knack for sparking scintillating conversation in the VegNews Book Club. This week, Mad Cowboy author Howard Lyman will be answering reader questions about his meat-free manifesto, so inquiring minds should submit their burning questions today—yes, like pretty much right now. Happy dialoguing!

Very Vegetable Curry

The Chef: Kristen

The Menu: Seasoned veggies and tofu marinated in a spicy, homemade curry sauce and served over fragrant jasmine rice comprised the majority of our hearty lunchtime feast. Kristen also whipped up a splendid, simple salad including halved cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and crisp mixed greens. Although not pictured, we also dined on Creamy Coconut Curry, courtesy of So-Yah! from House Foods.

The Goods: This savory, satisfying meal was exactly what we needed to perk up what was otherwise a quiet, rainy Tuesday morning. Luckily, the rain abated long enough for an al fresco lunch, which we happily took advantage of. Curious about why it's so quiet here at the VNHQ? It's because our publishers are still out of town, taking in all the sights and vegan delights of New York City. We'd be green with envy if we weren't already brimming with excitement over the possibility of soon receiving our May+June issue. Yes, we're just a little bit excited.

Detox Soup, Daiya Biscuits

The Chef: Liz

The Menu: A delectable detoxifying soup. Liz created this hearty stew from our Coconut Red Lentil Curry recipe, courtesy of Alex Jamieson. Our bowls were brimming with flavorful, filling stew, and our plates boasted a lovely salad and some freshly made whole-wheat biscuits with Daiya. Cheesy vegan biscuits hot out of the oven? Yes, please!

The Goods: This soup was just what the doctor ordered to go with our abundant sunshine. Do we highly enjoy dining al fresco? Indeed we do. Do we enjoy it even more when our prayers for biscuits are answered? Why yes! Today's entry is a rarity here at Café VegNews, as there are recipes (linked!) for everything except the salad, which contained spinach, mixed greens, avocado, sliced mushrooms, and orange bell pepper. There you have it, recipes for everything! Enjoy!

Tempeh Curry

The Chef: Joseph

The Menu: A lovely Thai curry with sweet potatoes, russet potatoes, onions, garlic, and locally made tempeh. What's that you say? We live in the Bay Area and tempeh is a Thai tradition? Well, you're right on both counts, but this particular tempeh was made right here in the Bay Area by Philip Gelb, who's just about to launch a tempeh company, Dragon Lines. Joseph served the curry over rice with a lovely side salad. While the salad was great on its own, we couldn't help but try the Organicville Non-Dairy Ranch Dressing that just happened to be delivered right as we were sitting down to eat.

The Goods: Really? You want more good than local tempeh and vegan ranch? Demanding! Well, fine, in other good news, it's Friday! Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Curry and Rice

The Chef: Liz

The Menu: A super-flavorful Indian curry with tons of veggies! If there's anything a team of vegans likes better than a plate full of vegetables, we don't even want to know about it. Brown rice made the base for our satisfying meal, and we topped it with a yummy curry of potatoes, carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, and chickpeas. Then we sprinkled Daiya over everything, mostly because we could.

The Goods: Today's meal was totally fantastic in its own right, but, sadly, it really didn't stand a chance in comparison with what we're having tomorrow. In celebration of a spectacular, surprise event, we're having lunch catered by none other than our beloved Ike, of Ike's Place. OK, there might be one thing vegans love more than a plate full of vegetables: a smorgasbord of sandwiches!

Coconut Curry

The Chef: Charlotte

The Menu: What is quickly becoming Charlotte's signature dish: a scrumptious curry swimming in coconut milk. This super-rich dish was bursting with veggies including bell peppers, garbanzo beans, eggplant, water chestnuts, and potatoes. Served over brown basmati rice with a lovely salad of romaine and sliced tomatoes, this lunch absolutely hit the spot.

The Goods: We're never entirely sure exactly how many servings to make for lunch here at the VNHQ. While we can count heads, there are always random factors to take into account, like someone doing a fast or someone (OK, more like everyone) going back for seconds. Thankfully, meals like today's curry can easily be expanded or shrunk depending on the number of diners. What's your favorite expandable meal?

Quinoa, Curry, and Kale

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: A bed of red quinoa topped with a yellow curry that featured steamed potatoes and garbanzo beans. If there's anything that can properly accompany a big, hearty curry, it's a big, hearty kale salad. Grated carrots and sliced cucumber topped today's favored green.

The Goods: Though sadly not pictured, we also enjoyed a highly delicious nectarine-blueberry pie, courtesy of Ms. Laura Beck who procured the sweet treat from Mission Pie on her way into the office. Yes, we love it when she comes in for lunch and meetings. Yes, we also ate more macaroni salad, but didn't have the heart to put it in the picture three days in a row. Speaking of numbered days, every minute brings us closer to the end of voting in the Veggie Awards Survey. So, vote now!

Lovely Curry

The Chef: Kailey

The Menu: A light, lovely yellow curry with garbanzo beans, zucchini, and carrots served atop fluffy brown rice. Kailey also roasted up some sweet-potato fries and busted out a mixed-greens salad with sun-dried tomatoes and celery. This meal was just the thing for a sort of dreary San Francisco day, and we eagerly gobbled it up.

The Goods: Aside from the overcast weather, things are pretty bright here at the VNHQ. We have nearly 10,000 votes in the Veggie Awards survey, we spent the majority of lunch talking about food—something that always makes us happy—and this weekend we'll be reporting from the SF Vegan Prom. Could we really want for anything else? Nah.

On-Purpose Pulao

The Chef: Joseph

The Menu: A very yummy curry 'n' pulao combo! Pulao, in case you weren't aware, is a spiced rice with peas, which Joseph served alongside a big helping of curry. This was pretty much an everything-in-the-fridge curry, and featured potatoes, tomatoes, garbanzo beans, broccoflower, carrots, onions, and just a splash of coconut milk. We also had a special beverage treat: freshly made pineapple-coconut shakes! Using his beloved Vita-Mix, Joseph blended up fresh pineapple with a little coconut milk and agave. Um, yes, we could totally live on these.

The Goods: Aside from the delicious shakes, everything on the menu today came from Devra Gartenstein's book, The Accidental Vegan. While recipes are a rarity in the VNHQ kitchens, sometimes it's fun to make lunch by the book. Of course, the fact that everything we make here is vegan is definitely on purpose!

Couldn't-Be-Easier Curry

The Chef: Lyndsay

The Menu: A delicious duo of curries! Ms. Lyndsay prepared a totally terrific two-part curry lunch for us today using a new line of organic curries from Curry Love. Lyndsay simmered corn, green beans, peas, carrots, onions, and tofu in both the Blissful Banana Ginger and Passion Red Thai flavors, and served each over hearty helpings of basmati rice. Lunch couldn't have been easier or tastier!

The Goods: Today we're a skeleton crew here at the VNHQ, but are thrilled to announce the arrival of one of our new editorial assistants, Ms. Kailey! We tend to let new staffers have the first week off from cooking duty so they can get up to speed around the office, but we're definitely looking forward to Kailey's kitchen debut!

Curry and Company

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: An absolutely lovely light yellow curry with tons of veggies! Colleen added carrots, broccoli, zucchini, onions, garlic, and cherry tomatoes to a coconut-milk curry broth, all of which she served over a super combination of basmati rice and red quinoa. Um, yum. A light salad of a pirate's favorite leafy green (you guessed it: arrrrrrrugula) and red cabbage with a snazzy lemon dressing completed these perfect plates. Oh, and the Vegenaise shipment we got in today? Colleen snuck a spoonful into the aforementioned dressing, but the result was so light and lemony you would have never even known it was in there!

The Goods: So you know all about the curry, here's the part about the company. Today we had the pleasure of dining with Melissa's brother, Mike, and his girlfriend, Amy, who are out visiting from Colorado for the weekend. They are, in a word, hilarious, and it was a highly enjoyable way to end the week. Oh, and did we mention that today is gorgeously sunny and we got to have popsicles before returning to work? Yeah, things are pretty stinking awesome around here.

Cinco de Thai-o

The Chef: Aurelia

The Menu: Why, the traditional Cinco de Mayo lunchtime favorite, Thai curry noodles! OK, you called our bluff. Thai curry noodles are not typically thought of as a Cinco de Mayo meal, but that didn't stop us from gobbling down these coconut milk and cilantro-spiked rice noodles in a festive manner. And, while Thai and Mexican food are clearly from opposite sides of the globe, they are both surprisingly enhanced by healthy doses of chili sauce. We also enjoyed some of the leftovers from yesterday's potato salad mixed in with spring greens, spinach, grated carrot, and sunflower seeds. Now if only we could rustle up some lychee margaritas ...

The Goods: Nothing really completes a Thai-Mexican fiesta like chocolate and coconut Ho Ho cupcakes from Watercourse Foods. Too bad they're based all the way in Denver. Luckily Publisher Joseph Connelly arrived back from that very city, bearing those very cupcakes, late yesterday afternoon. These little puppies–chocolate cake covered with rich coconut frosting and stuffed with vanilla filling–were so rich that we split one of them amongst the entire staff. If all this talk of cupcakes is making your mouth water for sweet treats, be sure to snatch up one of the few remaining tickets to our Urban Dessert Soirée with adorable Ani Phyo.

Birthday Bliss

The Chef: Vanida and MaggieMudd

The Menu: A beautiful birthday bash of Thai food and ice-cream cake! Yeah, today is basically the best lunch day ever, just in case you were wondering. From our favorite local Thai place, Vanida, we served up some deliciously garlicky eggplant and tofu, a spicy yellow curry with zucchini, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, and red bell pepper, and a lovely, light papaya salad with tomatoes and ground peanuts. Oh, and maybe there was a cake. Maybe it was an ice-cream cake that featured Toasted Coconut and Mint Chocolate Chip ice creams, set atop a brownie crust and covered in whipped-cream frosting. Oh, did we mention (or did we even really have to?) that this whole B-Day smorgasbord was vegan? Yeah, it was.

The Goods: We had not one but two birthdays in the office this week, those of Ms. Colleen and Ms. Stacy. If there was ever a time to order up a big, beautiful birthday cake, today was the day. A very happy birthday to both lovely ladies, one of whom you can see below with the sweet treat. Continuing the tradition of studly adornments, this year's cake featured one of our favorite vegans. Can you tell who it is?

Curry in a Hurry

The Chef: Stacy

The Menu: A spice-infused, stick-to-your-ribs substantial, sickness-be-gone curry. Contrary to the title of this post, Stacy most certainly did not cook our meal in haste, but we have to admit that this colorful and creative quinoa, black-bean, and parsnip-studded star was certainly consumed in, well, a hurry. We just couldn't quit serving ourselves spoonfuls scooped up with whole-wheat naan and heaped with Sriracha hot sauce and Parma for extra pizazz.

The Goods: It's a beautiful Friday afternoon, which means we're pretty much automatically in a good mood at the VNHQ. There's also the fact that, oh, a little thing we like to call our May+June issue arrived in the office today. Let's just hope that no dogs were nearby when we emitted our high-pitched shrieks of delight. Now that the initial excitement has faded a bit, we've settled back down to work, and dogs in the vicinity appear to be unscathed, we have an über-important question for you: Which part of your May+June VegNews are you extra excited about reading?

Come 'n' Get It Curry

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: A comforting, couldn't-be-tastier curry courtesy of Colleen. Coconut, ginger, peanut butter, and other spices combined in an absolutely delicious curry sauce, which topped butternut squash, Swiss chard, and red onions. Served atop a bed of fluffy, lovely couscous and aside some of the best roasted Brussels sprouts we've ever had, this curry called our names.

The Goods: Yes, we ate more cake after ravenously devouring today's curry. After an altogether awesome evening last night at the inaugural SF Vegan Drinks (check out the photos!), it was right back to work at the office today, and Colleen's curry certainly sustained us through our tasks. Thanks to all who came out and had a drink with us last night, and make sure to check out Press Pass for a full recap. See you again next month!

Valentine Curry

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: A subtle, and subtly themed, Valentine's Day curry. See those tasty little red chunks of Swiss-chard stem dotting the curry? In combination with the red-skinned potatoes the chard made for a veritable Valentine's Day card, in food form, of course. Colleen also added some lovely purple potatoes, baby corn, and tofu to the mix, served everything over rice, and topped it all with some fresh cilantro. She also whipped up a bright salad of romaine, grated yellow beets, and blue-cheese-flavored Sheese.

The Goods: Sometimes eating such a lovely meal can put you in a certain mood—namely the mood for love. Since a certain holiday is tomorrow, and we thought you might enjoy a little foray into the world of veg dating. And remember, whether you're happily married or happily unmarried, chocolate affects your brain in much the same way love does, so don't forget to cover something delicious with it!

Welcome Back Curry

The Chef: Lyndsay

The Menu: In another installment of her signature dish, Ms. Lyndsay concocted a crazy-good green curry, which she served over brown basmati rice. The savory, coconut-milk-flavored dish featured both sweet and russet potatoes, broccoli, peas, onions, garlic, and big, toothsome chunks of tofu. With the slightly spicy green curry sauce, all the other ingredients came together in perfect one-bowl-meal harmony, to which we say woot.

The Goods: Since weekends around these parts can be a little on the intense side, it's always nice to start the workweek off with a warm, comforting meal—just like the one we thoroughly enjoyed today. We also got to share the meal with one Paul Saccone—a longtime friend of VN—and Ms. Tara Failey, a sometime VN contributor. We only wish we'd had more time to enjoy their company, as today's also our editorial deadline and we're swamped! Gung hay fat choy!