Mango Pasta and The Strawberry Mountain

First of all, I'd like to thank all of you for your encouraging comments about non-massive blogging! You motivated me a lot... now there's the next thing... when I try new stuff, I must remember to post it. My SD card told me it's full yesterday- full of food piccies that I haven't gotten round to post.

Now I can't really say that I've been eaten by the work monster last week, but I was totally absorbed by Black Books, Strawberry Panic! and Michail Bulgakow's "Master and Margarita". Add some gay scene partying and German stout and the week's over.

Anyway, I have a recipe to share. I don't really care for raw mango, especially since I'm too stupid to slice them properly (not letting them go over-ripe might fix that). Now every now and then, I buy "Vegetarisch Fit!", a vegetarian cooking magazine. Rather "than" than "now", because few recipes are vegan, it's pricey and full of ads. Anyway, the April issue had a pasta special, so I grabbed it on a late shopping trip to find the most awesome recipe for * MANGO PASTA* For 3-4 people, you'll need:
* 1 pound of pasta (I used fussili)
* 1 huge can/ 2 small ones chopped tomatoes
* 1 massive ripe mango, diced * 1 onion, chopped
* 1 cup of cashews (or less if they cost an arm and a leg like they do over here)
* 1 block of tofu, drained, pressed and diced
* 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp cumin
* salt + pepper and chilli powder to taste

- In a huge pan, fry the tofu in neutral oil until crisp, about 10-15 minutes. Take out and set aside.
- Sauté the onions until translucent.
- Coarsly grind 3/4 of the cashews in a blender/food processor and add to the onions. Also add turmeric and cumin, sauté for 5 more minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, tofu and mango and mango and let simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the pasta is done.

Serve over the pasta and garnish with the leftover cashews (as I didn't). This is simple yet a wee bit exotic and has all the protein a pasta-maniac vegan needs. I think it might be good with kids, too, if you make it less spicier.

As short info for all German-speaking readers: after vegan.ch, there's a new German podcast made by two blokes from the Rhein/Main area... they also do a bit of live action cooking in every podcast and know all the AR info and dates in the country.
Hooray for German vegans!

Finally, I give you cake. This is my messy version (because neat baking is boring) of Strawberry Mountain. I now know why they called it like this... because it makes a buttload (and I halfed the recipe!) and you will get lost in the mountains of sweetness *swoon*.