#can be vegan

[culinary-vagabond]

Instant Pot Pho

Partner and I really like Pho, it's just wonderfully comforting food. We have yet to find or put together a recipe that tastes as good as what we can get from a local restaurant — to be fair, we have a lot of good restaurants in our area. That said, sometimes we want pho and don't want to spend the money on take out, so the search for a good pho recipe continued.

This one may do it for us. We tried the recipe from PureWow for making pho in an instant pot, which immediate points for due to easy of cooking and time commitment. Negative SO MANY POINTS for the website scrolling and changing my screen every time an ad reloaded!! FFS. That made me miss the mushrooms in the recipe when I was adding ingredients to the grocery list, so our first attempt did not have everything the recipe called for (ignore the bowl of fruit in the back)

Yes, everything in that picture went in. Including the apple in the front. And all of that ginger. Yes, the whole thing.

The rice noodles and tofu were topping, everything else made the broth. It was a lovely, tangy with a hint of sweetness broth and it will be made again in our household. Next time with mushrooms.

So you don't have to fight the awful PureWow website, the recipe:

Ingredients

12 ounces dried rice noodles, dried rice sticks or banh pho (found in well-stocked grocery stores or any Asian market)

Broth

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil or other neutral high-heat cooking oil

2 medium yellow onions, peeled and halved

One 4-inch piece fresh ginger, thinly sliced

3 cardamom pods, lightly smashed with the back of a knife

3 whole star anise pods

4 whole cloves

1 cinnamon stick

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns

1 Fuji apple, peeled and cut into large chunks

½ cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari or soy sauce

1 tablespoon coconut sugar

2 cups sliced shiitake mushroom caps (5 to 6 ounces)

8 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

Toppings

One 6- or 8-ounce block baked tofu (plain or five-spice flavor), cut into cubes

3 scallions, sliced on the diagonal

1 cup Thai basil leaves, torn

1 cup cilantro leaves, torn

2 limes, cut into wedges

2 cups bean sprouts

Thinly sliced hot chili peppers or sriracha

Directions

1. Prepare the Noodles: In a large bowl, cover the dried rice noodles with warm water and soak them until the noodles are pliable and opaque, 30 to 45 minutes. Drain the noodles and rinse them in cold water to remove excess starch.

2. Make the Broth: Select the Sauté setting on the Instant Pot and, after a few minutes, add the oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onions and ginger, cut side down. Do not stir them, but allow them to cook until charred and deeply browned, about 4 minutes.

3. Add the cardamom pods, star anise pods, cloves, cinnamon stick, coriander seeds, fennel seeds and peppercorns, and cook for 1 minute, stirring the mixture frequently. Add the apple, cilantro, tamari or soy sauce, coconut sugar and shiitakes to the pot. Pour the vegetable broth on top and stir the mixture to combine.

4. Secure the lid and set the pressure release to Sealing. Select the Pressure Cook (manual) setting at High Pressure and set the cook time to 15 minutes.

5. Once the timer goes off, allow a natural pressure release for 10 minutes and then perform a quick pressure release.

6. When the pressure on the Instant Pot has been released, open the pot and, using oven mitts, remove the inner pot. With a fine-mesh sieve set over a large bowl, carefully strain the broth and discard the solids. Season the broth with 1 teaspoon salt. Stir the broth and taste it, adding more salt if desired. Select the Cancel setting.

7. Assemble the Pho: Place the cooked rice noodles in individual bowls. Pour the strained broth over the noodles and add the baked tofu cubes. Top the pho with the scallions, basil, cilantro, lime wedges, bean sprouts and chilis or sriracha.

[seafolks]

salmon so tasty it make me eat hasty / when salmon is finished the joy is diminished

[only1lorrie]

2 (not homemade) ingredient Soda cake

[flwrkid14]

Had the silliest idea while making breakfast.. what if Damian’s Favorite Brother is Tim, but for the Dumbest Reason...pancakes

My idea is that Tim is Damian’s favorite brother, but not for the reasons one might expect. It’s not because of Tim’s skill, his smarts, or his ability to stay three steps ahead in every fight. Nope. Damian’s real reason for favoring Tim over Dick, Jason, or even Bruce is much simpler.

It’s because Tim makes the best pancakes. Like, legendary pancakes.

Not even kidding.

One morning, Tim casually whips up a batch of pancakes in the kitchen—y’know, because Alfred’s off running errands and the rest of the family doesn’t know the first thing about breakfast beyond opening a box of cereal, and Tim's been feeding himself since he was six. So Tim steps up to the stove, and bam—fluffy, golden stacks of heaven.

Damian, who never really cared for breakfast, takes one bite of Tim’s pancakes and is sold. From that moment on, he’s obsessed.

“Drake, you will make me those pancakes again tomorrow."

And Tim just blinks, completely confused, but shrugs it off like, “Uh, sure?��

The next morning, Damian’s right there in the kitchen, bright and early, waiting for his daily dose of pancake perfection. By the third day, he’s even dragging a chair next to Tim, watching like a hawk as Tim cooks, making sure he’s using the right ingredients.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Batfamily is just like, “Really? This is the thing that bonds them?”

Tim, being Tim, just rolls with it. He doesn’t ask questions. If Damian wants pancakes, Damian gets pancakes. He’s just trying to survive his new role as “Pancake Master.”

But Damian? Oh, he’s serious about this.

Damian tells anyone who will listen that Tim is the only one who knows how to make breakfast properly. He’ll give the other brothers side-eye anytime they dare to suggest they could cook for him. Even Alfred raises an eyebrow, but Damian’s already set: Tim’s pancakes or nothing.

What’s even funnier is that when Damian gets pissed off at anyone, he refuses to eat their cooking. But Tim? Untouchable. The one person who can screw up as many times as he wants and still be in Damian’s good graces—because those pancakes? Irreplaceable.

So, while the Batfamily argues over strategy, patrols, or who gets to drive the Batmobile, Damian's priorities are clear:

"You’re all amateurs. Drake’s the only one who makes pancakes worthy of the Wayne name.”

And now, Tim’s been promoted to Damian’s favorite brother for the silliest reason imaginable. But hey, if the key to Damian’s heart is pancakes, Tim’s got that title locked down.

[obsob]

the accolade ( the...the cat-olade...)

[phoenixyfriend]

There is a correct answer and it's not the one I get when I bring tofu to work.

[laurelsofhighever]

And you know what else bothers me? The sanitisation of characters and setting in Veilguard is so complete that not even Assan escapes it. I'm currently rereading Last Flight for fic reasons and it really hits how differently griffons are portrayed in the novel compared to Assan, who has basically taken on the role of a Disney animal sidekick. In the book, griffons are proud, territorial, and fierce. They demand absolute devotion from their riders, they have to be fed separately to avoid fights breaking out, they can outmanoeuvre an archdemon and punch darkspawn hard enough with their talons to break necks.

And yes, Assan is still growing, it's possible the fierce territoriality won't hit until he reaches adulthood and his easy affection could be either his immaturity or his individual personality, but he's still an apex hypercarnivore whose two constituent parts are also apex hypercarnivores. Taking him into Arlathan should result in a massive decline in the local nug population as he practices his hunting skills, and Davrin should be learning how to manage his flying weight the way falconers do with their birds, because apex predators don't exert themselves when their bellies are full. That halla should have been put out of its misery. At full growth he'll be eating a goat a day at least. He should not be being fed yams or carrots.

[ghurab-alzilal]

Damian is VEGETARIAN

• Batman Incorporated #1 (2012)

[the-faultofdaedalus]

follow up question. if it’s ok to eat figs bc the wasp was already digested by the plant exactly /how/ digested to things have to be for their consumer to be considered vegan

[holydivers]

like look i'm as anti-ai as the next guy but it seems super disingenuous to say "it's absolutely inexcusable to cause so much environmental damage and waste so much water just for a tiny bit of convenience or amusement that's unethical on top of that" okay. so are you giving up beef (or, heaven forbid, meat and dairy as a whole) or do you only actually give a shit about making sacrifices for the sake of environment when it just happens to be a thing you already don't like?

just be honest and say you hate it bc it sucks and it's ugly. because it is

edit: also vegans who use AI i am going to attack you with hammers. "oh but this ai comes up with veganized versions of recipes!" ok. either a) it's just getting that info from a recipe that someone already made, in which case just go find that fucking recipe yourself. or b) it's just making shit up, which you can just do yourself by looking at substitutes for existing ingredients. the ai doesn't fucking know if aquafaba will work in a certain recipe. get off the stupid little app and trial and error it in the kitchen the way it's meant to be

[kaiasky]

I do think however it'd be wonderful to have a kitchen shelf full of White Powders. msg + salt + sugar + baking powder + corn starch + citric acid + capsaicin + xanthun gum + etc etc. especially if you has a spice rack of like. exotic herbs and colorful spices and then above that the rack of Powders Devoid of Color.

[berryvegan]

It's wild to me how many restaurants in 2025 just don't offer a single vegan option. And I don't mean "can find something to accommodate if asked", I mean I can't point to a single meal* on the menu that I can get.

Why don't you want my money, I don't even need anything fancy I just want the option!

[lastoneout]

Got a burger from a mid-cost fancy gastropub last night because it was the only thing open and I truly have to ask what the fuck is the point of food that's description is so tasty delicious sounding and then you get it and it's baffling and bland and confusing?