Happy fête de la Chandeleur! Let’s get crazy and eat crêpes!
While some of you are “celebrating” Groundhog Day, here in France it’s one of my favourite little holidays of all – la fête de la Chandeleur, and we get to eat crêpes! I wrote a lovely explination of this holdiay last year, and let me tell you, it is the most popular post on this blog. I can’t begin to tell you how many English language “Chandeleur” searches lead folks to me. There is also my tried & true vegan crêpe recipe on that post, which is also quite popular this time of year. So go read up on Catholic propaganda and crêpes – what fun!
But what about Sunday dinner?
Sweet & Sour Tofu
One of my favourite “treats” as a child was going out for Chinese food. Now grant you, there was only one Chinese restaurant near-by (and near-by being a rather subjective distance), and it was only on very special occasions that my parents piled us all into the mini-van for some Chinese cuisine. Now a mum myself, I can only discern virtual Congressional Medals of Honor for the courage and heroism (and insanity?) my parents displayed bringing us all out to eat in public, in a restaurant. All six of us.
My absolute favourite thing as a kid was the Sweet & Sour Chicken balls. The sticky-sweet red sauce clinging to the deep-fried, breaded balls – which really should have been called Sweet & Sour breading balls with a tiny piece of chicken in them, seriously – and the sticky white rice painted pink after a proper slathering in the sweet & sour sauce…it was like dessert, but for dinner.
I haven’t had the sweet & sour goodness in so long it is crazy, since at least 1990 when I went veg, but probably before. This is a test recipe for 500 Vegan Recipes, and I feel like I need to have a second child and name her Joni in order to properly thank her for this recipe it is so damn good. If you ever enjoyed food-court-style take out in your pre-vegan days and miss that wonderful, terrible sticky red sauce, you are going to love this recipe.
Asian-Style Veg and Sweet & Sour Tofu
I’m a little embarrassed, but I’ll admit it. I made this twice in three days I love it so much. There. I said it. Please don’t totally lose respect for me.
I don’t know what I’m going to do when Joni & Celine are done testing their recipes for their upcoming cookbook 500 Vegan Recipes. What will I make? Seriously, I love this because I just consult what needs to be tested and I have my menu for the week! Don’t forget the Flickr group for more food p*orn love.
Musings From The Fishbowl 
Yummy sweet and sour veggies!
I would be happy to cover everything in that sauce…..mmmmmm
so lets make a deal: when you come to the US you can come eat at my house only if i get to eat at yours whenever i come to france. yes? ok then 😉 seriously, that sweet and sour tofu looks so amazing. and crepes! i haven’t had crepes in so, so, so long. happy crepe day to you!
stupid groundhog saw his shadow this morning anyway.
I actually dribbled when I read your description of sweet and sour balls!
That looks so amazing and I can’t wait to try that recipe.
I LOVE sweet and sour tofu! I’ve made a version I adapted from the Betty Crocker cookbook . . . delicious. Unfortunately, Dan doesn’t like it, so I don’t make it all that often. 😦 Harumph.
we have yet to make crêpes, Shelly! i think we’ll try yours soon! mmmmmmmmm! hooray for some awesome sweet ‘n sour tofu (also my fav!)! i can’t wait for 500 Vegan Recipes! ooooooooooh, yay!
Oh wow! Wish I had that recipe for our Chinese-themed week last week! I made a very loose interpretation of les gateaux des rois faits avec de la frangipane last year. I’ve never had the real thing, so don’t know if it was a good approximation or not. But, if you ever get the urge to try it, I’d love to see how it goes 🙂
I’m jealous! That was my favorite dish as well, I want to try it!
NomNom, I love crepes, but I need to learn how to make them! now that I think about it…this is the kind of thing my boyfriend would master… mmmm… I loved that red sticky sauce too! I miss it!
I miss that sticky red sauce! Ooh I do!
Now I must make crepes!
Mmmm that ultra sticky food court Sesame Chicken used to be a killer for me when we lived in the States. Can’t ever seem to find anything like it here. Nowhere near as sticky. I am not even sure there was ever any chicken in it just the deep fried batter and sauce. When Luis goes back to the States on business that is the first thing he eats!
I just checked your crepe recipe, sounds so good! I haven’t been able to find a good vegan version, but this one looks like a winner. Tofu – no matter how much I try, I can’t get a taste for it. Guess that would make me a bad recipe tester, sadly, huh?
Pas de crêpes? C’est pas possible! Ceci dit, j’aime grave mieux des galettes salé…miam miam!
Et oui, la galettes des rois viennent de faire leur star. Ca me manque bien, faut qu’on en fasse façon vegan!
I’m not the biggest fan of crêpes. I think it’s sort of a sacrilege, isn’t it? shall I be burnt at the altar? you know what I miss, though: les gateaux des rois faits avec de la frangipane. miammiammiam.