This month I was paired with My Year on the Grill for Taste & Create. I recreated Raspberry Chipotle Sea Scallops, but since I didn’t have the same raspberry chipotle sauce used in the original recipe, I created my own version, which turned out to be pretty good. Also, I made my version with shrimp and scallops as well as a side of coconut basmati rice.

After I made the sauce, I opened a small can of undisturbed coconut milk and separated the fat from the water. I added the coconut water and a small scoop of fat to the water for my rice. When that came to a boil I cooked some basmati rice. Coconut rice is so good, and it seemed to be a perfect companion to the spicy raspberry chipotle sauce.

Meanwhile, I melted a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of coconut fat in a heavy skillet. When that was hot, I added the shrimp first, scallops second, and cooked until just done, moving them around a bit to coat with buttery coconut goodness.

Here is a simple soup recipe. I had some frozen broth from a Baked Tofu and Coconut Soup I made, so I used the rest of that broth and improved upon the tofu. I’m no authority here, but you can probably call this a vegetarian pho.

Here’s the marinade for the firm, frozen, thawed, pressed, sliced tofu:

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 TB toasted sesame oil
• 1 TB onion powder
• 1 TB garlic powder
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• 2 TB sweet soy sauce (Kecap Manis)
• 1/2-1 TB Chinese chili paste
• 1.5 c white wine
• 1/2 cup water

This soup has a few different steps, but all are quite easy and worth the extra effort. Use fresh ginger root of you can’t find galangal. Also, I made this recipe with the Vita-Mix in mind. If you don’t have one, please let me know how the stock turns out using a standard blender.

Soup Stock Ingredients:

• 1 yellow or white onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 4 cups water (to start…you can add more as the stock cooks)
• 2 TB soy sauce
• 3-4 chunks of galangal root (pieces the size of your thumb)
• 5-6 thai chilies
• 1 small can of coconut milk

To start the broth, cut the onion into a few pieces and put it in the Vita-Mix with the garlic and some water. Puree this into a smooth consistency for a few seconds until it looks like a milky broth. Pour it into a stock pot to start the stock.

Add the rest of the 4 cups of water, the chilies, soy sauce, galangal root, and simmer for 30 minutes before adding the coconut milk.

While the stock is cooking, bake your tofu that has already been frozen, thawed, pressed, and marinated. I made a Ginger Baked Tofu from an earlier recipe.

When the tofu is done, remove it from the oven. Bring some water to a boil to cook some rice noodles. The noodles I used had me boil them for a few minutes and then drain and rinse in cool water.

When all of the components are done, pick out the large pieces of galangal from the broth. Then add some fresh spinach to wilt it. Put some noodles in a bowl, arrange some pieces of tofu, ladle on some broth, and add more soy sauce and sriracha to taste. Enjoy.

Whole Foods brand “Whole Catch” has good prices on frozen mahi-mahi, so I like to keep some in my freezer. As long as I plan in the morning to make it that night, I have time to thaw it, and it usually turns out pretty good.