Friday, September 18, 2009

Eggplant Salad in Parmesan Cups

I was hoping the parmesan cups would be crunchy but they were kinda chewy. Maybe I did something wrong?

recipe

Vegan Currywurst


The recipe I found for currywurst sauce was already vegan so all I had to do was put it over a veggie sausage instead of a pork sausage, but I haven't had German fast food in a while so someone else will have to let me know how authentic the recipe is. I think currywurst usually has worcestershire sauce and there was no way I was about to put in 1/2 a cup of sugar so I doubt it was anything like the real stuff. According to the pictures I've seen, they're supposed to be served with fries on the side but that's just too much grease for me so I made potato salad instead.

Chickpea Salad

This is either Israeli salad with chickpeas, or tabbouleh with chickpeas instead of bulgur (and less parsley).
Cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, parsley, green onions and chickpeas. Olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar (I use rice vinegar but red wine vinegar probably makes more sense), cumin, sumac, salt and pepper.

original

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Seitan Shawarma


1 lb seitan, cut into squares
1 onion, sliced
1/2 tbsp turmeric
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
black pepper, cayenne, salt
4 tbsp olive oil
4 pita bread
pickles, sliced

Israeli (Palestinian?) salad:
cucumbers
tomatoes
parsley
green onions
olive oil
lemon juice

Tahini sauce:
1/2 cup tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup hot water

Make the salad and tahini sauce ahead of time and chill.

Mix the spices. Combine the seitan and onion slices in a large bowl and sprinkle the spice mixture over them. Add 3 tbs of the olive oil and mix it all together. Grill the seitan and onions in a little bit of oil until browned. Grill the pita bread to give it grill marks and pile everything on top of it.

Adapted from epicurious

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Bean Burger


There are plenty of good veggie burger recipes out there and I have no reason to believe that this one is the best, but it's the one I ended up trying first. It's pretty easy to make and doesn't have any weird veggie ingredients (except egg replacer). I left out the oats, which might explain why mine were sort of flimsy. Next time I'll try adding some kind of grain to see if that helps. Also, real eggs probably do a better job of binding than egg replacer. I doubled the recipe so I wouldn't have any leftover beans (I left out the black beans) and froze the extras. They tasted just as good defrosted but seemed to fall apart more.

recipe

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Friday, July 3, 2009

Bananas Foster


I really need to stop forgetting that I have a blog. I'll start with the most exciting recipe that I've been meaning to post. I could pretend that I made this vegan, but there were witnesses who know that it wasn't even close. The vanilla frozen yogurt could easily be replaced with soy ice cream and I'm thinking it might be possible to stick soy creamer in the whipped cream maker (I don't think normal people own these, just ex-Starbucks employees) and make that vegan too, although I've never liked whipped cream so I doubt vegan whipped cream would be any better.

The exciting part was the flambeing. The last time I tried to flambe, I barely got a flame, but this time I'm pretty sure the flames reached the ceiling and looked a lot more like an explosion than this picture shows

Fortunately there was no damage to the ceiling (not mine) or the hand you see inside the banana fire (not mine either).

I think I used this recipe but without the banana liqueur.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Tofu Loaf

I know tofu loaf is one of the things that makes normal people hate vegetarians but this loaf isn't squishy and it doesn't taste like tofu. I wasn't planning on liking this so much, but it really deserves a better name than "tofu loaf" and if you somehow end up with leftovers, it's even better fried the next day.

12 oz firm tofu, pressed
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup chopped carrots
1/3 cup ketchup
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
garlic powder, oregano, salt

Preheat the oven to 350. Saute the onions and carrots in a little bit of olive oil until they're soft. Mash the tofu in a large bowl and mix in the rest of the ingredients. Spoon the mixture into an oiled loaf pan and spread a thin layer of ketchup over the top. Bake for an hour.

I thought this would be good with my leftover barbecue sauce but I actually liked it better with plain old ketchup.

original

Vegan Peanut Butter Squares


These don't need much adapting from the original to be made vegan. The chocolate topping is VCTOTW's chocolate ganache.

1/2 cup earth balance
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups crumbled graham crackers
1 cup peanut butter
1/2-1 cup chocolate chips
1/4-1/2 cup soymilk
2 tbsp maple syrup

Line a small baking dish with foil. Melt butter in a small saucepan and add the sugar, cracker crumbs, and peanut butter and mix well. Spread it into the dish. Bring soymilk to a boil in the saucepan. Turn off heat and stir in the chocolate chips and syrup until it's smooth. Spread it over the graham cracker mixture. Refrigerate for about an hour. Cut into squares.

Fresh Pea Soup

My sister got me some fresh peas so I boiled and blended them and it looked like that ^

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 sweet onion, diced
2 small potatoes, diced
2 cups broth
1 cup water
1 cup shelled peas
S&P, to taste
sliced green onions, for garnish

Heat the oil and add the onion. Let them cook until they're soft. Add the potatoes, broth, and water. Let simmer until the potatoes can be pierced with a fork. Add the peas and cook for about 8 minutes, until soft. Turn off the heat and blend with an immersion blender. Season with s&p.

BBQ Seitan and Veggies


This is the best barbecue sauce recipe I've found (with a few small changes). It's spicy and smoky (chipotle instead of liquid smoke) and won't be mistaken for cocktail sauce. I made half the recipe and it was just about the right amount for the seitan and veggies.

16 oz seitan, (add some adobo sauce if you make your own)
2 zucchini, cut into big chunks
2 medium red potatoes, cut into big chunks and parboiled
5-6 large mushrooms, quartered
1 sweet onion, cut into big chunks
about 2 cups of barbecue sauce

Spread the seitan and veggies out in 2 large baking dishes and cover with the sauce. Cook for about 45 minutes at 450.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Mushroom Pierogies

I've somehow managed to forget what real pierogies taste like, even though I spent a week eating pierogies and not much else (except ketchup pizza from Pizza Hit) because it's pretty much the only vegetarian Polish food, unless you count Zywiec. Or at least if they weren't vegetarian, I couldn't tell--except for the ones topped with bacon. Those weren't vegetarian.

I used this recipe but I was lazy and went with wonton skins instead of making my own dough.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Seitan Scaloppine



I have no idea if this tastes anything like chicken or veal scaloppine (or scallopini) but it does taste like good veggie food and it definitely doesn't have 71 grams of saturated fat like the copy cat Macaroni Grill recipe. The sauce was sweeter than I thought it would be (ok I used unsweetened soymilk this time, wtf?) but maybe it's supposed to be sweet.

1/2 ppk seitan recipe, sliced into thin cutlets
a few tablespoon of oil, for sauteing seitan
1/2 cup flour
4 oz veggie ham or bacon, diced
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 12oz can artichoke hearts, quartered
1 tbsp capers
3/4 cup broth
1/4 cup soymilk
2 lemons, juiced
2 tbsp earth balance
1/2 lb orzo, cooked
chopped parsley

Adapted from here and here.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Pita Bread


It usually takes me 3 tries to get my bread to turn out right because I'm terrible at baking, but these were easy and came out good the first time. The recipe suggested baking them for 3 minutes or 6-8 minutes for crispy pitas so I let mine bake for about 5-6 minutes and took them out just as they started to brown.

I can't remember if I've posted the recipe for my favorite dip/dressing but I'm pretty sure I haven't because I always forget to write it down. This might be it:

Tofu Tahini Dill Dip

Blend together:

4 oz silken tofu
1/4 - 1/2 cup tahini
1/4 cup peeled and diced cucumber
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbs olive oil
2 tbs chopped parsley
fresh dill
s&p

add extra water or lemon juice if it's too thick

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Seitan Fajitas



Marinade:
1/2 lemon, juice
1 lime, juiced
olive oil
1 garlic clove
1-2 chipotles in adobo sauce, minced
a few tbsp chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp cumin
S&P

1/2 recipe of PPK Seitan, cooled. I added a little bit of cumin, lime juice, and a drop of adobo sauce added to the wet ingredients

1 pepper, sliced
1 onion, sliced
6 flour tortillas
homemade guacamole
tomatillo salsa, recipe follows
cilantro-jalapeno Sauce, recipe follows


Slice the seitan into long strips and mix it with the marinade. Set aside.

Fry the pepper and onions with olive oil in a grill pan until brown.

Remove the seitan strips from the marinade and grill them in oil in a grill pan until they start to brown. It might just be me but this part can be painful (must've been the chipotle) so turn on a fan, open a window, and stand back.

Combine everything in a tortilla and stick it on a grill (pan) until it gets those pretty grill marks.



Cilantro-Jalapeno Sauce

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 small jalapeno
1/2 lb silken tofu
1 lime, juiced
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt

Blend it all together until creamy.

Tomatillo-Chipotle Salsa

5 tomatillos, halved
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 lime, juiced
1/2 chipotle pepper in adobo, chopped

Fry the tomatillos and garlic with olive oil on a grill pan until brown. Remove the garlic clove but save the oil. Chop up the tomatillo and blend it with the rest of the ingredients and the garlicky oil.



original recipe

Tortilla Soup

Rumor has it that tortilla soup is supposed to have shredded chicken in it so I was trying to think of the best veggie protein for shredding and the closest I could come up with was frozen tofu. Turns out it can't really be shredded, but it can be torn and it totally works in this tortilla soup recipe. The tofu recipe is from Tofu Cookery, the world's best tofu cookbook.

1 lb tofu, frozen, thawed*
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 tsp cumin

3 corn tortillas, cut into strips
oil for frying

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic (I leave it whole and just use it to flavor the oil but you can mince it and leave it in)
1/2 small jalapeƱo, chopped
4 cups veg broth
14.5 oz can fire roasted tomatoes

avocado, cheese, and cilantro for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350.
Whisk together the soy sauce, peanut butter, and cumin until smooth. Tear the thawed tofu into small bite-size pieces and toss with the peanut butter mixture. Spread out the tofu pieces in 1 layer on an oiled baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until crispy. Set aside and try not to snack on them.

Cover the bottom of a frying pan with oil. Fry tortilla strips in a single layer until crispy. Drain on paper towels, set aside and try not to snack on them.

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion, garlic and jalapeno in oil for a few minutes until soft. Remove garlic if you left it whole. Stir in broth and tomatoes and bring it to a boil. Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Take it off the heat and blend with an immersion blender. Add tofu and heat until the tofu is hot again. Garnish with cilantro, avocado, tortilla strips and shredded cheese.

Here it is with my new favorite recipe, Seitan Fajitas.


*To freeze tofu, cut firm (non-silken) tofu into 4 equal squares (or more if you want it to freeze faster) and wrap each square separately in foil. It's best to let it freeze over night but smaller pieces shouldn't take more than a few hours. You know they're ready when they've turned into yellow tofu bricks. To thaw, put bricks into bowls of hot water, replacing the water every few minutes until you get tofu sponges. Squeeze out as much water as possible from the tofu sponges.