Chow Vegan

Whenever I need something quick and easy, I usually go with fried rice. I almost always have leftover white rice sitting around in the fridge.

If you got extra tofu, tempeh, seitan, vegetables, whatever, toss that in too. If you don’t have any of that or even if you do, don’t forget the freezer – I always have frozen peas, corn, or mixed vegetables on hand.

Over the years, I’ve thrown in some interesting ingredients. Ones that stuck – minced ginger and salted preserved turnip. And nowadays, I leave out the soy sauce, I prefer just a bit of salt instead.

Vegetarian BBQ Pork Fried Rice
Serves 1 as a meal or 2 as part of a meal

2 pieces salted turnip, rinsed and sliced
2 pieces veggie bbq pork, cubed
3/4″ piece of ginger, minced
1 cup cold cooked white rice
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 cup frozen green peas
1/4 cup frozen white corn kernels
Salt to taste
1 green onion stalk, chopped

Heat the wok to hot, add the oil and swirl to coat the wok. Add the salted turnip and stir-fry for about 30 seconds. Add the rice, breaking up the large chunks so the grains are separated, stir-frying for about a minute or so.

Then add the bbq pork, ginger, peas and corn. Mix well and continue stir-frying for 2 to 3 minutes. Season to taste and add the green onions. Combine well and serve immediately.

Does your wok look like this when you’re done cooking the fried rice?

Mine does. That delicate, toasted rice crust sticking to the bottom of the wok is the best part, it’s called noan in Cantonese. It’s the same rice crust that forms when cooking rice in a pot. Growing up, my siblings and I fought over who got the biggest piece.

Use a spatula to scrape the crispy pieces out of the wok and sprinkle on top of the fried rice. It adds a nice bit of flavored crunchiness. It’s best to do it as soon as you finish cooking as it’s easiest then to get the crust out. Be careful as the wok will still be very hot.

Lately, I been dining at California Pizza Kitchen after a decade long hiatus. I remember back then, I had to quiz the waitperson to figure out what was vegan on the menu. Nowadays, they have a whole section listing what’s vegan, what’s lacto vegetarian, and what’s lacto ovo vegetarian on their website. It’s very handy.

There’s two options for vegan pizza. I always get what’s pictured above – Vegetarian with Japanese Eggplant – baby broccoli, grilled Japanese eggplant, roasted corn, sliced red onions, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and tomato sauce. Asked for no cheese and on the Neapolitan dough (thin-crust).

I love thin crust pizza. The thinner, the better as far as I’m concerned. CPK’s is so thin and crisp, there’s an actual crunch to certain parts. And I love the flavors of the toppings, they’re not your standard veggie pizza toppings.

The second vegan pizza option is the Tricoloré Salad Pizza – chilled arugula, baby red leaf lettuce, radicchio, diced tomatoes with homemade Dijon balsamic vinaigrette dressing and no cheese – which I have not tried. To me, it just sounds like salad on a pizza crust.

I’ve also tried the two vegan soups, the Asparagus Soup with no croutons and the Dakota Smashed Pea and Barley Soup, pictured above. They’re both alright, kinda on the salty side though.

I usually get the soup just to round out my meal but I might try a salad or an appetizer next time instead. I heard about their Menu Adventure Guarantee as I was leaving – try something new, if you’re not thrilled, they’ll replace it with one of your usual favorites. I might have to take them up on that.

On top of a homemade blueberry brownie is my new all-time favorite ice cream – Purely Decadent coconut flavor, coconut milk based, non-dairy, soy-free frozen dessert. It’s one of the flavors that So Delicious (the company that produces said ice cream) had sent me to try out.

It’s got the same creamy, rich and decadent texture as I have come to expect from So Delicious. The color is an amazing bright white making for a beautiful contrast to the brownie.

As for taste, it’s nothing but coconut all the way through, it even has little flakes of coconut. Some of the other flavors have a hint of coconut to them, seeing as they’re made from coconut milk. So the coconut one seems really pure and simple – it’s the epitome of coconut milk ice cream.

Related Posts
Purely Decadent Root Beer Float
So Delicious Ice Cream Sandwiches

Update
I’ve dug up the recipe for the brownies since you all were asking for it. I don’t remember where it came from so I can’t properly credit the recipe. If anyone recognizes it, please let me know.

As I always seem to do, I changed the recipe a bit. I used all white flour since I didn’t have whole wheat flour and I didn’t have cocoa powder and used double chocolate hot chocolate powder instead. It made for a more cake-like brownie (see above photo). I don’t know if it’s because I made the substitutions or not, but that’s how mine came out.

Blueberry Brownies
Makes 16 brownies

1 cup applesauce
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup unbleached white flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, spray 8″ square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium mixing bowl, combine applesauce, sugar and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk together whole wheat flour, white flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center and add wet ingredients; mix until just combined. Gently fold in walnuts and blueberries. Spread mixture into prepared pan and bake for 25 – 30 minutes until center is firm and not sticky. Let cool completely before slicing.

Last week for the Lunar New Year, I made Buddhist’s Delight also known as Buddha’s Delight, Vegetarian’s Delight or in Chinese, jai.

It’s a traditional vegetarian dish served on the first day to bring success and prosperity into the new year. Each family has its own variation but generally it includes a mix of dried and fresh ingredients symbolizing wealth and luck. Things such as:

• Chinese dried black mushrooms
• dried cloud ears
• dried lily bulbs
• cellophane noodles
• shredded fresh bean curd sheet
• fried tofu puffs
• sliced napa cabbage
• sliced carrots
• ginger

Seems like a lot of stuff, but once you’re done with the soaking of the dried ingredients and the cutting, everything comes together fairly quickly.

So quickly in fact, that I didn’t really get down the recipe. But I will next time. Buddhist’s Delight or a variation of it can be served any ol’ time, it’s not just reserved for new year’s day.

I always thought it was funny that the custom is to feast on new year’s eve then have this one vegetarian dish on new year’s day (sorta like a cleansing thing) and then it’s back to feasting the following day.

Happy feasting in the Lunar New Year!