Chow Vegan

Remember Brendan Synnott from Survivor: Tocantins? It was the season that aired early last year. At the time, I had no idea he co-founded Bear Naked Granola which was later sold. He then went on to co-startup evol burritos.

After Brendan got booted off the show, he offered up free evol burritos to Survivor viewers. After all this time, I finally received a coupon for said burrito.

In their lineup of eleven, there’s two that are vegan. The first one I tried was the Tofu and Spinach Sauté – tofu sautéed with spinach, potatoes, black beans and tomato salsa in a whole wheat tortilla. It had a southwestern kind of flavor.

Inside, there was one big chunk of tofu and one big chunk of potato, mixed in with everything. I don’t know if that was just the one I got or if they’re all like that. Maybe it was because they’re handmade. But it was well-seasoned and the taste was good.

The other vegan option is the Veggie Fajita – sautéed peppers and onions, rice, black beans and salsa in a whole wheat tortilla (pictured above). It’s more colorful but not as flavorful as the tofu and spinach one. It just taste like peppers, rice and beans. It seems like it needs something.

For me, the real question is how does the evol burritos stack up against my favorite Amy’s burritos? There’s no contest between evol’s Veggie Fajita versus Amy’s Non-Dairy Bean and Rice. Amy’s kicks butt. Sorry Brendan.

But on the bright side, it’s a draw between the Tofu and Spinach Sauté versus Amy’s Indian Spinach Tofu wrap. They both have tofu and spinach in a whole wheat tortilla but each has a totally different taste and flavor. I could go for either one.

Looking around the pantry, I see I still have a rather large bag of glutinous rice from when I made Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf. This time I was much too lazy to bother with the lotus leaves. I thought to myself “I’ll just make a batch of sticky rice and serve it up in a bowl instead. It’ll be quicker since I’m not messing around with the leaves.”

But I’m probably deluding myself. It’s not hard to make but there’s still a bit of work involved. First, there’s the chopping of all the ingredients. And then there’s the combining of the savory part with the rice and since it’s sticky rice, it’s quite an upper arm workout.

I made it a little easier on myself by mixing in a bit of jasmine with the glutinous rice so the cooked rice is not quite as sticky. It’s not as chewy either but it’s still rich and flavorful.

Sticky Rice Bowl
Makes 4-6 servings

1 1/2 cups glutinous rice also known as sweet rice (use the measuring cup that came with the rice cooker)
1/2 cup jasmine rice

Savory Mixture
4 dried mushrooms, soaked and diced
1 medium carrot, diced
3 1/2 ounces vegan sausage (or 1 Tofurky Italian sausage), sliced into 1/8 inch rounds
3 ounces baked tofu
2 medium green onions, diced
3 sprigs of cilantro, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Sauce
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons vegetarian oyster sauce

Additional cilantro sprigs for garnish (optional)

Cooking directions is for use with a rice cooker with a 5.5 cups capacity. Using the inner pot of the rice cooker, rinse the rice in several changes of water until the water is clear. Add enough water to cook the sweet rice as indicated on the inner pot. Let the rice soak in the water for 2 hours before cooking. Cook the rice according to the rice cooker directions.

Combine the soy sauce and oyster sauce and set aside.

Heat a wok to hot, add the oil and swirl to coat the wok. Add the veggie sausage and stir fry until lightly browned.

Add the mushrooms and carrot and continue to stir fry for a few more minutes. If it appears dry, add a little bit of water. Add the tofu, peas and green onions, stir fry to combine. Add the sauce and cilantro and mix well.

Divide the savory mixture and rice in half to make it more manageable to combine. Place 1/2 of the mixture in the rice and 1/2 of the rice in the mixture. Mix together the two halves until everything is evenly distributed. It’s easiest to do when the rice is hot. Once cooled, it’ll be much harder.

To serve dim sum style, place a sprig of cilantro in the bottom of a rice bowl and pack the rice into the bowl. Invert onto a serving plate and remove the bowl.

With the return of cold and rainy weather this week, I made an old-fashioned “chicken” noodle soup using the newfangled meatless wonder, Gardein. As a youngster, I slurped the kind of chicken noodle soup that came out of a can. For some inexplicable reason, it’s a fond memory.

Re-made vegan style, it has the same comfort food feel as the original. I used Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base for a chicken broth taste. I really like this stuff, it adds a savory flavor but it’s not overwhelmingly chicken-like. All of their vegetarian bases are vegan certified. They also have regular meat bases, so make sure to read the labels carefully.

Like most soups, it’s even better when allowed to sit after cooking so the flavors develop a bit more and the noodles get really soft. Once cooled, the soup can also be frozen into individual serving portions for a future rainy day.

Vegan Chicken Noodle Soup
Makes about 7 cups

6 cups water
1 tablespoon vegan chicken base bouillon
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 medium leek, white and a little of the green part, sliced into 1/8″ rounds
2 medium carrots, sliced into 1/8″ rounds
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon granulated onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 7-ounce package Gardein chick’n filets, diced
2 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
4 ounces dried whole wheat linguine noodles

Dissolve the bouillon in one cup of boiling water, set aside.

Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions and leeks, sauté until translucent. Add the carrots and celery and sauté for 2 minutes.

Add the bouillon broth and the rest of the water, bay leaves, granulated onion and salt and pepper to taste. Increase the heat to bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add the veggie chicken pieces, parsley and the noodles broken into thirds. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for 10 minutes. Discard the bay leaves before serving.

About a month ago at Whole Foods, I tried a sample of Alkemie, a new dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free, raw ice cream. I also met co-founder and executive chef, Daniel Clary; he’s a really nice guy.

Of the three flavors currently available, I like the Vanilla Bean the best and purchased a pint. It’s smooth, creamy and rich-tasting. You get the full flavor of the vanilla, without a strong coconut taste like you do with coconut-based ice cream. But it does have a hint of cashew. Probably because it’s made of raw cashews, coconut cream and agave nectar.

Dark Chocolate and Mint Chocolate are the two other flavors. I’m not a big chocolate eater so I didn’t buy either one of those.

Daniel mentioned that they’re working on 2 new flavors, coming out in the spring. Maybe a coffee or a fruit. With all sorts of crazy flavor ideas in his head, he’s still deciding on what flavors to do next.

Since I was distracted with the sampling and the chatting, some guy mistakenly made off with my shopping cart. I had to go track him down.

At $5.99 a pint, it’s definitely at the high end of premium ice cream, vegan or not. But you get what you pay for – handcrafted, batch-churned, organic ingredients and no refined sugars.

At this price and for this quality, I’m setting a guard to watch over my ice cream. No one is going to “accidently” make off with it.