Chow Vegan

Another recipe spotted on dreaminitvegan.blogspot.com that I absolutely had to try – raw strawberry cheesecake. Perfect for a 4th of July celebration, it’s a cool, easy, no-bake dessert.

Typical me, I made a few tweaks to the recipe. Mixed berries instead of just strawberries – with the bounty of berries available at the farmers market nowadays, I just had to use them all.

For the crust, I replaced the pecans called for in the recipe with almonds since I already had almonds. Besides I’m too lazy to go to the store for a single item. The recipe makes enough crust (sides and bottom) for two 4″ mini pans.

I like my crust to be on the thick side. If thinner, there’s probably enough for three pans or more if the crust was only on the bottom. I used quiche style pans since I didn’t have mini springform ones.

I made half of the original filling recipe and I still had some left over. I used the rest to make a crust-less cheesecake. The filling came out really purple. I ended up using more of the blackberries as they got a little smashed on the way home from the market.

Mini Raw Mixed Berries Cheesecake
Makes 2-3 mini cheesecakes
Adapted from dreaminitvegan.blogspot.com

Crust
1/2 cup raw almonds
2 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
1/4 cup shredded coconut
Pinch of salt

Place almonds in a food processor and pulse until crumbly. Add the dates, coconut and salt, continue to pulse the mixture into fine crumbs.

Coat the pans with raw coconut oil. Press the mixture into two 4-inch diameter mini pans, going up the sides and bottom, packing it well into the pans. Set aside.

Filling
1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight
1 cup mixed berries, any combination of blackberries, blueberries and/or strawberries
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1/2 tablespoon freshly-squeezed lemon juice
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon raw coconut oil, melted

Pulse the cashews in a food processor until crumbly. Add the rest of the ingredients except the coconut oil and pulse until smooth.

While pulsing the food processor, slowly add the coconut oil until blended in. Spoon the filling into the prepared crusts.

Place in the freezer until firm. To serve, defrost in the refrigerator for about an hour. Top with additional berries.

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Chinese steamed egg, a beloved childhood dish that I thought I would never enjoy again. I had loved it so much as a kid and so did my siblings.

But then, I found a vegan recipe for it on one of my favorite blogs, The Modern Vegetarian. A homey kind of a dish, it’s like a savory egg custard with a silky, smooth texture.

The vegan version uses silken tofu in place of the eggs and a little bit of turmeric for color. Mom sometimes added a pork filling. In my version, I replaced it with tempeh and mushrooms.

Vegan Chinese Vegan Steamed “Egg” with Tempeh
Serves 2
Adapted from The Modern Vegetarian

2 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked and chopped
1/4 cup cooked tempeh (see recipe below)
12 ounces fresh silken tofu
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon Shaoxing rice wine
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 teaspoons egg replacer, mixed with 4 tablespoons water

Optional topping
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 green onion, white and green parts, chopped

In a food processor, combine the tofu, salt, sugar, rice wine, turmeric, egg replacer and blend until smooth and creamy.

Place the mushrooms and tempeh in a heatproof bowl or shallow pan, pour the tofu mixture on top of it. Use a bowl large enough (so that it doesn’t fill all the way to the top) to allow room for the tofu to expand.

Set up a steamer. When the water boils, place the bowl in and steam over medium heat for about 10 minutes. For a firmer texture, let stand 15-30 minutes before serving. It sets up even more overnight.

If using, mix the oil and soy sauce together and drizzle over the top, add the green onions. Serve with rice.

Cooked Tempeh
8 ounce package of tempeh, crumbled
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon oil
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Heat the wok until hot. Add the oil and swirl in the wok to coat. Add the onions and saute over medium heat until translucent. Add the tempeh, water and soy sauce and bring to a boil. Cover and turn down the heat to medium low and simmer until the water is mostly absorbed about 4-5 minutes.

Oh sure, back when I actually lived in Palo Alto, there wasn’t one vegan restaurant in sight. Now there’s two. Garden Fresh Vegan Cuisine opened earlier this year and I finally got around to eating there. Like their other, older location in Mountain View, they serve Chinese vegan cuisine.

On the menu, there’s plenty of imitation meat dishes (but if you’re not into that, there’s also tofu and just veggie dishes). Pictured above is Veggie Ribs – pressed shiitake mushrooms sautéed with onions and green peppers in a black bean sauce. It’s hard to believe it’s made out of mushrooms; they have such a nice, meaty texture.

Veggie Chicken Chow Mein – Soy chicken with cabbage, carrots, onions and bean sprouts. I love the fat wheat noodles and the fact that it’s not drowning in sauce.

Hunan Veggie Chicken – Shredded soy chicken with celery, carrots and bamboo shoots sautéed in a special hunan sauce. While this dish tasted good, it seemed a lot like the chow mein only without the noodles.

Next time, I’ll have to do a better job of ordering. All-vegan restaurants are so few and far between that I get a little overwhelm when I’m presented with an entire menu of dining options. But that’s a good thing.

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My first bento box and its got blue rice. I’ve always been fascinated with how pretty bentos can be, but put off by the food coloring used to achieve some of those effects. Then I found this excellent tutorial at Eye Candy food blog on how to get a beautiful blue color using red cabbage of all things.

It’s actually pretty easy to do. Well, not as easy as pouring a few drops out of a little bottle from a store shelf, but still very easy and kinda fun too.

Basically, it’s just cooking shredded red cabbage in water. Drain, and you’ll see that the water turned a purple color. By adding an alkaline such as baking soda, it becomes blue! Add an acid like vinegar, it’ll be pink.

To minimize the cabbage flavor of the blue dye, I added a few tablespoons to just the amount of rice I wanted to turn blue. Mixed well and then poured out the excess liquid. Placed the blue rice in the fridge overnight. In the morning, it’s even bluer.

For the tofu fish, it’s just a couple pieces of Crispy Baked Tofu cut into a fish shape with barbecue sauce eyes. The underwater flora is blue lake green beans and the bottom is sliced raw carrots.

I found a few Bumble Bars in the kitchen cupboard (leftover from a trip where I didn’t need to eat them). They’re organic, gluten-free, wheat-free, vegan and ethically sourced.

The main ingredients are sesame and flax seeds and comes in a variety of flavors. I finally got around to trying them, mostly because it was getting very close to the date printed on the package.

I hate to say it but when I first ripped open the wrapper and saw the bar, it kinda reminded me of birdseed, especially the Original flavor, the one that’s pictured below. The other two that I tried, look less like birdseed. But the taste is actually really good.

Sweet, like a candy bar but not too sweet. And not crazy chewy like some energy bars. Original definitely has more of a sesame taste with a few peanut chunks thrown in.

The Chocolate Crisp doesn’t have a strong chocolate taste. But because of the crisp brown rice, it’s a bit crispy. The Chunky Cherry has pieces of cherry and is a little sticky and gooey compared to the other two.

Who knew sesame seeds could pack so much energy? I only wish I tried them sooner.