Chow Vegan

I’m not very familiar with African American or Southern cuisine, so I was very excited to have the opportunity to review the recently released cookbook Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry. I decided to go with an ingredient (tofu) that I’m well-acquainted with but prepared in a new-to-me twist – Blackened Tofu Slabs with Succotash Salsa.

Now, I’ve tried a blackened something or other before I was vegan and I must not have thought much of it because I never tried blackened anything again. I just remember it as being very black and kinda burnt so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Imagine my delight, when first off, blackened doesn’t mean black or burnt at all (there’s a few darker spots but I wouldn’t call it burnt). It’s basically tofu with a crust of spices. Spicy spices.

It’s amazing – prep the tofu, dredge in the spices and place in the pan with no oil. I thought for sure, okay this is where it’s going to get all burnt and everything. But nope, it’s totally fine.

Oh, and the salsa! I’ve never had baby lima beans in salsa before. So fresh, so vibrant and so colorful – a refreshing contrast to the blackened tofu. Served on top of sauteed swiss chard, there’s layers of textures and flavors that all comes together for a healthy and anything but boring meal.

I feel just like a kid who got a brand-new toy and I can’t wait to give Vegan Soul Kitchen another whirl.

Related Links
To learn more about Bryant Terry, check out his website here. To purchase your very own copy of the Vegan Soul Kitchen, click here.

I had a butternut squash languishing in the refrigerator for weeks before I finally got around to cooking it. Poor little thing, it sat in the fridge for far too long. I had to hack off the moldy parts but the rest of it was still good. I was surprise the squash lasted as long as it did, what a trooper.

I made a rich, creamy butternut squash soup, with a nice, spicy kick from the fresh ginger and cayenne pepper. So yummy for the end of winter, so happy for the beginning of spring.

Butternut Squash Soup
Makes a generous 2 cups

1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 small onion, minced
1 med carrot, sliced
1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into cubes
1/2″ fresh ginger, minced
2 cups hot water
1 cube vegan vegetable bouillon dissolved in the water
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 heaping tablespoons silken tofu
1 stalk green onion, chopped
1-2 pieces baked tofu, cubed

In a large pot, heat the oil until hot, add the onions and saute until translucent. Add the squash and carrots and saute for about 30 seconds. Add the water, ginger and spices.

Bring to a boil, cover and turn down to low. Cook for about 18 minutes or until the squash is soft. Add the tofu and puree until smooth. Ladle into bowls and garnish with green onions and baked tofu croutons if desired. Serve immediately.

Yesterday, I made mock “corned beef” and cabbage. I’ve been making it for years, based on a modified version of the recipe found in the March 1996 issue of Vegetarian Times. You can see the recipe for yourself here.

I usually leave out the onion and the horseradish and I’ve never made the gravy called for in the recipe. Either I didn’t have those ingredients the first time I made the recipe or I was just plain lazy, probably both. But it tasted fine to me without, so I always left them out.

Nowadays, I like to eat it with Zukay’s horseradish dill relish. Man, that stuff is like crack.

I never really thought about how commercial relish is made, I just slap it on my food and mindlessly munch away. Then I received sample jars from Zukay Live Foods, and it’s like night and day.

It has an amazing freshness and brightness that you can actually taste. It’s very different from the strong vinegar smell and neon color of the relish I grew up eating and liked.

Zukay has two relish flavors, garlic dill and horseradish dill. I tried the garlic dill one on a veggie hot dog. Great taste and flavor, with just a hint of garlic. Only thing is, there’s a lot more liquid in the relish, even though I used a fork to try to drain some of it before putting it on the hot dog, it made the bottom of the bun soggy fairly quickly.

I also tried the relish in a potato salad and that worked much better. Pictured above, it’s three red potatoes, cooked with the skin removed, cooled and sliced. A couple heaping tablespoons of vegan mayo and a couple heaping tablespoons of Zukay relish. Salt and pepper to taste. And there you have it, a simple yet delicious potato salad.

Zukay also has a line of salsas, hot and mild flavors. It’s very bubbly, much more noticeable than the relishes. They’re bubbly because it’s a live probiotic food. Not only is it tasty, but it’s healthy too.

Last week, we finally got some much needed rain here in Northern California – perfect weather for making a stew. Something that’s hearty and full of flavor, something warm and comforting, something with star anise, perhaps?

I love the very distinct licorice taste and aroma of star anise, it’s one of the very few spices used in Chinese cooking. You may recognize the taste as it’s the primary flavoring in Chinese 5-spice powder.

Normally used in slow cooked meat dishes, I decided to try star anise with seitan and root vegetables in a kind of red-cooked dish. Red cooking or Chinese stewing is a Chinese cooking technique that turns ingredients a deep red-brown color by braising in a dark soy sauce flavored broth.

With no meat, it cooks fairly quickly, basically it’s done when the veggies are soft. Makes for a quick, satisfying weekday meal and like most stews, it’s even better the next day when the flavors combine even more.

Asian-Styled Seitan and Vegetable Stew
Serves 2

2-3 pieces whole star anise
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon water
Salt and pepper to taste
Dash of cinnamon
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2″ piece of fresh ginger, minced
8 ounces seitan chunks
3 medium red potatoes
1 medium carrot
1/2 medium daikon
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 green onion stalk, chopped

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a bowl, mix well and set aside. Peel and slice the carrot at a diagonal, peel and cut the potatoes and daikon into 1″ chunks, add to the sauce bowl along with the seitan. Mix, making sure everything is well covered in the sauce.

Heat a wok until it’s hot, add the oil, swirl to coat the wok. Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for a few seconds. Add the bowl ingredients, give it a few quick tosses and add water to just barely covering. Cover and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the water is absorbed and the vegetables are done, about 20 – 25 minutes. To serve, discard the star anise pieces and garnish with the chopped green onions.

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.