Chow Vegan

This past weekend, I went to Maker Faire in San Mateo. It’s an event held at different cities around the country that celebrates DIY in arts, crafts, engineering and science.

One of the best things about the Bay Area faire, was the number of vegan food choices. There was vegan paella, vegan corn dogs and vegan dim sum.

I also saw veggie hamburgers, veggie pad thai, falafels and garlic fries. And veggie gyros with tempeh! I didn’t check to see if all of those items are in fact vegan or just vegetarian. I was just so happy to actually have choices.

I’ve tried the vegan paella before and it’s good. It’s all open so you can see the paella cooking in the extra large pans.

At the Clif Bar booth, they were offering up small samples of their many flavors as well as giving away full-size-still-in-the-wrapper samples. I grabbed a couple of the Clif Kids Twisted Fruit Rope and ZBar – a perfect snack for walking around the faire.

Viva Vegan! Cookbook Giveaway
Don’t forget there’s just a couple more days to enter the giveaway here, it ends on Saturday, May 29, 2010.

A few weeks ago, I received a review copy from the publisher of the newly released Viva Vegan!: 200 Authentic and Fabulous Recipes for Latin Food Lovers by Terry Hope Romero.

Viva Vegan! is to Latin food what Vegan Soul Kitchen is to African American food – amazing cookbooks that open up and reinvent the culinary delights of their respective cultures using fresh ingredients to create healthy, tasty, vegan meals.

And if you liked Veganomicon, you’ll probably like Viva Vegan! too, it’s written in a similar style and format but focused solely on Latin cuisine.

Since I have a soft spot for shepherd’s pie, the Creamy Corn-Crusted Tempeh Pot Pie jumped out as one of the must-try recipes. It’s a twist on the Chilean comfort food “pastel de choclo” or corn pie.

Using fresh white corn from the farmers market, the creamy topping is a sweet contrast to the savory tempeh filling. It’s fairly easy to make too as it’s mostly assembly. To see for yourself, I’m giving away a copy of Viva Vegan!

To enter, complete the following:

1. Subscribe to chowvegan.com via RSS reader or email.

2. Leave a comment in this post and tell me what’s your favorite Latin food. Comment must be made by midnight PST on Saturday, May 29th; one entry per person. Giveaway is open to US mailing addresses only.

One winner will be randomly selected from the comments received and announced on Monday, May 31st.

Disclosure: In case you didn’t notice, this post is crawling with Amazon links. I get a few coins thrown my way if you click on any of the links and make a purchase of anything.

The cookbook I’m giving away is the one that I received directly from the publisher. I did not drool on it.

Today, I made quinoa. It’s been on my list of things to cook for awhile but I didn’t have the right equipment. Quinoa should be rinsed before cooking but I only had an itty-bitty fine mesh strainer which would have taken forever.

So with a proper sized strainer purchased, I’m finally ready to give it a go. I went with this recipe for Seven-Vegetable Couscous With Chunky Onion Harissa from epicurious.com. But instead of couscous, I used quinoa. Since they’re kinda similar, I figured it would be just as good if not better.

I did make a few tweaks – carrots instead of butternut squash (not in season right now). Reduced the amount of oil called for in the recipe and I cooked the quinoa separately in a fuzzy logic rice cooker.

You gotta make the harissa, it adds even more flavor and totally makes the dish. I only made half since the recipe makes a lot. I also gave the garlic and onion a quick sauté (in the recipe it’s raw).

I’ve eaten the couscous version quite a few times over the years and it’s great. But the quinoa really ramps up the nutrition for an awesome one dish meal complete with protein. It’s how I’ll be making it from now on.

Continuing on with another variation of the Roasted Tofu Cubes recipe from Vegan Soul Kitchen, I made “Honey” Walnut Tofu. It’s a veganized version of honey walnut shrimp, a Western-influenced dish typically found at Chinese restaurants.

I’ve never actually ate honey walnut shrimp before I was vegan and it never grace my childhood dining table. One, I don’t think it was even invented back then and two, milk and mayonnaise are not exactly Chinese ingredients.

I’m not 100% sure what it’s suppose to taste like, but it reminds me a little bit like ranch dressing, only sweeter. I didn’t caramelized the walnuts like restaurants do, as I prefer them raw.

Like the other roasted tofu variations, it’s really easy to make. Just roast the tofu, whisk together the sauce and toss.

“Honey” Walnut Tofu
Serves 4 as part of a meal

I 16-ounce block of extra-firm tofu
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Sauce
3 tablespoons Vegenaise or other vegan mayonnaise
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1 tablespoon soy milk creamer
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Garnish
Handful of raw walnuts
White sesame seeds
A few sprigs of cilantro

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a bowl, combine the oil and salt. Cut the tofu into cubes (I usually get 24 cubes out of a one pound block) and gently toss to coat with the mixture. Place each tofu cube in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Roast for 15 minutes on each side.

Place the sauce ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. Taste test and adjust by adding more agave nectar, if desired.

Add the tofu cubes to the sauce and toss until the tofu is well coated. Plate, then top with the walnuts and sesame seeds. Garnish with the cilantro.

Related Posts
Buffalo Style Roasted Tofu
Roasted Tofu with Leeks and Black Bean Sauce
Salt and Pepper Roasted Tofu
Roasted Tofu Cubes From Vegan Soul Kitchen

I’ve been so busy lately, I haven’t had the time to cook much of anything. To stave off starvation, I turn to my time-crunch savior, Amy’s. On a recent Whole Foods trip, I had bought Amy’s new gluten-free, dairy-free rice macaroni with Daiya cheeze for just such a time. And it was on sale for $3.49.

Heating it up couldn’t be any easier, it takes just 5 minutes in the microwave and comes out as a nice, hot tray of creamy, cheesy goodness. I’m no mac-n-cheese connoisseur but Amy’s is pretty tasty. The smell is wonderfully cheesy, the texture and look is spot on.

Although my eyes did bug out when I glanced at the side of the package and saw the amount of sodium, 740 mg. Is mac-n-cheese normally so salty? It’s fairly high in fat and calories too. It’s a whopping 22 grams of fat and 520 calories! That’s like a whole meal for me right there in that one tray.

At least it’s filling and I wasn’t hungry for the rest of the day (good for the super busy). But as tasty as it was, I’m reserving it as an occasional treat only.

I’ve been interested in raw food for awhile now, but I haven’t really gotten around to trying any raw recipes. Then I saw the most awesome chocolate covered raw treats on dreaminitvegan.blogspot.com.

There’s no baking involved, so it’s totally my speed (seeing as I’m no baker by any stretch of the imagination). There’s only 4 ingredients – medjool dates, raw almonds, shredded coconut and vanilla, plus melted chocolate for covering, if you like that sort of thing.

And it taste kinda like an Almond Joy. Oh man, I couldn’t get a hold of the ingredients fast enough.

Super easy to make, just toss into a food processor and hit the button. Instead of a round shape called for in the recipe, I shaped mine into bars. You know, like the candy bar, complete with a couple of almonds on top.

I only had half a chocolate bar to melt, so I just drizzled it over the top, but it’s still good and more than enough. It’s sweet even without the chocolate. I’ll definitely be making these again and again.

Update: I’m happy to report that the nut bars (without the chocolate) freeze well. I stuck a couple of test bars in a tupperware lined with wax paper into the freezer. Basically what I had in the fridge, got popped into the freezer.

Just take out and eat, it doesn’t freeze solid. It’s just a little colder than the refrigerated ones.

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.