Chow Vegan

Zukay Live Foods Review

March 15, 2009 By chow 6 Comments

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.

Asian-Styled Seitan and Vegetable Stew

March 7, 2009 By chow 16 Comments

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.

Vegetarian BBQ Pork Fried Rice

February 28, 2009 By chow 14 Comments

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.