Chow Vegan

Chinese Tomato “Beef” with Jackfruit

September 25, 2016 By chow 7 Comments

This post is for that one time you (me) accidentally bought the wrong kind of canned jackfruit. Hell-bent on making BBQ pulled jackfruit sandwiches with young green jackfruit yet somehow you end up with a can of ripe jackfruit in syrup.

Maybe the store only had the kind in syrup, maybe you weren’t sure which kind to get in the first place, maybe you thought they were interchangeable. They’re not. They’re totally different. Taste, texture, color, everything.

But you can still make a savory dish with the sweet jackfruit. In this home-style Chinese tomato “beef” dish, seitan stands in for the beef and jackfruit replaces the usual pineapple.

I figured since canned jackfruit in syrup taste like a cross between pineapple and banana it’ll work in the recipe. It’s a bit like sweet and sour but with more of a tang. Perfect for using up that unintentional can of jackfruit and the last of the summer tomatoes.

Chinese Tomato “Beef” with Jackfruit

Makes about 2 servings

3 medium heirloom tomatoes
1-inch fresh ginger, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
4 ounces seitan strips or baked tofu cut into strips
3 pieces of canned sweet jackfruit in syrup
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon oil
1 teaspoon corn starch dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

Wash and cut the tomatoes into bite-sized wedges. If you don’t like the skin on, parboil the tomatoes first and peel off the skin. Cut the jackfruit into bite-sized chunks.

Heat the wok to hot. Add the oil and swirl to coat the wok. Add the garlic and ginger and stir fry until fragrant, a few seconds. Add the seitan and stir fry for a minute or so.

Add the tomatoes and jackfruit and stir to combine. Add the soy sauce, vinegar and water, mix well and lower the heat to cook for a few minutes. Add the cornstarch mixture to thicken into a sauce. Serve immediately over rice.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon links, I get a few coins tossed my way if you click on any of the links and make a purchase of anything.

Vegan Sushi at Bushido Restaurant

September 19, 2016 By chow 12 Comments

Vegan Sushi Roll Alternative Rock N Roll

I kinda swore off Japanese restaurants last year after a chef plopped meat onto my plate (henceforth known as the meat incident). But then I saw vegan sushi on the menu at Bushido, a Japanese restaurant on Castro Street in downtown Mountain View. And it’s not the usual cucumber or avocado rolls, but a whole menu section of vegan sushi rolls.

Pictured above is the Alternative Rock ‘n’ Roll – tofu-nagi (imitation eel), avocado and sweet soy. My favorite roll of all time. Yes, it’s that good, it tasted amazingly like a regular unagi (broiled freshwater eel) roll. I don’t know how they got the tofu to taste like that, and it’s not just the sauce, the texture too is spot on.

3 Mushroom Fried Rice

To share, the Three Mushroom Fried Rice with garlic, onions, soy sauce, enoki, shiitake and shimeji mushrooms, topped with green onions. Rich and flavorful, a favorite of the table. I thought it was a just a tad oily but otherwise a great dish.

Vegan Okinamiyaki

Pretty excited to try the Vegan Okinamiyaki (Japanese pancake), I’ve never seen it on any Japanese restaurant menu before. Sadly, the presentation left something to be desired. I saw beautiful sauce patterns on the regular version of okinamiyaki on Bushido’s yelp page. But mine looked like the vegan mayo was just glob on without much effort at all.

As for the taste, it was okay. Very filling though, I’m not sure exactly what’s in it besides veggies and the dough. As it was kinda big and thick, I only managed to eat a small portion of it. The leftovers the next day tasted a lot better, maybe it just needed a night in the fridge to help develop the flavors.

Vegan Sushi Roll Shojin Crunch

Shojin Crunch, an asparagus, hearts of palm, and avocado roll topped with tempura Japanese sweet potato. Pretty good. And there’s still three other vegan sushi rolls on the menu to try plus other items such as Vegetarian Miso Ramen or Yaki Onigiri – grilled rice balls with roasted seaweed. Faith in Japanese restaurants somewhat restored, I’ll definitely be back to Bushido.

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The Veggie Grill Mountain View

Tri-color Vegetable “Pasta” with Avocado Pesto

August 30, 2016 By chow 5 Comments

Feeling like summer has zoomed on by much too quickly, I’ve been attempting to make the most of the summer produce before it all disappears. For some inexplicable reason, I’ve only now getting around to the fresh basil.

To use up the whole bunch of basil in one go, I made pesto. Oil-free pesto. I’ve been reading about Andrea’s adventures in oil-free cooking over at her blog, cookeasyvegan and that got me thinking maybe I should try my own experiments in cooking with no oil. I’ve made pesto before but the amount of oil involved always made me cringed a little.

Pesto turns out to be the ideal first thing to try oil-free. Avocado makes up for the missing fat and calories from the usual oil and provides a very smooth and creamy texture. To serve this ultra-healthy pesto sauce, a tri-color vegetable “pasta” – ribbons of king trumpet mushrooms, zucchini, and carrot. Keeping with the no oil theme, I sautéed the mushrooms in a tiny bit of water and added the zucchini and carrot at the very end so they’re barely cooked.

While I’m happy to never add oil to my pesto ever again, I’m not quite convinced on the sautéing with no oil part. Coming from the culture that invented stir-frying, it just doesn’t seem the same without the oil. But maybe reducing the amount of oil to the barest minimum for sautéing is the way to go…

Avocado Pesto

1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 medium avocado
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste

Mash the avocado in a bowl then place in a food processor along with the garlic and lemon juice, process until smooth. Add the basil, salt and nutritional yeast and process to smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides. It might take awhile so keep at it. If necessary, add a bit of water to thin out to desired consistency.

Tri-color Vegetable “Pasta” with Avocado Pesto

Serves 2 as part of a meal

4 large King Oyster mushrooms
1 medium zucchini
1 medium carrot
Cooking oil (optional)
Fresh basil for garnish
Nutritional yeast (optional)

Make the avocado pesto sauce and set aside. Wash and slice the mushrooms thinly into long, flat noodles. Using a Y peeler, peel the zucchini and carrot into long ribbons.

Heat a sauté pan to hot, add a bit of water or oil and then the mushrooms, cook until just tender. If the pan appears too dry, add a small amount of water as needed. Add the zucchini and carrot, tossing to mix. Transfer to a bowl and add a tablespoon or two of pesto sauce. Gently toss to coat. To serve, garnish with the basil and sprinkle nutritional yeast on top if desired.