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Homestyle Vegan Cajun Chicken Fingers

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Vegan Cajun Chicken Fingers | Chow Vegan

Going to the Asian supermarket is a lot like going on a treasure hunt – you never know what you’ll discover there. In the refrigerated section, I came across fresh soy sheet knots which I’ve been dying to try but I had no idea what to do with them. Then I came across a recipe from TheVeganRonin for Homestyle Vegan Chicken Fingers that I absolutely had to try.

Soy Knots | Chow Vegan

Oh my gosh, it’s sooo good! So much better than those frozen veggie chicken nugget things. Normally, I don’t like to fry anything at home because of the greasy mess it makes, but this recipe is so worth it.

Vegan Chicken Dinner | Chow Vegan

The texture and taste is spot on. I followed most of the recipe but used the fresh soy knots instead of the dried. And I didn’t have the cumin or garlic powder on hand that it calls for so I left it out and added onion powder instead and it still came out great. It has a nice, spicy, Cajun flavor. Add a couple of sides and it really makes a lovely dinner. Or serve as an appetizer at your next party and impress all your friends.

Cream Cheese Wontons

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Cream Cheese Wontons | Chow Vegan

Sometimes it’s nice to be indulgent and have a little decadent something or other. Today, it’s fried wontons and not just fried wontons but cream cheese fried wontons. Made a bit more healthier by baking rather than deep frying and adding spinach to the filling so you can eat up with not too much guilt. For this recipe, I used the Bloomsdale variety of spinach for its excellent flavor and tasty leaves. This is the kind of spinach nice restaurants like to use. I purchased mine at the local farmer’s market.

Cream Cheese Wontons
Makes 16 wontons

1/2 pound spinach
8 ounce package Tofutti cream cheese non-hydrogenated plain
16 wonton wrappers
1 bunch chives roughly chopped
Olive oil
Rice vinegar
Chili garlic sauce (comes in a jar from the Asian grocery store)

Wash the spinach and saute until just wilted, set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Have a small bowl of water handy for wetting the edges. Place 1 teaspoon cream cheese in the center of the wonton skin, add 1 teaspoon of spinach and sprinkle some chives on top. Wet the edges with a finger and fold to form a triangle. Press down to seal the edges, making sure to get all of the air out. I’ve found a simple flat triangle shape works best for baking.

Brush a dark colored baking pan with oil (a darker pan helps to brown the wontons). Place the folded wontons on the pan and brush with oil. Bake for 8-10 minutes on each side until brown, brushing oil on the other side as well.

Serve with a dipping sauce of rice vinegar mixed with chili garlic sauce to taste.

Wonton Soup

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Wonton Soup | Chow Vegan

I haven’t had wonton soup for awhile now. Way back when I used to get the frozen pre-made vegetable dumplings, but they were just alright. I think that’s why I stopped buying them. Why was I buying frozen dumplings in the first place? I was busy with work and stuff and lazy too, what with all that vegetable chopping to make the filling. Anyways, since then I had an epiphany. In my previous post, I made a tempeh filling for yellow chile peppers. I don’t know why it never occurred to me before but I could use that for wontons. Duh!

Single Wonton in Spoon | Chow Vegan

Perusing the Asian supermarket, I found just two brands that make vegan wonton skins. The rest had eggs in them. I’m not sure what’s the difference between the two other than the packaging. It’s labeled that they’re from the same distributor. If I had to choose, I would go with the Dynasty brand. I seem to have better results with that one. Then again I haven’t actually made wontons in years and for the first batch I used the Myojo brand so that could have skewed the results. But either one would work.

Wonton Skins | Chow Vegan

Vegan Wonton Soup
Serves 2

Soup Base
4 cups water
4 dried chinese mushrooms, soaked in water until soft, discard the stems and slice the caps
2 cups chinese greens such as baby bok choy sum sliced on the diagonal into 3/4″ pieces or napa cabbage sliced into 2″ strips
2 slices of ginger
Salt

Start the soup base first, so it can simmer while you make everything else. In a pot, add the water, mushrooms, ginger and salt to taste and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to simmer and leave until you’re ready to add the wontons. Just before the wontons are done, add the vegetables and turn up the heat to medium, cook for 3-4 minutes and then turn the heat off.

Wontons
16-20 wonton wrappers, allowing about 8-10 wontons per person
1/2 cup tempeh filling

In a separate large pot, fill with water about halfway and bring to a boil. Have a small bowl of water nearby to wet the edges of the wonton skins. Place 1 teaspoon of the filling off center towards a corner. Don’t overfill the wonton. If you’re too generous with the filling, the poor wonton will spill its guts when they’re cooking and it’s not pretty. Wet the edges with your finger, fold in half and seal the edges. Wet one of the side corners and bring the two corners together in an overlap and press to seal.

Uncooked Wontons | Chow Vegan

Add the wontons to the separate pot of boiling water on medium heat. Depending on the size of the pot, you may need to cook the wontons in batches, do not overcrowd the wontons. When the wontons float to the surface, they’re done. Lift the wontons out with a slotted spoon and drop into the soup base. Serve immediately with soy sauce or chili sauce condiments if desired.