Chow Vegan

Coo Coo for CocoWhip

May 28, 2016 By chow 10 Comments

Vegan Scone with Strawberries and CocoWhip

To kick off the unofficial start to summer, I pulled out a tub of CocoWhip, a dairy-free coconut milk whipped topping from So Delicious. Basically, it’s the vegan answer to Cool Whip. I had bought it for the first time late last year for the holidays but never got around to actually putting it on any pie. The tub has been living in the freezer ever since waiting for me to pair it up with something.

I suppose I could have just eaten it by the spoonful straight out of the tub. I did have one, albeit large, spoonful after thawing it out in the fridge, as a test, you know, to make sure it’s okay. It’s totally like how I remember Cool Whip as a kid.

CocoWhip vegan non-dairy coconut whipped topping

Same texture and similar taste, although I don’t quite remember the exact taste of Cool Whip, it’s been so long. If anything the CocoWhip may be a bit more coconutty tasting. I do remember enjoying it with strawberries back then.

Now that strawberry season is hitting the farmer’s market, I combined the CocoWhip with another local market favorite, a Sweet Aha! vegan classic butter scone for a super easy dessert for the Memorial Day weekend. Now if I can only figure out how to keep the filling from squishing out as I’m eating…

Spicy Chickpea Hand Roll

May 20, 2016 By chow 9 Comments

I’ve been resigned to the same one or two veggie options at most run-of-the-mill Japanese restaurants for awhile now. But the final straw was the family birthday meal last year at a Japanese steakhouse (where the food is cooked in a showy way in front of you on a tabletop grill, like at a Benihana). Everyone else at the table went with the teppanyaki meal, I had a couple of vegetarian sushi rolls. No big deal.

I’m quietly eating my rolls when the chef decides to gift me with a few pieces of extra meat at the end of his cooking. I see him reaching over in my direction with a big smile and a “Happy Birthday!” I couldn’t say “No, no, no, I’m vegetarian!” fast enough (yes, I’m vegan but in this case, I said vegetarian for rapid comprehension, figuring he’ll understand vegetarian faster than vegan).

With a stricken look, the chef took back the meat as quickly as he had dumped it on my plate. For a split second, I can feel myself starting to freak out but realize that none of the meat actually touch my sushi. I hastily wiped off the remaining meat juices on the plate with a napkin and moved the rest of my food away from the affected area.

Since then, I’ve been making sushi at home and much happier for it. It’s not nearly as neat or as fancy-looking as a professional but it sure is fun to try out different fillings. My current favorite is this spicy chickpea hand roll – mashed up chickpeas with vegan mayo and sriracha, cucumber, and broccoli sprouts. I kinda just wing it on the filling, using more or less of each ingredient based on personal preferences rather than exact amounts.

Spicy Chickpea Hand Roll

Cooked or canned chickpeas
Vegan mayonnaise
Sriracha
Furikake (optional)
Nori (sushi seaweed)
Cooked sushi rice, recipe below
Broccoli sprouts
Cucumber, cut into thin strips
Black sesame seeds

In a bowl, mash the chickpeas. Add in the mayonnaise and sriracha to taste and sprinkle in furikake if using. Mix to combine.

Cut a nori sheet in half and place shiny-side down in your hand. On the left side, spread a thin layer of rice over one-third of the nori. Place the chickpea mixture, cucumber and broccoli sprouts diagonally across the middle of the rice. Don’t over stuff otherwise it’ll be hard to roll up.

From the bottom left corner, roll up over the rice into a cone shape. Continue rolling the cone and seal the edge with a bit of rice in the corner and close tightly to finish the hand roll. Top with additional chickpeas if desired and garnish with black sesame seeds.

Sushi Rice

2 cups sushi rice, using the measuring cup that came with the rice cooker
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

In the rice cooker inner pot, rinse the rice several times. Add water up to the indicated line on the inner pot. Push cook.

When the rice is cooked and ready, combine the rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a small bowl. Transfer the rice to a glass or wood bowl and add the mixture to the hot rice (the heat will dissolve the sugar and salt). With a rice paddle, fold thoroughly to combine and coat each grain of rice. Allow to cool to room temperature before using for sushi.

Feeling Baconish

May 12, 2016 By chow 8 Comments

Butternut Squash Carbonara with Bacon and Sage

I heart bacon, vegan bacon, of course. I like it so much I’m thinking of naming the blog mascot, Bacony McBaconface. Alas, the bunny responded with an emphatic no. But I’m thrilled to be today’s stop for the blog tour of a new plant-based cookbook that’s all about bacon, Baconish by Leinana Two Moons who blogs over at Vegan Good Things.

That’s right, a whole cookbook devoted to nothing but the salty, smoky, umami packed flavor that is bacon. Covering everything from how to make your own bacon out of such things as coconut, carrots, mushrooms, eggplant and even chickpeas to savory, bacony, main dishes to salty and sweet desserts.

I started off with Butternut Squash Carbonara with Bacon and Sage page 144, pictured above. I don’t think I ever had traditional carbonara with egg yolks and cream before so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect or what it’s suppose to taste like. Basically, it tasted like butternut squash sauce with pasta (I used spaghetti noodles since that’s all I had in the pantry). The recipe calls for a 3 ounce serving of pasta, I normally only eat 2 ounces but had no problem finishing my plate.

King Trumpet Mushroom Bacon from Baconish

Seeing as I love roasted king trumpet mushrooms, I was destined to make the King Trumpet Mushroom Bacon page 25, which somehow turned into a comedy of errors. First, I couldn’t find the smoked salt called for in the recipe. Surely, Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s would have it, they didn’t. Having already bought the mushrooms, I sallied forth without.

Reading the recipe a little closer, I don’t have a baking rack either. Oh well, I made it anyway. It was totally fine. Turns out the real problem is saving enough of the mushroom bacon for use as a topping for the split pea soup I was also making.

Smoky Split Pea Soup with Bacon

Smoky Split Pea Soup with Bacon page 81, easy enough to make yet somehow mine looks, uh, different than the luscious photo in the cookbook. Much more of an orange-brown color, perhaps it’s the smoked paprika that I got from Penzey’s. It’s the brightest paprika ever, turning everything it touches a bright orange color. Actually, I think the color enhances the smoky flavor.

Coconut Bacon

I’ve been a huge fan of coconut bacon ever since cracking open that first bag of Phoney Baloney’s Coconut Bacon. To save my wallet from the poor house, I regularly make a batch of Coconut Bacon page 21. Now you can too.

The author, Leinana Two Moons and publisher, Vegan Heritage Press have generously shared the coconut bacon recipe below. Of all the plant-based bacon this is my favorite and the one that’s most bacon-like. Smells like bacon. Tastes like bacon. And it’s crisp, just like bacon.

I managed to refrain from gobbling down handfuls of coconut bacon long enough to make The Famous Coconut BLT page 107. Famous, indeed. If you would like to give this classic sandwich a go, the recipe is also below. I didn’t have any tomatoes when I made it, but avocado works too. I meant to save some of the coconut bacon for other recipes like the Maple-Bacon Doughnuts or Chocolate-Covered Coconut Bacon. So many Baconish recipes to try…

The Famous Coconut BLT

The Famous Coconut BLT
Makes 4 sandwiches

8 slices sandwich bread
Vegan mayonnaise
2 cups Coconut Bacon (recipe follows)
1 large ripe tomato, sliced
Lettuce leaves, washed and patted dry

Spread each slice of bread with a generous amount of mayonnaise. Top the mayonnaise with about 1/2 cup of the Coconut Bacon per sandwich, followed by slices of tomato and lettuce leaves. Top each sandwich with the remaining bread slices. Cut each sandwich with a serrated bread knife and serve immediately.

Coconut Bacon
Makes 2 1/2 cups

3 tablespoons tamari
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon maple syrup
3 cups unsweetened large-flake coconut

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Whisk the tamari, liquid smoke, water, and maple syrup together in a large bowl. Stir in the coconut and mix well to ensure that the flakes are evenly coated.

Spread the coconut in an even layer on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 10 minutes, then stir. Bake another 8 minutes, keeping a very close eye on the coconut in the last few minutes. The coconut will go from almost done to completely burned very quickly. Remove from the oven when the coconut flakes on the outer edges of the pan are becoming a deep, dark brown, but not black.

Place the baking sheet on a cooling rack. The coconut will continue to crisp as it cools. Coconut bacon will keep 1 to 2 weeks in an airtight plastic container, but will become less crisp the longer you store it. So make those BLTs right now and eat up.

Disclosure: I received the book free of charge from the publisher to review. The opinions and experience with the book expressed herein are my own. There was no pay to say.

This post also 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.