Vegan Pho!!

It is no secret about me that pre-veg, I could have lived on Vietnamese pho.  I liked to eat it, smell it, say it. . . everything.  I have looked for a recipe online forever it seems, and then I saw that Meagan from Rhymes with Vegan had tackled it and I decided to finally give it a try.  I don't have a recipe here, because I truly took a hybrid of all the vegan recipes I could find online and then compared them to omni recipes online as well.  I made a version and technique that was easy for me and my pantry and I suggest you try it that way before going out and buying a long list of ingredients on any one recipe.  When I make it again, I promise to write it down, becuase I really loved this, really.  I used homemade thinly sliced seitan in my recipe.

 Cool noodles ready for seitan and broth.

 Thin slices of seitan over noodles.

 Hot broth poured over the noodles and seitan and sprinkled with green onions.

Finally dressed with bean sprouts, thai basil leaves, peppers, vegetarian hoisin sauce, hot and ready to eat.

Veganizing an Old Favorite. . . It's Curry Time!

I have a sister-in-law, she is Guyanese and truly awesome. She has introduced me to so many wonderful South American/Caribbean dishes that have become staples in my kitchen at home. One of the first dishes she really "taught me" was curried chicken. Now, I have veganized this before with tofu and then with tempeh, or even veggies only. This was my first time with seitan. I used White Wave seitan, although I have to say that usually I make VWAV homemade seitan, and though I do like that a little better, the tenderness of the store-bought seitan was really great in this recipe. It probably sounds gross, but it gave it a more fatty texture that is custom to many curried meat dishes.

I served it with sauteed kale (olive oil, garlic, and toasted sesame seeds). I thought it was delicious, I am biased I know. I don't really call this a recipe, because it changes so much, but I will give a rough idea of what I do.

Curried Seitan

10 oz to a pound of seitan, tempeh, or extra firm pressed tofu

2 cups (at least) bite-sized cut potatoes (I quartered small red, purple and white potatoes for this batch)

1 bell pepper (any color)

1 medium or 1/2 large onions (I chose red for this)

2/3 can coconut milk (optional)

Curry Powder* (I don't know how much, it really depends on taste and what type of curry you are using) Start with about 2 Tbsp., I would say

4 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp each ground coriander and cumin

1/2 freshly ground black or white pepper

Oil for sauteing

2-3 cups of water

Salt to taste

*I use a combination of Jamaican curry powder (which is diluted some with salt and flour), madras curry powder (be careful this can be hot), and generic bulk bin curry powder for balance (my local health food store has a really great one). How much curry powder you use really depends on what type you get and what spice tolerance you have. Just keep tasting and don't be ashamed to do so.

First saute onions and peppers in oil at the bottom of your stock pot. When onions and peppers have softened and onions begin to become transparent, add in the garlic and continue to saute. Add the curry powder and other seasonings and toast in the veggies and oil to release more flavor. Add your protein and more oil if possible, brown the protein, stirring gently to brown on all sides. Add coconut milk, water and potatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce it to a simmer and add salt to taste here. Continue to simmer and reduce, potatoes and coconut milk will serve to thicken. Remember that the curry will continue to thicken even after it has been removed from heat, so continue cooking until you have ALMOST reached your desired level of thickness. Serve over rice. Such good stuff, I think so anyway.

Some Seitan Ideas and Vegan Cheezecake

Okay so here are some dishes I ultimately made with my most successful (to date) batch of seitan:
I have to say that VWAV (Vegan With A Vengence) Jerk Seitan is the BOMB!!

This one below was my lame attempt at Seitan Adobo, which in my mind was a really good idea, since I have been craving the adobo flavor, but in practice turned out just a sour mess, but the plate looked good. I offered it to my very wanna-b-veg dog, and even he had a hard time with it.

This is not Kapone after the food, but just a pic to give you a visual.

I also tried my hand at a cheeze steak. This was actually really good, but I want to tweak the seasonings a bit. I made the nutritional yeast cheeze sauce on the stove top for this one and I was pleased. I sauteed it with peppers, onions, and mushrooms. This is just the filling, because I didn't have a bun or sub roll handy for the pic, but it was good, let me tell you.

Finally, this I am really proud of, it is a cheezecake mainly derived from the baking sheet (via fat free vegan). I had to sub vanilla for the almond flavoring (I'm allergic to tree nuts) and I reduced the lemon juice and added some soy creamer, (which will start to coagulate on you if your not careful, who knew?), but the cake turned out really great. I threw some frozen fruit, wine and sugar on the stove for the topping.