I'll share my super secret pasta sauce recipe because I want my new friends to eat well: Ultimate Vegan Red Sauce 8 Roma Tomatoes (about 2 lbs/1 kg), or two cans diced tomatoes 1 Poblano Pepper 1...
I'll share my super secret pasta sauce recipe because I want my new friends to eat well:
Ultimate Vegan Red Sauce
8 Roma Tomatoes (about 2 lbs/1 kg), or two cans diced tomatoes
1 Poblano Pepper
1 Red Bell Pepper
1/2 sweet onion (or a whole small one)
3 cloves garlic (1Tbsp minced)
1 small bulb Black Garlic (ex: Polar), or 1 Tbsp dried (Trader Joe's)
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Dried Basil or 1/4 cup fresh basil
1/2 black pepper
1/2 tsp or 1/2 cube Better than Bouillon vegetable base or other vegetable bouillon
a pinch of MSG
a pinch of brown sugar
Optional (but recommended) - a block of tempeh, crumbled, beyond beef grounds, or other protein (tofu crumbles should be marinated, or you can add more bouillon)
Roast the poblano, red bell pepper, onion, and tomatoes/garlic (if using fresh) at 205C/400F for 20-30 minutes or until the skin starts to peel off, then peel the skin all the way off. Remove any stems.
While those are roasting, if you're adding tempeh or other protein, fry it up with your oil in the pot you'll be using to cook the sauce in, then deglaze the pan by adding the balsamic vinegar before the rest of the ingredients)
Combine all ingredients, and cook at low temperature for up to an hour, but at least 20 minutes. Mash up the veggie guts with a wooden spoon while stirring every few minutes.
https://imgur.com/a/cPFJYmY some photos! I tempted myself to make it for dinner after making this post. I added some vegan meatballs I picked up to try on sale... they were alright.
Agreed, here's a "master recipe" I use for mine, with no added flavoring (add what you like) Hummus 1 can (15oz) garbanzo beans/chickpeas 1/4 cup olive oil 1/4 cup lemon juice 1 tsp salt 2 tbsp...
Agreed, here's a "master recipe" I use for mine, with no added flavoring (add what you like)
Hummus
1 can (15oz) garbanzo beans/chickpeas
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp tahini
2 tsp minced garlic (2 cloves)
Drain chickpeas (you don't have to be extra about it though) - combine all ingredients and pulse in a blender or food processor until at your preferred consistency (I prefer it a little chunky, so I don't go for a puree)
For flavoring, I've had a few great successes:
Add 1-3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce for a smoky, spicy hummus
Chop up a small or half of a large onion and grill it (with the garlic is good too) for a sweeter, tangier hummus
Blend in 1/4 cup fresh, chopped basil and top with pine nuts for a pesto-esque hummus
If you like your hummus really smooth, you can try skinning the chickpeas before blending - personally I think it takes a lot of work for little reward but to each their own (presentation matters in some circumstances?)
Yeah, absolutely a great tip! My only problem is I use more chickpeas than baking things that need egg replacement, but every few batches it comes in handy. Eventually I'll be less lazy about...
Pro tip for the chickpea water: use it to serve as an egg replacement in a lot of vegan baking recipes (Aquafaba)
Yeah, absolutely a great tip! My only problem is I use more chickpeas than baking things that need egg replacement, but every few batches it comes in handy.
Eventually I'll be less lazy about using my instant pot to cook chickpeas from dried, because I've always wondered if that would amp the flavor up even higher.
You can also use aquafaba to make homemade vegan mayo if you have a good hand blender or strong arm. That opens up a whole realm of custom dips and sauces if you want to reuse it in other ways...
You can also use aquafaba to make homemade vegan mayo if you have a good hand blender or strong arm. That opens up a whole realm of custom dips and sauces if you want to reuse it in other ways than baking.
Well now I definitely want to try that with Avocado Oil and make a tasty chipotle mayo with it, because every time I make chipotle hummus I have leftover chipotles in adobo I ultimately forget about.
Well now I definitely want to try that with Avocado Oil and make a tasty chipotle mayo with it, because every time I make chipotle hummus I have leftover chipotles in adobo I ultimately forget about.
Homemade hummus with freshly cooked chickpeas is as big of a step up from homemade with canned chickpeas as homemade with canned chickpeas is from store bought hummus. It’s sooooo good and only...
Homemade hummus with freshly cooked chickpeas is as big of a step up from homemade with canned chickpeas as homemade with canned chickpeas is from store bought hummus. It’s sooooo good and only requires you to be home or to remember to start your pressure cooker before you leave for work.
Nice, well I guess I have to give it a shot now. I want to move to dried beans for most things anyway because they simply take up much less space than cans. And I don't have to recycle a bunch of...
Nice, well I guess I have to give it a shot now. I want to move to dried beans for most things anyway because they simply take up much less space than cans. And I don't have to recycle a bunch of cans, then.
Offtopic, but I love that this topic is still having new recipes added to it by different people over a year after it was initially submitted. :) Tildes Activity Sort FTW!
Offtopic, but I love that this topic is still having new recipes added to it by different people over a year after it was initially submitted. :) Tildes Activity Sort FTW!
Did you come up with this recipe yourself? The sauce is almost a typical Korean one, but adding corn starch directly to the sauce is new to me. Normally the sauce is thickened by gochujang. This...
Did you come up with this recipe yourself? The sauce is almost a typical Korean one, but adding corn starch directly to the sauce is new to me. Normally the sauce is thickened by gochujang. This might be a good solution for my daughter, who likes just a little bit of spicy. I assume you have to cook the sauce before you use it, right?
Ever since a trip to NYC, falafel rice has been a hit at our house. The main ingredients are rice topped with chopped-up falafel, lettuce, tomatoes, and either a yogurt-lemon-garlic or tahini-lemon-garlic sauce. Like bibimbap, you can add other vegetables as well (roasted cauliflower, pickled onions).
Korean cuisine is pretty different from Chinese. It's closer to Japanese, but it's still pretty distinct. Cornstarch-thickened sauces are used in Korean kitchens mostly for foreign-influenced...
Korean cuisine is pretty different from Chinese. It's closer to Japanese, but it's still pretty distinct. Cornstarch-thickened sauces are used in Korean kitchens mostly for foreign-influenced foods. The main role of cornstarch is in batters for fried foods.
Interesting! I've always perceived Korean food as more similar to Chinese than Japanese cuisines, but that's probably in part because I've mostly learned to cook food from parts of China that love...
Interesting! I've always perceived Korean food as more similar to Chinese than Japanese cuisines, but that's probably in part because I've mostly learned to cook food from parts of China that love to use chilis and fermentation, which I've also often encountered in Korean food as well. But I'm definitely less familiar wiht Korean food, so it's interesting to learn differences like that!
Vegan Cheese Sauce 1/3 cup cashews few tablespoons of nutritional yeast (use more or less to taste) salt, onion powder, and garlic powder to taste roughly 1/2 tsp lactic acid powder (to taste)...
Vegan Cheese Sauce
1/3 cup cashews
few tablespoons of nutritional yeast (use more or less to taste)
salt, onion powder, and garlic powder to taste
roughly 1/2 tsp lactic acid powder (to taste)
splash of soy milk
Blend all the above ingredients in blender until smooth
We use this sauce on "mac-n-cheez" pasta, with whole wheat pasta, a can of chickpeas, and some frozen green peas cooked with the pasta. Also it's good in casseroles.
We often make a similar sauce. A couple words of warning: 1) Soak the cashews overnight unless you have a really powerful blender. Otherwise you'll have a hard time getting it smooth. 2) Make sure...
We often make a similar sauce. A couple words of warning: 1) Soak the cashews overnight unless you have a really powerful blender. Otherwise you'll have a hard time getting it smooth. 2) Make sure to use an unflavored, unsweetened soy milk. Even a hint of vanilla will make this disgusting. I've even had issues with some "plain" soy milks. Whole Foods plain, unsweetened milk is good.
This sauce works great for a baked mac and cheese. Mix with a chickpea pasta (like Banza), place in a deep, glass baking dish, and top with crushed vegan ritz crackers. Bake until topping gets golden brown.
Here is a low fat version I have enjoyed: https://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/vegan-sauces-condiments/vegan-potato-cheese-sauce/ This one uses a base of cooked potato which, when blended,...
I made a great Vegan Dan Dan Noodles tonight with a spur-of-the-moment recipe. It does require you to have some slightly less common ingredients, however if you like Chinese food you'll probably...
I made a great Vegan Dan Dan Noodles tonight with a spur-of-the-moment recipe.
It does require you to have some slightly less common ingredients, however if you like Chinese food you'll probably have some of these around.
Accidentally Vegan Mushroom Dan Dan Noodles
For the topping
~ 400g Mushrooms per 2 servings.
1 packet/tin/whatever of preserved mustard stem (ya cai)
Whole Szechuan peppercorns
Garlic
Ginger
Cooking sake
For the sauce
Black vinegar (Chinkiang vinegar)
Chinese light soy sauce
Sesame oil
Chilli oil or chilli crisp (I just use Lao Gan Ma)
Sugar
Your choice of noodle ( I recommend a slightly thicker square-cut Chinese wheat noodle, but whatever you have will be fine)
Method
Cut your mushrooms into chunky quarters or 6ths, depending on their size.
Fill your largest frying pan with a 1cm layer of water, and bring to a boil, then dump your mushrooms in with a healthy sprinkle of salt. Sweat on high heat until mushrooms are reduced in size and water has evaporated, then add a big glug of any neutral oil. Fry your mushrooms until deeply browned on all sides and ~halved in size.
While your mushrooms are sweating, roughly chop your ya cai and set aside with your peppercorns. Grate a bunch of both garlic and ginger, ~4 cloves garlic and equivalent ginger is what I usually do, but I have a problem so feel free to add less.
At this point, start bringing a pot of water to a boil for your noodles.
When mushrooms are pretty much done add another big glug of oil to the pan, followed by the ya cai and whole peppercorns. Fry for ~2 minutes until fragrant, then add your grated garlic and ginger, frying for another 2 minutes until even more fragrant. Immediately deglaze with some amount of cooking sake, stir until mostly evaporated, then set aside off the heat.
Add your noddles to your now boiling pot of water.
Combine all your sauce ingredients (use amounts to your preference, I usually go with 1 glug soy, 2 vinegar, tiny dash sesame oil, half a spoon of sugar, too much chilli) in your preferred ratios into each of your serving bowls. Add some of the hot noodle cooking water into each bowl to dilute, heat, and add starch.
When noodles are done, add them to each bowl, add mushroom topping, then add garnishes of your choice. Tonight I added chopped scallions and julienned cucumber.
WARNING to people who look for this at Asian supermarkets -- there are two things with similar names that are often called "preserved mustard stem" (or "pickled vegetable" or some other variation...
Preserved mustard stem (Ya cai)
WARNING to people who look for this at Asian supermarkets -- there are two things with similar names that are often called "preserved mustard stem" (or "pickled vegetable" or some other variation on that theme) in their English translations. The other one, zhacai, is much more popular and readily available than yacai, which is afaik a regional thing even in the Sinosphere (Chinese speakers from other regions are reasonably likely to have never heard of it, in my experience). Zhacai is an excellent ingredient in its own right, we had it stir-fried with pork at home tonight, but it's not the topping for Dan Dan noodles.
Make sure you pick up the right one! The Chinese characters for yacai are 芽菜 (zhacai is written 榨菜.) Look for the right combo on the packaging when shopping!
(As an aside, don't feel weird about using Lao Gan Ma. That stuff's popular both in China and abroad for a reason!)
I'll share two of my go to recipes :) Vegan Jalapeño Arrabiata Punnet of cherry tomatoes Can of diced tomatoes Jalapeño Garlic Brown onion Pasta of choice Salt Pepper Balsamic vinegar Dash of red...
I'll share two of my go to recipes :)
Vegan Jalapeño Arrabiata
Punnet of cherry tomatoes
Can of diced tomatoes
Jalapeño
Garlic
Brown onion
Pasta of choice
Salt
Pepper
Balsamic vinegar
Dash of red wine
Olive oil
Dried basil, oregano, ginger, salt, pepper
Put cherry tomatoes on a baking tray with olive oil, salt, pepper, and roast until they're brownish and split
Lightly fry garlic and onion in a large pan, in olive oil with dried basil and oregano
Add in diced tomatoes, cherry tomatoes (plus the juice/stuff in the tray), sliced jalapeños, and all the herbs and stuff to taste
Bring to a boil, then cover and let simmer for as long as humanly possible, stirring occasionally
Cook pasta and then add it into the pan
No quantities or temperatures unfortunately because I just cook with vibes!
Vegan Foul
Can of fava beans
Dried cumin, coriander
Lemon
Garlic
Chili
Toppings:
Tomato
Cucumber
Jalapeños
Green olives
Fresh coriander (or partly if that's your vibe)
Whatever you like!
Drain the fava beans, then put in a pot and just cover them with water. Add ground cumin and coriander and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally
Grab a mortar and pestle and grind up lemon juice, garlic, and chilli.
Once the beans reach a stew like texture (this may involve mashing some beans against the side of the pot, but the main thing is that it's no longer watery), ad the lemon/garlic/chili mixture and stir in
Serve with toppings! I usually use the ones listed in my ingredients list but you can add whatever you want, really
This is my go to brekky when I have it, super easy and healthy and tasty. The fava beans can be replaced with another type of bean if that's all you've got.
Easy Mushroom Stroganoff Ingredients 1 cup rotini pasta 1 cup water 1 tspn Better Than Bouillon roasted vegetable flavor stock paste 1 tab of Earth Balance vegan butter OR 2 tblspns water for...
Easy Mushroom Stroganoff
Ingredients
1 cup rotini pasta
1 cup water
1 tspn Better Than Bouillon roasted vegetable flavor stock paste
1 tab of Earth Balance vegan butter OR 2 tblspns water for sauteing
1/4 onion sliced
1/2 cup sliced cremini mushrooms (1 cup is fine if your pot has space and you want more)
Kite Hill vegan sour cream OR a very small amount of tahini or peanut butter to taste
Nooch, minced garlic, and ground black peppercorns to taste (you should not need salt as the stock will have plenty)
Optional
Abbot's Plant-Based "Beef" for a more traditional beef stroganoff--cook this separately and add in last before serving
Chopped green onions for garnish
Instructions
In a large pot or large high-lipped skillet on medium heat, melt the butter (or heat water for oil-free sauteing)
Add onions and mushrooms and sweat for several minutes until soft (DO NOT add garlic at this stage)
Add dry pasta and water and nooch, raise heat to high to bring to a boil, and stir in the Better than Bouillon until thoroughly blended as stock
Once the stock is mixed in, immediately bring heat down to a simmer, and set a timer for 12 minutes while the pasta cooks; stir occasionally
Once the pasta is cooked through and the stock is almost fully reduced, remove from heat, mix in some minced garlic and vegan sour cream, and serve
Serves 3-4 people. Note that the only important ratio is equal parts pasta and water, so you can scale this up or down and just eyeball the other ingredients. I make this all the time, it's incredibly easy and only takes about 3 minutes of prep and 15 minutes total on the stovetop. I do highly recommend using vegan sour cream if you can find it at your store--you can use substitutes like the ones listed above to make the sauce creamy but IMO it's not quite as good.
Cremini mushrooms are simply the brown version of white button mushrooms (both of which are immature portobellos), so if that's what the chestnut mushrooms you're using are, it's the same...
Cremini mushrooms are simply the brown version of white button mushrooms (both of which are immature portobellos), so if that's what the chestnut mushrooms you're using are, it's the same mushroom. Wikipedia lists "chestnut mushroom" as one of the names for this species, Agaricus bisporus -- which is also known as the common or cultivated mushroom.
The article does note another species of edible mushroom that's also called a "chestnut mushroom", Pholiota adiposa. Of the two species, though, A. bisporus is more common in European cuisine, so I suspect your chestnut mushrooms are the same as creminis.
Sure, plain yogurt would probably work actually, though I haven't tried it. And a vegetable oil spread is basically all Earth Balance is, so whatever you have is fine. You can use regular...
Sure, plain yogurt would probably work actually, though I haven't tried it. And a vegetable oil spread is basically all Earth Balance is, so whatever you have is fine.
You can use regular vegetable or mushroom stock instead of the water and Better than Bouillon if you have it, I just use BtB because it's cheaper and more shelf-stable than having open quarts of stock in the fridge. They sometimes go bad before I can finish using them, vs. BtB which is a small jar that keeps in a fridge for a few months. Or you can make your own stock if you can't/don't want to buy it at the store.
All of that will be fine, there's no special kind of stock you need to use and chestnut mushrooms are basically the same as cremini for this. Like the title says, it's easy. :) It'll still be...
All of that will be fine, there's no special kind of stock you need to use and chestnut mushrooms are basically the same as cremini for this. Like the title says, it's easy. :) It'll still be good. Good luck.
Here's something less common, but it's a household favorite and most of my friends and family enjoy this. I don't measure everything, but doing it by taste isn't too bad. Vegan Fesenjan...
Here's something less common, but it's a household favorite and most of my friends and family enjoy this. I don't measure everything, but doing it by taste isn't too bad.
Vegan Fesenjan
Ingredients
1 cup of uncooked, green lentils
1 yellow onion
1 cup of walnuts
1 cup of uncooked rice
2-4 tbsp pomegranate molasses (can make your own from POM)
Get rice going. I wash my rice 3-4 times, use a 1.25:1 water to rice ratio, and add a bit of oil and mushroom seasoning to the rice. Bring to a boil then turn to low after it starts bubbling.
Toast the walnuts. My toaster oven cooks quickly and 6-7 minutes at 300F is enough. Once toasted, use a food processor or blender to finely chop, should not be a paste, but fine.
Add oil to a pan, finely dice a whole onion, saute till it starts browning. Add about 1 tsp of each spice (turmeric, coriander), but like 1/2 tsp of clove and cinnamon, to toast the spice. More will be added later for taste.
After toasting spice for like a minute, add two cups of veggie broth and the cup of lentils. Bring to a low-medium boil. Add ~2 tsp of mushroom seasoning. I typically use water with a veggie broth paste I add in so the mushroom seasoning does not make it too salty.
After about 15 minutes of the lentils cooking, add the walnuts and pomegranate molasses and maple syrup/agave nectar. Cook for about another 15 minutes, until the lentils are the right texture.
Add black pepper, salt, and more of the other spices and pomegranate molasses until it tastes right. Also add water or cook longer to get the right consistency.
Add rice then fesenjan to a bowl, garnish with pomegranate seeds (if desired) and chopped herbs, and enjoy.
The warming from the cinnamon along with the tartness from the pomegranate should subtly come through. It a great, hearty, fall meal.
Excellent topic! Maybe we can have a no-stress vegan topic now and then (for a change!). I'm fairly lazy and usually just cobble together different recipes with whatever's on hand. Here are some I...
Excellent topic! Maybe we can have a no-stress vegan topic now and then (for a change!).
I'm fairly lazy and usually just cobble together different recipes with whatever's on hand. Here are some I use fairly often:
The One Sauce
Mix up these ingredients in whatever volume you find tasty:
Veganaise
Sauerkraut
Hot sauce
I typically go 2:1 on veganaise and kraut with a bunch of yellowbird sauce or whatever I can find in the fridge. I'll sometimes chop a tomato in there for good measure. If I'm out of kraut I chop a pickle instead. If I'm out of hot sauce I've made do with tomato sauce.
I use this as a dip or topping for potato dishes, beyond burgers, the dry-ass falafel from Costco, and whatever else needs a bit of sauce.
If anyone else got a similar lazy sauce let me know what you use! I eat an unhealthy amount of veganaise :_)
I substitute garbanzo flour with almond flour, I guess anything non-glutinous should work? I go nuts with herb selection. I've also tried liquid smoke instead of vegan Wooster, and also made my own Wooster. All is fine and good, it's very forgiving. I even put some black beans in there once.
Vegan Chibata (bread machine dough)
1 1/2 cup water
1 T oil
409g flour (3 1/4 cups)
1 t salt
1 T sugar
1 1/2 t active dry yeast (or bread machine yeast)
Get that into a bread machine on a dough cycle.
Once complete, turn the risen dough onto a floured surface and get it into a rectangular-ish shape. Cover your hands in flour, helps with handling the sticky dough. Cover with cling or a big bowl and let rise again for 20 minutes or so.
Preheat oven 425. Prepare baking tray and parchment.
After second rise divide the dough into 4 squares and lay them on the parchment.
Go nuts with extras on top. I've tried vegan cheese crumbles and slices, scallions, oil, kosher salt, finishing salt. I would recommend at least coarse salt.
Spray the dough with water (important for crunchy crust!). I have small spray bottle to keep the cat away from the counter and crisp dough lol.
Bake for 25 minutes, cool on a rack.
It looks complicated and involved, but it's just a few actual steps, most of it is waiting. Can't keep this one on hand for more than a day, just evaporates into sandwiches or just plain.
You just reminded me that I wanted to make a banana-oat cake. But I already ate all of my bananas. I’ve actually got a can of pumpkin puree so I might just try to sub it in and try it out.
You just reminded me that I wanted to make a banana-oat cake. But I already ate all of my bananas.
I’ve actually got a can of pumpkin puree so I might just try to sub it in and try it out.
I'll share my super secret pasta sauce recipe because I want my new friends to eat well:
Ultimate Vegan Red Sauce
8 Roma Tomatoes (about 2 lbs/1 kg), or two cans diced tomatoes
1 Poblano Pepper
1 Red Bell Pepper
1/2 sweet onion (or a whole small one)
3 cloves garlic (1Tbsp minced)
1 small bulb Black Garlic (ex: Polar), or 1 Tbsp dried (Trader Joe's)
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Dried Basil or 1/4 cup fresh basil
1/2 black pepper
1/2 tsp or 1/2 cube Better than Bouillon vegetable base or other vegetable bouillon
a pinch of MSG
a pinch of brown sugar
Optional (but recommended) - a block of tempeh, crumbled, beyond beef grounds, or other protein (tofu crumbles should be marinated, or you can add more bouillon)
Roast the poblano, red bell pepper, onion, and tomatoes/garlic (if using fresh) at 205C/400F for 20-30 minutes or until the skin starts to peel off, then peel the skin all the way off. Remove any stems.
While those are roasting, if you're adding tempeh or other protein, fry it up with your oil in the pot you'll be using to cook the sauce in, then deglaze the pan by adding the balsamic vinegar before the rest of the ingredients)
Combine all ingredients, and cook at low temperature for up to an hour, but at least 20 minutes. Mash up the veggie guts with a wooden spoon while stirring every few minutes.
https://imgur.com/a/cPFJYmY some photos! I tempted myself to make it for dinner after making this post. I added some vegan meatballs I picked up to try on sale... they were alright.
Everyone should learn to make homemade humus.
Agreed, here's a "master recipe" I use for mine, with no added flavoring (add what you like)
Hummus
Drain chickpeas (you don't have to be extra about it though) - combine all ingredients and pulse in a blender or food processor until at your preferred consistency (I prefer it a little chunky, so I don't go for a puree)
For flavoring, I've had a few great successes:
Add 1-3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce for a smoky, spicy hummus
Chop up a small or half of a large onion and grill it (with the garlic is good too) for a sweeter, tangier hummus
Blend in 1/4 cup fresh, chopped basil and top with pine nuts for a pesto-esque hummus
If you like your hummus really smooth, you can try skinning the chickpeas before blending - personally I think it takes a lot of work for little reward but to each their own (presentation matters in some circumstances?)
Yeah, absolutely a great tip! My only problem is I use more chickpeas than baking things that need egg replacement, but every few batches it comes in handy.
Eventually I'll be less lazy about using my instant pot to cook chickpeas from dried, because I've always wondered if that would amp the flavor up even higher.
You can also use aquafaba to make homemade vegan mayo if you have a good hand blender or strong arm. That opens up a whole realm of custom dips and sauces if you want to reuse it in other ways than baking.
Well now I definitely want to try that with Avocado Oil and make a tasty chipotle mayo with it, because every time I make chipotle hummus I have leftover chipotles in adobo I ultimately forget about.
Homemade hummus with freshly cooked chickpeas is as big of a step up from homemade with canned chickpeas as homemade with canned chickpeas is from store bought hummus. It’s sooooo good and only requires you to be home or to remember to start your pressure cooker before you leave for work.
Nice, well I guess I have to give it a shot now. I want to move to dried beans for most things anyway because they simply take up much less space than cans. And I don't have to recycle a bunch of cans, then.
Offtopic, but I love that this topic is still having new recipes added to it by different people over a year after it was initially submitted. :) Tildes Activity Sort FTW!
Did you come up with this recipe yourself? The sauce is almost a typical Korean one, but adding corn starch directly to the sauce is new to me. Normally the sauce is thickened by gochujang. This might be a good solution for my daughter, who likes just a little bit of spicy. I assume you have to cook the sauce before you use it, right?
Ever since a trip to NYC, falafel rice has been a hit at our house. The main ingredients are rice topped with chopped-up falafel, lettuce, tomatoes, and either a yogurt-lemon-garlic or tahini-lemon-garlic sauce. Like bibimbap, you can add other vegetables as well (roasted cauliflower, pickled onions).
Thickening sauces with a corn starch slurry is very common for Chinese food, so I find it interesting that this is less common in Korean sauces!
Korean cuisine is pretty different from Chinese. It's closer to Japanese, but it's still pretty distinct. Cornstarch-thickened sauces are used in Korean kitchens mostly for foreign-influenced foods. The main role of cornstarch is in batters for fried foods.
Interesting! I've always perceived Korean food as more similar to Chinese than Japanese cuisines, but that's probably in part because I've mostly learned to cook food from parts of China that love to use chilis and fermentation, which I've also often encountered in Korean food as well. But I'm definitely less familiar wiht Korean food, so it's interesting to learn differences like that!
Vegan Cheese Sauce
We use this sauce on "mac-n-cheez" pasta, with whole wheat pasta, a can of chickpeas, and some frozen green peas cooked with the pasta. Also it's good in casseroles.
We often make a similar sauce. A couple words of warning: 1) Soak the cashews overnight unless you have a really powerful blender. Otherwise you'll have a hard time getting it smooth. 2) Make sure to use an unflavored, unsweetened soy milk. Even a hint of vanilla will make this disgusting. I've even had issues with some "plain" soy milks. Whole Foods plain, unsweetened milk is good.
This sauce works great for a baked mac and cheese. Mix with a chickpea pasta (like Banza), place in a deep, glass baking dish, and top with crushed vegan ritz crackers. Bake until topping gets golden brown.
Here is a low fat version I have enjoyed: https://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/vegan-sauces-condiments/vegan-potato-cheese-sauce/
This one uses a base of cooked potato which, when blended, turns pleasantly gooey.
I made a great Vegan Dan Dan Noodles tonight with a spur-of-the-moment recipe.
It does require you to have some slightly less common ingredients, however if you like Chinese food you'll probably have some of these around.
Accidentally Vegan Mushroom Dan Dan Noodles
For the topping
~ 400g Mushrooms per 2 servings.
1 packet/tin/whatever of preserved mustard stem (ya cai)
Whole Szechuan peppercorns
Garlic
Ginger
Cooking sake
For the sauce
Black vinegar (Chinkiang vinegar)
Chinese light soy sauce
Sesame oil
Chilli oil or chilli crisp (I just use Lao Gan Ma)
Sugar
Optional Garnishes
Scallions
Coriander
Peanuts
Cucumber
etc...
Your choice of noodle ( I recommend a slightly thicker square-cut Chinese wheat noodle, but whatever you have will be fine)
Method
Cut your mushrooms into chunky quarters or 6ths, depending on their size.
Fill your largest frying pan with a 1cm layer of water, and bring to a boil, then dump your mushrooms in with a healthy sprinkle of salt. Sweat on high heat until mushrooms are reduced in size and water has evaporated, then add a big glug of any neutral oil. Fry your mushrooms until deeply browned on all sides and ~halved in size.
While your mushrooms are sweating, roughly chop your ya cai and set aside with your peppercorns. Grate a bunch of both garlic and ginger, ~4 cloves garlic and equivalent ginger is what I usually do, but I have a problem so feel free to add less.
At this point, start bringing a pot of water to a boil for your noodles.
When mushrooms are pretty much done add another big glug of oil to the pan, followed by the ya cai and whole peppercorns. Fry for ~2 minutes until fragrant, then add your grated garlic and ginger, frying for another 2 minutes until even more fragrant. Immediately deglaze with some amount of cooking sake, stir until mostly evaporated, then set aside off the heat.
Add your noddles to your now boiling pot of water.
Combine all your sauce ingredients (use amounts to your preference, I usually go with 1 glug soy, 2 vinegar, tiny dash sesame oil, half a spoon of sugar, too much chilli) in your preferred ratios into each of your serving bowls. Add some of the hot noodle cooking water into each bowl to dilute, heat, and add starch.
When noodles are done, add them to each bowl, add mushroom topping, then add garnishes of your choice. Tonight I added chopped scallions and julienned cucumber.
Serve and eat immediately!
WARNING to people who look for this at Asian supermarkets -- there are two things with similar names that are often called "preserved mustard stem" (or "pickled vegetable" or some other variation on that theme) in their English translations. The other one, zhacai, is much more popular and readily available than yacai, which is afaik a regional thing even in the Sinosphere (Chinese speakers from other regions are reasonably likely to have never heard of it, in my experience). Zhacai is an excellent ingredient in its own right, we had it stir-fried with pork at home tonight, but it's not the topping for Dan Dan noodles.
Make sure you pick up the right one! The Chinese characters for yacai are 芽菜 (zhacai is written 榨菜.) Look for the right combo on the packaging when shopping!
(As an aside, don't feel weird about using Lao Gan Ma. That stuff's popular both in China and abroad for a reason!)
I'll share two of my go to recipes :)
Vegan Jalapeño Arrabiata
Punnet of cherry tomatoes
Can of diced tomatoes
Jalapeño
Garlic
Brown onion
Pasta of choice
Salt
Pepper
Balsamic vinegar
Dash of red wine
Olive oil
Dried basil, oregano, ginger, salt, pepper
No quantities or temperatures unfortunately because I just cook with vibes!
Vegan Foul
Can of fava beans
Dried cumin, coriander
Lemon
Garlic
Chili
Toppings:
Tomato
Cucumber
Jalapeños
Green olives
Fresh coriander (or partly if that's your vibe)
Whatever you like!
This is my go to brekky when I have it, super easy and healthy and tasty. The fava beans can be replaced with another type of bean if that's all you've got.
Easy Mushroom Stroganoff
Ingredients
Optional
Instructions
Serves 3-4 people. Note that the only important ratio is equal parts pasta and water, so you can scale this up or down and just eyeball the other ingredients. I make this all the time, it's incredibly easy and only takes about 3 minutes of prep and 15 minutes total on the stovetop. I do highly recommend using vegan sour cream if you can find it at your store--you can use substitutes like the ones listed above to make the sauce creamy but IMO it's not quite as good.
I am upset at you right now because this sounds amazing and now I have to go grocery shopping for the ingredients.
Cremini mushrooms are simply the brown version of white button mushrooms (both of which are immature portobellos), so if that's what the chestnut mushrooms you're using are, it's the same mushroom. Wikipedia lists "chestnut mushroom" as one of the names for this species, Agaricus bisporus -- which is also known as the common or cultivated mushroom.
The article does note another species of edible mushroom that's also called a "chestnut mushroom", Pholiota adiposa. Of the two species, though, A. bisporus is more common in European cuisine, so I suspect your chestnut mushrooms are the same as creminis.
Sure, plain yogurt would probably work actually, though I haven't tried it. And a vegetable oil spread is basically all Earth Balance is, so whatever you have is fine.
You can use regular vegetable or mushroom stock instead of the water and Better than Bouillon if you have it, I just use BtB because it's cheaper and more shelf-stable than having open quarts of stock in the fridge. They sometimes go bad before I can finish using them, vs. BtB which is a small jar that keeps in a fridge for a few months. Or you can make your own stock if you can't/don't want to buy it at the store.
All of that will be fine, there's no special kind of stock you need to use and chestnut mushrooms are basically the same as cremini for this. Like the title says, it's easy. :) It'll still be good. Good luck.
Here's something less common, but it's a household favorite and most of my friends and family enjoy this. I don't measure everything, but doing it by taste isn't too bad.
Vegan Fesenjan
Ingredients
Instructions
The warming from the cinnamon along with the tartness from the pomegranate should subtly come through. It a great, hearty, fall meal.
Excellent topic! Maybe we can have a no-stress vegan topic now and then (for a change!).
I'm fairly lazy and usually just cobble together different recipes with whatever's on hand. Here are some I use fairly often:
The One Sauce
Mix up these ingredients in whatever volume you find tasty:
Veganaise
Sauerkraut
Hot sauce
I typically go 2:1 on veganaise and kraut with a bunch of yellowbird sauce or whatever I can find in the fridge. I'll sometimes chop a tomato in there for good measure. If I'm out of kraut I chop a pickle instead. If I'm out of hot sauce I've made do with tomato sauce.
I use this as a dip or topping for potato dishes, beyond burgers, the dry-ass falafel from Costco, and whatever else needs a bit of sauce.
If anyone else got a similar lazy sauce let me know what you use! I eat an unhealthy amount of veganaise :_)
Lazy Dave's Bread Machine Seitan
Just follow this recipe:
https://vegannosh.me/2009/03/15/lazy-daves-5-bread-machine-turkey-flavored-seitan/
I substitute garbanzo flour with almond flour, I guess anything non-glutinous should work? I go nuts with herb selection. I've also tried liquid smoke instead of vegan Wooster, and also made my own Wooster. All is fine and good, it's very forgiving. I even put some black beans in there once.
Vegan Chibata (bread machine dough)
1 1/2 cup water
1 T oil
409g flour (3 1/4 cups)
1 t salt
1 T sugar
1 1/2 t active dry yeast (or bread machine yeast)
Get that into a bread machine on a dough cycle.
Once complete, turn the risen dough onto a floured surface and get it into a rectangular-ish shape. Cover your hands in flour, helps with handling the sticky dough. Cover with cling or a big bowl and let rise again for 20 minutes or so.
Preheat oven 425. Prepare baking tray and parchment.
After second rise divide the dough into 4 squares and lay them on the parchment.
Go nuts with extras on top. I've tried vegan cheese crumbles and slices, scallions, oil, kosher salt, finishing salt. I would recommend at least coarse salt.
Spray the dough with water (important for crunchy crust!). I have small spray bottle to keep the cat away from the counter and crisp dough lol.
Bake for 25 minutes, cool on a rack.
It looks complicated and involved, but it's just a few actual steps, most of it is waiting. Can't keep this one on hand for more than a day, just evaporates into sandwiches or just plain.
You just reminded me that I wanted to make a banana-oat cake. But I already ate all of my bananas.
I’ve actually got a can of pumpkin puree so I might just try to sub it in and try it out.
I was just going to wing it, but this is what I was originally planning on doing.