Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Ultimate Vegan Tostadas...Vegan Hot Wings

We had friends visiting this weekend and I wanted to come up with a yummy but not-too-weird meal to serve our non-vegan guests. I decided on making tostadas. I used Morgan's Beans recipe (my adapted version) and then made Creamy Mexican Slaw, Guacamole, Corn Salsa, and Fresh Tomato Salsa. I sprayed corn tortillas with cooking spray and broiled them until crispy for the tostada shells. We piled the beans, slaw and salsas on the shells for a messy but delicious meal! They were delish and our friends loved them too, although they were a bit sad I didn't try something whacky like tofu or seitan! Next time I will :-)

Modified Version of Morgan's Pintos (LittleHouseofVeggies)
1 16 oz bag dried pintos
5 cups of water
2 T minced dried onion
2 t garlic powder
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 bay leaves
1 Tbsp. cumin
1 tsp dried coriander
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic salt
1 t sea salt
pinch of pepper

To Make: Add all ingredients in a crock pot. Make sure that you have enough water that your beans are covered by a few inches. Cook on low about 10 hours (you can just let it cook all day), or on high for about 5-6 hours.

Corn Salsa
2 cups corn
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 T minced jalepenos (I didn't have fresh so used bottled)
2 t lime juice
2 t minced dried onions
1/2 t coarse sea salt
Mix all ingredients and let sit 5-10 min to meld flavors.

Fresh Tomato Salsa
2 cups chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 T minced jalepenos (I didn't have fresh so used bottled)
2 t lime juice
2 t minced dried onions
1/2 t coarse sea salt
Mix all ingredients and let sit 5-10 min to meld flavors.

Creamy Mexican Slaw
3 cups sliced cabbage
1/2 cup vegan mayo (I used homemade tofu mayo)
1/2 cup green tomatillo salsa
Mix all ingredients and let sit 5-10 min to meld flavors.

I found this recipe on VeganDad's blog and was excited to give it a try. They smelled good and looked good and the flavor was even pretty tasty...but they were seriously the most revolting meal I have made as a vegan! They were even worse than the first vegan meatloaf I made that was terrible! The consistency of them was so awful - it was like eating raw chicken - ahhhhhh! I managed to stomach one and then just about gagged every time I thought about them. Oh well, I guess all cooks have to have meals like this sometimes! And I just had to post them - I don't know why. Just because I was amazed at how terrible they were :-) Not posting this recipe! I am going to try and salvage the remaining "wings" by slicing and pan-frying them like I would with boiled seitan. Perhaps they can be redeemed by wrapping them up in a tortilla with hot sauce and vegan ranch or something. I am hoping because I hate to waste food!
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1 comment:

  1. Just UsMarch 22, 2011 at 11:48 AM

    Sorry the wings didn't turn out good for you. It's so disappointing when meals turn out like that. Hopefully you can salvage the rest.

    ReplyDelete

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Crispy Herbed Potato Stack

Crispy Herbed Potato Stack
I was going to try a recipe for herbed scalloped potatoes and at last minute decided to do something fast and easy. I made up the recipe and it was yummola! I layered sliced russet potatoes in a baking dish, drizzled with olive oil, and then sprinkled with coarse sea salt, fresh ground pepper, basil, rosemary, paprika, and garlic powder. Then I baked them at 425 fr about 45 minutes. They were crisp and very flavorful!

My thrown-together salad today - after discovering I had no leftovers for lunch!

Tamale Fixings

Tamale Fixings
Plain pintos (for Keith), pintos, corn and onions; corn, jalepenos and Daiya; mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, and chard

Making these was a bit time-consuming but kinda fun! They didn't turn out as good as I had hoped - the outer tamale part (not the filling) just wasn't as flavorful as tamales I have had in restaurants. I have another recipe I will try for the dough next time. Tamales are one of my favorite foods so I won't give up on this one!

"Buttermilk" Blueberry Pancakes

"Buttermilk" Blueberry Pancakes
I modified one of my favorite pancake recipes to make it vegan and then I added blueberries. Turned out quite yummy. Soymilk sours and thickens well - very similar to buttermilk. I have been really impressed with it's ability to substitute for real buttermilk.

"Buttermilk" Blueberry Pancakes

Egg replacement for 1 egg
1 1/4 cups soured soy milk (put 2 T vinegar into a 2 cup glass measuring cup. Add enough soy milk to equal 1 1/4 cups)
2 T canola oil
1 cup flour (I wouldn't recommend whole wheat or whole wheat pastry - it really takes away from the fluffiness of these pancakes)
1 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
Blueberries, optional

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Heat griddle pour about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Sprinkle blueberries on pancakes after ladling onto griddle. Cook just until golden on both sides.

Veggie and Seitan Lo Mein

Veggie and Seitan Lo Mein
Overall, this was fabulous! However, I don't think the seitan added much so I would just leave it out next time. The lo mein also needed about double the sauce so I would simply do that next time for added flavor. This was especially spicy and yummy with some Sriracha drizzled on top. I made our favorite veg egg rolls to go with this and it was truly a Chinese treat!!

Veggie Seitan Lo Mein

I really did my own thing for this recipe so I am just going to outline the instructions and include the sauce recipe. I heated oil in a large skillet and added 3 minced cloves of garlic and about 1 cup of half-moon cut onions (I was out of green onions but next time I would use green onions as I like them a lot in Chinese food) and about 1 cup matchstick-cut carrots. After about 5-6 minutes, I added about 1/4 lb of whole green beans. I cooked these veggies until tender. Meanwhile, I cooked a 16oz package of chow mein noodles. Once the veggie mixture was cooked, I poured the sauce on the veggies, heated through and tossed with the noodles. Next time I would double the amount of sauce and have adjusted amounts below to reflect double recipe.

Sauce (Source:Adaptable Feast)
3 T soy sauce
3 T rice wine (I used 3 T rice vinegar and 1 t sugar as I didn't have any rice wine)
3 t sugar
4 T black bean garlic sauce
Mix all ingredients and toss with above mixture.





Chinese Broccoli Wontons in Ginger Soy Broth

Chinese Broccoli Wontons in Ginger Soy Broth
Pretty yummy. I found that steaming the wontons worked much better than the recipe suggestion to boil them. The broth was very mild and a bit too mellow for us. Still pretty yummy though. I added extra veggies to the wontons and scallion to the broth. The seasoning in the wonton filling was quite tasty!

Chinese Broccoli Wontons in Ginger Soy Broth (Source: Vegan Yum Yum)

(As usual, I modified several things so it's not exactly the recipe in Vegan Yum Yum!)

1 cup chopped broccoli
3/4 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1 T oil
1 t fresh ginger, minced
1 clove fresh minced garlic
1/2 t hot chili sauce (such as Sriracha)
1 t hot Chinese mustard
2 T plus 1 t soy sauce
4 cups water ( I think this might have been more flavorful had I used vegetable broth or faux chicken broth???)
6 slices fresh ginger
1 T mirin (I used a splash of cooking wine as I didn't have mirin)
1 1/2 t sugar
2 t rice vinegar
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup chopped scallions
16 wonton skins

For filling: Heat oil in skillet and add broccoli, ginger, garlic, carrot, onion and cook until veggies are crisp tender. Add chili sauce, mustard, 1 t soy sauce and stir to combine. Remove from heat and set aside.

To make wontons, take one skin and place in diamond shape. Fill with 1-2 t filling. Fold in half to make a triangle and moisten edges with water and pinch sides to seal. Set triangle in front of you with point up and take the 2 side points and bring them together in front to cross. Set aside and prepare remaining wontons. When finished, place wontons in a steamer basket and steam over pot of boiling water until translucent.

Meanwhile, in a pot, combine remaining ingredients (except wontons) and simmer 10-15 min.

Place 3-4 wontons in bowl and ladle broth over wontons. Serve.