Tag Archives: seitan

Seitan Ham (Sham)

18 Mar

I’m going to be writing a lot of text here. I know a lot of you will skip right to the recipe, but typically I use this space to explain some things about the recipe. So if you’re still scratching your head after you scroll all the way down or have any questions, have a scroll back up here and have a little read. If you’re still intimidated, I have another seitan ham recipe that is much less labor intensive. This one is better though, and I finally wrote it down in the hopes that you could make it for Easter. I’ve been tinkering with it for years, with lots of variations, so I just want to make it clear that this is very forgiving. You can add some tomato paste, regular paprika, use different oils, etc. Get creative with it! If you make it, tag me (@avocadosandales) and use the hashtag #sham.

There’s also going to be quite a few specialty ingredients and devices in this recipe. Don’t. Get. Intimidated. Most of them are easily found online or can be adapted to your kitchen. For example, if you don’t have a Vitamix, use whatever blender or food processor you have, and strain the liquid portion if you need it more smooth. If you don’t have a stand mixer, use a food processor or knead by hand for as long as your arms will allow. This recipe doesn’t require as much kneading as something like my chickwheat recipe, since we’re not intending to shred it.

I used Outstanding Foods for seasoning, because I love the flavor (not sponsored, just like it!) If you want to use something that you are more likely have on hand, just add the same amount of liquid smoke to the recipe. You can use any other reddish colored beans instead of kidney beans (cranberry, christmas lima, etc). If you’d like to use dried beans just use 1 and 3/4 cups of beans and about 1/2 cup of the liquid from cooking the beans. Red yeast rice is used for color in this recipe. It will still be reddish without it, but if you really want the ham color to shine, its a worthwhile investment. I also use it in “steaks” and any other recipe that needs a bit of color. Shout out to Lisa Myaf for this tip-she makes amazing seitan and has a beautiful IG, which you can find here. I also need to give a shoutout to Julian Guy from the Seitan Appreciation Society for this recipe for the fat. You can find his amazing Detroit style pizzas here.

Without further ado, here it is folks.

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Pulled Phauxrk

6 Feb

Move over jackfruit, there’s a new vegan pulled pork in town and it’s pronounced like fork.

This recipe is bean based, like my previous Chickwheat Shreds and like Blackbeet Beef it calls for cooked mushrooms for flavor. You can either roast or pan fry them, either will cook off the extra liquid and make them more flavorful. Use any white beans you can find navy beans, great Northern beans, it shouldn’t impact the end result.

Kneading in the food processor is what gives it the characteristic shredded texture, so be sure not to skip this step or cut it short. If you don’t have a dough hook, you can use your regular blade to knead. If you don’t have an instant pot, this can also be steamed in a conventional steamer for the same amount of time.

I prefer to weigh the ingredients in this recipe, as I think it yields the most consistent results, but I have included volume measurements for most of the ingredients if you don’t have a kitchen scale.

If you make this recipe, please use the tag #phauxrk on Instagram or public Facebook posts! I’d love to see your creations!!

Many thanks to Somer at Vedged Out and Chloe at Vegan or Not for assisting in the recipe testing!

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Faux King Crab

24 Jan

I could tell a pretty embarrassing story about crab here. I’ll spare you the details and just share this recipe for faux King crab instead. If you say it three times fast, you’ll laugh just as much as you would have at my embarrassing story.

Algal oil is pretty essential for the ocean flavor of this recipe. I don’t really recommend skipping it and it will give you a good DHA boost for the day, but in a pinch you could use a similar amount of kelp powder. It can be found in the Amazon link below or at your local natural food store in the supplement section as vegan DHA or Omega-3. Please see my notes below the recipe regarding tofu/agar.

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, I recommend steaming on the stove or in a conventional steamer for the same amount of time. A stove top pressure cooker could also be used.

If you make this recipe, be sure to use the hashtag #fauxkingcrab on Instagram or Facebook, I would love to see your results!

Many, many thanks to Somer McGowan of Vedged Out for assisting in recipe testing for this recipe.

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Tofu Pad Kee Mao

13 Jan

By popular request on my Facebook page, I am sharing my recipe for tofu pad kee mao. I had posted this recipe for pad see ew years ago, which also calls for the same flat fresh noodles. Our store carries them in two pound packages in sheets which I cut into smaller portions. If you can’t find fresh noodles, you can absolutely use dried wide rice noodles.

Traditionally this recipe is made with Thai birds eye chili peppers. I’m currently catering to palates that don’t appreciate spice, so I choose to omit the peppers. If you want to use them, add about 5 or 6 during the cooking step with the other vegetables.

I love using Beyond Meat crumbles for this dish, but they’re not a necessity. Feel free to omit or substitute with your favorite seitan recipe.

Algal oil adds a similar fishy flavor that fish sauce usually adds to the recipe. Flax or hemp oil can totally be substituted for a similar flavor, or you can add your favorite vegan fish sauce.

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Blackbeet Beef

8 Jan

Sundays usually make me crave a big hearty meal. During football season, we usually have a giant feast of nachos but the cold this week had me craving something more hearty. I’ve had a lot of great feedback on my recent post for chickwheat shreds and some innovative people have been using black beans instead of chickpeas to create a ‘beef’.

Today seemed like a good day to test this recipe, and it was definitely a hit. I used roasted white mushrooms to create a beefy flavor and beets for more earthy undertones. The dark soy sauce helps turn the roast a nice deep brown, but if you can’t find it, you can use regular soy sauce with added browning sauce.*

Kneading in the food processor is what gives it the characteristic shredded texture, so be sure not to skip this step or cut it short. If you don’t have a dough hook, you can use your regular blade to knead. If you don’t have an Instant Pot, this can also be steamed in a conventional steamer for the same amount of time.

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Chickwheat Shreds 

17 Dec

I live in a large town in Illinois, and we are lucky to have an abundance of local stores that sell chickpeas. Most of the time I wonder why I lived so much of my life without the joys of baked chickpeas and I spend an exorbitant amount of my free time planning what I’m going to do with my next batch of chickpeas, because I buy them in 5 pound bags and always am looking for new recipes.

I enjoy seitan making as much as I enjoy chickpeas. If you’ve followed my Instagram lately, you have seen how much seitan I’ve been experimenting with. This recipe was the result of running out of tofu and not being able to leave the house with two small children. The chickpeas add lysine (and lots of flavor) to the seitan and the method used to knead the seitan gives it a great shredded texture. I add a bit of apple cider vinegar to the recipe to cancel out the strong gluten flavor, but feel free to omit if you don’t have it.

This recipe is pretty dependent on an Instant Pot for similar results. If you have a conventional steamer, you may possibly be able to achieve a similar result if you are able to maintain the steam for 2 hours. If not, try making several smaller packets and steaming for an hour. Edit: since the writing of this recipe, many people have tested different cooking methods and steaming on the stove top or in a stove top pressure cooker works well!

Most food processors come with a dough hook, it’s just a plastic thingamabob that kneads instead of chops. If you don’t have one, or can’t find it, you should be able to get a similar texture with your metal blade. Just be sure to process long enough that it comes together and turns stringy and taffy like. You can also use a Kitchen Aid with a dough hook for 15 minutes or longer.

I prefer to weigh the ingredients in this recipe, as I think it yields the most consistent results, but I have included volume measurements for most of the ingredients if you don’t have a kitchen scale.

For those of you who prefer recipe videos, check out this one from Mary’s Test Kitchen!

If you make this recipe, please use the tag #chickwheat on Instagram or public Facebook posts! I’d love to see your creations!!

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BBQ Jackfruit Ribs

24 Feb

My husband has been vegetarian for over 15 years, yet he still answers “ribs” when asked his favorite food. Last year for Father’s Day I made him these juicy, chewy, meaty jackfruit ribs and they’ve become a regular meal in our house since then.

Jackfruit has been floating around in the vegan world for a few years now, usually as a pulled pork substitute.  It works great to add a shredded texture to these seitan ribs!

I add refined coconut oil and peanut butter to give them a fattier texture, but you could easily substitute both of those out for a more firm result. I also use ground dried shittake mushrooms to add a little “umami”. I find whole shittake mushrooms at my local international store and grind them and store in a jar. If you don’t have these available to you, feel free to omit it.

This recipe calls for an Instant Pot, but if you don’t have one you can use a steamer to steam the ribs or an oven to bake them, whichever is your preference. They are very versatile!

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Review: Gardein Fishless Filets

4 Nov Review: Gardein Fishless Filets

Once upon a time, a long time ago (read: before I had a baby) Gardein sent me a few coupons so I could review their products. Well, those coupons came and went, and I never posted a review.  At the time, I intended to do a review of the new Fish Filets, but they’re old news now. With the new Crabless Cakes and Sweet and Sour Porkless Bites, they have plenty of new offerings that there aren’t hundreds of reviews on already. (Or maybe there are, I haven’t read them!)

But, the fishless filets hold a special place in my heart and my freezer.  I grew up eating fish filets on Fridays during Lent and I loved seafood before I discovered how awful the seafood industry really is.Review: Gardein Fishless Filets

One thing I really appreciate about Gardein is that they don’t cut corners when it comes to “short on time” options. We all know that’s code for “too dang busy chasing a toddler to cook.” I usually bake these if I get a chance to, but there’s been many a day where nap time happens and I use the microwave method. True story-you can microwave them for 2 minutes and get away with eating it floppy.

Review: Gardein Fishless Filets

 

I obviously had to showcase my new cheddar cheese recipe and the classic veganized McDonald’s filet-o-fish was an imperative. Have I told you guys we have a view of McDonald’s from our living room window? It’s pretty classy and definitely adds to our real estate value.

Review: Gardein Fishless Filets

The filets themselves are extremely reminiscent to their omnivore counterpart. There’s a vaguely fish-y flavor to them that isn’t strong as nori, but definitely makes you think “I’m eating fish.” I’ve had a few “tofu fish” sandwiches and there’s just some things that aren’t perfectly replicated with nori and deep frying. I believe it’s the algal oil that contributes to the fish-flavor, but they probably have some other awesome secrets to the taste. The breading and texture are spot on, they even “flake” apart while you’re biting into them (assuming you don’t swallow them whole.)

I made a simple tartar sauce for the sandwich with vegan mayo (I like Just Mayo, but you can also make your own), pickle relish, dill, parsley, and a splash of vinegar.

 

Review: Gardein Fishless Filets

 

If I had a rating system, I’d give these a 9/10. The only reason they aren’t a 10/10 is due to the lack of a family-size package. We can easily polish off a bag of these in one meal and I’d love to have a package that lasts two meals instead of just one.

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Sweetfire Seitan

14 Sep Sweetfire Seitan

Most people who know me know I worked in a famous Asian restaurant for well over a year. I was very limited in my meal options there; I pretty much exclusively ate white rice and vegetable spring rolls. Every once in a while I would cook my own meals using the ingredients available to me. One meal I ate regularly was vegetables cooked in their sweet chili sauce (which they called sweetfire.) I was never able to add a vegan protein to it there, but recreating it at home gave me that option.

Sweetfire Seitan

I used seitan I had dipped in a soy/flour mixture and fried, because the recipe from my work used deep-fried chicken bites. You could easily sub tofu or unbreaded seitan as well. This recipe is extremely quick and easy, especially if you use premade sauce and seitan. Perfect for busy work nights or long days with a teething toddler.

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Breakfast Pizza

24 Aug

In my post about peanut butter and jelly macarons I talked about “breakfast pizza” that was often served in my high school cafeteria. It still holds a special place in my stomach and I always enjoy the challenge of veganizing an old favorite.

You can definitely use your own favorite scrambled tofu recipe or homemade sausage in this. My favorite cheese on this is the mozzarella from the Non Dairy Evolution.

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