Sweet sour seitan

I made seitan this weekend and refrigerated the steaks.  Last night, I cut them into chunks, deep fried them in batter, and added them to a stir fry of bell peppers, celery and pineapples, in a sauce of ketchup, vinegar and cornstarch.

I think next time, I'll make a thicker batter that uses baking powder and baking soda.  This batter just ended up not really providing any texture.  HAIL (sweet sour) SEITAN!!

Hail Seitan

Seitan takes a little bit of work to make, but the results are great!!  It's not quite meaty....  it's much chewier than regular meat without the striated texture of muscle tissue, but I'm trying different ways of making that happen.  I tried adding some tofu skins, but it just served to make the seitan steaks break apart easier.  With garlic and onions and soy and mushroom powder, these had a really great taste.

I don't think of it as a meat substitute.  Rather, it's a nice protein to put into stir fries, etc.

HAIL SEITAN!!

Beyond Meat Burger and Fries

Beyond Meat is a new company that makes plant based burgers that have the taste and texture of flesh (how's that for evil?)

It even bleeds, due to the presence of beet juice.  It grills up nicely and rather quickly over the coals of hell, and is quite convincing snuggled in a bun with the usual condiments.  It was expensive, but worth it.  HAIL SEITAN!!

Sweet potatoes

A Japanese lunch

A typical breakfast

"A typical", or "atypical".  Both!

It's a typical breakfast for me, but probably very atypical of what most people eat for breakfast.  Some items change from day to day, but they always have a half apple or pear, some sweet potato slices, an avocado and some kidney beans.  Most of the time I'll have a slice of sourdough toast, (in the above picture, I substituted rice with wakame), and some other vegetable - in the above picture, bittermelon stir fried with tofu.

When I have toast, the textural differences of the crunch of the toast and apple pair well with the really soft avocado and kidney beans.  The bittermelon packs a lot of umami that's balanced by the creamy richness of the avocado.  The sweetness of the apples and sweet potatoes pair nicely with the salty seaweed.  And the fiber of everything helps keep me full for a long time.  It's a perfectly balanced meal, and gets me several servings of fruits and vegetables.

I eat this almost every day and never get tired of it.

HAIL SEITAN!!!

Grilled cauliflower

Vegan puttanesca

Vegan pizza

Japanese veggie bento

Vegan cookies

Ganmodoki

Veggie bibimbap

This Korean staple is perfect for a vegan makeover.  The only real change is substituting marinated King Trumpet mushrooms for any meat, and omitting the fried egg.  A good dose of (not pictured) kochujang offers all the fire and brimstone needed to feel like you're in the bowels of hell.  HAIL SEITAN!!

Veggie pho

Pho gets a lot of its ungodly culinary goodness from the textures and tastes of the various veggie toppings, the savory seasoning of the broth, and the hoisin (emphasis on the sin) dipping sauce mixed with some hellfire Sriracha.

That makes it a perfect candidate for a vegan makeover, where the usual beansprouts, basil, jalapenos, culantro, cilantro, onions and scallions are further enhanced by Chinese peas, mushrooms and deep fried tofu.

Damn, this was good.  HAIL SEITAN!!

Grilled veggie tacos

Grilled over the fires of hell (actually, kiawe charcoal in a Weber Smokey Joe), cauliflower takes on smoke more than your favorite Slayer shirt after a night at the bar.  Paired with grilled squash and zucchini and topped with pickled jalapenos and Sriracha, and wrapped in white corn tortillas, these would fill the belly of Satan with great satisfaction.  HAIL SEITAN!!

Tofu won tons

These tofu won tons were possessed by (actually stuffed with) a mix of tofu, wood ear, fu jook, scallions, and seasoned with xiaoshing cooking wine, white pepper, and soy sauce.  I served them with carrots and Chinese cabbage in a mushroom broth.  HAIL SEITAN!!!

Samosas with lentil dhal and stir fried zucchini

These samosas were hellishly good.  The dough starts with self rising flour, helped along nicely with little butter squares (making it non-vegan, but c'mon - healthy?  These puppies are deep fried!).  At first I thought the dough was too salty, but filled with potatoes and carrots and onions and garlic, all seasoned with garam masala, it came out perfect.

I served with a side of lentil dhal and stir fried zucchini with garam masala salt, and had some (not pictured) chutney on the side.

Despite being deep fried, these weren't too greasy.  In fact, they tasted great cold the next day.

HAIL SEITAN!!!