rolling veggie swag 2011: veg[etari]ans unite and cook the tastiest food imaginable (omnis u shd get in on this, too)

Sorry, I am supplementing my vegan diet with vegan Malbec. I prefer it to vegan Cab.

I just know that when I freeze and don't press it turns way too porous and spongey for my liking. So wait, your dilemma is "freeze/thaw > press > marinate" vs. "press > freeze/thaw > marinate"? Have you done either yet?

Steve D:

Yes. I expect a slight difference, at best. The ideal (in emulating muscle tissue) is to align the protein strands, but tofu is just a precipitate of semi-globular proteins from solution. With gluten, there is a succession of kneading operations that both stretch the protein strands and make them align to nearby ones, yielding a fibrous/aligned matrix, even before the subsequently dried mass is powdered and sold as vital wheat gluten.

I'm mildly gluten intolerant as the genetic data suggest most may be: the day after eating gluten based steamed vegan sausages my eye whites are red with irritation. Its not due to blood pressure elevation (I've checked). So I'd like to improve upon my gluten-free meat substitute repertoire.

Before your post, I was about to post this:

There isn't a large literature on female erectile dysfunction, but the internal tissues of the clitoris are homologous to corpus spongisum of the penis. Yes, the geometry kinda proves the non-existence of intelligent design here. But it seems reasonable to assume a low saturated fat diet is useful for the womenfolk in matters of sexual function as well.

Signing off before I really embarass myself.

Oh shit. I've confused the conversational content of several open windows. Be back tomorrow.

Sanpaku how do things like Tofurky roast work? I mean the ingredients seem to imply some sort of mixture of tofu and wheat gluten; do you just knead the two together??

2011 thread has everything... science, testimonials, damn

I need a tried n true mulligatawny recipe, please!

If you are around the Ann Arbor/southeast Michigan area and want to treat yourself, seek her out:

http://www.cakesbyrubina.com/VegansCake.htm

The raspberry chocolate cake is the best I have ever had, vegan or dairy.

Also, Gardein OTM.

ottolenghi's plenty is sick

attn steve: cooked the following recipe from tal ronnen's book today. thought it tasted 'good' but wasn't really suitable as entire meal.

quarter and slice 2 onions
halve and slice 2 fennel bulbs
saute in 3 tbsp of evoo for 4 mins

add 4 cloves crushed garlic
28 oz can of whole peeled san marzano tomatoes (drained)
a bunch of roughly chopped swiss chard
1/2 c white wine
1/2 veg stock
cook 5mins

add olives (some kind of green olives, roughly chopped, can't remember what kind, i left them out)
juice of one lemon
cook 3-5mins till olives are tender

fold in 1 tbsp of minced tarragon (i used dill bc i couldn't find tarragon in 2 separate supermarkets)
and 1 tbsp of minced parsley
and 1 tbsp of minced thyme (i used lemon thyme)
and 1 packet of whole wheat pasta (cooked, obv)

recipe plz!!

i made this thing a couple of nights ago that was a vegan take on a beef dish i learned to make in home ec when i was 12. do not read further if you hate curry powder!

sautee onion
add carrots/cauli/brocc
cook a bit
add fake chicken stock cube
add some curry powder
fry a bit
add some fake ground beef (i used this really nice brand called helen's or something)
add a bit of water
add soy sauce
add worcestershire sauce (apparently there is a vegan version out there but i don't have it - i left it out of my husb's serving but lavished mine with it bc y'know anchovies are PRACTICALLY plants)
add cabbage
cook till.... all cooked!

serve over rice

― just1n3, Saturday, January 8, 2011 2:02 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark

lol, is this kai si ming <3<3

ottolenghi's plenty is sick

― cozen, Sunday, January 16, 2011 3:58 PM (1 week ago)

this book is ridiculous. everything in it is so delicious. the onion tart is worth the health problems its gonna give u

estela YES! i didn't realise that was a country-wide home ec staple!

also: anyone cooked anything off vegan yum yum?

I have the iPhone app; it's really great

lol j, did you also learn how to make pinwheel scones?

yes!

vegetable au gratin?

yes!

our funny little country <3

ottolenghi's plenty is sick

― cozen, Sunday, January 16, 2011 3:58 PM (1 week ago)

this book is ridiculous. everything in it is so delicious. the onion tart is worth the health problems its gonna give u

― plax (ico), Monday, 24 January 2011 02:27 (7 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

caek pointed out that pretty much all these recipes are available here - http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/series/thenewvegetarian

Hey guys- I am planning on moving in the next month and as I will have to start buying my own food again (sad face), I am thinking it will be a good time to take the next step from vegg to vegan. What do y'all recommend as ESSENTIAL THINGS NEEDED TO FILL NEW CUPBOARDS?

OMG YOU GUYS this chocolate almond milk is like DRINKING A CHOCOLATE COVERED ALMOND!!! I can never go back to soymilk now.

Sam this is what I recommend:

soy sauce/tamari/Bragg's liquid aminos
dried pasta, several few boxes of
tomatoes, several tins of
beans (black, cannellini, and garbanzo at the least), several tins of
agave nectar
balsamic vinegar

IF YOU LIKE TO BAKE:
aseptic silken tofu comes in handy sometimes
Ener*G Egg Replacer
molasses

so i think i've figured out (finally) how to make perfect hummus: lots of cumin (a tbsp to one can of beans) and lots of tahini (1/4 c at least). never put much of either of those in before bc i don't particularly like the flavour of either, but my friend made some the other day and that was her recipe.

tonight's dinner: pasta tossed in thyme vinaigrette and cashew cream

tomorrow's breakfast: vegan pancakes

fresh cumin, and lots of it, is key imo

fresh??? didn't know you could get it fresh!

Does he mean seeds, toasted and ground?

I made hot potato leek soup for din and it is so noms

oh lol. I meant just stuff that hasn't been sitting around for ages. I guess storing in an airtight jar would do the trick too

cheers stevie! what's the agave nectar?

xpost grinding yr own seeds is definitely a good idea w/ spices, those powders lose their flavour p quickly

eh that thyme vinaigrette was all wrong - really clashed with the cream sauce. will try with sage next time i think.

otoh: CASHEW CREAM IS THE GREATEST SHIT IN THE WORLD. it is just like... real cream.

i made this gardein dish from the tal ronnen book which involved breading the fake chicken with a mixture of toasted pinenuts/flour/fresh basil. the recipe left me with a ridic amount of breading, which pissed me off since the 1 c of pinenuts "required" was almost ten bucks. so i froze some tofu, defrosted it, pressed it out, dry fried it, and then marinated it in some un-chicken stock, a bit of vege broth, some granulated onion and a splash or two of soy sauce, for about 20mins. then i coated it w/the pine nut mixture and fried it till brown. it was pretty good, but kind of rich. BUT THEN a couple of days later i ate the leftovers cold and GODDAMN it tasted like KFC on a good day. amazing.

I love it when 'leftovers' secretly means '3-day marination' - why chinese food is always better the second time around, imo.

stir fry is pretty much my favourite thing to eat as a leftover - i usually toss the leftover pasta (i prefer pasta over rice when i make it) in with the veg/sauce and it soaks it all up and tastes so good 24 hrs later.

pasta, like pasta pasta, italian pasta? or some kind of asian noodles?

just regular old pasta! usually spirals

cool, that sounds like it would be good. i don't think i've done that before

but yeah, i'm starting to think that in the future when i order takeout i should refrain from eating it until it's been sitting in the fridge for 12 hours or so. i've had the experience many times with pakistani food where it tasted you know, ok enough during my initial uh, session, with it, but the following day it had transformed into some top-flight oohs and ahs level deliciousness

sometimes I think the biggest flaw with american cuisine is the lack of tasty sauces. I guess there's BBQ sauce. but everything else seems to be, let's flood this with cheese and ketchup.

exception: chili

yeah, i think lol american cuisine is somewhat condiment-impaired, as well. could stand to take some pointers in that dept. from india, korea, vietnam, mexico et al

fuck that, we just steal the best condiments from around the world...salsa is no 1 yeah?

yeah but basically i want more pickled stuff. lots more.

two weeks late but my friend owns the ottolenghi cookbook and i drool over it pretty much every time i'm at her apt. we made a (admittedly heavily modified) version of one of the muffin recipes and it was so bomb

another recipe from the TR book: tomato bisque. it's pretty good, i've never actually made tomato soup before. somehow it ended up tasted really cheesy.

heat large stockpot on medium
add 4 tbsp earth balance, melt
add 1 chopped onion, 1 chopped carrot, 1 chopped celery rib, 3 smashed cloves of garlic
cook for 10mins stirring frequently

add 28oz can of fire roasted tomatoes (whole), 5 cups of faux chicken stock (recipe recommends 'better than bouillon', i used 4 c of vege stock + 1 cup water and 2 cubes of this other fake chicken stock), a tbsp of fresh thyme, a bay leaf. bring to boil, reduce to simmer, cook 30 mins.

season w/salt and pepper. add 1.5 c of regular cashew cream and simmer for a further 10 mins.

recipe says to whiz in batches in blender and then run through fine mesh sieve. but i just used my immersion blend and didn't bother straining it.

OMG THAT SOUNDS DIVINE!! what is the recipe for regular cashew cream?

I made brownies last night. I've tried tons of recipes, all inedible. These are bomb. Recipe to follow

cashew cream (regular)

soak cashews over night in plenty of water
drain and rinse well
add to blender (i used my food processor bc my blender is a piece of shit, but you can only do small amounts in an FP) and cover with water, with about an inch above the cashews
blend the shit out of it till smooth (this will depend on yr blender/FP: if you don't have a vitamix you're supposed to strain it through a fine mesh sieve afterwards, but i didn't bother)
voila!!

i read that you can do this with sunflower seeds too so i'm trying that tonight

for thicker cream, just use less water. to make a dessert cream, you add maple syrup, vanilla extract and agave.