Friday, February 26, 2010

Veganomicon Days 5 & 6

Day 5: BBQ Tempeh and Coleslaw Burger

Your job is to think up staple items for everyone's kitchen and turn them vegan. You have the capability to make quite literally any meat eater's dream a vegan's reality. You choose to veganize mayonnaise. MAYONNAISE OF ALL THINGS! I hate mayonnaise. When starting this project I decided I needed to do every recipe in the book whether or not it appealed to me right off the bat (that means bread pudding is coming... Noooooo!!). This particular recipe didn't stand out as a winner but I figured we still had bbq sauce that needed to be used up (Lord knows I get queasy with the idea of throwing anything away). The idea of making coleslaw caught my interest merely because it involved making my own mayonnaise-style dressing. Silken tofu, vinegar, mustard powder, salt, and pepper. Hmmm. Couldn't be that bad. Sounded a bit boring... but not bad. We whipped it up really quick and let it set in the fridge to let the flavors pop, although I don't know that any popping occurred, while warming up the rest of the meal. Approximately 15 minutes later, everything was ready to assemble. Scott and I tried to coleslaw before spreading it on the bread. We immediately looked at each other making the same expression. That was interesting, to put it lightly. I was no longer looking forward to dinner but pushed on nonetheless. My smile turned sideways as I sat down and took a big bite. It wasn't bad!! The flavors were so different throughout the concoction but they worked. Thumbs up!

Day 6: Chickpea Cutlets and Mustard Sauce

I was born for this. I was brought into this world 25+ years ago to make this dish. Chickpea cutlets drenched in a mustard based sauce? Try to tell me you are not drooling!! Just try to tell me that!! I love mustard- prepared mustard, mustard seeds, mustard powder. I think mustard just makes everything a little better (or a lot better). The spice blend in the chickpea patties was marvelous and it didn't even include salt!! (although I suppose Braggs has enough sodium on its own) On that note- does anyone else get extremely offended when someone is eating your meal and sprinkles salt on top? When I look over and see the position of the salt shaker has altered ever so slightly because it has (gasp) been used I just shrink into my seat. It's awful! My point - it doesn't even need salt on top (you jerk). I wish I had made some quinoa or wild rice as a side but I was too hungry and just wasn't thinking by the time the patties were cooked through. I had some kale sprinkled with nutritional yeast (that's my kitchen staple) and placed the chickpea cutlet on top. Heaven. Did you know heaven can be whipped up in a kitchen? Well, it can and was.

No comments:

Post a Comment