Vegan Arroz con Seitan

Okay, I just finished eating this meal (this is another one from Viva Vegan by Terry Hope Romero), and I am pretty into it. I mean it's no Kuba Kuba Arroz con Pollo, but it's still pretty good. I really like Latin American food though, so if that's not really your thing I am not sure you'll like this. But really, who doesn't like rice and veggies. Mmmmmm.

Okay. So first is first, this recipe uses Annatto infused oil. Really easy to make.

1/4 C vegetable oil - you can use canola or peanut

1 Tbsp Annatto seeds

You can get Annatto seeds at Latin American markets. Here in Chicago they aren't hard to find. Throw the seeds and oil together in a pan or pot, turn the heat to medium. Once it comes to a simmer turn it down to low. Let it simmer for about 3 minutes. Strain out the seeds and then let it cool.

Now for the dish. Take two of the loaves of "white seitan" that I outlined in the last case. Cut the seitan into chubby strips about 3 inches long. I personally cut mine a little shorter. I don't really like long strips of food, that's just me. Throw a Tbsp of lime juice, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 2 Tbsp olive oil, and about a Tsp of oregano over the seitan. Toss it and let it marinate for about 10-20 minutes. If you have a cast iron pan, throw it on a heated one and pour the marinade on it. Let it cook on either side for about 2-3 minutes. Obviously don't let it burn, and turn it. I would heat the pan medium-high. Personally I am a little timid when it comes to heat because I am a bit of a perfectionist, I hate it when things burn. So you might not get the little bit of crispiness you desire unless you cook it a little longer on each side.

Set the seitan aside, and let's start on the next step.

Ingredients for the dish:

2 Tbsp Annatto infused oil

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

5 large cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 lb Yellow Onion, chopped - about 2 medium onions

1/2 lb Green Pepper, chopped - I used 1 large one

2/3 C of Tomato Sauce

1 C light colored beer (Modelo Especial maybe), or vegetable broth

1 1/2 Tsp dried Oregano

1 Tsp Ground Cumin

1 Bay Leaf

1/4 Tsp salt

1 1/2 C long grain white rice

1 1/4 C Vegetable Broth

1 C frozen Peas

1 Carrot, diced

a pinch of ground Black Pepper

I didn't use this but you can do it if you'd like:

1/2 C sliced Green Olives

1/4 C Capers

1/4 C finely chopped cilantro

Okay, throw in both oils together, turn up the heat to medium. Throw in garlic, let it go for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Throw in the Onions and the Green Pepper (both chopped). Let it go for about 12-15 minutes. You want it pretty soft. Also, make sure you stir it occasionally. Pour in the first C of beer/broth, Tomato Sauce, and toss in the Cumin, Oregano, and Bay Leaf. Let that simmer for 4-5 minutes. Pour in the next bit of broth, throw in the Rice, Salt, Peas, and Carrots. Cover the pot and bring it to a boil. Once it's boiling, reduce the heat to low, push the seitan into the rest of the food. Toss the Olives and Capers on top, and throw the cover on it. Let it go for about 30 minutes, maybe 35.

Remove the pot from the heat and keep the top on it. Let it cool. You're set.

Throw some Pepper and/or Cilantro on it if you'd like.

I really like this dish. I think it would be a little better with the Cilantro, despite my not being a big fan of it. I really love rice dishes like this though. I mean two of my favorites dishes are Paella and Risotto.

Hopefully I will be writing more posts, more often. I would like to try and make more summery/springy dishes what with it being that time of year and all. I have been meaning to make more light dishes but I don't know if I really know how to, ha. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

Steamed Seitan, and stuff.

It has been awhile - I feel like I apologize for this every post...so yea.

Anyway, updates on goings-on and then food time. I haven't been busy per se? But many things have been going on that have been distracting me. Two of my friends from home recently got married, and congratulations to them! I have been reading a lot and riding my bike occasionally which has also been distracting me. I went to Denver to see my family over Memorial Day - it was pretty awesome because I got to see my entire immediate family at one time. That doesn't really happen too often. I have been working every day life was stressful here and there and I have been kind of tired whatnot. So, I kind of forgot about writing for a little bit. Whoops.

Okay, food time.

So, I believe I have posted about seitan before and now I have a new recipe from Viva Vegan by Terry Hope Romero. It is steamed seitan and it is easier and faster than boiling it. It just requires a bit of tin foil. I am going to write about the "white seitan" recipe. It is supposed to be mock white meat.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C cold vegetable broth

4 grated cloves of garlic

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 C vital wheat gluten

1/4 C chickpea flour

1/4 C nutritional yeast

1 Tsp dried thyme

1/2 Tsp paprika

1/2 Tsp ground cumin

1 Tsp salt

Mix together broth, grated garlic, and olive oil together. Okay, I have a micrograter but I know not everyone does. I think the best way to do this if you don't have one is either very finely dicing it, or maybe food processing it? I sort of think you want this as a bit of a pasty deal, so a food processor for a couple seconds might be good.

Mix all the dry stuff together. Pour the wet stuff into the dry stuff and mix it with a spatula. Knead the dough 2-3 minutes. Let it rest for 10 minutes and knead again for 30 seconds to stiffen it up a little bit. Then cut it into 4 equal pieces. Knead each loaf for a little bit and form little loaves. Wrap them loosely in tin foil and place them into a basket through which steam can come. For instance, I took a colander, wrapped the sides in tin foil and left the bottom open. I put them in that, put a cover over it, and put it over a boiling pot of water. Point is, you want a sealed basket that can steam it all. Let it steam for 30 minutes. Then you're done. Take them off the heat and leave them in the tin foil too cool off. When they're cool, they're set to be used. Store them in an airtight container.

This is a really good seitan recipe. It is really easy, and I like the texture and flavor more than the stuff in Vegan with a Vengeance or Veganomicon. I strongly suggest everyone get this cookbook. I wrote about how to make this as a preface to another post that will be coming after this one.

Hoopppppe you like it.

Lyfffeeffefaayafefe

I haven't posted recently for a number of reasons. A couple of friends visited from out of town for a couple of days, I finally got a job, and I have been lazy-ish. Mostly I have been kind of busy here and there and when I do remember to type something up, it's late or I feel like I have nothing good to say. This is mostly to update a little bit on what's going on here in Chicago, and I have a food update after this.

Well, first is first, a couple friends of the house came up from Baltimore and Richmond - Jane, Elise, and Gabe. I have only hung out with Jane a couple of times, but she's badass, so it was nice to see her. Elise (also badass) and I met when I went to VCU and have known her for a couple of years now, I think. Gabe was a new one; he turned out to be a pretty cool guy. They came up to see the Thom Yorke show...well, it was his "supergroup" Atoms for Peace. It includes Thom Yorke, Flea, Nigel Godrich (Radiohead producer), Joey Waronker (who has apparently has played with Beck, the Smashing Pumpkins, and R.E.M.), and Mauro Refosco. Since I am poor, I didn't go. Anyway, it was nice seeing some pals from home.

Bigger news - a job. I finally landed a job through a temp agency in the Loop. I work for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. doing data entry stuff. It's pretty intense, I had to get fingerprinted and an F.B.I. background check, I think. It's not super interesting, and I am not allowed to disclose what I do, which I find kind of weird.

In between these things, I have planted a few herbs. I planted Genovese Basil, Rosemary, and Fernleaf Dill. The Basil has already sprouted a few baby plants, in a week or so I need to thin them out. The Rosemary is sprouting very slightly. I haven't seen any tiny Dill plants yet though. Soon I will be planting Kale and some other stuff. It honestly might be slightly late in the game, but oh well. I have also been riding the rollers fairly often. Well, I rode three times last week, and this week since I have been working at about 7 A.M. I only just got to ride today. Anyway, that's pretty much what I have been doing, nothing really all that exciting.

Ratatouille

It has been awhile since I have written on here. I was sort of busy with some interviews and doing nothing, then I got sidetracked by going back to Richmond, VA. It was for Slaughterama (for those of you who don't know what this is, it's a bicycle event...sort of). Anyway, before I left I made this dish, and actually took pictures with my roommates camera. Unfortunately, I think my roommate still has his camera, and he stayed in Virginia a little longer. So, those will have to wait.

Anyway, I made Ratatouille about 2 weeks ago, and it was pretty awesome. The recipe is from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen by Donna Klein. I really like this cookbook because it offers me recipes from a region I know little about in terms of cuisine. Well, I know there are lemons and olives.... Anyway, it was really good, and this recipe had beans in it too? I think that's a little out of the ordinary for Ratatouille. This recipe is chock full of vegetables, I hope you enjoy it.

1 lb. Eggplant

1 lb. Onion

1 medium Green Bell Pepper

1 medium Red Bell Pepper

2 medium Zucchini

1 1/2 lb Tomato

2 cans of 16 oz. white beans (I used Cannellini)

and some pitted Black Olives for garnish, if you like them

4 Garlic cloves

4 tbsp (thereabouts) Olive Oil

1/4 cup dry White Wine

3/4 cup Vegetable Broth

1 tbsp Tomato Paste (I usually just use Ketchup, basically the same thing)

1/2 tsp dried Thyme

1/2 tsp dried Oregano
1/4 tsp of whole, crushed Coriander seeds (I just used a heaping 1/4 tsp of Coriander)
1 large Bay Leaf

salt and pepper to taste

There is the stuff you will be needing, split into first and second half of use. Also, before you begin - it is better to NOT use a non-stick pan. If you only have non-stick pans, that's fine, but if you have a pan that's not non-stick, that's big, use it.

First, cube the Eggplant into about 1 in. cubes. Put the cubes in a colander and sprinkle with salt. Be sure to actually cut 1 in. cubes or slightly larger. I made a mistake and made them too small, then they were really small when they were cooked. Chop the onions, cut the Peppers into about 1 in. cubes, finely chop the Garlic, and 1 in. cubes for the Zucchini as well. The Tomatoes need a little more care. They needed to be peeled, seeded, and chopped. I would not do the whole dropping the Tomatoes in boiling water. I have read that makes them lose flavor. I turned on my gas burner to high, and rotated the Tomato on a fork for about 20-30 seconds. Do not let them burn, just let them get really hot. This will help bring out more flavor and make them easy to peel. Go ahead and seed them (just squeeze the seeds out) and then chop them. Just drain and rinse the Cannellini.

Okay now you've got all those veggies ready, go ahead and on medium, heat 3 tbps of Olive Oil in a large, deep-sided skillet and start sauteeing those onions. After about 3 minutes add the Peppers and Garlic. Stir this mix often because it will burn. After about 2 minutes or so, add the Eggplant bits. Another 2 minutes or so later add a little more oil (if it seems like it's all gone) and add the Zucchini cubes. This will be good for the next step in about 5 minutes.

Add the White Wine and the Vegetable Broth when the veggie mix is cooked. While bringing this to a boil, try and loosen up any brown bits by tossing a little, or scraping with a spatula. Obviously, do not scrape if it's non-stick. Once it's boiling, reduce to medium-high heat, and add the Tomatoes, Tomato Paste, Thyme, Oregano, Coriander, and Bay Leaf. If you happen to have fresh herbs, just triple the dried amount. Cover this, and at a gentle simmer, cook this for 20 minutes. Uncover, add the beans, cook this an additional 10-15 minutes.

Now you're ready to eat. Not including prep time, this dish take about 45 minutes. Not bad for a decent amount of food that tastes delicious. I really enjoyed this dish despite the fact that I rarely use Eggplant. I am trying to get past that, but Eggplant has very little nutritional value. I don't really have anything bad to say about this. It has everything I love.

Well, hopefully someone else will enjoy making this. Oh, hopefully pictures will come soon.

Life on Mars.

So, I went to Life on Mars today. For those of you who either don't know, or don't live in Chicago, Life on Mars is a new vegan takeout place on Armitage. I hate to say it, but my first experience with their food was not the best, but overall I really think it's a place worth checking out. The people working there were great, their chocolate chip cookie was awesome, and the space is cute (could use some seating, but I will get into that).

First, I want to say the good things about Life on Mars. Okay, The cookie I got was awesome, I find that some vegan cookies I get are often kind of dry, this one was nice and chewy and delicious. The people who worked there and prepared my food were really nice and seemed happy to be there. I think this is semi-important. A friendly atmosphere is a big deal, to me at least. Food being hand prepared by people who don't care or are aggravated kind of throws me off. I don't really understand it, food being such an uplifting thing for me. The space is cute, it has a nice open kitchen behind a counter with food displayed. I like seeing what I am getting into, so that was appreciated. The sides all looked scrumptious (the mac and cheese looked particularly good). They also have a bunch of cool sides such as spicy eggplant, and coconut greens (and the menu changes). I am excited to try those out sooner or later. They also make the bread there, so I am told. All these things are big positives. Oh, you can add SWEET POTATO CHIPS (made there I believe).

Okay, here come the parts of which I was not so fond. Well, I got the barbecued rib sandwich on whole wheat bread. The bread was awesome - nice, soft, delicious. The barbecue sauce was really good, sweet but not too sweet, but the ribs themselves were very overcooked. It was almost like biting into wet sticks. I feel bad writing it, because I like the place. I am just going to assume it was an off day. I want to go back and try it out again. Another thing, there's no seating - as it's takeout and all that. For some reason...I can't wrap my head around no seating at a deli sort of place. I mean, Chinese food, I am all over takeout, but a sandwich, hard for me to get over. It is a pretty large space, if they moved the counter back or something there would be ample room for some seats. I understand this is probably expensive and whatnot, but just voicing how I feel.

In terms of price, it's pretty fair. The sandwich was fairly large. The sandwich, cookie, and taxes came out to about $7.00. I think that's a decent price for quality food. I had an overall good experience there, minus the ribs. I think it's worth trying out, and that I just came on an off day. One of my roommates got the ribs as well, and she said one half was good, and the other half was like mine.

Well, I hope I convinced someone to go check it out.

Forays into the World of Teese

Alright, recently I acquired 2 cute Teese logs. Chicago Soydairy is promoting their vegan cheese by putting out coupons for buy one get one free. It is a pretty nice deal. The ones to which I am in proximity are the Cheddar and Mozzarella. I have used both of them and I am a fan. They have a similar texture and flavor to cheese (especially when melted) while still being of their own complete identity. They melt a lot like cheese too, which is what I really appreciate. In terms of cheese substitute these have been thus far the best. I am not sure which ones I have actually had, but the dining hall of my alma mater offered a few choices in cheese substitute - they were not very good. I believe the one I had was american cheese substitute. I was not a fan. I have also had a grilled cheese with substitute, it was particularly unsavory. It was just not melted correctly. Teese on the other hand melts wonderfully. It has a nice texture and flavor when it is melted. Tonight it was used on a pizza.

I used another recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart - Pizza Napoletana. I made a half recipe though since the full one makes 6 balls of dough that are 6 oz a piece. With the half recipe I also cut the dough in 2 for 2 bigger pizzas rather than 3 smaller ones. The full recipe is as follows -

4 1/2 cups of flour or 20.25 oz(I used regular unbleached flour, but you can use bread flour as well)

1 3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp instant yeast

1/4 cup of olive or vegetable oil (this is optional, but I like putting it in there)

1 3/4 cups of cold water

Mix the dry stuff.

Pour in the wet stuff.

Mix well until it's hydrated.

Turn the bowl clockwise and work the dough with a spoon for about 5-7 minutes. Every once in awhile switch up and go counter-clockwise. After this is done, cut it into however many pieces you want, depending on how big you want your pizzas (the crust should be thin). Mist liberally with oil then put in a food grade bag. I just put it in a plastic sandwich bag. Let it sit over night and it's ready to use the next day. It will stay in a refrigerator for about 3 days. In the freezer it will last a couple of months.

Anyway, I also made a thicker marinara sauce (I like a little bit of a thick sauce on my pizza). I heated up my pizza stone for about 45 mintes at 500 degrees. Right before I put it in the oven, I sauced up my pizza, put on some chopped broccoli, onions, and green pepper, pour half a log of shredded mozzarella teese all over it, dropped it on my pizza stone, and baked for 8 minutes. Then it's set to go. One thing that is annoying, you need to put a bunch of semolina down on a flat surface (I have an edgeless cookie sheet that I used), put the dough down, spread it out, and do your thing with toppings. Here comes the annoying part, moving the loaded up pizza to your hot pizza stone (obviously you can leave it on your baking sheet if you want). It is just a pain for it to actually slip off. I eventually got it onto the stone without much problem though. The first time I did this I made a bit of a mess because I didn't put semolina down to allow for the dough to easily slip. I really enjoy pizza because the preparation is very easy. I still have another ball of dough and more teese, so it's probably pizza again for dinner. No complaints.

Southern-ish Meal.

This is a pretty delicious and easy meal. I really like it. I really like the mix of food here. Some of the pieces are mildly expensive, but whatever. If there is something you don't like, just go ahead and put your favorite Southern style food in its place. So I made Corn Meal Encrusted Celeraic, Barbecued Black Beans, and "Carolina Kale".

First is first, I will start with easiest.

So the Barbecued Black Beans are basically the easiest thing on earth to make. Take your favorite Barbecue Sauce that you make. I use a recipe from Veganomicon but you can use any recipe from the back of a molasses jar or anything like that. Heat up your Barbecue sauce in a pot on medium low heat. Once it is fairly hot, throw in some drained and rinsed Black Beans or Black-Eyed Peas. I prefer Black-Eyed Peas for this dish, but I didn't have any. Black Beans it is. Heat up the beans in the sauce, I would say anywhere between 10-20 minutes. I usually do longer do get more flavor in the beans. At least thats the way it seems. Depends on the heat. I like to keep it medium-low. Watch it though. Sometimes it can get really thick and burn.

Second.

I really love kale. As far as greens go, it's probably my favorite. I messed up the ratio in the recipe for mine, but it still came out great. Okay, throw a can of diced tomato in a pan or pot, I like petite diced, throw in a small diced onion (make the dice pretty fine on the onions), throw in a tsp and a half of cumin, and a quarter tsp of red pepper flakes. If you like it hotter, do more. Simmer that stuff for about 5 minutes, covered. Throw the Kale on top, cover, wait until it gets bright green. Then mix the stuff up, and cook for a little bit longer. This kind of depends on how you like your greens. Maybe you like them smooshy, maybe you like them firm. Whichever. Just watch it and mix when you feel it's the way you like it.

Third.

Okay. Peel the Celeraic. Cut 1/4 inch slices. If the slices are big, cut them in half. Boil this in a big pot of water and some salt. When they are soft, anywhere been 9-11 minutes, take them out. Let these guys cool. Okay, mix about half a cup of bread crumbs, half a cup of corn meal. Maybe a little more than that of each depending on how large your Celeraic was. Put about a tsp each of thyme, oregano and salt, and I put in about 2 tsp of pepper. I mean breading is really slack in terms of composition. You'll learn what flavor you like. Anyway, evenly coat the celeraic in flour, then dip in soy milk, then evenly coat in corn meal and bread crumb mixture. Heat up, on medium heat, about 1/8 inch of oil in a skillet. Once it's hot, drop some of those guys in there. On the first side I usually do about 4 minutes, or until golden brown, then on the other side about 2 and a half minute, or until golden brown. Then you're set.

This meal is really easy and delicious. The Celeraic is the expensive part. It's about 4 dollars a pound depending on your grocery store. It's well worth it every once in awhile. It isn't a very heavy meal, and the Celeraic cuts don't really absorb that much oil. Just let them rest for a bit on a paper towel to let some oil drip off. As said before, I love kale. I also love tomatoes and cumin. So really that Kale dish is great. Also, I always love beans.