Vegan Yum Yum (22 page)
Steam the dumplings:
Place the dumplings on the oiled cabbage leaves in your steamer, adding as many as you can without allowing them to touch. Bring the water to boil, place steamer on top, and cook for 6 minutes. Remove immediately and serve.
Serving tip: If you're using a bamboo steamer, bring it to the table for serving. If you are serving the dumplings in the steamer, consider adding three or four fresh ginger slices and oiling the leaves with just enough sesame oil to coat them before steaming. This will create a fragrant burst of steam when it is opened in front of your guests. Serve with dipping sauce or glaze.
Sugar and Spice Snap Peas
H
ellooo! Can you say “So easy!”? You will make this for friends and they will love you. This dish is sweet, salty, spicy, and crispy all at the same time. It can easily be served as a side dish instead. I leave the tops on my sugar snap peas for better presentation, but you can trim them off if you don't want to bother with them while eating.
This recipe won't be as good if your sugar snap peas aren't fresh, so try to find the freshest ones you can. Peas are one of the most sensitive vegetables around; the longer they sit after picking, the soggier and less sweet they become. Local farmers' markets are often the best place to purchase peas since you're almost guaranteed the peas were picked earlier that day.
Sugar and Spice Snap Peas
Makes 4 appetizer portions
step 1
Trim the peas if desired by pinching the tops and pulling the “zipper”; they shouldn't open on you. If a few give you trouble, just ignore them, since you can eat the whole pod anyway.
step 2
Mix together the soy sauce, agave, sesame seeds, red pepper flakes, and the premixed cornstarch/ water mixture.
step 3
Heat a wok to high and add the peas. Add the water and quickly cover the wok with a lid; the lid should be large enough so as not to touch the peas, but it doesn't need to fit around the top of the wok; it can sit inside the rim a bit. The idea is to keep the steam in well enough to cook the peas.
step 4
After 1 to 2 minutes, remove the cover and stir the peas until all of the water has evaporated and the peas look dry. Add the sauce until it bubbles up and reduces within 1 to 2 minutes or less, coating the peas. Serve immediately.
Ingredients
4 cups fresh sugar snap peas (12 ounces)
1½ tablespoons soy sauce
1½ tablespoons agave nectar or sugar
1½ tablespoons black sesame seeds
teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
Apple Cranberry Salad with Country-Fried Seitan
M
y husband calls salads like these “tossed sandwiches,” and I'm inclined to agree with him. Our favorite salads don't include just lettuce; they usually include our favorite veggies, a tasty homemade dressing, tofu or seitan, and sometimes fruit and nuts. We don't make wimpy “house salads” with a few leaves of lettuce and some sliced tomatoes. Our salads are entire meals that look like they've exploded in the bowl. Feel free to be creative with the ingredients to find a salad that suits your tastes best.
While I think this is a perfect salad, the fried seitan is really tasty and works well as the staple of a meal (say, with some mashed potatoes and gravy? Yes, please!) or even as a sandwich. Whatever your preference, it's crispy and delicious and meant to resemble country-fried chicken.
I've given directions for making the seitan from scratch (it's not hard!), but any premade seitan should work. The main benefit of making it from scratch is that you control the flavor and texture, but feel free to sub store-bought seitan if you want.
The fried seitan relies on Old Bay, a wonderful commercial spice blend that you should seek out if you've never tried it. You can find it at any major grocery store, and it gives the perfect seasoning to the fried seitan. You can make the seitan ahead of time (up to a few days in advance) and then deep-fry it when you're ready. I've included instructions on how to make the seitan first, followed by frying instructions, and then the rest of the salad ingredients.
Apple Cranberry Salad with Country-Fried Seitan
step 1
Blend all of the dressing ingredients together in a high-speed blender until smooth and no pieces of almonds remain. You may refrigerate the dressing while you're preparing the lettuce and apple.
step 2
Clean the lettuce and tear into bite-size pieces. Toss the lettuce with the salad dressing and place on a plate. Add the sliced apples and dried cranberries. Place 1 fried seitan cutlet on top and drizzle with more dressing. Serve while the seitan is still warm. Refrigerate the leftover seitan for later use.
Ingredients
Creamy Almond Dijon Dressing
½ cup sliced almonds
(blanched or raw)
½ cup water
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1½ teaspoons tamari or low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon or stone-ground mustard
½ teaspoon Old Bay
Seasoning
Salad mix
1 head lettuce
(Romaine, green, butter, whatever)
1 Granny Smith apple, thinly sliced
½ cup dried cranberries
Seitan cutlet
1 fried seitan cutlet
Chicken-Style Seitan
Makes 4 cutlets
step 1
Mix the wheat gluten, yeast, and Old Bay Seasoning together in a small bowl.