Recipes – Page 4 – VegOttawa Association

The World’s Best Fudge Brownie

June 13, 2011August 20, 20255 Comments

As part of my work with the NCVA’s Restaurant Outreach Program, I find or come up with recipes that are suitable for restaurants: cheap, easy to make, not noticeably vegan so non-vegans don’t run screaming, and with a reasonably long shelf life.

One of the restaurants I’m working with asked for two things: a vegan dessert recipe and a vegan pancake recipe. Both had to be indistinguishable from the traditional milk-and-eggs versions, of course.

Today I’ll give you my dessert recipe. It is the “World’s Best Fudge Brownie,” based loosely the “World’s Best Chocolate Cake,” the recipe for which was posted several months ago.

A couple of notes for those who intend to make this exceptional bar.

First, while it is technically a brownie, be warned: it is not the type of brownie with which one muffles the squawks of a saggy-diapered infant. It is not the type of brownie that one sells for 50 cents at a church bake sale to be swallowed in two bites and washed down with instant coffee from a Styrofoam cup.

This is strictly a food snob’s brownie. Dark and rich, it is meant to be savoured with a single estate fair trade brew and a powerful sense of superiority.

Second, this is a finely honed recipe. So don’t start messing around with it and for the love of god don’t try to make it “healthy.” If you want healthy, have an apple. If you don’t like things “too rich” or “too chocolately,” don’t take whatever childhood trauma engendered this weird aversion out on my recipe. Just go away and have an oatcake or whatever your kind regard as dessert.

So, without further ado, here it is:

The World’s Best Fudge Brownie

Brownie Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup raw sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 ¼ cups cocoa powder (Dutch processed)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 400 ml can full fat coconut milk
¾ cup vegetable oil (anything but olive)
2 tablespoons instant coffee

Brownie Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. Line a 9 x 13 pan with parchment paper. Leave at least one inch of parchment paper sticking out along each of the long edges – you’ll use this to lift the brownies out.
3. Mix wet ingredients
4. Dissolve instant coffee in wet ingredients

5. Mix dry ingredients
6. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix only until just combined (I use a pastry cutter – great for blending thick batters)
7. Bake for about 35 minutes. You want to take it out when the centre looks just slightly underdone (i.e. a bit shinier then the outside). Use a baking stone if you have one and remember that, when it comes to brownies, underdone is better than overdone.
8. Allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes; lift out of pan using parchment paper “handles” and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack before frosting.
9. Frost with the chocolate ganache recipe below.

Chocolate Ganache Ingredients

½ cup non-dairy milk
2 cups finely chopped semisweet (55% cocoa) or bittersweet (75% cocoa) chocolate
¼ cup Earth Balance buttery spread

Chocolate Ganache Directions:

Place non-dairy milk and chocolate in a bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Microwave in additional 30-second increments until the chocolate is somewhat stirable. Stir for about 30 seconds. Alternately microwave for 30 seconds/stir for 30 seconds until the chocolate is nearly melted. Add the Earth Balance and stir until smooth. Spread on cooled brownies. Refrigerate for at least an hour before cutting into bars.

These brownies freeze very well and will keep in the fridge for a week or more. They are actually better after a couple of days. To restore them to just-baked freshness, microwave for about 10 seconds.

Erin’s (almost) Award Winning Cupcake Recipe

May 13, 2011August 20, 20252 Comments

So, despite my prediction, I did not win the recent VegFest Cupcake contest. I came in second. Now, I could be gracious and accept that my opponent and author of the awesome It Ain’t Meat Babe blog simply bested me with her dark chocolate almond cupcake.

But of course that is crap. What actually happened was that the 0.5 point she edged me out by was somehow rigged by bloodthirsty mafiosos who have a problem with oranges. Or else it was divine intervention by God or Satan or some other jerk just to punish me for being cocky.

But a promise is a promise….So, without further ado, here is the recipe for my Orange Chiffon cupcakes with Raspberry Coulis and Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting.

By the way, I’ll be bringing mini versions to Saturday’s NCVA potluck for those who’d care to try them 🙂

Whoops - I'd already started peeling that front one before I thought to take a photo

CUPCAKES:

Ingredients:

1 cup thawed frozen concentrated (you know what I mean) orange juice
1/3 cup neutral oil like canola or safflower
1/3 cup raw sugar
1 cup pureed sweet potato (I always make my own but canned does exist)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup corn flour (not corn meal, not corn starch – corn flour is yellow but has the consistency of flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your cupcake pan with paper liners. Using a hand blender (or a regular blender if you are crazy and do not own a hand blender), blend the orange juice, oil, sugar, and sweet potato for about a minute. The mixture will lighten in colour. Make sure there are no lumps of potato!

Whisk the remaining dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. When you’re sure the oven is preheated, pour the wet mixture into the dry and fold together until just combined. The key to fluffy cupcakes is minimal mixing (use a rubber spatula – it helps). When you’re using baking soda (rather than powder) it’s equally important to get the cupcakes into the oven as soon as possible after the batter is mixed.

Spoon the batter, which should be very “poofy,” into the cupcake pan and bake for 20 minutes. Ovens vary, so keep an eye on them. If you see even a hint of browning, take them out sooner. These cupcakes look and taste best when they are bright orange!

Allow to cool for a couple of minutes before removing them from the pan to continue cooling on a rack.

RASPBERRY COULIS

Ingredients:
2 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
pinch salt

Directions (you can do this while the cupcakes are baking):

Puree all ingredients with hand blender. If you don’t like raspberry seeds, put the mixture through a fine sieve. Otherwise, just put the whole thing in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure the mixture does not burn. Remove from heat.

COCONUT CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Ingredients:
I/2 container Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
1/4 cup virgin coconut oil
5 cups confectioner’s sugar
pinch salt

Directions:
Beat the cream cheese and coconut oil until light and fluffy – it may take a while since the coconut oil likes to stay chunky. Stir in the sugar and salt and beat again until light and fluffy (again, it’ll take 5 minutes or so). Spoon frosting into a piping bag or whatever you use to pipe frosting.

ASSEMBLY:
When the cupcakes are no more than lukewarm and the raspberry coulis is still fairly warm, spread about a teaspoon of the latter onto each of the former. Don’t use too much – the stuff is potent!

When both cupcakes and coulis are completely cool, pipe on the icing and top each cupcake with an inverted raspberry.

Happy Baking!

Note: You can also make this into a cake - just use an 8-inch cake pan and cook for about 30 minutes.

The Moment You’ve All Been Waiting For

April 20, 2011August 20, 20251 Comment

OK, it’s not the moment you’ve all been waiting for…but I figured that with everyone’s attention on the upcoming Veg Fest, it was either have an eye-catching title or be completely ignored.

And some people actually have been waiting for this – I’m finally posting the recipes from the food demo I did at the Go Green Expo last month.

First a little recap of the experience. As per usual, I volunteered Neil to help me. Also as usual, he did so cheerfully, even though the process involved transporting 50 pounds of equipment and food – including two unsealed pots full of hot soup –five kilometres by bike.

Yes, by bike people. We are that hardcore.

I decided to do a three course meal of all original recipes: Spicy Peanut Soup, Gnocchi with Pesto and Rich and Pretty Sauce, and _________ ________ ________ cake with _________ ________.

An old pic of the soup with faux ham and daiya swirly buns

Sorry guys – I had to edit out the dessert as it’s the basis for my entry in the VegFest cupcake contest and we’re supposed to keep our recipes secret.

Now some of you may be wondering how in the hell I managed to cook all that within my half-hour segment. The answer is, I precooked the soup and the sauce and took an hour instead. The Go Green Expo people eventually chased me off.

The themes of my demo were “hooray for the immersion blender,” “to hell with measuring,” and “orange.” I explained how people who use regular blenders instead of immersion blenders are crazy and should not be trusted, and that so are recipes that contain both baking soda and baking powder.

All turned out pretty well. I got sort of scared when I offered samples and people rushed the stage thrusting bamboo sampling skewers. On the other hand, they got scared when I admonished them for not making sure to scoop up a bit of tomato AND pesto sauce on their gnocchi because that’s how my recipe is supposed to work and they’d better not bugger it up.

So I guess I’d better get to the recipes…Well, in truth, like Kansas, they were there all along. They’re posted on Vegweb. Click on the recipe names above to find them. Well, the pesto and the cake aren’t there, but the latter is top secret and the former hardly needs a recipe…basil + pine nuts + olive oil + salt + lemon juice + hand blender = pesto.

Actually the gnocchi isn’t there either. Ok, to make gnocchi use equal parts mashed potato and all purpose flour and knead on floured surface for a minute. Then roll dough into logs, cut into bite-sized pieces, cook in boiling water for 3 minutes, drain, mix with sauce, and serve.

more flour = firmer gnocchi. Experiment until you get them how you like them!

I’ll post the cake recipe after I win the cupcake contest 😉

Vegetarian….haggis?

March 4, 2011August 20, 2025Leave a comment

By Kim

Vegetarian Haggis. You read correctly. Now, how can one make a vegetarian version of a sheep’s heart, liver, and lungs, cooked with oats, suet, onion, and spices in a sheep’s stomach?

I really would like to know so I can make some and eat it next Robbie Burns Day. Although, why would I even try to make it when I can buy it in a can at the Scottish and Irish Store for only $7.99!? Seriously guys, this stuff exists. And yes, I have tried it. Yesterday.

There is not much I can write about. I was hoping that this can of haggis would blow my mind and I would be able to write a thesis-length blog post about it. Nope.

On the can, it said to eat it with mashed turnip or mashed potatoes (Neeps or Tatties). I wasn’t about to be having two piles of mush for dinner, so I made home fries to accompany my brown mush haggis. It also said, on the can, that you can add mustard to the haggis for flavour. I put a dollop of fine Dijon mustard on top. Lovely. And, since I don’t like scotch, Kyle drank some for me. A nice glass of Smokehead, straight up.

haggis neeps tatties — Haggis with neeps and tatties.

That’s it. Nothing much to say. It tasted like refried beans with a different seasoning. Maybe if you are Scottish you might like it.

If you want, you can make it at home. Here is a recipe I found:

Vegan Haggis

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Finely chop ½ of one small onion, ½ of one carrot and ¼ cup of mushrooms.

Heat 1 TB of sunflower oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped onions, carrots and mushrooms. Sauté gently for 5 to 10 minutes or until the onion is clear and the carrots are tender.

Add ¼ cup of red lentils and 1 ½ cups of vegetable stock to the skillet. Combine 1/8 cup of red kidney beans to ½ cup of vegetable stock and mash the mixture to form a thick paste in a small mixing bowl.

Add the bean paste, ¼ cup of ground peanuts, 1/8 cup of ground hazelnuts, 2 TB of soy sauce, 1 TB of lemon juice, 2 TB of dried thyme, 1 TB of dried rosemary and a pinch of cayenne pepper to the skillet. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes.

Add 1 cup of ground oatmeal to the skillet. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for an additional 15 to 20 minutes. Add a few tablespoons of water if the mixture becomes too thick.

Spray a one-pound loaf pan with cooking spray to coat. Transfer the vegetarian haggis mixture to the pan and place it in the pre-heated oven. Bake for 30 minutes.

Serve with Neeps and Tatties and a glass of scotch.

Maaaaaaarvelous muffins!

February 18, 2011August 20, 20252 Comments

By Edelweiss

How much does it cost to buy a muffin—$2? How about spending $2 to $5 to make a dozen delicious vegan muffins?

I love baked goods, but I don’t want to have to spend too much money—or time—on them. This muffin mix has some decadent varieties, like chocolate chip–fudge, and some healthy ones, like bran–molasses or garden fresh.

To make the bulk muffin mix you’ll need a large bag of flour, a bag of sugar, a couple of cups of soy milk powder and a few other ingredients; a large bowl in which to mix all the ingredients; and a dozen heavy-duty ziplock bags (write ‘Muffin mix’ on them, and reuse for future muffin mixes!). To make the muffins, I’d recommend you get some paper muffin cups, a stainless steel muffin tin (Teflon is bad for you); cooking spray, like PAM; and a coffee grinder for the flax seed. Keep about a cup of ground flax seed in the fridge for when you want to make muffins.

It takes a half hour to make the muffin mix and put it into bags. Once it’s ready, it literally takes five to 10 minutes to make a dozen muffins, and another 20 minutes to cook.

Vegan muffin mix with 50 awesome varieties

Makes enough mix for 9 batches of 12 muffins.

To make muffin mix
* 18 cups flour
* 5 cups sugar
* 2 ¼ cups soy milk powder
* 6 tablespoons baking powder
* 2 tablespoons baking soda
* 2 tablespoons salt
* 2 to 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
* 2 to 3 teaspoons ground nutmeg.

Combine ingredients and break up any lumps. Carefully measure 2 ¾ cups and put in zip lock plastic bag; repeat until all mix is separated into bags. Store bags in bin at bottom of fridge.

To make muffins

Preparation: 10 minutes.

Makes 12 regular-sized muffins; if you want large muffins like you get at a cafeteria, only fill 10 cups and put a bit of water into the two remaining cups. Choose which additional ingredients you want to add, and check, before doing next seven steps, if need to omit any ingredients.

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.
2. In a large bowl, put 2 Tbsp ground flax and 4 Tbsp water; let sit for 5 minutes, while preparing muffin tin.
3. Use paper cups to line tin, if you like; coat tin with or without cups with cooking spray.
4. Add to flax/water mix: 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla, 1 cup water, and up to ½ cup canola oil (the more oil, the more moist—and fattening—it will be, but you can always replace the oil with applesauce for moisture without the fat).
5. Stir in 2 ¾ cups muffin mix and any additional ingredients (listed below) just until moistened. The batter should be lumpy.
6. Fill muffin tins.
7. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until muffins are golden brown.

Additional ingredients and variations

1. Applesauce: ½ cup applesauce; omit oil.
2. Apple: 1 ½ cups raw grated apples, ½ teaspoon grated cloves, ½ cup nuts or raisins; sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture before baking.
3. Banana: 1 mashed banana, ½ cup walnuts (optional).
4. Blueberry, peach, pear, plum raspberry, strawberry: 1 cup fresh or frozen fruit or ½ can large can (drained) chopped peaches or pears.
5. Bran–molasses: Use only 1 ½ cups of muffin mix. Stir in: 2 cups bran cereal, ¼ cup molasses, ½ cup raisins.
6. Butterscotch: 1 (12 oz.) bag vegan butterscotch chips, ½ cup chopped nuts.
7. Carrot: 1 cup grated carrots, ½ cup raisins, 3/4 teaspoon allspice.
8. Cappucino: 1 Tbsp finely ground coffee, ½ cup cocoa in mix; after putting into muffin cups, press a square of vegan chocolate under the surface.
9. Cashew: 1 cup unsalted coarsely chopped cashews.
10. Cherry: 1 cup fresh, dried pitted or candied cherries.
11. Chocolate chip–fudge: 1 ½ cups cocoa, ¼ cup sugar, 1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips. Ice with chocolate icing and put a maraschino cherry on top for a special treat.
12. Chocolate raspberry: 1 ½ cups cocoa, 1 cup raspberries.
13. Coconut: 1 ½ cups toasted flaked coconut (reserve some to sprinkle on the top).
14. Cranberry–orange: 1 cup chopped fresh or frozen cranberries, ½ cup nuts, ¼ cup frozen orange juice, 1 Tbsp orange peel.
15. Currant: ¾ cup currants, ½ cup chopped nuts.
16. Date–nut: ½ cup chopped dates, ½ cup chopped nuts.
17. Dried fruit: 1 cup dried diced fruit (apricots, raisins, figs, etc.) and ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional).
18. Eggnog: 2 teaspoons rum extract, 1 cup vegan eggnog (omit water from recipe) before baking, top with mixture of: 1 Tbsp sugar, ½ teaspoon nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon.
19. Garden fresh: ½ cup grated carrots, ½ cup grated zucchini, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves.
20. Gingerbread: 1 Tbsp ground ginger, ¼ cup molasses, 1 cup raisins.
21. Granola: reduce muffin mix to 2 cups and add 1 ¼ cups granola. Top with additional granola before baking.
22. Grape nuts: reduce muffin mix to 2 cups and add: 1 ¼ cups grape nuts and ½ teaspoon allspice.
23. Hazelnut: 1 teaspoon ground cardamom, 1 cup chopped hazelnuts.
24. Incredible cream cheese: use 1 Tbsp ground flax seed and 2 Tbsp water (let sit 5 minutes). Combine 1 (8 oz.) packages vegan cream cheese, ½ cup sugar and flax seed mix. Drop this mix by Tbsp onto top of muffins before baking.
25. Jam: ¾ cup jam or preserves (strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, cherry), ½ cup chopped nuts (optional).
26. Kisses and hugs: ¾ cup cocoa, ¼ cup sugar after filling muffin tins ¾ full, drop a chunk of chocolate about 1 cm3 into the center of each muffin, pushing down slightly until chocolate is covered. Ice cooled muffins with confectioners sugar and water glaze.
27. Lemon–poppyseed: omit ½ cup water and replace with ½ cup lemon juice, use 2 Tbsp ground flax seed and 4 Tbsp water (let sit 5 minutes), 1 Tsp lemon rind (use an organic lemon, if possible, as pesticides accumulate in peel) and 3 Tbsp poppy seeds.
28. Mandarin: 1 (8-1.4 oz) cans crushed pineapple (undrained), reduce water to ½ cup, ¾ cup shredded carrots.
29. Marzipan: ½ teaspoon of almond extract. Fill muffins halfway, add a ¾’’ ball of marzipan and fill to top.
30. Maple: 3 Tbsp maple syrup, reduce water to ¾ cup; ½ cup toasted pecans (optional).
31. Marmalade: ¾ cup orange marmalade, ¼ cup chopped nuts (opt), ½ cup orange juice (omit 1/2 cup of the water).
32. Nutty: 1 ½ cup vegan peanut butter chips, ¼ cup chopped peanuts.
33. Oatmeal: reduce muffin mix to 2 cups and add ½ cup oats, use 2 Tbsp ground flax seed and 4 Tbsp water (let sit 5 minutes) and up to 1 cup raisins or grated apples.
34. Orange: 1 cup vegan sour cream, ½ cup nuts or coconut (optional), 1 cans (11 oz. each) mandarin oranges, drain; use 2 Tbsp ground flax seed and 4 Tbsp water (let sit 5 minutes).
35. Peanut butter banana: ½ cup peanut butter, ¼ cup chopped peanuts, 1 ½ mashed bananas.
36. Peanut butter and jelly: ½ cup peanut butter, ¼ cup chopped peanuts; drop ½ Tb. jam into each muffin before baking.
37. Pineapple: ½ teaspoon ground cloves, ½ large can crushed pineapple, drained ½ jar (7 oz. or about ½ cup) macadamia nuts, chopped.
38. Pineapple–carrot–raisin: ½ cup each: grated carrots, crushed pineapple, drained and raisins, ½ cup walnuts, chopped (optional).
39. Prune: ½ to 1 cup chopped prunes, 1/6 cup poppy seeds.
40. Pumpkin: 1 cup or ½ can solid pack pumpkin, ½ Tbsp pumpkin pie spice, ¼ cup each chopped pumpkin seeds and raisins; sprinkle tops with ¼ cup pumpkin seeds and a shot of cooking spray.
41. Rum–raisin: 1 ½ teaspoon rum extract or 1 ½ tablespoons rum before baking, top with mix of: 1 teaspoon sugar, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, and ¼ teaspoon nutmeg.
42. Sesame seed: ½ cup toasted sesame seeds before baking, top with mix of: ¼ cup nuts, 2 Tb. brown sugar, 2 Tb. sesame seeds, 1 Tb. Flour, ¼ teaspoon each cinnamon/nutmeg.
43. Sour cream: omit one cup of the water and add: ½ cup vegan sour cream, 1 cup nuts, 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel (opt.).
44. Sweet potato: ½ Tb. Allspice, 2 Tb. dry orange peel, 1 cans (10 oz each) sweet potatoes, mashed, well drained (about 1 ¼ cups).
45. Tropical treat: ½ cup dried mango or papaya, chopped ½ cup chopped banana chips or 1 fresh mashed, ¼ cup macadamia nuts, chopped, ¼ cup coconut, ¼ cup vegan sour cream, 1 teaspoon lemon peel, grated.
46. Vanilla: 1 package vegan vanilla chips.
47. Walnut muffins: ¾ cup chopped walnuts.
48. Wheat germ muffins: 1 1/3 cup wheat germ, use 2 Tbsp ground flax seed and 4 Tbsp water (let sit 5 minutes), ¼ cup extra water before baking, top muffins with mix of: ¼ cup wheat germ, 1 Tb. sugar.
49. Yogurt: reduce water to ¾ cup and add 1 carton (8 oz) soy yogurt, plain or flavoured.
50. Zucchini: 1 cup grated zucchini, 1 Tb. cinnamon, ½ cup chopped nuts (optional).

Learn to Love Salad Again

January 26, 2011August 20, 20251 Comment

By Erin

Once upon a time, salads were made with iceburg lettuce and provided vegans with hours of crunchy fun.

Then came the 21st century, when the so-called top chefs of the world decided that iceburg lettuce was for rednecked mouth-breathers and that refined palates crave the nutritious leafy greens that both look and taste as though they were collected from someone’s front yard immediately after said yard was treated with pesticide.

You know the stuff of which I speak. And despite the sycophantic head-bobbing and mmm-mmm-ing you feel compelled to do when presented with these bitter snarls of limp weeds, you know you hate it too.

Alas, the food snobs have the backing of the nutrition people who proselytize so violently about the health benefits of leafy greens that I’ve become convinced that I will die of malnutrition if I fail to consume them in the recommended vast quantities.

My solution: the Salad Roll.

Ingredients:
1) Rice Wrappers. These are available in any Chinatown grocery. Try to find the rectangular ones – some sadist came up with the round ones just to screw with people.
2) Weeds (i.e. leafy greens)
3) Fake meat – my favourite is Nelakee ham log. Tofurky will do in a pinch.
4) Other fruits and vegetables. Use ones that can be sliced into long skinny strips, which keeps them from falling out of the roll. I like apples, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, avocados, enoki mushrooms, etc. I’d advise against celery, unless your teeth have horselike snipping powers.
5) Salt and pepper
6) Toasted nuts. This is optional, but it does add a whole other yummy dimension to a salad roll. Slivered almonds are my favourite, but whatever you have on hand will work – I used walnuts for the ones pictured below.

Now for the wrapping part…

Set up your rolling area near the kitchen sink.

Prepare all of your fillings and have them within easy reach.

SaladRoll 004 — Make sure your ingredients are ready - once the wrapper is wet, your rolling window is narrow

Place a pan large enough to accommodate your wrappers in your kitchen sink and fill it with very hot water.

Submerge your first wrapper in the water (one at a time or they’ll stick together) for about 5 seconds. If you are too lazy to get a pan, holding it under the faucet works too.

Place the wrapper on a flat, clean surface. Load it up with your fillings. Pile it on – you’d be amazed how well leafy greens compress. Add salt and pepper.

Roll it as you would roll sushi or a cinnamon roll – not trying to get the wrapper around all of the filling at once, but sort of spiraling the filling in. If you’re very dexterous, you can try tucking in the ends, but it really isn’t necessary. If your veggies are in long strips and your roll is pretty tight, everything will stay in.

SaladRoll 008 — Finished mixed green/carrot/tomato/pepper/walnut/avocado salad rolls

And there you are.

If you had to eat this as a salad it would take you all day and, if you’re like me, you’d just wind up picking out all the tasty stuff and leaving the greens.

Some final notes:
1) Try slicing harder veggies like carrots with a veggie peeler instead of a knife. Less risk of wrapper breakage.
2) Don’t use kale. This salad-improvement strategy can handle the woody bitterness of leafy greens, but the vinyl tarpaulin that is raw kale is a whole different level of eew.
3) Individuals who have served these to new romantic partners have reported some awkwardness.

Wontons 008 — This one is spinach/tomato/avocado/celery(bad!)/pepper/walnut

High Road to China

January 17, 2011August 20, 20254 Comments

By Erin

This latest in my series of stupid blog titles is a nod to the fact that I have to drag my sorry arse up the painfully steep Booth Street hill to get from my house on Primrose to Chinatown on Somerset.

But it is very much worth the climb. You see, in addition to the fantastic mock meats about which Neil has recently blogged, China town is home to many other vegan delights.

Today I’d like to highlight the wonton. A wise man (Neil) once said that all things are better when they are wrapped in dough. Unfortunately, when we vegans try to live this truth we are thwarted by the numerous stupider men who decided put eggs in all the wonton wrappers stocked by mainstream supermarkets.

Happily, pretty much every one of the 80,000 or so grocery stores in Chinatown stocks vegan versions (an ironic exception is Phuoc Loi, faux meat destination).

They are in the refrigerator section, and look like this:

To ensure that you don’t get eggy ones, just harken back to your days of eating snow. Remember what your mother told you: White, “Ok,” Yellow, “No Way!” Or just read the ingredients.

There are lots of great wonton recipes on vegweb.com, but you hardly need one. Just finely mince (slapchop!) about a cup each of onion, carrot, celery, plus whatever other veggies you fancy; add some salt, pepper and spices (Chinese 5-spice powder is good) and cook over medium heat until soft. I strongly advise also adding some minced faux meat – preferably mushroom chicken, beef, or mutton. I used Nelakee’s “pork steaks” tonight and they were great, too.

Once the filling is done, put about a tablespoon into each wonton and seal the edges (just squish ‘em together – no water or anything needed).

Next, fry them in a bit of oil until each side is golden brown.

Finally, stir up a sauce made of equal parts water, soy sauce and fruit juice and toss in a few slices of garlic and ginger. You should have enough sauce that it will fill your frying pan about one inch from the bottom.

Pour the sauce into your pan, put the lid on, steam for 5 minutes, and serve. They finished wontons are best dipped in soy sauce or in a 1:1 mixture of soy sauce and vegetarian oyster or stir fry sauce. These items also available in most Chinatown shops.

Happy dipping all!

Vegan pad thai made easy

January 9, 2011August 20, 20251 Comment

Ottawa used to have a wonderful vegetarian Thai restaurant called Sacred Garden. Sacred Garden also happened to be about a 20 minute walk from my house, which made it both equal parts wonderful and dangerous. At Sacred Garden most dishes could be made vegan, and none contained the dreaded fish sauce that permeates Thai cuisine. They even stated right on the menu that they didn’t use it. Every trip to Sacred Garden guaranteed a fabulous mouth party. I usually stuck to the same entrees though: pad thai, panang curry, and pad ki mow. Their spring rolls brought me to tears, and induced fierce and uncontrollable cravings.

at sacred garden — One of many visits to Sacred Garden.

I have many fond memories of Sacred Garden. I probably took just about every friend I have there at one time or another- omnivore or not. The little Thai lady who ran it knew me by name, and when I called in a take out order she always remembered, “no egg, no mushrooms” before I even had to say it. But I was out for a run in December of 2009, and when I ran past Sacred Garden I saw the sign that nobody wants to see on their favorite restaurant: CLOSED FOR BUSINESS.

I was pretty depressed for at least a week. But the repercussions have lasted long beyond that. I try not to think about Sacred Garden too often, because when I do I become despondent. We had such a good thing here… to have lost it seems beyond comprehension. Sacred Garden’s closing left a huge void in the Ottawa vegan food scene that has yet to be filled, although thank goodness for some of the fantastic eateries that we do have. I love each and every veg restaurant in this city, but none of them do Thai like Sacred Garden. Consequently, I’ve set about trying to emulate the delicious flavours that once left my mouth roaring with delight. Unfortunately, this effort has been a dismal failure.

However, there have been some good things. For one, I discovered Taste of Thai prepared pad thai sauce, and lo and behold… it’s vegan! Now, normally I prefer to make things from scratch, but I have tried, over and over, to make an adequate from-scratch pad thai and I have yet to make one that is as good as this one. It’s not perfect, it’s certainly not Sacred Garden calibre, but it gets the job done. I even made it for a co-worker and her husband, and she reported back that it was very similar to the “real” thing. Taste of Thai also makes a range of curry pastes and a spicy peanut sauce that I will blog about at a later date. They’re also not difficult to find: I’ve purchased them at Loblaws, Food Basics, and Metro.

So when I want pad thai here’s what I do (serves 3):

– Soak half a package of rice stick noodles in hot water
– In a frying pan, saute (just a bit) your choice of vegetables (lots of those). My stand-bys are red pepper, zucchini, and broccoli. I used julienned carrots and onions as well this time.
– If you’re feeling protein deficient (ha!) toss in some tofu cubes, or some sort of mock meat. I personally love it with Nelakee faux shrimp and President’s Choice meatless chicken breast.
– Add the noodles and the sauce packet. Toss to mix/warm. Serve.

Here’s the final product:

IMG00374-20110107-1757 — Homemade Pad Thai with faux chicken and shrimp.

Mock meats of Ottawa’s Chinatown, Part 2

January 8, 2011August 20, 20257 Comments

From Yves Veggie Cuisine to Tofurky to Gardein to Sol to the offerings in the President’s Choice Blue Menu line, the variety of mock meats in supermarkets has exploded in recent years. Ottawa’s Chinatown is a fantastic resource for lovers of mock meats. This is the second in a series of posts to introduce readers to the treasures they can find in Chinatown and meals that can be made with them.

This time, we return to Phuoc Loi on Somerset to seek out a truly amazing invention, mushroom chicken.

These are two styles of packaging you might encounter. They have identical stuff inside.

[Update and a caution to vegans: Yesterday I noticed a sticker I had never seen before on a package of mushroom chicken: “ovo-vegetarian”. I phoned the distributor, Chialee, and they told me that there are two kinds of mushroom chicken, one containing egg and one not. The eggless ones should be stickered “vegan”.]

What can you do with it?

You can take it out of the package, shake some salt onto it if you want, and eat it. Warning: it’s addictive! (Don’t thaw it in the microwave though. For some reason, that turns it gross.)

It’s great in stir-fries, of course. And it makes a good chicken salad, chopped up and mixed with celery and red onion and Vegenaise (although I prefer the President’s Choice mock chicken in chicken salad sandwiches).

A favourite cold-winter-day meal in our house is chicken soup made by following this soup recipe from VegWeb, minus the dumplings, plus mushroom chicken. Cut up the mock chicken, lightly brown it in a frying pan, and add to the soup just before serving.

The recipe I am going to highlight today, however, is one you can serve when you have friends over to watch sports. Yes, get ready for vegan chicken wings.

Ingredients:

1 bag of mushroom chicken
Your favourite barbecue sauce

Toss the mushroom chicken with barbecue sauce to coat it. Spread out the pieces on a baking sheet. Bake at 400°F for 12-15 minutes, or until the wings begin to blacken at the edges.

vegan_wings_before_baking_500x375 — Vegan chicken wings before baking

vegan_wings_500x375 — A plate of vegan chicken wings

On a sad note, since my last post the sign on New 168 Market has changed from “Store Renovations” to “For Lease”. Phuoc Loi and New 168 Market have been my main sources of mock meats since I moved to Ottawa, so it’s a pity to see New 168 go. However, there are other nearby sources of these products. If you visit Montréal, drop by Paradis Végétarien Chi-Ming at 4381 Saint-Denis Street. They carry all these products, and some of them in bulk, so you can bring home extra for your friends. You can also order some of these products online from Viva Vegan. (They ship in insulated cold packs so that the mock meat stays good in the mail.)