MoFo Day 24 - W is for Wingz and Wasabi Mayo

W is for Watching Football, Wingz and Wasabi

I'm writing this post during Monday Night Football. The reason I mention that fact is that Wingz to me are the quintessential football snack. They were the thing that was hardest for me to give up when I stopped eating meat. I'm so happy I didn't really have to give up anything, but have gained a new friend in these tempeh wingz. Fred is not a fan of tempeh, so I got to eat more. He did love the sauce, so I will be making a seitan version for him in the future. But I wanted to make something gluten free for those of you who must abstain. I had to keep one toe in Asia for this one!

Wingz with Wasabi Dipping Sauce

Makes 2 football sized servings (8 pieces)

1/2 cup soy milk
1 tablespoon tapioca starch

3/4 cup oat flour or your favorite GF flour
1 teaspoon granulated onion
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 - 8 oz package tempeh torn into 8 similar sized pieces

Grapeseed or other mild oil for frying.

4 tablespoon Earth Balance butter
2 tablespoons Louisiana Hot sauce
1 tablespoon Chile Garlic Sauce

In case you were wondering about what the chile garlic sauce and Wasabi looked like:

1 recipe Wasabi Dipping Sauce (recipe below)

Wasabi Dipping Sauce

Makes about 2/3 cup

1/2 cup vegan mayo
2 tablespoons unsweetened soy milk
2 teaspoon wasabi paste
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon five spice powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Steam tempeh for 10-15 minutes until softened a bit. Let cool enough to handle.

While tempeh is steaming, whisk soy milk and tapioca starch together in wide shallow bowl. In another wide shallow bowl combine oat flour (can sub your favorite GF flour), granulated onion, granulated garlic, smoked paprika and salt.

In a 12 inch iron skillet or heavy bottomed skillet (not non-stick) heat enough oil to come up the side of the pan about 1/2-3/4 inch to 350. Soak each piece of tempeh in the soymilk mixture. Dredge in flour mixture until covered on all sides. Gently place coated tempeh in oil. Fry for about 4 minutes each side until golden brown. Remove from oil and drain on paper towel to remove excess oil. In a large bowl, combine melted Earth Balance, Louisiana Hot Sauce and chili garlic sauce. Add fried tempeh wingz to sauce and gently stir to coat. I lots of sauce, so it will be messy! Serve immediately with celery sticks, carrot sticks and Wasabi Dipping Sauce.

Go Bears!

Vegan MOFO Day 18 - Iron Chef - Sushi

I love sushi. I love the way it looks. I love the whole ritual involved with eating it. My creation for this week is a departure from the traditional sushi I adore. I didn't have time to go to the grocery store to prepare, so this was pantry digging creativity.


Azuki Sushi Cakes
Makes four 4 inch cakes

1 cup sushi rice
1 1/4 cups cold water
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 sheet nori crumbled

Filling

2/3 cup dried shitake mushrooms
1 c water
1/4 cup tamari
1/4 teaspoon 5 spice powder
3/4 cup azuki beans
2 green onions, green part only chopped
1/2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
2 Tablespoons veganaise
1 teaspoon wasabi powder
1 cup panko crumbs

In 2 quart saucepan mix rice and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce to low and cook for about 20 minutes until water is absorbed. When cooked add in rice vinegar and sugar. Let rice cool in large bowl.

While rice is cooling make filling. Bring water, tamari, and 5 spice powder to a boil. Pour over dried shitakes to rehydrate. In a medium sized bowl mix azuki beans, green onions, ginger, sesame oil, veganaise, and wasabi powder together. Salt to taste.

When rice is cool enough, mix in crumbled nori into rice. To make cakes have bowl of cold water handy for hands to prevent rice from sticking while forming. Take about 3 T rice and flaten into a circle. Put about 1 T filling in the center of the cake. Top with approx 2 T more rice. Form into round cake. Put panko in shallow wide bowl. Dredge cake gently into panko. Place in refrigerator until firm, about 1 hour. Preheat large iron skillet. Coat bottom of pan with canola oil adding 1 T toasted sesame oil. When oil is hot, gently place cakes into pan leaving plenty of space between cakes for flipping. When cake is golden flip to the other side* and saute until the other side is golden (approx 5 minutes per side). Drain on paper towels.

Make sauce.

Sauce

1/3 cup veganaise
1 Tablespoon Chinese hot mustard
1 teaspoon mellow miso

Stir together sauce ingredients until smooth.

To serve cakes, place 2 cakes on each plate. Top with dollop of sauce. Garnish with chopped green onion (optional) and sesame seeds.
*Warning - the cakes are very delicate. Flip very gently or they may fall apart.

I had some leftover filling, so I thought I would make some rolls. We had these with hot mustard seasoned tamari.