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Delphine & Deniz

Kung Pao Veg Chicken

Kung Pao chicken has been my default safe choice when I am in an unknown Chinese restaurant. Pieces of chicken (or tofu) fried in Kung Pao sauce, served with chill and roasted garlic peanut. You cannot go wrong. Becoming non-meat eater did not stop me from trying alternatives. I have eaten Kung Pao tofu variations, but they weren't quite like chicken. I was losing hope until we made some fake chicken at home, and made our own delicious Kung Pao chicken!

Ingredients

• 300g (or 11oz) vegan chicken
• ½ Cup garlic peanut
• Marinade:
• 1 T water
• 1 T soy sauce
• 2 t cornstarch
• Dry Ingredients:
• ¼ c dried red pepper (or more if you like hot!)
• ½ t ground Szechwan peppercorn 
• Fresh Ingredients:
• 1 teaspoon ginger, minced
• 6 sections of green onions, chopped
• ½ large red bell pepper, chopped into roughly ½ x 1 inch slices
• The Sauce:
• 4 Tablespoon water
• ½ Knorr vegetarian bullion cube
• 2 Tablespoon liquid caramel (see below for details)
• 2 Tablespoon cooking wine
• 2 Tablespoon white vinegar
• 2 Tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
• 4 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Instructions

I you have liquid caramel please skip this paragraph, otherwise please read on.  To prepare, simmer 4 Tablespoon sugar and 2 Tablespoon water over low heat for 5 minutes until brown. Add in another half cup of water, boil over high heat for 3 minutes until the mixture turns to caramel. We will use 2 Tablespoon of this in The Sauce.

Combine the Marinade ingredients together in a large bowl and mix until all items are dissolved.  Combine the Sauce ingredients together in a small bowl.

Break the vegan chicken in small pieces (about 1.5"), and mix them in the Marinade mixture until coated evenly.

Cut the dry red peppers into section, remove their seeds.

In a hot wok with 3 Tablespoon oil, stir fry Dry Ingredients on low heat for 30 seconds; add in Fresh Ingredients and fry for another minute. Finally add in the vegan chicken pieces and The Sauce, and stir-fry over high heat until evenly mixed. Mix in the garlic peanuts before removing from heat.

Gwei - Taiwanese Radish Cake

Gwei... Taiwanese radish cakes made of rice and daikon.  Mmmmm... Every time I hear that name, fond memories of savory and succulent Taiwanese dim sum treats from my childhood come rushing back.  I still remember those lazy weekend trips to Chinatown for dim sum in Philadelphia.  I'd see steaming steaming mini bamboo baskets of gwei passing by on carts and desperately point with my tiny fingers trying to get my parents attention.  So as an adult, this dish is on my must-make list. Thank goodness we kept Deniz' old fashioned rice cooker, as the recipe doesn't work with a modern rice cooker.  The below recipe is adapted from Wei-Chuan's Chinese Dim Sum cookbook for a vegetarian diet.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1.3 lbs of rice flour 
• 3 c water
• 2.7 lbs of daikon radish, shredded
• 4 Morningstar veggie sausage patties
• 3 shallots, chopped
• 1 T salt
• 1 t pepper (black or white)
• Optional garnishes:
• scallions, chopped
• Maggie liquid seasoning
• garlic chili oil

Instructions:  

Toast the veggie sausage patties in the oven for 13 minutes on 400°F. Cool and pulse in a food processor (or chop manually) to a ground beef consistency.

Combine the rice flour and water and stir until no lumps remain.

Stir-fry the shredded daikon in 4 T of cooking oil on high heat until soft.  Set aside.

Stir-fry the ground veggie sausage and chopped shallots in 3 T of cooking oil for a minute on medium high heat.  Add the salt and and pepper and stir-fry for a minute more.  Add the white radish and stir to combine.   Turn off the heat and add the watery rice flour.

Place in an old-fashion rice cooker.*  Add enough water in the gap between the cooker and the container to fill it half way. Make sure that the container is not touching the side of the cooker or steam will drip into the cake instead of back into the gap.  Steam on high heat for an hour.   After 10 minutes of cooking, stir the cake mixture to evenly distribute the daikon.  Return to cooking.  Continue to add water in the gap between the cooker and the container throughout cooking as needed to keep the rice cooker cooking for the full hour.  Do not fill the gap more than half full or boiling water may bubble into the cake mixture during cooking.  After cooking, cool to room temperature.

Remove the cake from the container and slice into 1/2 inch slices.  Pan fry each slice on both sides until golden brown. Sprinkle on garnishes as desired.

*Note:  Old-fashioned rice cookers require water to be put in the gap between the cooker and the rice container to create steam.  They also have loose-fitting lids.  Newer rice cookers do not this gap for water.  This recipe won't work on a new rice cooker because it will automatically turn off after 10 minutes and will not continue to cook.

Fake Sausage Hash

It is convenient to microwave a breakfast burrito, or grab a bagel on the way to work.  But nothing is so hearty as a veggie sausage breakfast hash.  We much prefer this over going out to restaurant for weekend brunch.  This is the basic recipe that we make during the weekend for brunch.  We often also mix in some of the week's leftovers, scrambled eggs, chopped tomatoes, shredded cheese and/or taco seasoning during cooking to add a different flavor dimension.

Ingredients:

• ~25 tater tots
• 3 Morningstar veggie sausage patties
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• ~8 olives, sliced
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t black pepper
• handful of fresh spinach leaves, ripped into small pieces (optional)

Instructions: 

Bake the tater tots and Morningstar veggie sausage patties in a single layer on a greased baking sheet (we put it on foil for easy cleanup) at 400°F for 15 minutes.  Pulse the patties and tater tots (separately) in a food processor, or chop manually, to small ground beef consistency.  

Stir fry the chopped bell peppers and onions in 1 T of cooking oil on medium high heat for 2 minutes in a flat saute pan.  Add the salt and pepper and stir to combine well.  Add the sausage patties and the tater tots and stir to combine.  Spread in a flat layer in the pan and continue cooking for 2 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom.  Add the ripped spinach and sliced olives and mix well to combine.  Continue cooking until the spinach is wilted.     

Spinach and Gouda Stuffed Veg Chicken

One of Deniz' favorite meat recipes is stuffed chicken.  He had it once in the Philippines 2 years ago and has been raving about it ever since.  So I had to find a way to make it vegetarian at home.  We pulled together a number of recipes to make this concoction.  Pretty good for our first try!

Ingredients:

Vegan chicken dough

Stuffing:
1/2 lb fresh spinach
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup gouda cheese
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten
1/2 of a (6 ounce) can black olives, sliced

Garnish:
Alfredo sauce, heated (optional)

Instructions:

Prepare the chicken dough per the instructions but do not cook.  Separate into four breast-sized pieces.

Saute spinach until spinach in 2 T of cooking oil until it it is all wilted. Remove spinach from heat and add to a medium bowl with Parmesan cheese, half of the gouda cheese, bread crumbs, beaten egg and olives. Mix the ingredients until well incorporated.

Flatten a chicken dough portion into a rectangle.  Place 1/4 of the spinach mixture in the middle of the rectangle.  Roll and cover the spinach mixture completely.  Repeat for the remaining three chicken dough pieces.

Wrap each stuffed veg chicken in aluminum foil.  Steam in a steamer for 40 minutes.  Unwrap and cool.  Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and broil for 5 minutes to toast cheese.  Top with the alfredo sauce.

Seitan O' Greatness (Veg Sausage)

When I heard this name from my wife for the first time, I thought sure she became a member of a satanic cult. When she asked what I prefer - baked or steamed, I was sure I was about the be sacrificed in our own kitchen. I really should pay attention more when she speaks to me instead of browsing online with my tablet.

This is Seitan aka Vegan Meat, which is a fancy name for wheat gluten. In this recipe it's spiced a little bit, so it is more like a sausage or pepperoni  alternative than a regular bland meat. You can use it in your sandwiches, in your omelettes, on your pizzas - just to name a few uses I can think of.

We took this recipe from this blog page that was posted 7 years ago, which linked to a forum page as the source that seems to be down now. So we are here to share it before all the traces of this secret recipe disappears forever!

Ingredients:

• Dry Ingredients:
• 1 ½ Cup vital wheat gluten
• ¼ Cup nutritional yeast
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon paprika
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon cumin
• 1 ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Wet Ingredients:
• ¾ Cup cold veggie broth
• 4 Tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 Tablespoon ketchup
• 2 Tablespoon olive oil
• 2 Tablespoon vegetarian Worcestershire sauce
• ½ Tablespoon minced garlic 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°

In a large mixing bowl mix dry ingredients. 

In a smaller bowl mix the wet ingredients, and whisk well.

Combine the 2 bowls (dry + wet ingredients). Mix well, then knead for several minutes.

Form into a log (about 6-8" long), wrap tightly in aluminum foil, twisting ends. Bake for 90 minutes. When done baking, unwrap and leave out to cool all the way. Then wrap it foil or plastic and refrigerate. Slice to use as desired.

All hail to Seitan the Great!

Mu Shu Fake Pork Noodles

Mu Shu Vegetables is one of my go-to Chinese-restaurant selections.  Always puts a smile on my face when I see it on a menu.  Can't resist that sweet and tangy hoisen flavor and the healthy veggie goodness.  But I do miss the meaty flavor in the restaurant dishes.  And who has time to make those paper thin pancakes at home?  Fret not, noodles to the rescue! (said with superman music in the background). Below is our vegetarian adaptation of Wei-Chuan's Noodle Cookbook Mu-Shu Pork recipe.  It has an added ginger hoisen kick for our fellow mu shu lovers.

Ingredients:

7 oz of MorningStar Sausage Patties

4 eggs, beaten

2 T grated ginger
2 bunches green onion

1 carrot, jullienned
3 oz canned julienned bamboo shoots

6 oz frozen chopped spinach, defrosted, drained, and moisture squeezed out (fresh spinach is also okay).

2 lbs cooked pancit or yakisoba noodles

Sauce #1:
2 T veggie oil
1 t soy sauce
2 t rice wine
1 t sugar
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper

Sauce #2:
1/2 c boiling water
1 vegetable bullion cube
3 T soy sauce
2 t cooking wine
1/2 t salt
1/2 t sesame oil
3 T hoisen sauce

Instructions:

Toast the sausage patties in the oven for 12 minutes on 400°F.  Cool.  Slice each patty to half thickness (making two circles), and then cut each circle in 8 strips (one horizontal and four vertical).  Marinate in sauce #1.

Stir fry the beaten eggs in 2 T of veggie oil.  Set the cooked egg aside.
Stir fry ginger and green onion in 3 T of veggie oil for 30 seconds.  Add in the carrot, marinated sausage, bamboo, and spinach in that order.  Then stir in the noodle, egg, and sauce #2.  Mix well and heat thoroughly.

Tomato Fake Beef Noodles

After purchasing 4 lbs of noodles during our last shopping trip, we started wondering what the heck we were going to do. We dug out 2 noodle-based recipes from our secret recipe book (ISBN 0941676420). One of them was with beef and tomato.  Tomato is a magic ingredient for me (in Turkish cuisine many dishes start with onion and tomato paste). I was sold.

Be aware that this is another one of those dishes where the prep time takes longer than the cooking. You will probably ask yourself at end of cooking "That's it?!? I prepared all this for 5 minutes of cooking?"  But good luck saying "I take it back, this is yummy!" with your noodle-stuffed mouth.

Ingredients

• 2lbs boiled, pancit or yakisoba noddles
• 8oz MorningStar Sausage Patties 
• 8oz tomato slices (skinned & seeded)
• 7oz spinach (we used frozen)
• 4oz onion (cut in shreds)
• Marinade for Beef:
• 2 Tablespoon water
• 2 Tablespoon oil
• 2 teaspoon corn starch
• 2 teaspoon white vinegar
• 2 teaspoon cooking wine
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• Sauce:
• 1 cup stock (1 cup hot water combined with 1 cube of Knorr vegetable bouillon)
• 2 Tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoon tomato ketchup
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Cooking:

Toast the patties in toaster oven for 12 minutes on 400°F. Slice each patty to half thickness (making two circles), then make 3 more slices (you will end up with 8 strips for each patty). Marinate the fake beef with the marinade mixture.

If the spinach is frozen, defrost it, wash it, squeeze it until you cannot feel your hands to get rid of the excessive water. If you are using fresh ones, wash them well, and cut in smaller pieces (i.e. bite-size)

Tomatoes need to be peeled for this recipe. And if it's not too much trouble clean out their seeds too.

Onions to be chopped in strips as usual.

In a 3 Tablespoon of oil in hot wok, stir-fry onions and tomatoes until fragrant.  Mix in the beef and the spinach. After frying them well, add the noddles, and the sauce.  Mix well, and evenly. Serve in a plate like a civilized man or bury your head in the wok if no one is around.

Buffalo Chick'n Wings

One of Deniz' ultimate favorite dishes is Buffalo wings.  Every time we try to pick a restaurant for dinner, he asks to go to Yard House in Waikiki because of their Gardein buffalo wings dish.  After several such repeated requests, it finally occurred to me that we can make them at home.  Below is our vegetarian adaptation to Buffalo wings.  We tried it using MorningStar's Italian herb Chik Patties and Gardein's Chick'n Strips.  Deniz liked the MorningStar version better and I liked the Gardein version better.  In the end it depends how much you like buffalo sauce.  The more breading, the more buffalo sauce flavor.

And yes, I know that both MorningStar and Gardein offer buffalo wing products, but we couldn't find them in Hawaii, and I don't like how hot their version is anyway.  These are just right.

Ingredients:

7 oz Chik Patties or Chick'n Strips

Ranch dip

Buffalo sauce:

3 T butter
2 t garlic, minced
1/4 cup buffalo sauce
1/2 veggie bullion cube

Cook the chik patties/strips in the oven/stovetop according to package directions.  We baked the breaded patties at 400°F for 14 minutes and stir fried the (non-breaded) strips in 1 T cooking on high heat until browned.

Heat the buffalo sauce ingredients in a pan until the bullion is fully dissolved.  Mix the heated patties/strips in the sauce until coated evenly and the sauce is absorbed.  Serve with the ranch dip.

Mocha Whoopie Cupcakes

After Deniz' 20th weekly purchase of tiramsu from Don Quixote's, I couldn't help but challenge myself to make something cheaper, healthier, and just as tasty ourselves.  Challenge accepted.  This whoopie pie look-alike is actually a reverse tiramisu:  chocolate cake dipped in coffee with a tangy cream frosting.  No matter what it's called, it's mouthwatering moist and light, with just the right amount of sweet, bitter, and tart.  We couldn't stop ourselves, gobbled down 12 cupcakes in the first day.  I've never been a big chocolate or coffee fan, and even I can't keep my hands off of these.

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 1 package dark chocolate cake mix 
• 1 plus 1 cup coffee, cooled to room temperature 
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil 
• 3 large eggs 
• butter cooking spray 

Cream Filling:

• 8-oz plain cream cheese 
• 1/4 cup heavy cream 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1/2 c sugar 
• 3 T coffee, cooled 

Directions:

Heat the oven to 350°F. Put metalic cupcake liners in two 12-cupcake pans or 24-mini cupcake pans.  Spray with cooking spray.  Mix the cake ingredients (except for the cooking spray) in a large bowl.  Beat with an electric mixer until almost smooth.  Scoop the batter into the cupcakes.  Bake according to package directions.  Cool 10 minutes. Cut each cupcake in half.  Pour 1 tsp of coffee onto the cut side of both the top and the bottom of the cupcake.

Mix all of the cream filling together first by and and then with an electric blender until smooth.  Spread the cream filling in the middle of the cupcake.

Kari Sapi - Indonesian Beef Curry

When I promoted our Chick'n Coconut Curry on Google+ back in January, I said it was one of the best curries I've had. And I thought I wouldn't come across another awesome curry for a while. I was wrong. And every time I am wrong I gain couple more pounds.

Unlike one of those Food Network hosts, I have hard time explaining the flavors. My wife disagrees with me, but to me this dish tastes similar to Indian Malai Kofta without tomato sauce and with a hot twist. If you like curry or Indian food I am sure you will love this dish. If this is not one of the best curries you have ever had, I will eat my hat. Next week, I will show you how make a hat from pie crust.

Even if it's modified from the original, the recipe credit goes to this book from the amazing  Wei-Chuan Cookbook series.

Ingredients

• 1lbs  MorningStar Sausage Patties
• Curry mix:
• 5 Tablespoon chili sauce
• ½ teaspoon crushed ginger
• ¹⁄₈ teaspoon turmeric
• 1½ Tablespoon coriander powder
• 1½ Tablespoon black pepper
• 2 lemongrass
• 8 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoon cumin
• 3 cans coconut milk (5¼ cups)
• 2 vegetable bullion cubes
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon sugar

The Perfect Transformation

After toasting the patties for 12 minutes in a 400°F oven, cut them in 6 (first in half, and then 2 more times in other direction). 

In 4 Tablespoons of oil, stir-fry the ingredients under the Curry Mix above until fragrant. Add the coconut milk. Dissolve the bullion cubes in the curry. Bring to boil, add salt and sugar. Reduce heat, cook it for 25 minutes. Remove from heat, add the toasted sausage patty pieces to the curry. Stir well, let it soak for few minutes before serving over steamed rice. 

Indonesian Pineapple Rice

Another delicious recipe from Singaporean, Malaysian & Indonesian Cuisine adapted for our vegetarian diet.  We've tried this with Morningstar Sausage Patties, Gardein Breaded Chick'n nuggets, and deep-fried gluten pieces (we got the deep-fried gluten pieces from Chinatown). We liked the deep-fried gluten the best, but all work well.  

Ingredients:

1 lb Gardein Crispy Chick'n* nuggets, defrosted, each nugget quartered.

2 c rice (we prefer basmati)

Spice mix #1:

1 shallot, finely minced

1/2 T ground garlic

1 t. ground ginger

1 t. coriander powder

1 t. black pepper

Spice mix #2:

1 t ground nutmeg

4 whole cloves

1/4 t. ground cumin

1 t. ground cardamom

2 stalks lemongrass, coarsely chopped 

Stock:  

2 c water

2 Knorr Vegetable Bullion cubes

1 t salt

Garnish:

1 c diced pineapple

2 T crispy (deep-fried) shallots

salt, to taste

* We buy Gardein's Mandarin Orange Crispy Chick'n and set the sauce packet aside for other uses.

Bake the chick'n in a single layer on a non-stick cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray in the oven at 425oF for 5 minutes. 

Heat 2 T oil. Stir-fry spice mix #1 over medium heat for 1 minute.  Add spice mix #2 and stir for 3 more minutes.  Add chick'n pieces and stirfry for 2 minutes.  Add the stock, bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook for 3 more minutes.  Remove the chick'n, chop into finer pieces, and set aside.  Retain the stock for use with the rice.

Wash the rice and put it into the rice cooker.  Add the leftover stock.  Top off with water to the fill line (should be the forth line). Mix to combine.  Cook in the rice cooker per cooker instructions.

After the rice is cooked, stir in the chick'n and garnish.  Mix to combine.   

Vegetarian Chicken Pot Pie

I used to think that bakery should be always separate from savory food (well, except bread of course). Whenever I saw a chicken pot pie in the frozen section, I was asking myself "why?". After I tried one, I found the answer.

When we baked this Vegetarian Chicken Pot Pie at home for the first time, my hopes weren't too high. After all, it was vegetarian with no real chicken. Fortunately I was wrong again. It turned out to be a fantastic pot pie, minus the chicken blood on our hands.

We baked this pot pie in ramekins, which provides a good serving size if you are very hungry. Delphine and I usually just share one. Also, you can be flexible with the filling. e.g. you can put your favorite vegetable if you like. But we suggest you use the other listed ingredients for a closest chicken-like taste (if you have a better tasting formula, please share in the comments!). I'd also like to mention Ina Garten here since we modified her recipe on Food Network here.

Ingredients

• 1lb Gardein Mandarin Orange Crispy Chick'n (we like the breading. If you cannot find this, try another vegetarian chicken meat)
• 5 cups of stock (2.5 Knorr veggie bullion cubes dissolved in 5 cups of hot water)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 cups yellow onions, chopped
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 cups medium-diced carrots, blanched for 2 minutes
• 2 small potatoes, cut in small cubes, fried briefly
• 1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas (2 cups)
• 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
• 1 egg, for brushing the crust
• 4 frozen pie crusts (round)

Preparation

The Pie Crust

Instead of making from scratch, we opted for the lazy way: just buy 4 (2 packs of  2) frozen round pie crusts. Let them thaw so the are easy to work with. Out of these 4 pie crusts, we will cover the insides and tops of 6 ramekins. You may need to use a roller pin to reshape it or make it little thinner. If you do use a roller pin, I highly recommend using some flour on the bottom and top of the dough so it wouldn't stick. From the rolled pie dough, cut round pieces big enough to cover the inside ramekins. It doesn't have to be a perfect shape as the dough is soft enough to play with. Make sure the each ramekin is greased/sprayed with butter before applying and crust dough. Once you have 6 ramekins with inner walls covered with pie crust dough, put all of them in a baking pan. It is time to bake them now without putting anything else in them. Bake them at 350F for 10 minutes. Cut the rest of the dough in circles big enough to cover the ramekins plus another half inch i.e. top crust diameter =   ramekin's top diameter + 0.5 inch

The Filling

Toast the chick'n pieces for 10 minutes. Blanch the small cut potatoes, carrots, and peas for about 2 minutes. In a large pot melt the butter and saute the onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and heavy cream. Add the chick'n, carrots, peas, potatoes, onions and parsley. Mix well.

The Final Baking

At this point, you should have 6 ramekins with pre-baked crust inside, creamy filling, and 6 pie crust tops cut in circles. Simply fill the ramekins with the fillings, and close the top with the pie crust. Push the extra inch around the ramekin down, push the sides with a fork to make them hold on to the ramekins better (also they look better). Brush the tops with egg, poke some holes with the fork (stab each ramekin crust with a fork for 4 times). Preheat the oven at 375F. Put the baking pan with ramekins, making sure they are not touching each other. Bake for one hour, or until golden brown.

Stir-Fried String Beans with Ground Veggie Sausage

Another great reciepe from Wei-Chuan, this one from the Chinese Cuisine Cooking Book by Huang Su Huei.  We adapted it for our vegetarian diet.

Ingredients:
2 lbs string beans, ends trimmed off and cut in half
4 MorningStar (Vegetarian) Original Sausage Patties
2 cups vegetable oil
8 T pickled mustard greens, chopped

Sauce:
1 T soy sauce
1 t sugar
1/2 t MSG
1 T veggie broth or water
1 t rice wine

Garnish:
2 green onions, chopped
1 t sesame oil
1 t salt

Instructions:
Toast the veggie sausage patties in the oven for 10 minutes on 350°F.  Then pulse them in a food processor (or chop manually) to a ground beef consistency.

Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a bowl.

Heat the vegetable oil in a wok on high heat.  Deep fry the string beans in the vegetable oil for 10 minutes or until wrinkled like in the above picture, mixing constantly to ensure even heat.   Set the fried green beans aside.  Discard all except for 2 T of the cooking oil in the wok.  Stir fry the ground veggie patties and mustard greens in the oil on high heat for 30 seconds.  Add the sauce and green beans and continue to stir-fry until the sauce is dry.  Turn off the heat.   Add the garnish and stir to combine.  

Vegan Chicken

As someone who used to eat a lot of chicken dishes, one thing I miss the most is the chicken texture. Gardein makes very good soy chicken products. But if you are cooking at home most of the time, buying fake chicken can get costly. That is why, our mission is to find the perfect fake chicken to be used in various chicken dishes. We will update this page as we find better variations. Please feel free to add your comments.

Ingredients

• 1½ c concentrated broth (mix boiling water + 1.5 Knorr vegetable bouillon cubes), cold
• 2 T olive oil
• 1½ c vital wheat gluten flour
• ¼ c all purpose flavor
• ⅓ c nutritional yeast

Instructions

Mix the dry ingredients, and the wet ingredients separately. Then combine them together, stirring well. Form a dough and knead it for 2-3 minutes. Break the dough in 3-4 pieces. Wrap each piece in aluminum foil completely. Place the wrapped pieces in your steamer. Steam them for 30 minutes. After done, let them cool. 

You now have a chicken base for your chicken dishes. Please note that in this particular recipe we did not add much flavoring and herbs, because this is intended to be an ingredient for your chicken dishes so it can use the sauce in those recipes.

Eggplant Şakşuka (Shakshuka)

One of the things I have done in the past that unintentionally impressed Delphine was to cook a vegetarian dish that I learned from my sister-in-law. Şakşuka (pronounced shakshuka) is a blend of fried vegetables, topped with garlic tomato sauce, which is different than the Tunisian egg dish with the same name. It's great as a side dish or an appetizer. While some versions contain zucchini, this one has the basics: potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and green pepper.

The amount of ingredients we use are the same i.e. matching amount of potatoes in volume for the same amount of eggplants. The idea is, we fry each vegetable separately, and add it as a layer. You can mix them in the end, but each spoon should have the same amount of different vegetables when you eat. While the same volume does not translate to same weight, I figured that's a close estimation.

Ingredients

• 1 lbs of eggplants, cut in cubes
• 1 lbs of potatoes, cut in small cubes
• 1 lbs of green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 lbs of ripe tomatoes, cut in small cubes
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• salt, olive oil to taste
• cooking oil

Preparation

Cut the head of the eggplants, peel them in zebra pattern. Lengthwise cut in half, then half again. Chop in pieces that are about half-inch wide. Massage them with salt, submerge them in water. Let them soak for 15-20 minutes. In the meantime, you can fry the other ingredients (once the eggplants waited long enough you will squeeze them in your hand so they lose their bitter juice)

Cut the potatoes in small cubes. Preferred way is to deep fry them. After they are fried, set them aside, preferably on a paper towel to get the excessive oil. (Deep) fry the peppers, put them on paper towel, then combine with the potatoes. If you haven't already, drain the eggplants, squeeze their juice out in your hands, and fry them. Combine all the fried vegetables on a (big) plate/container.

The last layer is the garlic tomatoes. This is the only vegetable that won't need deep frying. As a matter of fact, you can use little bit of olive oil to cook the tomatoes. First, add the crushed garlic to hot oil until it's fragrant. Add the small cubes of tomatoes. Stir while cooking for 3-4 minutes. This will be the top part of the dish.

You can leave them as layered, or mix them all (I like it mixed). Add salt to taste. If the olive oil from the tomatoes are not enough feel free to add more. 

Singapore Lemongrass Chick'n Coconut Curry

After an indulgent weekend titillating my taste buds in Singapore, I had to try my hand at Singaporean cuisine. Lucky for me, my favorite cookbook series (Wei-Chuan) has a Singapore, Malaysian & Indonesian cookbook.  This was my first attempt at Singaporean food and it was knock-me-down scrumptious.  Below is our vegetarian adaptation of Christina Hwang's Fragrant Coconut Chicken.   It took a little grocery hunting to find all the ingredients, but was well worth the effort.

Ingredients:

400 g Gardein Crispy Chick'n* pieces, defrosted, quartered

Chick'n Marinade:
1/2 t salt
1/2 t lime juice
1 T chili sauce

Curry Sauce:
4 T oil
4 T chili sauce
2 stalks lemongrass, minced
6 kaffir lime leaves, sliced
14-oz can coconut milk
1 Knorr Vegetable Bullion Cube
1 t salt
1 T tamarind juice**

Notes:  
* I buy Gardein's Mandarin Orange Crispy Chick'n and set the sauce packet aside for other uses
**Tamarind juice can be made with tamarind paste, which comes in a sticky brown block, available in Asian grocery stores.  Put a chunk of tamarind paste in a small bowl and fill it with boiling water until it just covers the paste.  Allow it 15 minutes to soften.  Mash the softened paste in the bowl.  Strain the seeds and other pulp out for the juice.

Directions:

Mix the chick'n pieces with the marinade to coat well.  Bake in a single layer on a non-stick cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray in the oven at 425oF for 12 minutes.  Set aside.

Heat the oil in a saute pan.  Stir-fry the chili sauce, lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves on high heat for a minute.  Add the coconut milk, salt, and tamarind juice.  Stir to mix.  After boiling, turn off the heat and mix in the baked chick'n pieces.

Vegetarian Beef Kebab Börek

After making baklava last week, we ended up with an extra box of phyllo dough. We debated for 10 seconds about what to do with it, and then decided to make borek, a distant cousin of baklava.

In borek, you will have layers of dough with a filling. Common fillings are savory ingredients like feta cheese, spinach, ground beef, or potato. It is baked in the oven like baklava. But the end result is salty rather than sweet. This recipe uses (fake) ground beef for filling, with a kebab flavor twist.

Ingredients

• 1 lbs of phyllo dough, thawed
• 1 can of butter spray
• 1 egg, beaten (for brushing the top of the borek)
• Sesame seeds
• Filling:
• 2/3 lbs of ground beef equivalent, or 8 MorningStar  sausage patties, toasted for 12 minutes at 350°F
• 4 stalks of parsley (or about half a bunch), finely chopped
• Half an onion, finely chopped
• 1 red pepper, finely chopped
• 2 Tablespoons of ground meat kebab seasoning

Instructions

Pulse toasted patties in a food processor until they magically turn into ground beef. Fry the chopped onions and peppers in a pan for a couple of minutes in a non-stick pan on medium-high heat without oil.  After the veggies are slightly charred, add the kebab seasoning, ground meat, and parsley in that order. Stir until mixed well. Transfer to a bowl or any another container that is easy to work with (you will be scooping this filling into phyllo dough next.)

Cut the phyllo dough sheets in half lengthwise so you have long rectangular strips. Place one sheet on a dry working surface, and spray it with butter. Put a scoop (about 2T) of filling near the edge of the sheet. From here, you may fold into various shapes:  triangles, rectangles, circular flowers, etc.   Since the phyllo dough is very thin, wrap a second layer after you're done wrapping the first.  Place another strip of phyllo dough onto your working surface, spray it with butter, and repeat the process above except use the previously rolled dough as your filling. Once you have your raw borek ready, put it on a butter-sprayed baking pan. 

Once all the raw boreks are on the baking pan, brush the tops with egg, and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

Bake at 350°F for about 15-20 minutes or they are golden. Enjoy while still warm. Recommended pair: warm crunchy borek goes well with a cup of sweet, hot black tea.

Kısır

Kısır is a traditional, home-cooked Turkish side dish.  It's made of fine bulgur (chopped, hulled wheat kernels), which are high in fiber and protein and low in fat.  After trying kisir and one other Turkish dish (Şakşuka), I fell in love with Turkish cuisine, and insisted Deniz get Turkish recipes from his mom.  Below is Deniz' mom's kisir recipe with a few modifications to add depth of flavor.

Ingredients:
1 kg of fine (#1) bulgur
boiling water
5 Maggie vegetable stock cubes (i.e. 2.5 packs)
3 Tablespoons of tomato paste
3 Tablespoons of red pepper paste*
1 teaspoon paprika
1 Tablespoon of lemon juice
1/2 Tablespoon of sumac (optional)
couple of dashes of cayenne (to your hotness liking)
1 cup olive oil (more can be added to liking)
2 bunches parsley, thick stems chopped off, and chopped finely
2 bunches scallions, chopped
2 Persian or 1 Japanese cucumber, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 c walnuts (optional)

*Don't use Asian chili paste.  Red peper paste can be substituted with tomato paste if you can't find it.

Recipe
Put the bulgur in a container and even it out so it's level in the container.  Dissolve the vegetable stock cubes in a little bit (around 1 cup) of boiling water in a separate container.   Pour the vegetable stock in the bulgur plus enough additional boiling water to just cover the bulgur.  Mix well.  Cover the container and leave for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, fluff the bulgur with a fork.  Add the remaining ingredients except for the herbs/veggies/nuts and mix well until uniform.  Add the herbs/veggies/nuts last and stir to combine.

Baklava

As someone who was born and raised in Turkey, people always assume I have baklava syrup running in my blood (my cholesterol test results partially confirm this). Moving to the US did not stop me from enjoying this sweet, nutty, crunchy dessert. My cravings were easily satisfied by Baklava King when I was in San Diego (the best baklava hands down).  After we moved to Japan and Hawaii, I had to find a way to make this at home.

Today, we are happy to share our recipe, which takes the most common elements from other recipes.

Ingredients

• 1 lbs phyllo dough, thawed
• 1 cup of unsalted butter (we used butter substitute) or butter flavored spray
• Filling
• 1 lbs of shelled pistachios (or walnuts, or mixture of two) finely chopped.
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Syrup:
• 1 cup of honey
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of ground cloves
• pinch of ground cardamom

Preparation

To make the syrup, combine all the ingredients under "Syrup" above in a sauce pan, and cook over medium heat to melt the sugar.  Set it aside as we will use this the last.

If you haven't already, finely chop the pistachios/walnuts. You can use a food processor if you like.

Melt the butter. You will need a brush to apply this melted butter on the dough sheets in a minute.

If you have a baking pan that is about the same size as the phyllo dough sheets, that's perfect! If not, you will need to cut the dough sheets to fit in the baking pan. Lightly cover your baking pan with butter using brush or butter-flavored cooking spray.

Preheat your oven to 350F. This will get the preheating going while you lay down the dough layers.

Lay your phyllo dough sheets on a clean working area, next to your baking pan. Put one dough sheet on the baking pan. Brush the sheet with melted butter or spray with butter-flavored spray. Repeat this until you have 6 sheets in the baking pan. Allow for air pockets between the sheets where possible to help the baklava be fluffy.  After the 7th layer, sprinkle 3/4 cup of finely chopped nuts evenly on the sheets. Put another 6 sheets, brushing/spraying butter on each layer. Then again sprinkle another 3/4 cup of nuts evenly. Repeat this procedure until you are out of dough or nuts - but make sure you at least have 4-5 layers of sheets on top.

Now you just made one big chunk of baklava! Cut it in diamond shapes (in Turkey, they call this baklava shape :) If you have a pastry cutter, your life will be easier. First, cut it lengthwise so you have 1.5" deep, long strips. Now cut them diagonally, which will produce diamond-shaped slices.

Bake the baklava for about 40 minutes on the center rack, or until it's golden. It will puff up a bit.

Take the baked baklava out, and let it cool for few minutes. Take the syrup you made earlier, and drizzle evenly on the baklava using a big spoon or ladle. The syrup will naturally drip down to the bottom of the baking pan, so make your best effort to keep the top of the baklava slices moist with syrup.

Wait for at least 30 minutes before you try one. Who am I kidding, you will try one right away. We did. But seriously, it gets better as it cools down in the syrup. Also, if you are not going to consume the rest within a day or two, refrigerate it.