Making vegetarian balls or patties 自製素丸,素餅

Seitan with soft tofu, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, carrots, and cilantro麵筋豆腐素丸,素餅

Ingredients:

• Hodgson Mill Vital Wheat Gluten, 1 package plus more, About 1.5 cups
• Mori-Nu Tofu, soft, packaged in a carton box - 12 ounce
• Shiitake mushrooms, shredded, 1/3 cup
• Bamboo shoots, shredded, 1/3 cup
• Carrots, shredded, 1/3 cup
• Cilantro, shredded, some
• Water, 1 cup

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients except gluten first
2. Mix gluten flour in and knead with a spatula until smooth
3. Rest the gluten dough in the refrigerator overnight
4. Make gluten dough into balls or patties
5. Fry each about 4-6 minutes.

Taste evaluation: Seitan made with this recipe has a very soft texture. Eaten alone, it tastes flavorless and must sprinkle some salt, pepper and/or your favorite sauce. However cooked in a soup of button mushrooms, daikons and carrots (as shown below), it is very tasty.


絲瓜蘑菇素丸


Caution: This is a dish extremely rich in protein content, since each teaspoon of the vital gluten contains 8 grams of protein. We have to be careful not to eat too much.

Chocolate Cherry Fruitcake巧克力櫻桃水果蛋糕

I made these cakes by following a King Arthur Flour recipe exactly. They came out very delicious. This was my second try.

At my first try, I made a few unintended adaptations. I added more brandy (½ cup more). I soaked the raspberry and the blueberry jam bits in the extra brandy and heated them in a microwave oven for a minute. I also omitted the candied cherries. The cakes (as shown in the picture below) turned out very good too - however, more of a chocolate walnut cake than a fruitcake. Personally I prefer my first batch because of its stronger brandy taste and reduced sweetness.

As you can see, the cherries were placed on top of the cake, instead of being mixed in the cake.

Vegetarian rice noodles素炒米粉 (2)

About ten days ago, I declared that my vegetarian rice noodles are very tasty! Indeed, they are. Last night I made another version of the vegetarian rice noodles with some carrots, enoki mushrooms, soy bean sprouts, green onions, and fried tofu. The texture of enoki mushrooms and soy bean sprouts work really well with rice noodles.

Tempura king oyster mushrooms 炸杏鮑菇素排

Deep fried breaded mushroom slices

Ingredients:

1. King Oyster Mushrooms, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick slices
   
2. Soy sauce or milk with salt and pepper
3. All purpose flour
4. Egg, 2, beaten and mixed with equal volume of water
5. Panko bread crumbs

Directions:

1. Soak mushrooms in soy sauce or milk for a few minutes;
   
2. Dip the mushrooms in flour, then, in egg/water mixture, and, last, in the Panko bread crumbs; the breaded mushroom slices may be prepared a day ahead and refrigerated until ready to fry;
   
3. Fry the breaded mushroom slices in hot oil for 4-5 minutes and serve immediately.

Variation:Dipping the mushroom slices in corn starch, instead of flour, eggs, and bread crumbs. They came out delicious too; and l

Lentil Stew With Sweet Potatoes扁豆燉甜薯

This dish is an adaptation of Martha Rose Shulman's recipe "Lentil Stew With Pumpkin or Sweet Potatoes" published in The New York Times on November 15, 2010.

Ingredients:

• lentils, cooked, 1 cup
• Vegetable broth, 2 cups
• Turmeric, 1/6 teaspoon
• Cilantro, 10 sprigs
• Ginger powder, 1/3 teaspoon
• Carrot, small, 1
• Sweet potatoes, 1 (I used Japanese sweet potatoes)
  
• Tomato, 1
• Parsley flakes, 1 teaspoon

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients, except the parsley, in a pot and stew for 30 minutes;
2. Remove from stove, add parsley, adjust taste with salt and pepper, and serve.
   

Harvest-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms 扁豆十榖米腰果釀蘑菇

This is a recipe of the vegan crew's. I follow the recipe closely except that

• I used a blend of 10 grains, instead of brown rice;
• I used some shiitake mushrooms, since I had only one portobello mushroom.

The only step I will do differently next time is to add cashews on top, not in the mixture, or add them right before serving to avoid their becoming soggy.

Spicy Lentil-Walnut Burgers 辣扁豆核桃素漢堡

This is a Martha Stewart recipe. I love this veggie burger since it is very spicy and delicious. I used sandwich rolls, instead of pita. Since I was using rolls with this burger, I should have sliced the tomato thinner and chopped up the avocado.

Vegetarian rice noodles素炒米粉

I'm happy to declare that my vegetarian rice noodles are very tasty! Tonight I cooked a kind of pumpkin-flavored rice noodles with some carrot, leek, Shiitake mushrooms, vegetarian tempura, and eggs. Basically I cut each ingredient into thin threads; and then cooked each ingredient separately. At the end, I mixed all ingredients together.

My other versions of vegetarian rice noodles:

• Vegetarian rice noodles素炒米粉 (2)

Roasted taro chips 烤芋頭片

Roasted taro chips (烤芋頭片) along with roasted sweet potato chips (烤甜薯片)．

The taro chips were made the same way as the sweet potato chips. They have a firm texture and taste really good with a little salt.

Vegetable broth 蔬菜鮮湯

I have made this vegetable broth a couple times in the past week based on a recipe on page 20 of "The Culinary Institute of America Book of Soups". It is very delicious. I used it in my vegetarian dishes to enhance their flavors. I also served it as soup at our dinner table and the meat-eater in our house would ask for a second bowl. Not wasting anything, I ate the vegetables which were still tasty afterwards and a good source of fibers.

Ingredients for the vegetable broth 蔬菜鮮湯材料:

The above picture shows what I used to make the broth; however, doesn't show how much I used. I used more broccoli stems (about 1 cup) than shown in this picture. For 3 liters of broth, I used 2 teaspoonfuls of thyme, 5 peppercorns, 1 bay leaf and 1/2 cup of wine. If you have any questions, please refer to the original recipe or ask me via a comment.