Vegan Mofo Day 6: Vegan Peking "Duck"

Vegan Peking Duck

I'm breaking out a family recipe for you guys today. Mom was inspired by the Beijing Peking Duck dish and that's why she called it that but hubz assured me it tasted nothing like it. Looks pretty meaty though, doesn't it?

What you need:
Beancurd sheets

You can find this in the frozen section of Asian markets. It's packed folded in half but it's actually a huge circle. Take it out and let it thaw for an hour. Cut the bag on three sides so you can fold it out to use as a table spread. It'll lessen your cleaning time because things are about to get messy!

While you're waiting for it to thaw, mix together the sauce:
1/4 cup organic soy sauce
1/3 cup water (or more if you don't like it too salty)
1 tsp five spice powder
1 tsp mushroom seasoning (optional)
1 tbsp sugar

You'll also need this for frying later (do not mix with sauce):
3 whole pieces star anise
oil for shallow frying

After it's thawed, separate four bean curd sheets from the pack (keep the rest in a zip lock bag so it doesn't dry out and refreeze). Loosely fold each sheet into four (don't tear it!), so it's easier to handle. In a wide basin filled with lukewarm water, dip each sheet in one at a time and soak for about 30 secs until soft. Then very gently ball the sheet between your hands to squeeze the water out (like how you'd crumple a piece of paper). A few holes or small tears is okay but you want the piece largely in tact.

Carefully unfold the crumpled beancurd sheet onto the plastic bag spread and lay it out flat in its full circle splendor. Pour a few tablespoons of the sauce onto the sheet, and using your hands (or a brush if you don't like to get dirty!), gently pat and spread the sauce all over the sheet. Then fold the sheet using the instructions below. Each time you fold, spread more sauce on that section (which would technically be the bottom of the sheet that hasn't gotten lathered with sauce).

Once done, you're left with an index card sized piece of bean curd sheet. Do the same for the rest of the sheets.

Prepare your steamer and steam them for 10-15 minutes. If you have a small steamer like I do, then do it one by one. Do not stack them in the steamer. You'll know it's done when the skin looks opaque and thicker.

In a frying pan (preferably non-stick), add enough oil to coat the entire bottom and fry the 3 pieces of star anise for about a minute. Then add the folded bean curd sheet (watch out for splattering!) and fry each side for a few minutes until golden.

When done, cut into strips and serve with something bland like rice or quinoa because this thing is salty! Cucumbers complement the dish nicely.



Hope you guys are having a great start to the week!

Vegan Mofo Day 5: Eggplant Parmesan Pasta

It's Friday, yay! What a week! Chef J was out today so it fell on me to cook lunch for the crew. I thought pasta with broccoli and eggplant parmesan would be a quickie, but I overestimated my skillz a wee bit and it took longer than planned. Oops.

The hungry folks gobbled up the extra large portions so it all worked out in the end!

To start the weekend, I leave you with some cute guinea pigs:

This is Gandalf notifying us that "november is pet your abyssinian correctly month. here's a diagram for you humans to help you pet us properly. "

Follow Gandalf and his friend Voltaire on Twitter for laugh out loud tweets from the guinea pig POV. I always look forward to their tweets during my morning commute and share them with hubz.

And finally:

Too cute!!

Have a great one, y'all!

Vegan Mofo Day 4: SF Giants Parade, Loving Hut

Yesterday, San Francisco held a huge ticker-tape parade for the SF Giants. Hubs and I played hookie from work to partake in the festivities. I’ve never seen anything like it! The atmosphere in the orange-and-black-color adorned crowd was electric!

This was the man who brought a face to the team and game for me. Cody Ross!

This is the best shot of Brian Wilson I could get. He was walking the parade route instead of riding on the cable car. Watching him close the games was so intense and fun! Fear the Beard!

And it wouldn't be VeganMofo if I didn't include a bit about food, would it? After the parade, we ducked into Westfield Shopping Center's food court for lunch at Loving Hut.

Fried rice, curry, and sweet & sour side dishes from the steam table. Yum!

We headed back to work for the last half of the day and ended it at the movies with a pre-screening of "Unstoppable." It was an action packed movie! I'll never look at trains the same way again.

After such a fun-filled day, I was ready to follow Belle's example:
G'night!

Vegan Mofo Day 3: Cauliflower Tempura

Today's Vegan Mofo is brought to you by my hubby!

To show his support, he made his special dish for me to share: Cauliflower Tempura


What I love about his tempura is the thickness of the flour. It's totally yummy with the soft veggie inside!

Ingredients:
1 small head of cauliflower, cut into bite size pieces
3/4 box of Tempura mix (7.5 oz)
2 tbsp of soy sauce or Bragg's
3 tsp of salt
1/2 cup of water (exactly!)
oil for frying

Directions:
1. Except for the cauliflower, toss the ingredients in a bowl and mix. It should make a thick paste. (Too much water would dilute it and make for a thin layer on the tempura.)
2. Heat oil in pan. Roll cauliflower in mix and deep fry until golden brown.

"Feed me!"

Vegan Mofo Day 2 : suyo, bok choy, red chard

"Is it safe to come out yet?"

San Francisco is partying hard after the SF Giant's World Series win! Woo! Hubz and I were screaming and jumping in celebration at home after Brian Wilson threw the last strike. The guinea pigs were less enthused. :-)

A quick post to share my vegan lunch at work by Chef J:

suyo cucumber (it's long, curly with ridges) mushroom and bean thread

bok choy with vegan shrimp and tofu-like seitan

red chard and carrots

Random quote of the day: "A simple smile from you could be the validation a total stranger needed to believe that they matter." While I like the positive message that entails, and I'm sure it's true many times, but one time I smiled at a stranger at the farmer's market (sort of in the "excuse me, I can't reach the basil you're blocking" way) and he interpreted my smile as an invitation to preach to me about his religion. Very insistently. I was totally flustered and high tailed out of there without finishing my shopping!

So I hope you have better results wherever you bestow your beautiful smile. :-)

Ok, back to celebrating the SF Giants' win. WOOOOOOOO!!!

Happy World Vegan Day!

It's Day One of VeganMofo and fittingly, it's also World Vegan Day! Say hi, guys!

Introducing the VeganWheekers for our new folks. That's Belle on the left and Bert on the right. They're naturally vegan so they don't see the significance of this day. However, they also don't get to eat Lavash Bread Pizza!

I had a craving for pizza but was too tired to make pizza dough from scratch. I did however have Trader Joe's Lavash Bread in the fridge so I improvised (and aren't the best recipes sometimes from improvisation?).

Lavash Bread Pizza
Step One: Spread a layer of Daiya cheese on one side of the bread for a cheese stuffed crust pizza effect.

Step Two: Fold in half so you've got a sturdier base for the pizza and spread on tomato paste. If you have a nice pizza sauce, go for it.
Step Three: Lay on the toppings of your choice! I used onion, red bell pepper, pineapple, and olive with a dash of vegetable seasoning and salt. Then add a bit more Daiya on top of that.

Step Four: Put under broiler for 10-15 mins, watch that it doesn't burn (like mine kinda did!).

I was so hungry, I had already split the pizza in half for hubby and I before I remembered to take a picture. The "crust" is crispy with a nice layer of cheezy goo. So there you have it! Easy pizza under 20 minutes.

Hope everyone is having a great Monday! And it's Nov 1st! Two more months until the new year. Ca-ray-zeee!

Vegan Mofo, Here I Come!

I did it! I signed up for my first Vegan Mofo. There are 500+ contributors this year and I just had to join the party. Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with! I can only promise to take better pictures of my meals, but my phone can only do so much, LOL!

Though it's Halloween weekend, I join the City in celebrating a certain orange and black: SF Giants! Those who know me would be surprised because I usually have as much interest in sports as I do in, say, waxing cars. But hubby is totally into it and got me caught up in the excitement. He has patiently answered all the my questions so I know what's going on (apparently it's not as simple as just hitting the ball) and now it's fun to watch. I think I make it quite fun for him too, what with my screams of, "Run, boy, RUN!" when our team hits the ball, or "Catch it! You better CATCH IT!" when the opponent hits a ball.

I can see some of your eyes glazing over. "You're talking about sports? We're here for FOOD!"
Alrighty then!

Lemongrass tofu & chard over rice.

Eggplant tofu claypot

Time to look through some recipes to prepare for Vegan Mofo!