Maple-Pecan-Crusted Vegan Chicken

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons margarine
1/4 teaspoon crushed pink Himalayan salt
1/4 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon olive oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/3 cup crushed pecans
2 cups of your favorite vegan chicken

Directions:

In a cast-iron skillet, melt the margarine over medium heat then add the salt, brown sugar, ginger, and olive oil. Mix that together.  Stir in the maple syrup, pecans and turn the heat down to low. Wait for it to bubble then add your vegan chicken. Flip it a few times to get it coated and then let your chicken simmer in the maple syrup mixture.  Cook for 2 to 3 mins then flip and cook another 2 to 3 mins. The kitchen will smell AMAZING.  You know the chicken is done when you have a golden brown crust on the pecans.

Recipe by:  Annie & Dan Shannon authors of the Betty Goes Vegan cookbook.
Photo by:  Laura Spear

Mongolian BBQ Seitan

Ingredients (serves 4)

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

1/4 cup water

1 T soy sauce

1 T agave

1 tsp lemon juice

1 to 2 tsp chili-garlic sauce (I used 3)

2 T's canola oil

8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced

8 ounces seitan, you can make your own or use one of my recipes or even buy a store bought package

2 tsp grated fresh ginger

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground cloves

4 ounces of snow peas (i used a bag of stir fry veggies)

2 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 cups cooked rice, for serving

In a small bowl, make the sauce by whisking together hoisin sauce, water, soy sauce, agave, lemon juice, and chili-garlic sauce. Set aside. 

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat and stir-fry the mushrooms and seitan until lightly browned and mushrooms have released their juices. Add ginger, cinnamon, and cloves; let cook a few more minutes.

Add the sauce and snow peas (or stir fry veggies) to the skillet. Reduce heat to medium, and let cook until sauce has thickened. Turn off heat and mix in scallions and cilantro, serve over rice.

This recipe is by Chef Chloe, the photos are by Laura Spear. If you'd like to pick up her new cookbook you can find it on the right side of my blog in my amazon spindle, its called Chloe's Kitchen. Enjoy!

Simmered Seitan

Seitan, also known as "wheat meat" is a staple in the vegan diet. You can do just about anything you can imagine with it. We've made roasts, sliced "steak" for salads, hot wings, Asian noodle dishes, soups, you name it and you can use seitan in it. Here is a quick and easy recipe for this awesome "wheat meat".

SEITAN:
1 3/4 cup wheat gluten flour (vital wheat gluten)
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil

SIMMERING BROTH:
7 cups water
1 medium onion quartered
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 cup soy sauce

DIRECTIONS:
In a large bowl, combine the flour, yeast, onion powder, paprika, and salt. In a medium bowl, combine the water, soy sauce, and oil.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring to make a soft dough.
Kneed for 3 minutes, then let rest for 5 minutes. Divide the dough into 2 or 4 pieces depending on your needs (recipe makes about 2 pounds) I usually divide into 4 (8 ounce) portions.
In a large saucepan, or slow cooker, combine the water, onion, garlic, and soy sauce. Add the seitan pieces to the liquid and bring just to a simmer. Cook for 1 hour. Do not let the liquid come to a boil.

The seitan can be allowed to cool in the liquid and then refrigerated until needed for recipes. Seitan keeps well in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days or in the freezer for 2 to 3 weeks. 

Recipe is by Robin Robertson from the cookbook "Vegan on the Cheap" Photo by Veg Yum.

Bon Appétit,