Vegetarian Kimchi Soup

Korean chili paste

Gochujang is a Korean chili paste and it's used in soups and stuff. I like it in soups as it adds a spicy and red color to everything. My first experience with it is having Yukgaejang, which is a spicy beef soup. Kimchi soup is another Korean-style soup which usually has some sort of meat in it, like pork. Here is a vegetarian version.

8 oz of wheat meat/gluten/seitan
2 cups of kimchi (chopped)
2 tablespoons of gochujang
3-4 garlic cloves
4 Chinese black mushrooms (soaked and sliced)
half a carton of tofu (about 6-7 ounces), cubed
2 green onions
sesame oil to taste
salt to taste

Vegetarian Kimchi Soup

Bring to boil about 3-4 cups of water. Add the mushrooms, chopped kimchi, chili paste, garlic and half of the green onions. Simmer. Meanwhile, fry the wheat meat to develop a desired texture. It's already cooked so you don't need to over-fry it, but you want it to liven it up. Toss into the soup. If using, add sesame oil to taste. Add salt to taste. Garnish with the rest of the green onions. You can eat it as is or serve with brown rice.

Silk Creamer

Silk Creamer (Original)

         I'm not a vegan, but I have vegan tendencies. Call me a semi-vegan, if you will. I mean, I do use honey in my tea and my shoes are made from leather, so I'll never be completely a vegan, but I am trying to cut down on my dairy consumption, which is a lot. I don't really drink milk unless I'm having a chocolate cake or if I'm having cereal. I've cut down on my chocolate cake consumption and since the cereal that I enjoy has little protein, I've stopped having cereal. So, the only real time I drink milk nowadays is when I'm having tea or coffee. Enter Silk Creamer.
     Sure, there are other creamers, such as Trader Joe's Soy Creamer, etc. In any case, all these creamers are creamy enough to put into tea or coffee, if you're into that stuff. I find that putting soy milk, hemp milk or rice milk into tea or coffee just doesn't taste that good. Silk Creamer is really creamy and sweet enough without going overboard.
     And if Silk Creamer is good in tea or coffee, why not cocktails?



Kahlua and Grey Goose Vodka

     
     I bought a bottle of Kahlua two Christamases ago and didn't touch it at all. I enjoy a drink now and then, but I am not naturally drawn to liquor. It's been a long time since I've had a White Russian or other Kahlua drinks like a Dirty Mother, so I bought some vodka just for the hell of it. Of course, I could just have Kahlua and Silk, and also, there must be better things to do with Grey Goose, but whatever.

White Russian (or A Russian in Silk)

Here's my White Russian, or as I call it, A Russian in Silk:
1 oz of Kahlua or coffee liqueur
1 oz of vodka
2 oz of Silk Creamer (or a similar creamer like Trader Joe's Soy Creamer)

In any case, if you're cutting down on dairy products and you still like a mixed drink now and then, why not?

Silk Soy Creamer is not organic, but Trader Joe's is and Organic Valley has an organic version too.

Meatless Beef Chow Mein

Meatless Beef Chow Mein

I've always loved noodles. Call it a Chinese thing. On the other hand, noodles is a world-wide thing. So, everyone can get in on the noodle action. Here's my version for the day. It's really what I had lying around. Really, if I had mung bean sprouts or bell peppers or bok choy, I'd throw it in. However, Chinese cabbage works nicely too. This dish features my homemade wheat gluten, but you can buy it at the store. Since I made a whole batch, I may as well eat it up while it's fresh, you know.

Meatless Beef Chow Mein
8 oz of chow mein noodles
1-2 cloves of garlic
4 oz of wheat gluten/seitan, homemade or WestSoy Seitan Wheat Protein
1/2- 3/4 cup of vegetarian chicken broth/bouillon or vegetable stock or mushroom stock
2 teaspoons of soy sauce
2 teaspoons of vegetarian oyster sauce
2 oz Chinese cabbage
1 handful of dried Chinese black mushrooms
a little Lao Gan Ma chili sauce (optional)
spicy sesame oil (optional)
1 teaspoon of sugar (optional)
coconut oil

Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water until soft. Remove stems. You can reserve the water and replace the broth if you wish, but make sure you don't pour in any sediment. Prepare noodles according to directions on package. Usually, you will soak them in hot/warm water for about five minutes and drain.

Pre-heat pan on medium heat. When it's hot, add coconut oil and coat the pan. Throw in your Chinese cabbage, mushrooms and cook for a few minutes. Add garlic (making sure not to burn) and your wheat gluten. It's already cooked so you don't have to worry about it that much. If using Lao Gan Ma sauce, add some at this point. Pour broth in or water. If using bouillon, toss it in right now. If using, add sugar now.  Add soy sauce and oyster sauce. Bring broth to a boil or close to a boil. Add noodles and toss noodles to coat. Reduce broth until it's near dry. If using sesame oil, pour in teaspoon and mix evenly. Serve immediately. This makes 2 servings, but I can eat the whole thing. 23 grams of protein per serving.

Philly Cheese Wheatsteak Sandwich



Sandwich rolls, an onion and green bell pepper



Here's an easy sandwich to make. It's a vegefied version of a Philly cheesesteak sandwich. Maybe it shouldn't even be called a Philly cheesesteak sandwich. How about the Seattle cheese wheat sandwich? Or, we're not in Philly anymore vegetarian cheese steak sandwich? In any case, it's delicious anyway.

Philly Cheese Wheat Sandwich
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 green bell pepper, sliced thinly

1 box of WestSoy Wheat Protein/Seitan Slices or the equivalent of 8 oz of wheat gluten cut very thinly as possible.

salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
1-2 cloves of garlic
2 sandwich rolls
cheese, the kind you like
ketchup, to taste

Here I am about to brown my onions . . .

So, I couldn't find any Italian rolls at my Chinese supermarket, but I found these sandwich rolls/banh mi rolls, which work just as fine. If you want to cut out some of the bun to make way for more filling, go right ahead. I'm a little lazy that way. Also, if you like to toast the bread, do it in your toaster oven if you have one, if not, stick your bread in the oven at 200 degrees for a few minutes. If you don't like green bell peppers, try red bell peppers. They are my favorite. Also, the issue of cheese. I can't get myself to buy Cheese Whiz. After you make your sandwiches and you're left with the rest of the Cheese Whiz. It's like your trashy brother-in-law staying over at your house eating out of your fridge but you really have nothing in common with him and it's kind of awkward, but you have to deal with the fact that he's there! So, if you want Cheese Whiz, fine. I like provolone or even Swiss. I happen to have Swiss cheese in my fridge so I decided to use that instead. Next time, when I'm high, I'll get some Cheese Whiz.

So, pre-heat your pan to medium heat while cutting up your onions. Add oil to the pan (preferable coconut oil) and then toss in the onion and bell pepper slices. Cook them until the onions start to brown, about 6-10 minutes. Toss in the garlic, salt and pepper. Remove from the pan. Add a little more oil and add the wheat gluten/seitan and saute briefly. You just want to get it hot since it's already cooked. Also, you're not going to get the classically thin slices as you can get with beef since I don't think any butcher will just cut up your gluten for you. So, don't worry about how thick your wheat gluten is. Salt and pepper to taste. Add back your onions and bell peppers. Divide into two piles and put the cheese on top of the piles to melt. Alternatively, you can pile your filling onto a plate, put the cheese on top and melt in the microwave or a warmed oven. Take out your warmed up bread and put the filling in the middle and add ketchup, if desired.



Vegetarian Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich

This recipe makes 2 servings and each serving has 30 grams of protein. If you're eating it and it feels like something is missing, it's probably that pain in your chest or you're feeling your arteries not clogging. Or maybe it's the cholesterol you're missing. In any case, it's a lighter meal even though it has cheese on it.

If you want to Chinafy it, cook the wheat gluten with some Lao Gan Ma sauce. That'll spice things up! Also, if you want to up the garlic flavor, add more garlic or add garlic powder.

Homemade Wheat Meat



I made this meat all by myself.

 I was about to make 'Philly cheese-wheat sandwiches,' but realized I was out of wheat gluten/seitan. Luckily, I had some vital wheat gluten in my cabinet, so I decided to make some. It's not that it's so hard or anything. I just didn't feel like going back downtown just to go to Whole Foods. It was really easy. Now, there are some vegetarians out there who find it distasteful to make vegetarian food look like meat, but I'm not one of them. Besides, wheat gluten naturally looks like meat. Or what do you think? Does my batch of wheat gluten look like meat to you? Now, if I was making cheesesteak sandwiches, I'd probably cut these a little thinner. So, I'll cut them thinner a little later.

What a time saver!

Before they had vital wheat gluten in the store, the way you would make this stuff is to take regular flour, knead it for a long time, let it rest, knead it some more, then, rinse out the starch from the flour, leaving the gluten in a wet ball. It's therapeutic and relaxing, but you may not want so much therapy. So, now, with this vital wheat gluten, you just add water and the gluten ball magically appears.

Bob's Red Mill's Vital Wheat Gluten Flour has a recipe on the packaging, which I use as a base. My recipe is as follows:

2 cups of vital wheat gluten
1/2 cup of garbanzo bean flour
1/4 cup of soy flour
2 cups of water
1 teaspoon of onion powder
1 teaspoon of garlic powder

6 cups of water
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of molasses

When I follow Bob's Red Mill's recipe, my gluten is a little spongy and the taste I'm going for is a little denser, like WestSoy's products. So, I looked at the box and they put in garbanzo bean and soy flour, so I decided I would too.

Mix the vital wheat gluten, garbanzo bean flour, soy flour, garlic and onion powder together. Add the 2 cups of water and stir well. You will notice that it will solidify very quickly so work fast! Now, form a ball and knead it for a minute or two. Let it rest a few minutes while you prepare the simmering broth.

In a stockpot, pour in the water, the soy sauce and the molasses. Bring to boil, then lower the heat to simmer.

Break the gluten ball into 8 pieces. Each piece has 23 grams of protein. I cut each ball into 12 pieces and I toss it into the broth. Repeat with the others. Now, don't worry that the pieces look small because they will expand while cooking. Let the gluten simmer in the broth for an hour, then drain. And that's it. You can freeze them if you want, or keep a few days worth in the fridge.

I didn't have to go downtown and I saved myself some money too. You can get vital wheat gluten at Whole Foods, PCC or Red Apple. Try to make some yourself and let me know how it went.

Clear Noodles with Minced Vegetarian Meat

Here is another easy noodle dish made with mung bean noodles (also known as cellophane noodles, clear noodles, saifun, fensi, etc.). This is a typical Sichuan style dish with an interesting Chinese name. This dish is famous dish so it has a set name: Ants Climbing a Tree (Ma yi shang shu, 螞蟻上樹). It's usually made with ground pork and the pork pieces are said to resemble ants. If you lift up strands of noodles with your fork, the pork sticks to the noodle, so I suppose they could remind someone of ants climbing upwards. Of course, this version, there are no ants or pork- just minced vegetarian meat made from soy.



Clear Noodles with Minced Vegetarian Meat

 Clear Noodles with Minced Vegetarian Meat
4 oz of mung bean noodles
4 oz of minced vegetarian meat or minced wheat gluten
1 teaspoon of hot bean paste (dou ban jiang, toban jian, etc., 豆辦醬)
shaoxing rice wine (shaoxing jiu, 紹興酒)
1-2 teaspoons of vegetarian chicken bouillon/broth
1-2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 green onions
sesame oil, optional
coconut oil



Mung bean noodles and minced vegetarian meat

 Before I share the recipe, I must say a few things about the items. You can get mung bean noodles in the Asian aisle of your supermarket. They usually have some next to the soy sauce, etc. If they don't carry it, you can go to Viet Wah or 99 Ranch. I got mine from the Red Apple. I look for the kind that's from Taiwan. Don't let the pink netting fool you. Most of them have pink netting surrounding them. The ones from China tend to break up while cooking. I bought the can of vegetarian minced meat from 99 Ranch. However, you can always use minced wheat gluten since that'll up the protein value. I wanted to try this brand because it had other traditional seasonings already in it. It has some protein, but not enough for a substantial meal.

Soak the dried mung bean noodles in warm water for thirty minutes . . . or not. Most people soak them. I don't find any use for it. Pre-warm your pan on medium heat while cutting up your green onions. When the pan is hot enough, scoop in some coconut oil and coat the pan. Toss in your minced meat and cook evenly by stirring. Splash in a teaspoon or so of the Shaoxing rice wine and put in your hot bean sauce. One teaspoon is actually quite hot. So, start off with 1/2 teaspoon and adjust to taste. If you like it really hot, add two or more teaspoons. If it clumps together, de-clump it with your spatula. Everything will take on a red hue. Usually when that happens, you know it's going to be hot. In fact, I'm starting to sweat right now and I'm not even near it!!! Since the 'meat' is already cooked, throw in 2 cups of water and crank up the heat to high and bring to a boil.

If your meat is already seasoned, then add one teaspoon of bouillon. If not, add two. Toss in your noodles and splash a few teaspoons of soy sauce into them. The boiling water will soften them as they go. Turn the heat down to medium and let it simmer and let the water reduce. Somewhere along the way, the noodles will completely submerge into the broth. Make sure this happens. You will want all the broth to reduce away. This will happen in about ten minutes. Keep your eye on it and using your spatula, move the noodles around so they don't stick to the pan. When you're nearly out of water, toss in your green onions. When it is more or less dry, remove from heat. Pour in one teaspoon of sesame oil and mix evenly. Serve immediately. 4 grams of protein (more if you use wheat gluten/seitan).

Gluten Rolls with Chinese Cabbage



Gluten Rolls

 Gluten rolls (mianlun, 麵輪) or wheels are made from gluten rolled up into a 'sausage,' then cut into pieces and deep fried. When you get them, they are dried, so you will need to soak them before using them. If you don't soak them long enough, they will have crunchy parts within a softened texture. You do want them to have an even texture. I find that they are worth eating because they are chock full of protein, but also they have a different textural experience from anything you can find in a non-Chinese market. You can buy these in Chinatown at Ping's Food Mart (510 South King Street) or 99 Ranch.

Gluten Rolls with Chinese Cabbage
2.5 ounce of gluten rolls
1/4 medium Chinese cabbage
4 Chinese black mushrooms
1 clove of garlic
1 cube of fermented bean curd
dash of sesame oil
coconut oil

Separately, soak gluten rolls and Chinese black mushrooms in boiling hot water for 45 minutes. Remove mushroom stems and slice into pieces. If you notice that your gluten rolls are not soft enough, I let them stay in the hot water a little longer. They have a tendency to float so I usually put a bowl on top of them, to keep them submerged. Chop garlic. Cut cabbage into bite-sized pieces (if not a little larger than that). Pre-heat pan on medium heat. When the pan is warm, throw in your garlic and cabbage. Keep the cabbage moving with a spatula, making sure the cabbage and garlic don't burn. Throw in your mushrooms, your fermented bean curd and your gluten rolls. If you haven't thrown out the water that the mushrooms were soaking in, pour a teaspoon or two of the water into the pan. Cover pan and steam for 3 minutes or so. Uncover pan and if there is excessive water, allow it to reduce. If your fermented bean curd didn't break up yet, mash it and spread evenly. Pour in a dash of sesame oil and stir to coat evenly. Serve immediately with brown rice. Serves 1 large-ish portion or 2 decent servings. 25 grams of protein as one serving.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Wheat Sauce

Whole Wheat Pasta with Wheat Sauce

Where would you be without easy, high protein meals? And pasta is easy, don't you think?

Whole Wheat Pasta with Wheat Sauce
4 oz. whole wheat pasta (fusilli pictured here)
4 oz. store bought vegetarian spaghetti sauce (Prego pictured here)
2.5 oz wheat gluten/seitan, minced.
parmesan cheese, shredded or grated
pepper, to taste
other herbs, to taste (dried basil, for me; oregano for you?)

Prepare pasta according to directions on the package. Here, the pasta was cooked for 11 minutes. While the pasta is cooking, warm up the sauce and mince the wheat gluten and put it in the sauce. Throw in pepper and other herbs. When the pasta is cooked, drain and put in a bowl. Pour sauce over the noodles and top with parmesan cheese. Serves 1. 24 grams of protein.

Vegetarian Duck Noodle Soup

Pho (Vietnamese Rice Noodles) is popular in Seattle. You can get a good bowl of beef pho, but I have found that the vegetarian pho always sucks, maybe because they think that vegetables are substantial enough for a meal? Why isn't there a choice to add wheat gluten, instead of let's say just vegetables or tofu? I like tofu every now and then, don't get me wrong. It just seems as if vegetarian noodles are an afterthought. Here

is my version.


Vegetarian Duck Noodle Soup



Vegetarian Duck Noodle Soup

2 teaspoons vegetarian chicken bouillon

1 piece of star anise (with 8 points)

1 cinnamon stick (or cassia)

1/2 teaspoon of sugar

1/4 medium onion

1 green onion

1 slice of lime

1/2 can of mock duck

3 or 4 oz of rice noodles

Optional:

handful of mung bean sprounts

a few sprigs of cilantro

Sriracha sauce

Hoisin sauce

Thai basil

Bring to bowl 2 cups of water. Add the bouillon, star anise, cinnamon, ginger, onion, sugar and mock duck. Simmer for ten minutes or so. If you want to simmer longer, that's fine. Don't let the water reduce too much. You can always water back. Meanwhile, chop up the green onion. Remove the star anise, ginger and cinnamon. Prepare the noodles per instructions on the package. Pour the noodle and the broth into a bowl, top with the green onions. If using, serve with lime, mung bean sprouts, Sriracha sauce and hoisin sauce. Serves 1 (21 grams of protein).



Wheat Gluten 'duck' and vegetarian bouillon.

If you are not a fan of vegetarian chicken bouillon, you can make a mushroom soup base with Chinese black mushrooms. Soak 6 dried mushrooms until soft and remove stem. Add mushrooms to boiling water and simmer for thirty minutes then follow the rest of the directions.

I'm not a fan of too much cilantro, but normally, I would add mung bean sprouts. I just didn't have any in the fridge. I'd add maybe a squirt of Sriracha. I never use hoisin sauce in my noodles. My friend in Los Angeles likes to mix the hoisin with a plate of raw onions and eat it with the noodles. He's Korean and he says that it's a Korean thing.

And if you want to come over and have some, let me know ahead of time and I'll make extra!

Basic Wheat Stir-Fry with Lao Gan Ma Sauce

Here's an easy dish you can make in a very short time.

BASIC WHEAT STIR-FRY

1 8 oz. box of Wheat Gluten such as West Soy Seitan Strips.

1/2 medium onion

1 bell pepper, preferably red (or green, yellow, orange)

coconut oil for cooking

1 teaspoon of Lao Gan Ma Sauce

a splash of soy sauce

a splash of sesame oil

Makes 2 servings.

Pre-heat pan on medium heat. Remove wheat from packaging and squeeze out the excess water and place in a bowl. I have chosen to use the strips. Don't expect them to look like perfect strips. I guess it would be better to call them chunks. If you want perfect strips, get the cubes and cut them yourself. Don't be afraid to squeeze hard. Gluten is pretty strong and will usually snap back into place. Chop the onion into desired size. Turn the bell pepper on its side and cut off the top and the bottom. Slice in half and remove the seeds and connective membranes. Cut the top and bottom into usable pieces and remove the stem from the top. If you choose to cook over high-heat, you must work quickly and move the food around very quickly to avoid burning and to distribute the seasoning. I choose to leave it on medium heat.

Scoop in some coconut oil and coat the pan. Toss in the onions and bell pepper pieces. Let it cook for about three minutes or until the onions are cooked to desired state. Put in your Lao Gan Ma (老干媽) Sauce. You may be asking, what the heck is Lao Gan Ma Sauce? Well, it's a sauce invented in Guizhou and used by spice enthusiasts. It consists of soybeans, chilis, Sichuan pepper. You also find it in Hunan or Sichuan cooking and now, more or less, everywhere. There is MSG in it, so if you are completely against the idea of using MSG, you can make your own by mixing chilis with fermented black soybeans and Sichuan pepper in some oil. I don't add MSG into my food, but if it's there already, I'm not too obsessive about it. I eat it occasionally even though I would love to abuse the sauce. No, this is not a cry for help. The Sichuan pepper in the sauce is labelled as prickly ash, which is the same thing. It's the stuff that makes your tongue tingle in a good way.

If you find a picture of a surly woman on the bottle, then you have the right brand. There are three kinds and I get the crispy one. I got mine at the ABC Supermarket in Beacon Hill. You can get it at Viet Wah or 99 Ranch Market.

Throw in your wheat, then splash in some soy sauce and coat the pieces evenly. If you have too much liquid, allow it to reduce. At the end put in a little sesame oil and mix evenly. Serve immediately with brown rice. Each serving has 30 grams of protein.

I personally prefer red bell peppers because they are sweeter and use green bell peppers if I want a bitter vegetable for taste balance, but I was drawn to orange bell peppers today.

Variations: if you're not into bell peppers or onions, try snow peas and Chinese black mushrooms (also known as shiitake mushrooms) with the same sauce or with black bean sauce.

The wheat has the mouth feel of chicken or beef, but it's vegetarian, I swear!

Most People Can and Do Eat Wheat Gluten

For easy meals, I use wheat gluten. Most people don't have allergies, sensitivities or diseases related to eating wheat gluten. It's a classic ingredient used in Chinese vegetarian cooking that's been around hundreds and hundreds of years. Moreover, you can make it at home. For a quick and easy meal, I just pick up some in the various forms you can get from the store. This one is from West Soy. It comes in cubes, strips or ground. They did not have ground at Whole Foods. Also, this one is not pure wheat gluten. It also has garbanzo bean flour and soy flour. I usually cut the cubes into chunks or strips and make a stir fry, which I will blog about one of these days. Today, I was in the mood for wheat burgers.

Basic wheat burger

1 8 oz box of wheat gluten, minced

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

salt to taste

pepper to taste

1 egg

bread crumbs

Refined coconut oil or clarified butter, for frying.

Makes 4 wheat patties. About 15 grams of protein per patty.

In a bowl, mix the wheat gluten, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Crack in an egg and mix thoroughly. Toss in a little bread crumbs and mix. If the mixture is too watery, add more bread crumbs. When you get a mixture that starts to clump together, you are done. Form into patties. If you wish, put them in the freezer. Meanwhile, pre-heat a skillet on medium heat. After a few minutes, put in the oil or butter, distribute evenly. Fry each side 4 minutes. Serve immediately. You can place them in between buns, add mustard or ketchup, cheese, lettuce, if desired. Or eat with brown rice or by itself with some sauce.

Variations: add your own spices, such as dried parsley, or throw in some minced vegetables or mushrooms.

I made these for lunch today and had some fresh grated ginger tea. For dessert, I had longan (longyan, 龍眼). I will blog about this Chinese fruit some other time.

I weigh 188 pounds now, for a total loss of 7 pounds since the beginning of the year.