Black Pepper "Chicken" 5/5 Spoons

Chicago is a food town. Now I think most big cities call themselves "food towns" but seriously, Chicago? We rule. Now a lot of it is very meaty but that is the Midwest and I barely even notice it because of the sheer amount of vegetarian and vegan options there are here. One thing I was missing moving here was some damn good Chinese food. Honestly..... how is there no good Chinese food here?!?! I've found much better stuff in my hometown in Wisconsin. I'm pretty basic.... I just want General Tso's tofu or maybe some vegetable lo mein. Every time I've ordered either one they have been either really inedible, disappointing or just plain gross.

It is true that necessity is the mother of invention and I'm not saying that I invented Chinese food (wow, I really hope you wouldn't think I would say that, haha). After having thrown away so much nasty take out Chinese food, I realized I can make this stuff myself. Duh Jackie, right? Remember when I made Sesame Tofu with Broccoli? So good. Now we have Black Pepper Seitan "Chicken"! So I've never had this dish before but my roommate suggested I make it so she can have a meat free version of it. And I'm willing to accommodate meat eaters with some non-meat options to show how easy and awesome it can be to be meat-free. This is my own recipe with some inspiration from here.

(Looks pretty good, huh?)

Okay, so I wrote the directions out and they are lengthy but I promise that this is not a hard thing to do. There are just a lot of steps. I want to "school" you on vital wheat gluten (or seitan or "wheat meat") for a moment just in case you have no idea what it is or where it comes from. I buy mine online and love Arrowhead Mills but I know that Bob's Red Mill and King Arthur Flour makes one as well. You can get them at most Whole Foods, health food stores and often times in the natural/organic section of your standard supermarket. It can be pricey but it lasts awhile. It is worth it to make your own seitan.

(Cartoon courtesy of Bizarro)

Black Pepper Seitan “Chicken”

Serves 4

1 c. vital wheat gluten
Scant 1 c. water (I use just a bit less than a full cup because I like my gluten firmer; too much water makes it squishier)

Mix together and form a ball with your hands. Knead a few times just to make sure everything is cohesive. If your dough is more firm then you shouldn’t have to knead it quite as much. Set aside while you make the broth.

4 c. water
½ c. nutritional yeast
¼ c. soy sauce or tamari
1 t. kosher salt
2 t. onion powder
1 t. garlic powder

Turn your heat on high before throwing all the ingredients into a large pot and whisk until fully incorporated. You want to get this broth to a boil before throwing in your seitan chunks. Speaking of that, take a sharp knife and slice your seitan into whatever shape you want. I like random chunks that you can easily eat in one bite, but do whatever you like! Once your broth is boiling (and smells amazing, trust me) gently place your seitan around the pot. Don’t pile them all up together because you don’t want it to stick. Once all your seitan is in the pot, stir it around to make sure everyone is getting along nicely. Lid your pot most of the way (I always leave a crack on the side to let some steam out) and turn the stove down to low. You want it simmering but not boiling like crazy. Check every ten minutes and stir to make sure nothing is sticking to anything else. The seitan will puff up so don’t freak out, you didn’t do anything wrong. Let it simmer for about 50-60 minutes until most of the broth is absorbed into the seitan. Drain the liquid and scoop out the seitan onto a plate and let cool on the counter.

Get a large sauce pan and turn it to med-high and cover the bottom with oil. This is not an exact science but take about 3-4 T. of cornstarch and a dash of flour with a pinch of salt, pepper and paprika and shake it in a covered container or zip top bag. Take about 1/3 of your seitan and toss it in the starch mix to coat. Make sure to shake off the excess before frying in the hot pan. Fry until it is light brown on both sides and repeat the starch coating for the other 2/3 of the seitan. Place the chunks on a plate with paper towel and let cool.

Once this part is done, wipe down the pan and turn off the heat while you prep the veggies and sauce.

1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 yellow onion, sliced

Sauce:

¼ c. soy sauce or tamari
2 T. cornstarch
1 t. rice wine vinegar
1 t. freshly ground black pepper (I may have added about 1/3 t. more…. But I like things very peppery)
1 t. sugar
1 garlic clove, minced fine or pressed
¾ c. vegetable broth or water

Whisk everything but vegetable broth together and set aside.

Get your pan hot again on a high flame. Put about 2-3 T. of oil into your pan and toss your veggies in, they should sizzle like mad! You want to get some nice dark color on your veggies but not burn them of course. Toss the veggies about for a few minutes until they are tender. Empty your sauce into the pan along with the broth. Whisk the sauce in to make sure there are no starchy clumps in your food. It will get thick but just keep moving everything around for 1-2 minutes. Place your seitan in the pan and coat with the sauce. Now serve with some rice and enjoy!

Now if you got through reading all of this, congratulations! It looks like a big deal but it's really not. You just have to have the forethought to make seitan; which you can do up to a week in advance and just keep covered in your fridge. I encourage you to make your own take out-style foods because you control the ingredients and what is going in the end product. That is very important to me and I really hope it is to you!

Next up, America's Test Kitchen Ultimate (my own words) Low-Fat Brownies! These are my go to brownies now.... more on that later.

Sesame Tofu 5/5 Spoons

Sorry to be missing in action again, my loves. I am moving to a new apartment next week with an even better kitchen! I'm so damn sick of this apartment and it's oddly placed kitchen and small counter space that I have not been cooking much lately. Add on PMS and I'd rather burn the kitchen down than cook in it. But that doesn't mean I don't have a back up of recipes that I've made to review.... So here we go!

I'm glad to have foodie friends who are like, "Jackie, what the hell? Where are the recipe reviews?" so here I am talking about probably my new favorite vegan recipe this year. I mean it's so ridiculously easy and silly that I feel bad that it took me this long to actually perfect it. Sesame tofu guys! And I'm talking "Whoa this tastes like it is from Chinese take out" style sesame tofu. It may not be the healthiest thing in the world but there are far worse foods to spend your dinner hour with.

(photo courtesy of LA2DAY.COM)

So the way I make this is kind of a pieced together bastardized version of several recipes. The only "real" recipe I use is here for the Chinese Style Sesame Sauce (and even that I totally tweak the amounts). I looked at this one as well to get a feel for what I should do with the tofu. But I didn't like that she used egg in the tofu prep because I wanted to make this totally vegan. So all I do (and this is my favorite way to fry tofu) is take two blocks of tofu, slice them in bite size chunks, get a Ziploc bag and fill it with about 1/4 c. cornstarch and shake the hell out of it. You obviously don't want your tofu chunks too small or they will just be obliterated in the tossing process but I think you get the point. And I also freeze my tofu and let it thaw before using in this application. I've heard it gives tofu a chewier texture and by Xena, I think the experts are right.

(My own terrible picture!)

Ok, so here we go with the actual cooking. I take a fry pan and fill it with about 1 inch of vegetable oil. I hate using that much oil too but you won't get the great crunchy outside unless you really fry these babies up. Make sure to not crowd the pan otherwise you will just have soggy oily tofu instead of crisp deliciousness. So yeah, this part takes awhile. So be patient. While you are frying, take a small pan and add about 1/4 c. of sesame seeds to toast. Make sure you toss them about as to not burn them (like I did). Once they are done you can set them aside to add later on. When you are about half done with the tofu, you can start making the sauce. I don't know if I need to tell you this but make sure to drain your tofu on paper towel as well.

Here are my tweaks to the recipe above:

-- I only used 1/2 c. sugar and honestly, you could probably cut it down to 1/3 c. and there wouldn't be much of a difference. I find that so many recipes overdo the sugar amounts and I'm glad I didn't put a whole cup in here, it would have been too crazy sweet then.
-- Obviously I used vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.
-- I don't really ever have white vinegar around so I used apple cider and it worked just dandy.
-- Instead of soy sauce, I used tamari because it was what I had.
-- And okay, so I hate kind of hate sesame oil. It has a weird acrid taste that I can't stand whenever I make Indian or Thai food. Because of that I only added about two dashes of the stuff. I liked that there was a hint but not too overwhelming of a flavor.
-- I used hot sauce instead of chili paste since I didn't have any. I added pepper flakes as well because I wanted it spicy!
-- And I didn't use garlic.... I actually just forgot but I honestly don't think it would have added all that much anyhow.

(Photo courtesy of Green Shakes and Giggles)

So whew! A lot of instruction and a lot of changes! So let's piece this bad boy all together. Once the tofu is done, I like to empty out almost all of the oil except for maybe like 3 tablespoons worth. I threw some broccoli in there but you can add whatever you please.... carrots, onions, pineapple, etc. Once those were softened a tad I threw the tofu back in and tossed it with the sauce and sesame seeds and I had a wicked delicious meal. Serve with rice, I like jasmine but any rice will do.

Let me just add that this seriously tastes like take out sesame tofu. It takes a little more time and effort but it is so worth it to know what is going into your food and make it your own.

I give this recipe:

5/5 Spoons!

Wow, this was fun to do! I'll be working on more this week. Enjoy!