Vegan with a Vengeance - A Review

So for the past week... well few weeks, I have been trying out recipes in a recent cookbook, Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Overall I did like this book. unlike Veganomicon, this book was a little more into the realm of comfort food and focused on recipes that a novice cook could complete successfully.

Like most vegan cook books, Vegan with a Vengeance begins with a nice introduction on why she wrote this book and where she came from and how she got to being the Post Punk. She tells you what the essential tools are for the vegan cook and what she thinks should be stocked in a vegan pantry. Well-written and does a very good job at telling the story, not just telling you what to do.

Some of the recipes are for beginners, she even goes so far as to tell you how to chop tofu. However, these staple items are a really good foundation for vegan cooking. I kind of wish this was my first vegan cookbook or at least one of my firsts.

Isa also brings her flavour and spice combos into this dish, I personally think she is a master at the sweet, salty, spicy, sour combo. I think it really takes someone talented and trained in matching and combining flavour to produce some of the items in her book.

I think my biggest criticism of this book is that I wish there was more variety in the flavours. I think Isa has her favourites and her books reflect them. It's not fully a bad thing, but I think I would use the book even more if there was a bit more, especially in the entrees. I am not even sure how to articulate this one in words. I think that there are a lot of similar spices in many of the main course dishes (cumin, coriander, curry etc)

Anyways, in summary, I highly recommend this book for the beginner vegan, the flirt (part time vegan), vegan curious etc. There are recipes in this book that I will be going back to and altering to make them my own.

Here is what I tried:

Fronch Toast

Tofu Salad

No-Bake Black Bottom Peanut Butter Silk Pie

Homemade Seitan

Double Wammy: Jerk Seitan and Coconut Rice







So, the bottom line: Highly recommend this book. This is just a small snapshot of what she has to offer.

Jamaican Feast! Vegan Style

I recently made some homemade seitan (Recipe here) and had no idea what to do with. I decided that I would make some more recipes out of the book I have been reviewing.. (which I can now actually write about, stay tuned for that!) Vegan with a Vengeance. I decided to make Jerk Seitan. Jerk really is a Jamaican style of cooking with a spice run or marinade that normally is used on meat. Traditional jerk contains allspice, hot, hot peppers, cloves, cinnamon, thyme, pepper. These days, people put their own spin on the classic jerk and Vegan with a Vengeance does just that.

Jerk Seitan
From Vegan with a Vengeance

The marinade:

• 1/2 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 1/2 Tbsp ginger, chopped
• 3 Tbsp of fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp thyme, chopped or dried
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1 tsp of fresh nutmeg grated

For the seitan:

• 1 lbs of seitan, sliced thick into strips
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 green pepper, sliced (I used red)

Prepare the marinade in a food processor or blender. Combine all the ingredients and process until it is smooth, although some chunkiness is fine. Put the seitan into a shallow bowl or dish and pour the marinade on top. Cover and let it sit for at least an hour.

Prep - don't forget!

Now, once the seitan is marinaded, heat a large pan on medium heat and add the oil. Next add the onion and the pepper and cook for 5-7 minutes or until it is starting to brown. Add the seitan (reserve the marinade) cook for about 10 - 15 minutes. Then add the remaining marinade and heat it through.

With this I decided to make some coconut rice and although I have a good recipe, I decided to try Isa Chandra Moskowitz's version. The major difference in the two is that my recipe has raisins in it and hers has toasted coconut. Isa, you win. This was my first time eating toasted coconut and oh my, why did I wait this long?! Anyways, here is the recipe, cut in half because that was how I made it.

Coconut Rice

• 1 cup of rice
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/2 a can of coconut milk
• cinnamon stick
• pinch of salt
• lime zest of one lime
• toasted coconut flakes

Take the rice, water, milk, cinnamon and salt in a pot and bring it to a boil. Stir cover and turn down to low and simmer for 20 minutes. After this give it a stir, add the lime zest, cover and let it sit off the heat for 10 more minutes. While it sits, toast the rice in a dry pan over medium heat for about 3-5 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick and serve topping the rice with the coconut.

The last thing I made to make this meal complete was some collard greens. I sauteed them on medium heat with a little bit of oil and a splash of white balsamic vinegar.

OK, my review of this meal.. I will start with the seitan. Overall, this was really good. It has sweet, spicy, salty and sour elements to it and the seitan cooked up so much better than the store bought. My only criticism is that the jerk is really not traditional. I found it was really lacking in spice. If I made it again, I would up the spice big time because that is what I think of first when I have jerk. Spicy! I have to say though Isa is a master at combining spice.

The rice - simple, easy and tasty. I will make this again. I also will never forget to use a little toasted coconut on my rice when I want to sweeten it up a bit.

And, the collards... well I make these at least 2-3 times a week or some variation of it. I like them, they take 10 minutes from start to finish and it is a tasty way to get a serving of veggies. Oh and one last thing. It is a must to serve this meal with some Jamaican beer and preferably on the beach if you happen to be lucky enough to live on one.

Oh Seitan!!

Well, another fear conquered. This was not my first time eating seitan, but it was my first time making it. I have seen the recipes before and it looks so simple to do... These are the recipes I tend to mess up the most. I had a free night and I had some homemade broth ready to use (Recipe here) so I figured, why not? How hard could it be? Turns out, not hard at all.
 So, a bit of information for you first because I know that not everyone knows about this meat substitute. Vital Wheat Gluten (the core ingredient in seitan) has been used in Asian cultures for a long time. When combined with liquid, wheat gluten turns into a chewy and stringy meat substitute. It is a great alternative for tofu and other soy-based protein and is known for having a meaty texture.

Seitan contains about 31 grams of protein per 4 ounce serving (more protein that tofu!), has B vitamins and iron and contains no saturated fat or cholesterol. A serving has about 118 calories which is not too bad (about 40% less calories then a similar size of beef).

You can buy it pre-packaged at places like Planet Organic, or Asian markets. I really like it for when I want a 'meaty' dish. The only problem I have with the pre-packaged stuff is that it is really expensive and they never provide enough for a recipe.

So enough class time... how do you make it? Easy! I started out using the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance, but I did not have any tomato paste which that version called for. I then googled for other recipes and found that you didn't need it. A number of recipes seemed very similar to the one in Veganomicon, so I think I will give credit where it is due.
Homemade Seitan
From Veganomicon

• 1 cup of vital wheat gluten
• 3 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
• 1/2 cup of cold water
• 1/4 cup of soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, pressed or grated on a microplane grater
• 5 cups of veggie broth
• 3 cups of water
• 1/4 cup soy sauce

Mix the vital wheat gluten and nutritional yeast in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix the cold water, soy sauce oil and garlic. Pour the wet into the dry and stir until it is combined. Now, knead the mixture until it is elasticky, which takes about three minutes. Cut the ball into thirds and stretch each piece out a bit.
Now, in a large stock pot combine the veggie broth, water and soy sauce. Put the seitan in the pot and bring to a boil. Keep an eye on the pot and as soon as it boils, put the heat to lowest and partially cover it with a lid. Simmer for an hour, turning the seitan every once in a while. Once cooked, let it cool until you can handle it and cut into slices.
 

Yes, this is what it should look like.
Not everything can be photogenic!

If you don't want to use it all right away, save the broth and store the seitan in it (cover in broth). You can freeze it or keep it in the fridge.
This makes about a Pound of seitan, which is what most recipes call for.

Seitan - looks so much fresher than the packaged stuff!

My thoughts on this recipe, it does not photograph well and I now know why you never see pictures of it! I have now tried this in a recipe (more on this one soon) and I have to say, it is delicious. It tastes way better than the pre-packaged stuff and the recipe actually yields enough for recipes. It does take a while to make it, but seriously the work part is done in about 5 minutes. It takes me longer to get to the store than it does to get this stuff simmering.
At Planet Organic, seitan costs about $5.00, sometimes more. This recipe which makes about 2-3 packages worth of seitan probably cost me about $5.00... so it is a third of the price, for a better tasting product.
I will not be going back to the packaged stuff. I have been spoiled. It is like going to first class. Once you know what you are missing, you can't go back!

Vegan or not, give seitan a try... I dare you!