Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Vegan Feast Kitchen/ 23rd Century Table

This is my first "Use-It-Up Tuesday" post-- a great idea from the Urban Vegan, Dynise Balcavage.

The other day I experimented with a vegan omelette made with The Vegg, a new egg yolk substitute.  I tried four different versions, two with tofu and two soy-free. The soy-free versions seemed too much like stiff crepes to me, so I abandoned that idea and ended up with a quick and easy tofu-based omelet with eggy flavor-- soft in texture, but strong enough to hold up to folding over a filling (recipe below).  The tofu gives the VEGG mixture more substance-- it's too slimey by itself-- and the flours help the mixture set.

When I was trying to decide how to use leftover omelette (Pheobe the dog is getting some of the "crepey" experiments for treats these days), fried rice came to mind immediately.  I surmised that chopped, cold omelette would be perfect to use in place of the usual scrambled eggs in a fried rice dish-- or, in my case the usual scrambled tofu. I also had some cooked brown basmati and red rice and Chinese vegan "ham" in the freezer, lots of green onions, savoy cabbage (didn't have any bean sprouts), celery and mushrooms (which needed using)... perfect for a fried rice dish with more nutrition than most versions, and a tasty use of leftovers.

Below is the recipe for the new VEGG Omelette and below that is the fried rice recipe.  I hope you enjoy them!

Printable Recipe

BRYANNA'S NEW TOFU AND VEGG OMELETTE (GF)
© Bryanna Clark Grogan 2012
Makes 5 omelettes
TIP: Use an 8-inch nonstick skillet for this recipe.  If you don't have nonstick, use well-seasoned cast iron or hard-anodized, but you may need a little more fat for cooking. Recipe updated December 1, 2013

3/4 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons VEGG powder (egg yolk sub)
12.3 ounce box extra-firm silken tofu, drained and crumbled
1/2 cup chickpea flour (besan)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Per omelette you will need: 1 teaspoon oil or vegan butter (try my homemade palm oil-free Buttah)
Filling: I used some Daiya shreds (use whatever vegan cheese you like) and sautéed mushroom slices with red pepper strips, but use your imagination! Have your filling ready and kept warm before you begin cooking the omelettes, because they cook quickly.

In a blender, process the water and VEGG powder until well mixed and a bit "gloppy"-looking.  Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.  Scrape into a bowl or batter bowl.


Heat your omelette pan (see tip above in recipe intro) over high heat with the oil or vegan butter. 

Use 1/2 cup of batter per omelette. Scoop it into the center of the pan and, using the back of a spoon or a spatula in a circular motion, evenly spread the batter outwards to make a circle that's fairly thin, but with no holes.  Cover and let cook for a couple of minutes, or until the top is set and dry and the bottom is golden and a bit crispy.


Turn the heat down to medium or medium-low and place some of your Filling and vegan cheese (if you are using it) over one half of the circle, then use the spatula to fold the other half over the Filling. Cover the pan again and leave for a minute or two to melt the cheese. Slide onto a warm plate and repeat with the remaining batter.


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And now, the fried rice recipe...


Printable Recipe

BRYANNA'S FRIED BROWN BASMATI AND THAI RED RICE WITH VEGG OMELETTE AND VEGETABLES (Recipe updated December 10, 2015)
Serves 6

Rice is normally eaten plain in China, but occasionally a savory (or "fried") rice dish will be made with leftover rice and other bits and pieces. This type of dish was made popular in Chinese restaurants in North America, so, like the flat egg foo yung omelettes in brown sauce, and ubiquitous chop suey, fried rice is really a Chinese-American dish. However, it is well-loved and can be very delicious. Savory fried rice doesn't need to be greasy and it should be seasoned with salt or just a little light soy sauce-- most American versions are too heavy on the soy sauce. You can use the suggestions I have made in the recipe, or change it to suit what you have on hand. Fried rice invariably contains scrambled egg, which can be replaced with scrambled tofu (or the quick version below the recipe), but I think leftover vegan omelette (recipe above) works even better. TIP: The rice should not be freshly-made-- it should be cold so that it is a bit dry and separates easily. 

                                                    INGREDIENTS:

I prefer Savoy cabbage in this dish because it's more tender than regular green cabbage.

1 tablespoon oil 
1/2 a small Savoy cabbage, core and hard spines removed, finely shredded or sliced
2-3 cups sliced mushrooms
7-8 large green onions, chopped 
2 stalks celery, thinly-sliced
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 cup slivered vegan "ham" or "bacon", or smoked tofu
(Other options might be baked, marinated tofu, smoked tempeh, or any sort of seitan or commercial meat sub)
2 cups cold cooked brown basmati or Jasmine rice
2 cups cold cooked Thai red rice
(OR use 4 cups of the two varieties cooked together and chilled)
1/2 tablespoon dark sesame oil 
1 teaspoon salt 
freshly-ground pepper to taste 
approximately 2 cups of chopped leftover VEGG Omelette (see recipe above, or use your own version)
(Another option would be leftover scrambled tofu or the quick version for fried rice [from my book Authentic Chinese for the Contemporary Kitchen] below this recipe)

DIRECTIONS: Heat a large heavy wok, skillet or stir-fry pan over high heat. When it's very hot, add the 1 tablespoon oil. When the oil is hot, add the vegetables, garlic and "ham" or alternate. 



Stir-fry for several minutes, or until the cabbage starts to wilt, scraping the bottom of the wok with a metal spatula and adding squirts of hot water from a squeeze bottle if it starts to stick to avoid the need to use more oil). Add the cold rice, breaking up any clumps. 



Add the sesame oil, salt and a few grindings of pepper, and keep turning the mixture with a spatula until the rice is heated through-- again, scraping the bottom of the wok with a metal spatula and adding squirts of hot water from a squeeze bottle if it starts to stick to avoid the need to use more oil. 

 Add the chopped Omelette to the pan and stir-fry until everything is well-mixed and hot. 



Serve immediately. Any leftovers can be refrigerated and reheated.

Quick Scrambled Tofu for Fried Rice (from my book Authentic Chinese for the Contemporary Kitchen):
1 lb. medium-firm or firm tofu, drained and crumbled
4 T. nutritional yeast flakes
4 tsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. onion powder
large pinch of onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

Mix the crumbled tofu with the other ingredients.  Heat a lightly-oiled nonstick or cast iron skillet over high heat.  Add the tofu and keep turning it with a spatula until it turns a bright scrambled egg color and dries out to your satisfaction.  Set aside.

Enjoy!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO MY AMERICAN FRIENDS! (We Canadians have already had our Thanksgiving-- thus the following non-Thanksgiving-relevant post!) BTW, IF YOU NEED LAST-MINUTE VEGAN THANKSGIVING HELP... Recipe links on this blog.



Some steaming hot dishes, ready for the table (photo by Emma-Lena Lezard)


My stepson and his girlfriend Emma-Lena stayed with us for a couple of days and, the first night, I had to plan an impromptu meal. I wanted it to be fun and a little special, because we don't see them very often and Sean always enjoys my cooking. So I searched my refrigerator and quickly planned a Chinese-style meal with 4 dishes. The menu was:

Stir-Fried "Chicken" and Mushrooms in Vegetarian "Oyster" Sauce
(From my Chinese cookbook, except that I used commercial Chinese mock chicken instead of tofu)

Stir-Fried Peas and Tofu
(A simple Cantonese-style dish, also from my Chinese cookbook)

A Broccoli Stir-Fry with red onions, sweet potatoes, and cashews, which I made up on the spot and seasoned with a bottled "Thai Teriyaki Sauce" that someone gave me (Cheating, I know, but it was tasty!)

Fried Rice
(also from my Chinese cookbook, and made with cold cooked brown basmati rice)

I have a small kitchen, and I wanted to be able to sit down and eat with everyone, so I followed my own advice from my cookbook "Authentic Chinese Cuisine for the Contemporary Kitchen":

"A Chinese cook can prepare a six-dish meal in half an hour in a tiny kitchen with no oven. This takes practice, of course, but it is achievable in our modern kitchens. The Chinese cook will stir-fry or deep-fry some of the dishes in turn, transferring the finished dish to a heated serving plate with a cover while the next dish is completed (stir-frying and deep-frying, when all of the ingredients are prepared ahead of time, take only minutes).

However, if the thought of all this last-minute cooking makes you nervous and will keep you from your guests, you must chose your dishes with care and prepare as many things ahead of time as you can. Have all the vegetables chopped and all the cooking sauces mixed."

For a meal like this, I like to do what I do for a cooking class and gather the ingredients for each recipe on a separate tray or cookie sheet, so that I don't mix anything up! (This is what is referred to in cook's parlance as "mise en place", [pronounced [MEEZ ahn plahs], which is a French term referring to having all the ingredients necessary for a dish prepared and ready to combine up to the point of cooking.) I thought it might be instructive for those of you who haven't attempted several Chinese-style dishes in one meal to see this. Here are photos of the mise en place for each dish, and then the finished dish:

Stir-Fried "Chicken" and Mushrooms in Vegetarian "Oyster" Sauce, and the finished dish:





Photo by Emma-Lena Lezard

Stir-Fried Peas and Tofu, and the finished dish:





Photo by Emma-Lena Lezard

Broccoli Stir-Fry and the finished dish:





Photo by Emma-Lena Lezard

Fried Rice (with scrambled tofu instead of egg), and the finished dish:






Photo by Emma-Lena Lezard

The cooking went quickly and smoothly, and the dinner, I'm happy to say, was much enjoyed. We had leftover Fried Rice for lunch the next day! (And, BTW, it is much easier to keep your kitchen clean when you use mise en place, especially with rapid-fire cooking like stir-fries. You can wipe up after chopping, put everything away, clean dirty utensils, etc., before you begin the actual cooking. If you don't do this, your kitchen will look like a bomb hit it and you will be frazzled from trying to locate the soy sauce, or a measuring spoon, at the crucial moment!)


Photo by Emma-Lena Lezard




Enjoy!