Tag Archives: fried rice

Oct 08 2012
1 Comment
Cooking

Easy Pigeon Peas

Since going vegan, I’ve easily had guacamole and chips for dinner at least once a week. It sounds weird when I say it out loud, but it’s the reality of my vegan lifestyle. That said, I was in no mood for guacamole tonight. So I threw together a pigeon pea dish.

 

Ingredient list:

1/2 dried pigeon peas or gandules
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 onion, diced
1 small tomato, diced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp coriander
1 tbsp tomato paste
dash of annatto powder
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

I boiled the pigeon peas in 2 cups of boiling water for a few minutes and then set it aside for an hour. Then, I heated a pot, browned the garlic and onions in olive oil until the onions were translucent, and then added the diced tomato. Once the tomato was softened to my liking, I added the peas, the spices, tomato paste, and a cup of water. I covered the pot until it boiled and the water had dried out a bit. I served the pigeon peas over some garlicky fried rice.

I was definitely in need of something more hearty than guacamole for dinner and this fit the bill! –Melissa

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Jun 16 2012
3 Comments
Dining Out

Domo Arigato Blu Fish Bistro

Japanese restaurants are among the safer places for vegans to choose when dining out. Miso soup, salad with citrus-ginger dressing, tofu and/or veggie makis, udon, etc… all goodies to choose from. When I’m at work and am craving sushi for lunch, I’m glad that I can hit up Blu Fish Bistro.

Blu Fish has a Vegetable Bento for $10 at lunch, which includes your choice of soup or salad. The miso soup is very good: let’s face it. It’s kinda hard to screw up miso soup. If you choose salad, you won’t be sorry. The house dressing is very fresh and tasty.

The bento includes veggie tempura (traditional tempura is vegan but egg is sometimes used; ask if you want to be sure), fried rice, your choice of 3-piece mushroom or asparagus roll, and fried tofu with a sweet/spicy sauce served over a bed of vegetables. Unlike most tempura sauces I’ve had, the tempura dipping sauce at blu fish is thick and flavorful. I love it. I don’t know what secret sauce they use for the tofu, but it’s perfectly sweet with a little kick. The paper-thin slices of avocado and tomato between the tofu slices are a nice touch.

Non-vegans should be happy about the quality of the food and the freshness of the fish. I’ll also say, for the record, that they have one of the best California rolls I’ve ever had. But those were in the pre-vegan days. If we ever go to Blu Fish together, I will watch you eat a California roll.

I love it when I can enjoy a vegan restaurant meal! Domo arigato! –Melissa

Pssst! Click here to Like Turning Veganese on Facebook!

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Jun 02 2012
2 Comments
Recipes

Smoked Soy Curls

This morning, I found myself missing smoked sausage. On weekend mornings, we would often have smoked sausage or hot dogs with fried eggs, fried rice, and tomatoes (we’re Filipino so this is completely normal for me). While Gimme Lean has a great vegan soy sausage product that would be great for this type of meal, I was really craving something smoked. So, I grabbed half a cup of dry soy curls and improvised.

While the soy curls were rehydrating, I mixed together about 2 tbsp of soy sauce, 2 tbsp of agave nectar, and added a few drops of liquid smoke. I have never used liquid smoke before, but I read in some places to be careful about the amount used. So, I tried to be conservative without even really knowing what that meant. Let’s just say that I wish I had put a few more dashes of liquid smoke in the mix. Once the curls were rehydrated, I drained them and let them marinade in the mixture for a few minutes.

I baked the soy curls in the toaster oven at 300 degrees for 15 minutes. While it was baking, I fried some brown rice in garlic, and cut up some tomatoes and green onion which I seasoned with salt and pepper.

Breakfast was served! My smoky marinade can use some tweaking, or maybe I need to let it marinade for a bit longer. I was worried that I used too much soy sauce and was surprised when the sweetness of the agave nectar seemed to be the prominent taste. I’ll probably use maple syrup next time, too. I don’t have any right now which is totally tragic. This still tasted great, though, and is one recipe I won’t mind experimenting with repeatedly. I’ll take whatever suggestions y’all may have! –Melissa

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May 05 2012
2 Comments
Cooking, Recipes

Melissa’s Fried Rice

I mention garlicky rice a lot. It’s because I eat a lot of garlicky rice. In my pre-veganese days, I never went hungry as long as I had rice, eggs, and garlic. Breakfast, lunch or dinner: fry up some leftover rice, fry an egg or scramble it in the rice, and then serve with tomatoes if available. I still eat a lot of fried rice, but I leave out the egg. It’s so quick and easy and versatile.

Today was a “Use What You’ve Got and Clean Out Your Fridge Day.” I was about to step out and go to the grocery store when I realized that there was a mess of things in the fridge that I could make into something. I’ll post about my interesting lunch another day. Let’s talk about the fried rice I made for dinner.

The basic recipe never changes:

leftover rice
garlic, minced (as much or as little as you want)

Today, I added minced ginger, a small sliced onion, and leftover broccoli and carrots to leftover rice (brown/white mix).

First, I heated up some olive oil and then threw in the garlic, ginger, carrots and about 3/4 of the onion.

Then, I added the rice.

I then added the broccoli and sprinkled in some salt. When you make fried rice using this method, fry it up at least until it’s heated through, but fry for long as you want beyond that; longer can yield some crunchy rice which a lot of people enjoy.  Once it was fried to my satisfaction, I turned off the heat and added the rest of the onion and some ground black pepper.

I steamed some edamame from the freezer and served it with the rice. I mixed in some Sriracha which gave it a really nice kick.

There’s so much more you can do with basic fried rice: add soy sauce, chilis, curry powder, sugar, coconut flakes, peas, corn, tomato, basil, cilantro, nuts, etc. You can go crazy or you can just fry it up with tons of garlic. Do whatever suits you at the moment you make it.

I’m off to have some green tea coconut milk ice cream for dessert… Melissa

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Mar 18 2012
7 Comments
Cooking, Main Dishes, Recipes

Vegan Longanisa

You’re either thinking, “Say what?! Vegan longanisa?!” or “WTF is longanisa?” after seeing the title of this post. Longanisa is a garlicky Filipino sausage made traditionally with pork. Some people liken it to chorizo. It’s eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or midnight snack and usually served with sinangag (garlicky fried rice) and fried eggs. For me, longanisa is kind of like an equivalent of frozen pizza. We usually had some in the freezer and could cook them up when we wanted something easy and delicious to eat. A lot of Filipino restaurants offer longanisa for breakfast. Uncle Mike’s in Chicago is one of them:

Photo from LTH Forum

Longanisa is one of the things I knew I would miss after going vegan. It’s not just the taste of it. It’s like this connection to my culture, something I can mention to any Filipino person that will instantly bond us. We didn’t have it often growing up which is a good thing when you consider how fatty it is. Longanisa is like the frozen Ramen noodle for Filipino-American kids when they move out of the house and want something that reminds them of home. So, yes. I miss longanisa, and I had accepted the fact that I would probably never eat it again. But then, I decided to try and veganize it.

Ingredients:
14 oz Gimme Lean Beef Style Veggie Protein
1/2 head minced garlic — came out to about 1/3 cup
2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp sea salt
4 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
safflower or olive oil, for frying
The following are optional:
2 tbsp flax meal
1-2 tsp annatto powder (to give the sausages a red color; I did not add this)

First, I minced the garlic and then tossed it in with the ‘meat.’ I set it aside and then mixed together the dry ingredients in a small bowl. I added it to the ‘meat’ mixture along with the vinegar. Then I mooshed it all together.

I formed the ‘meat’ into small sausages (about the length of your average breakfast link but with more girth… heeeheh… girth). I ended up with 16 sausages. I put them in the fridge to chill. I won’t comment on how they kind of look like poo. Oh, oops. I just did. Hmm… maybe the whole purpose of adding annatto powder is to make it look less like poo.

Traditional longanisa recipes call for the meat to sit in the fridge for at least one hour, preferably for over 24 hours. I couldn’t wait so I took some out after about 2.5 hours and fried them up in safflower oil over medium heat for about 10 minutes, turning every 2-3 minutes.

I made some sinangag and a salad of tomato, onion, and cilantro to accompany my longanisa. I have always felt like being Filipino and loving Filipino food would make going vegan an impossible challenge. I’m glad to have proven myself wrong yet again. Is the recipe exactly like traditional longanisa? No. But it’s a great substitute that I know I’ll improve on with every try. As a bonus, it has ZERO cholesterol. Who wants all that pork fat anyway? Gross!

Kain tayo! That means “let’s eat!” …. Melissa

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Mar 04 2012
4 Comments
Cooking, Main Dishes, Recipes

Mushroom and Tofu Tacos

I love mushrooms. I love tofu. I also hate both of them a little. There’s something about how mushrooms lose all their water and shrink when you cook them that bugs me. I also sometimes dislike how that mushroom flavor gets permeated into everything mushrooms are cooked with. As for tofu, I sometimes can’t stand that ‘tofu’ taste, like no matter what I do, I can still taste that it’s tofu. (Yes, I know I’m being silly.) Today, the only vegan thing in the fridge was mushrooms and tofu sauteed in garlic. I got so depressed at the idea of eating it. Then, I saw them: tortillas. Beautiful corn tortillas. I also had avocado, cilantro, lime, and tomatoes. So, I gave the mushroom/tofu dish a makeover:

First, I made some taco seasoning by mixing together the following:

3/4 tsp ancho chili powder
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp cumin

Then, I browned the the mushrooms/tofu in some garlic and then added the taco seasoning. When everything was just about heated through, I threw in some sliced onion, mixed everything around (this is where I would flip the stuff in the air if I were someone who could do that without getting food everywhere), and removed from heat.

At the same time, I took some leftover (read: on the verge of spoiling) rice (brown/white mix) and decided to make a really weird version of fried rice:

3 cups of rice, cooked (this will generally work better if you use leftover rice that is not heated)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup vegetable broth (I used a ‘not-chicken’ bouillon cube)
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen lima beans
1 tsp ancho chili powder
1/2 diced onion

When that was done, I made an avocado salad of sorts to top the tacos with. Um… I was so excited to eat that I didn’t get a good photo of it:

1 ripe avocado
1/2 diced plum tomato – mine was on the verge of being ripe which was perfect because it wasn’t too soft and had a nice little crunch to it
1/4 cup frozen corn kernels
juice from 1/2 lime
salt, to taste

By now, I was beyond ready to eat, and boy did I eat. I kept eating and eating and eating!

I sprinkled some Tapatio on everything and it was so delicious. I’m so proud of this that I have to post another pic.

I love food makeovers and I love stuffing my face with delicious food. It makes me happy. I hope you get to stuff your face with delicious food today… Melissa

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