Category: vegetarian

Vegetarian Japanese Curry

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Japanese curry is typically a sauce made of curry powder, garam masala and stock. You want to give your sauce plenty of time to cook together. Curry is all about the layers of flavor you can create in that one pan.

You want to make sure when you cut your vegetables they are all relatively the same size because that means an even cook on all of them. You want to pan fry your vegetables for three to five minutes to get some color on them. Color equals flavor which will add to the full rounded flavor of your sauce.

You can serve this dish with Tonkatsu pork which is more traditional, but I served mine with a breaded vegan turkey cutlet. You still get that crispy fried texture that you get with traditional curry, but the added benefit of it fitting into your dietary restrictions.

Ingredients

  • 1 package bread vegetarian cutlet (I used Gardein Turkey Cutlets)
  • 2 russet potatoes (Sliced thin)
  • 2 carrots(Sliced thin)
  • 1 white onion (diced)
  • 4 c. chicken stock
  • 3 tbsp. butter
  • 4 tbsp. flour
  • 1 tbsp. curry powder
  • 1 tsp. garam masala
  • 2 tbsp. oil(for frying veggies)
  • 2 cups rice
  • 1 watermelon radish(sliced thinly) or daikon
  • green onion(small chop)
  • 2 tbsp. rice vinegar

Directions

  1. Preheat oven according to package instructions on your breaded vegetarian cutlet.
  2. Put your sliced radish in a small bowl with the rice vinegar. The pickled radish is for garnish.
  3. Put oil into a medium frying pan. Toss in your onion and cook for four-five minutes until they begin to take on color.
  4. Place your carrot and potato in the pan and cook until your veggies start to color.
  5. Add butter to the pan and cook until butter is melted.
  6. Add flour and cook until flour is a light brown.
  7. Add chicken stock and dry seasons and cook for 20-30 minutes.
  8. I used instant rice for this recipe so it only took about five minutes. If that is what you choose to use you don’t need to cook your rice this early. You can wait till the last couple of minutes of cooking your sauce. If you choose to use regular rice in a rice cooker you are going to want to rinse and start your rice right now. The longer the sauce cooks the better the flavor so if your rice takes a little longer then you think just turn the heat down a little on your sauce. If it starts to get too thick you can add a little more chicken stock to thin it out and give the rice more time.
  9. After the sauce and rice have been cooking for roughly 10 minutes you can put your vegetarian cutlet into the oven. The ones I use take about 20 minutes to cook.
  10. Once everything is done cooking place your rice on the plate. Dress it with the curry sauce and vegetables. Place the cutlet on the plate and sprinkle the green onion over everything.

Vegetarian Cheesesteak

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Since becoming vegetarian I haven’t quite branched out from the few things I know how to cook with the meat substitutes available at my local grocery store. Today I wanted to try something new. I wanted to finally try this thing called Jackfruit that all the internet vegetarians are raving about. I’ve seen it on the shelf at my local Asian market so I thought I’d try it.

I seasoned it like you would a normal cheesesteak so you get the delicious savory flavor on the jackfruit. Then top with delicious pan fried onions and peppers and that glorious melty white cheese. You also want to get a quality hoagie roll to stand up to all the melty delicious flavor.

Ingredients

  • 2 cans jackfruit (cut the hard triangle piece off the end of each jackfruit segment)
  • 1 package good quality hoagie bun
  • 1 yellow onion, sliced thinly
  • 2 Bell peppers, sliced thinly
  • 2 cups shredded white cheese
  • salt/pepper
  • 1/4 tsp. paprika
  • 1/4 tsp. onion powder
  • 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
  • vegetable oil for cooking

Directions

  1. Heat oil in a medium size pan till it moves around the pan like water.
  2. Add your peppers and onion to the pan and cook until lightly colored. About 3-5 minutes.
  3. Add your jackfruit and all the dry seasoning to the pan and cook on medium heat until you can pull the jackfruit apart with a fork.
  4. Place enough cheese in the pan to cover your mixture and put a lid on it to melt it.
  5. Portion it out into your hoagie rolls.

What is Jackfruit? How do I use it?

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What is it?

Jackfruit is a species of tree in the fig and mulberry family. It grows in the tropical region of Asia. It is used most commonly in South and Southeast Asian cuisine.

My Jackfruit Journey…

As a new vegetarian I am constantly on the lookout for new substitutes for the meat I gave up. I have fallen in love with the gardein brand of vegetarian meat substitutes. That’s not what this post is about though. Maybe another day. Today we focus on the learning experience I had when I tried to make Jackfruit cheesesteaks for my husband today. He was excited. I was excited. It was going to be great. Boy did I have something to learn.

I had my peppers and onions cooked and was about to add my Jackfruit when I opened the can and realized this was not like any Jackfruit I had ever had before. Wasn’t it supposed to be green? This was a beautiful orange color and smelled sweet. I had never had Jackfruit smell sweet before. I even tried to cook with it anyway thinking maybe I was mistaken. Truthfully I knew I wasn’t mistaken but I really wanted cheesesteaks so I tried. It was a failure.

So here is what we learned. When Jackfruit is young and unripe it is called green jackfruit. This is the jackfruit I had seen before. I just had never bought it canned so I didn’t know it was called this when it was young. The jackfruit I bought was ripe and its beautiful orange color.

When jackfruit is young you can use it as a meat substitute like you would use shredded pork, chicken or duck. I have used it in BBQ pork sandwiches. You can use it in tacos and anywhere else you would use a shredded meat.

Jackfruit Teriyaki bowl

The ripe Jackfruit can be used in desserts. You can use it anyplace you would use a hearty canned fruit. You can use it in layered Jello desserts. You can use it in baked goods. You can also use it to top a custard dish. There is a dish called Panasa Mulika that is fried Jackfruit fritters.

If you are looking for a new fruit to add to your diet whether it be for your Meat Free Monday or to put it in a pie I’d recommend Jackfruit. It’s hearty and delicious. It is also fairly easy to come by in your local grocery store in the can. I found it in my local Asian market. Let me know what you use Jackfruit for.