08.24.12_Buffalo Popcorn Chik'n

Phillip's new job is located right by a Hooters and a Nando's Peri Peri. Recently the smell of chicken at lunch time has been hard to resist so he told me we needed to make something with Buffalo Sauce ASAP to curve the craving. We contemplated making the Buffalo Friend Tofu that we have made several times but instead decided to use, you guessed it, seitan instead. Since the seitan comes in little bite size pieces I thought making popcorn chik'n would be a great idea.

I very rarely fry things and when I do I am often not satisfied with the crispiness I end up with. Luckily for this, the little chik'n/seitan bites came out with a nice, crispy skin. These would also be great served just plain with ketchup or BBQ sauce but because Phillip had specifically requested buffalo, after I fried them I doused them in a mixture of melted butter and buffalo sauce. Obviously they weren't as crispy after the soaked up the sauce but they were still insanely good and definitely satisfied Phillip's craving!

Buffalo Popcorn Chik'n 
Serves 2

• 8oz box seitan cubes
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/8 tsp cayenne (more or less based on preference)
• 1.5 cups flour
• 2 TBSP baking powder
• 1/4 cup yellow mustard
• 1/2 cup water
• oil for frying

1. Drain the seitan and rinse it thoroughly to remove any of the preserving liquid from the packaging.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients (flour, salt, garlic powder, pepper, cayenne, and baking powder).
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard and water. Add 1/3 cup of the flour mixture into the wet mixture to create a very loose batter.
4. Coat the seitan cubes in the wet batter, then drop them into the dry mixture. Toss until the seitan cubes are thoroughly coated in the flour mixture.
5. Put about a cup of vegetable or canola oil into a 2qt sauce pan. Once the oil starts to ripple, drop the seitan cubes into the oil. Let the seitan fry for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until they are nice and golden brown.
6. Remove the seitan from the oil with a slotted spoon and let drain on a plate lined with paper towels.
7. In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup of melted margarine and 1/2 of buffalo sauce. Toss the fried seitan in the buffalo sauce and serve hot!

07.11.12_Veggie Tales Pad Thai

I have been making this dish since my second year of college. Now that I think about it, I think I have made this dish more than anything else actually. I call it "Pad Thai" because it was what I was attempting to make in the quickest and easiest way at the time but Thai Peanut-Buttery noodles may be more appropriate. Over the years the recipe has changed a little, and depending on my mood I included different things, but overall the basics have stayed the same. Noodles, a peanut butter-based sauce, and a protein. I got the inspiration after watching an episode of a cooking show on Food Network (I can't even remember which one now as its been too long) and then combined several different recipes, eventually ending up with my own. This dish has always been one of my "go-to" meals when I need something super quick and incredibly easy but still delicious and fresh. Because of our new-found love for seitan (we have now used it 3 times in the past 2 weeks, see CPK Copycat BBQ Chik'n Chopped Salad), we decided to use it in my Pad Thai. In my opinion seitan has an Asian undertone (at least the brand we buy) so I thought it worked incredibly well in this dish. The recipe can be made vegan using the right kind of noodles and omitting the egg.

Veggie Tales "Pad Thai"
Serves 2-3

• 1 box of Pad Thai noodles (Fettuccine also works)
• 1 box of seitan or any protein you want
• 2 TBSP peanut butter
• 2 TBSP rice wine vinegar
• 2 TBSP tamari or soy sauce
• 2 TBSP warm water
• 1/2 tsp red chili flakes
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Optional ingredients and garnishes:

• 1/2 cup crushed peanuts
• 1 egg
• handful of mung bean sprouts
• shredded carrots

1. Combine the tamari, rice wine vinegar, water and red chili flakes in a medium size bowl. Marinate the seitan in the mixture for 30mins to an hour.

2. Bring large pot of water to a boil and cook noodles according to package. Pad Thai noodles typically take 4-5 minutes.

3. Remove seitan from sauce with a slotted spoon and cook in a small skillet over medium-high heat, until seitan is warm all the way through. Do not get rid of the sauce as you will be using it to dress the noodles later. 

4. If you are using egg, mix it in a bowl before cook it in the same pan.

5. Whisk the peanut butter into the tamari, rice wine vinegar, and water mixture until the peanut butter has broken down and formed a sauce. If the sauce seems too thick, feel free to add more tamari or water.

6. Drain the noodles and combine them with the sauce and seitan. Toss in the cilantro, saving a little bit for garnish.

7. Add any of the additional toppings and enjoy. Serve with a side of steamed edamame! 

06.25.12_CPK Copycat BBQ Chik'n Chopped Salad

So I am obsessed with the Original BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad at California Pizza Kitchen. When Caitlin Skyped me from Thailand to tell me she was going vegan one of my first responses was, "What about CPK?" It was a devastating blow to hear that she and I could no longer split the BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad and the BBQ Chicken Pizza (can you tell I love BBQ Chicken...really its BBQ sauce which is in my top 5 favorite foods). Anyway if you haven't had it, this salad is amazing. It has sweet corn, black beans, jicama, cilantro, basil, tortilla strips and Monterey Jack tossed in homemade herb ranch dressing. Topped with BBQ chicken, tomatoes and scallions (add Avocado for an additional charge).

 Throughout college (before Caitlin was vegan) we tried to recreate this salad on many occasions. One time I went as far as Googling copycat recipes for the salad dressing and made it. Since then I have come up with a simplified version of the salad that used to be a go-to meal. We don't eat salads that often since Phillip is not a fan of salad dressings (or any condiments for that matter) but the other day I decided it was time to have this. Obviously I had to come up with a chicken substitution so I thought we should give seitan a try because he had not used it yet in any of our recipes. All I did was cut up all the veggies, heat up the seitan on the stove then toss it in a store bought BBQ sauce before assembling the salads. I always drizzle Ranch dressing and a little extra BBQ sauce then sprinkle with cilantro before serving. It definitely satisfies my craving and saves me a trip to CPK!

P.S. If you haven't used seitan before I highly recommend it. I like the taste of it before even dousing it in the BBQ sauce. The texture was great which is always my biggest issue when it comes to tofu or fake meats. I will definitely be using seitan a lot more in the future.

CPK Copycat BBQ Chik'n Chopped Salad
Serves 2-3

• Lettuce (amount depends on how big of a salad you want)
• 1/2 a tomato, diced
• 1/2 cup corn (I used canned)
• 1/2 cup black beans (strained and rinsed)
• 1/2 jicama (I subbed cucumber this time because we already had some in the fridge)
• 1 avocado
• 1 package of seitan
• BBQ Sauce
• Ranch Dressing
• Tortilla chips (for garnish)
• Cilantro (for garnish)
• Monterrey Jack cheese (we used mozzarella, again, because we had it on hand)

1. Dice the tomato, jicama, and avocado. 

2. Heat seitan in a skillet (only takes a minute or two), toss with BBQ sauce and season with salt, pepper (as needed) and some dried cilantro.

3. Assemble the salads (lettuce, tomato, jicama, beans, corn, seitan and avocado). Drizzle salad with Ranch Dressing and extra BBQ sauce (if desired).

4. Top with crushed tortilla chips and a some cilantro.