The Spicy Meatless Thread... (ya I went there)

I know going into this that this thread is going to get meat bombed... but there's gotta be at least a couple other people on this forum that have herbivore tendencies.  Lately almost everything I have been cooking has been meat-free unless its for the dogs.  I've been toying with recipes and finding ways to get the flavors of dishes that usually have animal muscle as the main feature.  Hopefully some of y'all do the same from time to time and we can swap and share some spicy veggie recipes. I've held off on making this thread for a while because I know the ridicule that will inevitably come, but I guess its better to clog my own thread with my hippy food rather than all the other cooking threads. 
 
So here goes, last night per request I made some arroz congri and tostones.  
 
For the rice and beans, I chop up a green and red bell pepper, 2 onions and about 4-5 cloves of garlic. Cook up that in the pot before adding the rice and beans and sufficient water.  Season it up, and pretty much just leave it on the stove for a while.  I don't have any fresh pods yet so I seasoned my batch up with some smoked naga powder for good measure.  The tostones start by cooking them a bit on each side before pulling them from the pan.

 
After the tostones are cooked and pulled from the pan you gotta squish em dip em in cold water and throw em back in the pan, for the second round of frying. When you pull them out you can season them with whatever you want, I like to make a garlicky spicy sauce concoction to dip them in.  Also, make yourself a guava-lime rum drink for good measure. 

 
Eventually, after a long long time (especially if you use brown rice), your arroz congri will be ready.  

 
 
Happy vegetarian eating! (I also ate left overs this morning covered in cheese and a fried egg)
 
Let's see what you got....

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Looks awesome! Are those cukes, tomatoes, onion marinated together? Looks like a quick marinade.

 

[Rawkstah]

The cukes, onion, and tomato aren't marinated, just raw. The tzaziki I made hours earlier and let sit in the fridge before hand.

The bread is actually paratha. The laffa I had from falafel night was getting too stale.

 

[Rawkstah]

The no killy philly! Aka a seitan philly cheesesteak. Sooo good.

 

[texas blues]

I can't get down with the satan.
 
But you make it RAWK!
 
Just lie to me when you feed it to me.
 
I'm cool and the gang with that.

 

[grantmichaels]

Yeah, that looks good!

See that 50 mega-pickle 5DS today? =)

 

[Essegi]

My first time with homemade tortellini (or ravioli, never understood the difference).
That's a bit like pizza margherita, there could be flashier condiments but that's the one i like maybe most: spinach and ricotta (and i'm not a big spinach lover):

A moruga flake each...
 

 

 
That pic sucks and i messed with sauce, but flavors are right (butter, sage, some asiago, ricotta, grana pandano too).
Pasta part of that tortellini, of course made with egg and flour, is the winner, really another thing than store bought. Also the heat is really nice here.

 

[Rawkstah]

I did see the leak Grant, but I'm still pretty content with my 30D and the 5DmkII for now, hell the camera on my S5 is pretty decent if I can stay still long enough in the low light situations for the shot.  I don't book nearly as many photo jobs these days, when my dude moved in my little studio space became more of a storage area for guitars, amps, basses, mandolins, etc, but I'm working on changing that. I do more video work these days anyway, and we use professional video cams for that, usually Sony, but I just got assigned a new Panasonic. Boring video work, I try not to do it so much, but if I work 2-3 days in a month I can pay my share of the rent.
 
 

I can't get down with the satan.
 
But you make it RAWK!
 
Just lie to me when you feed it to me.
 
I'm cool and the gang with that.

I make the seitan at home, all the store bought stuff is disgusting.  Smoked powders are always in the mix, it makes it taste a little more like something from a grill.  I usually slice it thin and then saute it in whatever seasonings fit the meal after I make it.  It is perfect for the gyros and the philly.  I'm thinking maybe and Italian beef should come next.  I think regular gyro meat is more weird than seitan... or maybe they're the same thing... the texture is about the same. 

 

[grantmichaels]

Makes sense. I like those strips of gyro meat that so many places use, so I might like seitan, actually ...

 

[Tinnie]

My first time with homemade tortellini (or ravioli, never understood the difference).
That's a bit like pizza margherita, there could be flashier condiments but that's the one i like maybe most: spinach and ricotta (and i'm not a big spinach lover):

 
Spinich needs lovin too Essegi 
 
Looks amazing as usual!
 
Have you ever made Crespelle?....its something ive wanted to try for a while now, but i think id make a complete mess of it lol

 

[Essegi]

 
Spinich needs lovin too Essegi 
 
Looks amazing as usual!
 
Have you ever made Crespelle?....its something ive wanted to try for a while now, but i think id make a complete mess of it lol

Thanks Tinnie!
Crespelle... Never done but interesting.
My mom sometimes makes a pasticcio with omelettes instead lasagne (not an huge fan) and it's excellent.
PS: here we call lasagna also fettuccine (i believe it's more from north or just north east Italy).

 

[Tinnie]

Cheers Essegi!
 
Sounds interesting, will have to try that

 

[BigB]

made some zucchini, potato and spring onion koftas with some powpow. There was a curry hat went on it but that picture wasn't too visually appeasing 

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Those look good! Closer to falafel than kofta/kefta though being veggie. I get the play on a meatball though. I wonder if they have a word for veggie ball.

 

[BigB]

there weren't any chickpeas in it thus no falafel. I'd call them pakora if i hadn't drenched them in sauce. I like indian kofta made with paneer. good shit

Those look good! Closer to falafel than kofta/kefta though being veggie. I get the play on a meatball though. I wonder if they have a word for veggie ball.

 

[Rawkstah]

I hated meatloaf growing up so my mom would always make meatloaf, put a layer of cheese, a layer of taters, and a layer of cheese on top.  We called it "Meatloaf Surprise"  sometimes she'd make it in muffin tins, so we'd have dinner cupcakes... heh.  I made a vegetarian lentil version last night. 
 
Lentils, oats, oat flour, ground flaxseed, sauteed onion, garlic, red pepper, mushrooms, thyme, cumin, salt, pepper, smoked red habanero powder, smoked paprika, and some sage.

 
Makin mashed taters!  mashed 'em up with garlic, cream cheese, and butter.  

 
The loaf didn't give me enough room to add the goodies, so I transferred it to another pan and thinned it out after this shot

 
I layered it with cheddar and the taters, and cheddar on top, when it came outta the oven it looked like this

 
here's a slice

 
 
 
 

 

[The Hot Pepper]

That looks and sounds really good!!!! Love the flavors. Sage, mmmm.
 
Have you ever tried to make veggie sausage? Put some fennel seed in there, aromatic spices that are known to certain meats are great at tricking the mind. I bet you'd knock it outta the park!

 

[JayT]

Kinda like a veggie shepherd's pie.  Believe it or not, I can dig.

 

[Rawkstah]

That looks and sounds really good!!!! Love the flavors. Sage, mmmm.
 
Have you ever tried to make veggie sausage? Put some fennel seed in there, aromatic spices that are known to certain meats are great at tricking the mind. I bet you'd knock it outta the park!

Yeah I've made sausages a few times!  When I make faux Italian sausage it HAS to have fennel.  But next time I do a sausage I think I'm going to try and make faux cevapi and that will just be loads of garlic and I somehow need it to taste like lamb.  
 
the dude has requested chicken fried "steak" this weekend. We'll see if I can pull that off. 

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Yeah I've made sausages a few times!  When I make faux Italian sausage it HAS to have fennel.  But next time I do a sausage I think I'm going to try and make faux cevapi and that will just be loads of garlic and I somehow need it to taste like lamb.  
 
the dude has requested chicken fried "steak" this weekend. We'll see if I can pull that off. 

 
Cool! Never heard of those sausages but wiki says they have ajvar and onion that should help. And maybe some msg for umami, or soy sauce.
 
CFS, that's a hard one!

 

[Rawkstah]

Quick dinner. Caramelized pear and onion in balsamic vinegar, gorgonzola,smoked gouda, and mozz over an olive oil base topped with smoked powder. On a cracker crust.