• Start a personal food blog, or, start a community food thread for all.

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.
q9taqF1.jpg

 
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. 
zSz2Jqj.jpg

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

 
 
Happy vegetarian eating! (I also ate left overs this morning covered in cheese and a fried egg)
 
Let's see what you got....
 
I had a craving for eggs Benedict, but as I've mentioned before I think the prices for going out to eat breakfast are ridiculous.  So dude ran to the store to get English muffins while I tried to make Hollandaise sauce for the first time ever.  It was pretty successful and adding smoked bhut powder to the sauce made the whole thing freakin' awesome.  The "meats" are morningstar breakfast sausage and their bacon as well.  I want to make a 2nd batch and eat again it was so good. 
 
nKWdIKe.jpg

 
ZBb4av6.jpg
 
Yes it was cut in half it was a free sample from The Economist (they have a food truck that gives free food and try to sell you their publication... last time they had ice cream with bugs in it).
 
I'd have to try it again to really critique it. I ate it because I was hungry. It had the appearance of a medium rare to medium burger but the texture of medium well to well, with a bit if a crumble and sponge. The texture was also similar to the spongy pressed chicken patties but had more crumb, so kudos for that, you might think it is a cheaper cut of beef cooked well by the texture. The taste was kind of bland. Mostly tasted condiments and bun etc. For vegheads it works. Those that want meat replacement and experience. Come to think of it, it comes close to the taste and texture of fast food burgers which often never taste like beef :P but I think it needs salt and pepper in the cooking/sear just like beef does (at least salt).
 
I like veggie burgers but not as meat replacement, I just like them as their own thing. Made to taste good and not mimic anything. Have had some really good ones in fact. Like, there's nothing wrong with a patty with roasted corn and butternut squash, as long as you don't expect beef! But these will help satisfy that.
 
The Hot Pepper said:
I like veggie burgers but not as meat replacement, I just like them as their own thing. Made to taste good and not mimic anything. Have had some really good ones in fact. Like, there's nothing wrong with a patty with roasted corn and butternut squash, as long as you don't expect beef! But these will help satisfy that.
Totally agree with this.  I like veggie patties because they are veggie patties.  I've always been turned off by ground meat so burgers, sausage, meatballs/meat sauce etc was never my jam.  The veg versions though I really enjoy because they  aren't ground meat.  I live with a vegetarian though who loved meat so we try the substitute stuff when we see it (my favorite fake meat thing from the grocery store are morningstar corndogs....).
 
The Field Roast brand burgers are not bad, but hot dogs are actually really good! I really can't stand their fake sausage though they have some off funky flavor.
 
It all boils down to spices, Sage adds allot to the "Meat" taste, its just a matter of combining to your liking, then the meatless base is a matter of texture.
 
 
I haven't posted in a while, even though I've been cooking regularly I've been pretty busy.  By the time the food is made I eat it up and get back to work.  Tonight I used as a prep night and made 3 batches of spicy bhut seitan sausage and a batch of (jun) kombucha.  I had hoped the sausage would be ready for dinner but it took longer than anticipated, so I totally randomly decided to make shredded brussel sprout spring rolls.  I had seen a recipe for ginger-shredded brussel sprout potstickers, but spring rolls seems a tad healthier to me, and I could add things to make it more hearty.  Filling is onion, shredded brussel sprouts, garlic, ginger, balsamic, soy sauce, a healthy dose of DeeRoo's stir fry seasoning (sorry I can't recall the real name of it right now) and the unsteamed dough for a seitan sausage all cooked up.  Then I turned the heat off and shredded in carrot, turmeric, radish, and chopped cilantro.  Scrambled some eggs threw them into the mix, then did my best to wrap it all up.  Made a soy sauce-rice vinegar dipping sauce and buon appetito!  Rolling them felt like I was doing ok but then they weren't as tightly packed when I was finished.  Still edible by hand though.  Anyway, here's the photo, sorry they don't look restaurant quality pretty, and my kitchen (lets be honest, my life right now) is a mess, but they tasted great. 
gvIn9lm.jpg
 
I'm still alive!  Man that pic in the last post I made looks gross.... 
 
I've been making some neat stuff lately, but I've also just started training hard again, so after 2 hours of jiu jitsu and a bike rides there and back there is no time for pictures of food! 
Today I settled down a little and made a random concoction.  Sliced up some yellow bell pepper, brussels sprouts, onion and sautéed it, seasoned with garlic powder a squeeze of lemon, smoked paprika, and black pepper. Then added sliced up morning star bacon, rice with a squirt of liquid aminos, and topped it with a fried egg and some minced up nhu peppers (the spider mite infested plant actually podded up and ripened!!!)
 
It was pretty dang good for a what do I have in the fridge to throw in the pan kinda thing.  
 
yPWBN5k.jpg

 
Hope everyone else is well! I thought I had some pictures hiding in my phone of other stuff I made, like the palak paneer tofu I made a couple nights ago, but I guess when I'm tired after class I don't hold the button down right?  I dunno. 
 
A friend sent me some pasta made from hearts of palm to try out and see what I thought.  We've got zucchini out the yang so I made a zucchini parmesan and put that over the noodles. They heart of palm noodles have a different texture than normal pasta, but they taste pretty good. 
 
nz0k5z.jpg
 
They sell edamame pasta at costco, the texture and flavor isn't quite the same but its better nutritionally so I've figured out ways to make it work.  Last time I was at costco they had chickpea pasta.  Haven't tried it yet but the box is waiting in my pantry.  How was the flavor of the pasta?  I love hearts of palm so my curiosity is peaked.  That zucchini looks good too! (you can make raw zucchini noodles next time). 
 
I made some red curry tofu and pineapple rice tonight but I have not been in the mindset to snap pictures of food lately.
 
 
P.S. I need to restock on my Dee Roo's Taco Tuesday and El Capitan! 
 
I tried a veggie burger at Costco once or twice. Nothing replaces meat for me on a burger but i did really like the black bean one. Lentils and black beans come out on top for me as a alternate protein source. They work well with spices i like such as in sambar. I can pig out on a bowl of sambar with naan, paratha, dosa ect and be very satisfied with the meal.
 
Rawkstah said:
How was the flavor of the pasta?  I love hearts of palm so my curiosity is peaked.
 
P.S. I need to restock on my Dee Roo's Taco Tuesday and El Capitan! 
 
Flavor wise it's straight hearts of palm cut into spaghetti strands ala zucchini noodles.  Tastes great if you like hearts of palm, and you don't even have to cook it.  This is the brand if you want to check them out.  
 
I'll also look for the chickpea pasta at Costco - sounds good.  
 
re: TT/El Cap - you let me know when you'll be out here and we'll meet up for a beer at CLB!  :)
 
Back
Top