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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.
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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. 
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Eventually, after a long long time (especially if you use brown rice), your arroz congri will be ready.  
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Happy vegetarian eating! (I also ate left overs this morning covered in cheese and a fried egg)
 
Let's see what you got....
 
i made bulgogi with soy curls tonight and threw it in a bowl o rice for bibimbap.  The soy curls were rehydrated in broth and then marinated, cooked in a skillet and finished off in the broiler to get it a little crispy.  The marinade was garlic, ginger, a little white wine, asian pear, brown sugar, gochujang, mirin, sesame oil, and soy sauce, scallions and sesame seeds added as well. The bowl had sesame carrots and zucchini, spicy mushrooms, garlic collards and snap peas, slice red cabbage, peas, kimchi, and some mung beans I sprouted earlier this week.
 
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Hey Rawk... I made a mock ground meat baked ziti, basically by pulverizing olives, baby bellas, and capers, and making a "meat" sauce... with smoked mozz, fresh mozz, provolone, and parmigiano reggiano...
 
pics to follow, the meat sauce looks like MEAT lol....
 
the tatse was umami!
 
The trick is too cook the sauce down 3-4 hours....
 
Hey everybody! Long time no post! I've been cooking a little bit more because my shoulder is messed up and I can't train... and this past week was particularly rough so stress relief = kitchen time.
 
Let's knock the not spicy stuff outta the way, I made yogurt for the first time... I'm psyched that it was so easy (and I made it with non dairy milk so its vegan!). I plan on making this often for use in creamy dishes and Indian food. Basically I mixed non dairy milk (Ripple brand) with a container of Silk almond milk yogurt, and put it in my Instant pot for 13 hours. 
 
PydbAiL.jpg

 
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Ok then, we get to the good stuff. My doggo's surgery got canceled early in the week because of the extreme cold here.  So I took the free evening to make fried seitan, collards, and mashed taters with mushroom gravy. 
 
Rb7xlWr.jpg

 
And yesterday I made a vat of vegan jambalaya. 
 
the veggies
hCnCNbM.jpg

homemade spicy seitan sausage
QErKyEt.jpg

everything ready to go into the oven
VRlOav2.jpg

fin.
yxxp9RV.jpg

 
This pic is just for laughs.... when my dog is scared of rain/wind/apartment ghosts he needs to be as close to me as possible... he literally trying to lay/sit on my head and I wake up like this.
M8wL7lr.jpg

 
 
 
Rawkstah said:
Hey everybody! Long time no post! I've been cooking a little bit more because my shoulder is messed up and I can't train... and this past week was particularly rough so stress relief = kitchen time.
 
Let's knock the not spicy stuff outta the way, I made yogurt for the first time... I'm psyched that it was so easy (and I made it with non dairy milk so its vegan!). I plan on making this often for use in creamy dishes and Indian food. Basically I mixed non dairy milk (Ripple brand) with a container of Silk almond milk yogurt, and put it in my Instant pot for 13 hours. 
 
PydbAiL.jpg

 
nKhyvhO.jpg

 
Ok then, we get to the good stuff. My doggo's surgery got canceled early in the week because of the extreme cold here.  So I took the free evening to make fried seitan, collards, and mashed taters with mushroom gravy. 
 
Rb7xlWr.jpg

 
And yesterday I made a vat of vegan jambalaya. 
 
the veggies
hCnCNbM.jpg

homemade spicy seitan sausage
QErKyEt.jpg

everything ready to go into the oven
VRlOav2.jpg

fin.
yxxp9RV.jpg

 
This pic is just for laughs.... when my dog is scared of rain/wind/apartment ghosts he needs to be as close to me as possible... he literally trying to lay/sit on my head and I wake up like this.
M8wL7lr.jpg

 
 

The finished dish looks killer but I am going to be honest, that picture of the seitan sausages is pretty problematic. :)
 
Thegreenchilemonster said:
You make the best vegan dishes Rawkstah. That looks fantastic!
Thank you! It means a lot! I enjoy the challenge and I think cooking like this has made me become much better in the kitchen.  I've learned so much more about seasonings, I appreciate different vegetables, and I've gotten more creative (I have my own secrets now to flavor dishes without relying on cheese or meat).  I used to use cheese and/or eggs a lot in dishes as a fall back, but as I cooked more and learned, I now find it pretty unnecessary.  Of course there are certain dishes that just are hard to replicate without it, but these days its not terribly hard to find a substitute.  And the bonus is that most this stuff isn't as calorie dense as the non-veg counterpart so I get to eat A TON!  :drooling:
 
I don't follow recipes very well, but if you ever want me to try and recall a recipe let me know!  Most times I read a few recipes and decide how I'm going to go forward from there and I can provide the recipes I had looked at. 
 
Squash Salad.
 
Squash from garden, had a taste and decided it did not need to be fried, sweet and taste so just cut it up and added as is.
 
Crookneck Squash
Potatoes fried with Cayenne/HotPortugal/Tomato powder.
Garden Red Onions partly fried, still crunchy.
Sunsugar tomatoes.
Thyme
Basil
Parsley.
 
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