Being a (vegan) food snob

I realized a few months ago, that my problem when ordering in restaurants is not that I'm vegan, is that's I'm a food snob. I expect to eat a good meal every single time I'm at a restaurant, and when I don't, I pissed right off. If you can't figure out how to make something delicious without bacon in it, or cheese, or beef stock, you shouldn't be cooking for a living. If you've never expanded your palate beyond meat-and-potatoes meals, then you shouldn't be in a position where you are expected to create dishes for veg*ns on the spot. But it happens all the time: I ask for something vegan, am told the chef will make something special for me, and end up with pasta and red sauce. Or salad and french fries. Becuase if you're at a place where they can't even be bothered to have one vegan item on the menu, the management doesn't care about your business and the chef sure doesn't give a crap about making you a decent meal. I think omnivores make the assumption that vegan don't actually like delicious food; as if someone who cuts out so many "delicious" things from their diet can't possibly care about flavour. When I was at a work event on the weekend and they forgot to prepare my vegan dish, I was trying to avoid the vegan pizza. Vegan pizza usually means the same sub-par crust, without the fat and flavour that usually compensates for the horribleness of the other ingredients, instead with whatever sad vegetables they could find, whether or not they should ever be on a pizza (eggplant? please!). But when I caved and ordered the pizza, mostly due to a lack of other options, I was pleasantly surprised. The tomatoes were ripe, the onions were perfectly cooked, and the crust was both crisp and chewy. That my friends, is how you do a vegan dish--don't forget that food should always be delicious.

Tastebud salsa of joy

A food photo from the past for tonight's post: a plate of Viva Vegan dishes, and one of my most favourite things in the world. I'm probably doing a disservice to myself actually, because I tried the first few things I that caught my eye in Viva Vegan, and I keep making them over and over again: baked marinated tempeh, black beans, sofrito, and tamales. I should branch out, try new things, life is short! But holy chipotle, this plate just makes my tastebuds do a veritable salsa of joy. I'm sure my tamales wouldn't win any contests (I've been told they're small, which seems like bad/not-bad thing) but I could eat this every day, I make a big batch and eat it until I have nothing left and then I lick the bowl. If you haven't cooked anything from Viva Vegan yet, I dare you not to fall in vegan love.

Dumpling-sized review-: dim sum on the Danforth

Is it possible to be in love with a dumpling? I may just be. I dream about going to this place every week. My second time there, another person who was also sitting by himself looked up from his food and said, "Isn't this place amazing? I've never been here before, and I have to come back." He lives in the west end, and coming to the Danforth is pretty out of the way for him. But let me says this: it is worth every minute of sitting on transit, to enjoy the beautiful restaurant-made delights. These dumplings do not look like they came out of a box or frozen junk, and I would lay money on it that they don't. And what's more, they have a clearly laid out vegetarian menu, and the guy working the counter when I was there checked if anything had egg for me. Nope! I had sticky rice in lotus leaves, fried tofu, and several kinds of scrumptious dumplings. The service was basic, the decor was nothing to write home about, but the food was delicious, and fast, and an incredible price.  If you're in Toronto, go to Ha Gow Dim Sum, near Donlands and the Danforth. And if you don't live in Toronto, come visit, and we can get dumplings!

(Road) Avocado: Popped dinner in Ecuador

When I was in Ecuador in the spring, in many places I ate better than I could have imagined. Partly it was because of our amazing guide's dedication intranslating the specifics of my crazy vegan diet. But partly it was I think that vegan food takes advantage of simple, fresh ingredients wherever possible, and therefore eating vegan--and eating well--is possible anywhere if those doing the cooking are dedicated. Which leads to the balance of the equation: I can only assume from the many delicious meals that I ate that the people who cooked for me often genuinely wanted to make me delicious food.

While I started typing by talking about food, I'm realizing that I really am talking about the warmth and the hospitality of the people we encountered. Even though I ate in a way that was foreign to many of them--probably seeming like a privileged North American, the way vegans are perceived even to many North Americans--I had very few bad dining experiences in my three weeks in Ecaudor and the Galapagos. And I had very many excellent ones. When we came home, my mother and I raved about how friendly people were, whether regular people in the stores and on the street or those in the hospitality industry that we deal with every day. And if that hasn't convinced you to go, perhaps actually talking about food now will!
In my last post on Ecuador, I mentioned that their dining involves something unique to their county. Want to take a moment to consider what that might be? In a hundred moments you wouldn't even guess, but go right ahead. It's popcorn.
Our guide told us that in pre-Columbian times, the people who lived in what is now Ecuador didn't make bread. They cooked food in pots over fire, so they made a lot of soups--even now my guidebook says Ecuador is known for its soups. So they popped corn and had that with their soups instead of bread. It was served as an appetizer in many restaurants, and served alongside soups and ceviches. In the photo, they served me ceviche with three things on the side--popped corns, roasted corn kernels, and plantain chips. Delicious! And only in Ecuador.

(Road) Avocado: Let it bean!

I'm at my parents place for the weekend. As a vegan, this means I either eat "the sides", or I cook. So I made pancakes this morning, and I'll make dinner tonight--but last night my brother surprised me by making us all a super-simple and super-delicious red sauce and pasta for dinner.
He tells me it's a recipe from Jean-Christophe Novelli, an amazing celebrity chef who he may have a slight crush on. He makes it all the time and people like it so much he shares the recipe with them. It is one of those awesome recipe that is incredibly simple but also incredibly flavourful. And frankly, it's always a treat to not have to cook dinner and just be eating the same food everyone else is eating.
My brother says to make it with heirloom tomatoes, but he says he has made it in January with crappy winter tomatoes and it's also find. The vanilla bean is unexpected but it seems to add depth and round out the flavours.
You can Google the recipe, but basics are:
Slice as many tomatoes as will fit in a sauté pan in half, and seat a few minutes until soft. While they are searing, add salt and pepper to taste and a pinch of sugar. When tomatoes are soft, squish with a potato masher or back of a spoon to release the juices. Slice a vanilla bean in half, remove seeds and add seeds and the pod to the tomatoes. (When we were cooking last night, my brother's said at this point to add the vanilla and let it be. "Let it bean?" Eye roll.) Continue cooking over low heat to simmer. (The original recipe also calls for star anise but my brother doesn't like it.) Cook until thickened to a paste and add roughly chopped garlic, fresh basil and a drizzle of olive oil. Cook for about ten more minutes to infuse flavours. If it's too sweet, add a touch of vinegar to balance it out. Serve with your favourite pasta.

(Road) Avocado part 3: Polenta and Zen: Zen Kitchen in Ottawa

Remember I said I don't travel for work very often? Well, when I do it's in the summer. So in August I found myself in Ottawa for a day. Anyone in Ontario will know Ottawa isn't usually a day trip form Toronto, but my event got cancelled, and I found making the trip in order to attend the meeting that I had scheduled simply to coincide with my now-cancelled event.

My train left before many people are even out of bed, so we pulled in to Ottawa a little after eleven. I made my way downtown and stopped in to a vegan restaurant so I could get myself a delicious lunch before my meeting. And yes, yes--it was delicious.

The restaurant was Zen Kitchen in Ottawa. As you can tell from the first photo, even the ambiance was lovely. I had already checked out the menu when I was looking online before my trip, so I had settled on the Reuben sandwich with polenta fries.

I've made Reubens myself, at home (thank to Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day) but it appealed to me the most, and frankly I can always use tips on making a better Reuben. However, there was no way in vegan hell I was leaving that restaurant without trying polenta fries. And I'm glad I got to try these little golden morsels of fried polenta goodness--there were honestly one of the best things I've ever eaten! I told the waitress I'd seen recipe for polenta fries online, but admitted it was probably the deep-frying that made the difference. Yes, she confirmed, they were indeed deep-fried. Of course they were! Anything deep-fried instantly pleases my ridiculously trashy taste buds. I finished the Reuben and the polenta fries (mental note--buy industrial deep fryer and 8 gallons of vegetable oil; make polenta fries) with a happy tummy.

I had ordered tea, since I recently thought for reasons too banal to get into that I should give up coffee but I still want to enjoy a hot beverage a dozen times a day. Even my tea was lovely--the teapot itself was adorable enough that I couldn't resist taking a photo of that too.

For my evening train ride home, I got the mac and cheese and a side salad to go. I enjoyed it thoroughly but didn't dare take a photo--there were fried onion bits on top of the mac that looking like dead worms by the time I opened the container. Not photogenic at all, but mighy delicious! And they saved me from having a bag of chips for dinner at the train station.

So if you're ever in Ottawa, go to Zen Kitchen! Get the polenta fries, and maybe the chef can hook you up with an industrial deep fryer (and me too).

(Road) Avocado, Part 1: Veg Out in London, ON

 Sometimes I have to travel for work. It's not that often, and since I work fore a charity, it's really not glamourous. I tend to stay with colleagues or family when possible, and these exotic locations include Kirkfield, Ontario, and Fort Erie, Ontario. Yeah, it's mostly Ontario! So when I had to go London, (yes, Ontario) in June, the colleague who offered to host me suggested we go to the vegan place for dinner Friday night. Um, doubletake what? We invited our other London colleagues but only one could join us--the one who made bacon jokes the whole time, unlike my host who seems to eat meatless a lot anyway. And I thanked her for her hospitality with a half-dozen triple-chocolate cherry biscotti, so I'm glad she wasn't too put off by vegan food to enjoy them! She emailed when she got back into town the following weekend and told me she and her husband were thoroughly enjoying them.
And I was glad, because I had thoroughly enjoyed Veg Out. The menu was varied enough to be enticing, with a mix of comfort food--chili cheese fries--and healthy food, like soba bowl with veggies.  For dinner, I absolutely had to get the crispy cremini and shiitake mushroom appetizer (pictured): I love mushrooms and anything deep-fried just has ny name on it. And yes, it was just as delicious as I thought it would be! I also got the bacon-mushroom melt, and whether it's because I didn't take picture or because it wasn't spectacular, I don't really remember it. But I was excited enough to also go back for dinner the next day!

I was there for a late dinner the next day, after the work event that I actually went to London for. I got the mushroom appetizer again, with a satisfying soy latte and this time the "fish" and chips (pictured). It was just as amazing as I hoped it would be! Almost creepily-similar battered and deep fried "fish", sinful fries and fresh and crunchy cole slaw. And I got a slice of the vegan cheesecake to go, for my train home ride to Toronto. All in all a wonderful and delicious trip to London!

Fall in love with tofu, all over again

Tofu is a vegan staple. It has been around so long we take it for granted. Unlike newer foods some of us may still be discovering ("OMG, have you tried kale/tempeh/quinoa yet?? It's SO AMAZING!"), everyone knows about tofu. If there's a vegan option at a restaurant, it often includes tofu (probably because it's a stir-fry).
So we take it for granted: "Yeah, I use tofu, I know what to make with it, why try something different, I've cooked it a million times."
NO. Trust me, try this recipe: General Tao's tofu. I have no idea how fucking cornstarch turns tofu into a crispy fried delicious morsel, but it does. And it's easy! You can use your own favourite Asian-style sauce, like I did, and it takes maybe half an hour (longer if you don't have the rice made already), most of which is waiting for the tofu to brown . However it's so simple you'll want it everyday.
Confession: I made it for dinner last weekend, and then I ate it for breakfast AND lunch the next day too. Because once again I'm smitten.

New Year's Carbolutions

It's the time of year when everyone's vowing to do something different. Fuck that! Watch too much TV, add things to your Pinterest board instead of actually doing things, make snide remarks about people who cut you off in traffic and eat things people say you shouldn't. Including carbs. Actually, eat ALL THE CARBS.
I don't have anything against carbs. My general philosophy is to eat things that have been messed with as little as possible. So if I'm going to eat something that's already made and packaged, I want to eat something that's been processed less, if I can help it. So I usually buy non-wheat bread and pasta for home, and choose whole grains if it's an option when I'm eating out.
Accordingly, when I made today's All-Carb Dinner, I used kamut pasta. I did use white bread for the crumbs, but that's because I had some old sourdough bread that was given to me that I had to use up anyway. So I don't feel guilty, even though it was two kinds of carbs rolled up in delicious fat. And that's the way it should be! Eat good food, be full, and don't feel guilty unless you've done something horrible like poke kittens in the eye.
The All-Carb Dinner pasta dish I made tonight was Pasta con Aglio e Olio--pasta with garlic and oil. I had variations of this a few times while I was in Italy--let's face it, a vegan often gets simplest pasta on the menu by default. Some variations had tomatoes or parsley or chili flakes added. My extensive five minutes of googling tells me that adding the breadcrumbs makes this a Milanese version. (Don't be confused by the shallot and greens in my photo--they were for food styling only, because plain pasta makes for boring-ass photos.) In my opinion, it's the breadcrumbs that make the dish, although like many traditional homey foods, it's whatever version your mom/dad/gramma/grampa made for you that is truly authentic. For you cooking pleasure, a not-a-recipe follows. Vary it until you find your favourite, then tell your kids/your cats/the people who borrow your pepper mill that it's the only authentic version around.

A not-recipe for Pasta con Aglio e Olio
Add as many servings as you'd like of your favourite strand pasta to boiling water. Lower heat if it starts to boil over. While the pasta cooks, chop as much garlic as you'd like (I used four small cloves for one serving but that may be while I'm still single); and using the smallest holes on a metal grater, make crusty stale bread or lightly toasted fresh bread into as many crumbs as you can before you get tired. I used about a quarter cup to top one generous serving of pasta, but some recipes I saw called for a  little over a third of a cup per serving. When the pasta is almost al dente, heat the oil in a frying pan. When hot, add the chopped garlic and saute, stirring occasionally, only until the garlic is white and fragrant. Add the breadcrumbs and fry for a few minutes to toast the crumbs. When the pasta is al dente, drain thoroughly and add to the pan, stirring to coat. Add chopped parsley or chili flakes if desired. Plate, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and serve.  

Reuben Sandwich with a capital S

I bought Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day a couple months ago. It's awesome, and the pictures make my mouth water, but I hadn't made anything from it yet. Until today, of course. On an impulse last week, I bought sauerkraut and pumpernickel bread from the grocery store thinking of the One World Reubens from the cookbook. Something about toothy seitan and sour-crunchy sauerkraut got my tastebuds in a tizzy. But today when I started making them I realized I didn't have all the ingredients. So I made the seitan with a couple cheats, substitutions and flavour tricks. The sauce too--it was supposed to include a half or dozen or things I didn't have, so I fudged it with mayo and hot sauce, giving my version an almost neon pink hue. Then of course I forgot to add the sauce before I grilled the sandwich, so the slice next to the sauerkraut got soggy. However, I managed to hold off eating this gorgeous veGANwich until I took a picture and then was able to dig in. It was everything I dreamed it would be. The reuben is one of those sandwiches that definitely lets you know you're eating an entire meal. It's not a sandwich, it's a Sandwich. Even if you make a mockery of the original recipe ingredients, respect the reuben--and then eat the hell out of it. 

Caeser, you creamy vegan minx

I had another inspiration today: vegan Caesar salad. I know it's not really original--that vegan cookbook default, Veganomicon, has a recipe, if I do recall--but I haven't tried it yet. Last night when I sprinkled store-bought vegan parm on my lettuce I thought, sweet Isa, why haven't I made vegan Caesar yet?
So tonight I did. I didn't even go to the grocery store first, or plan it out, which is so unlike me it makes me wonder if I'm coming down with something.
I just came home tonight and started cutting tofu into teeny tiny pieces for smokey-bacon-style tofu bits. This was also when I discovered that there are a billion vegan Caesar dressing online. Which is good, because I had no idea what to put in mine. In the end I used garlic, rice vinegar, balsamic vinegar, and vegan mayo. It was yummy, but a wee bit too garlicky--I recommend something less than a full grated clove of raw garlic for one portion, FYI. I should also have skipped the balsamic since it made the dressing brown and not that lovely creamy colour that photographs well. However the salad did give me a chance to use up some old bread for croutons--just toss bread cubes (smaller than you think they should be) in a little oil and toast in the oven. Then toss together with your fake'n bits and parm, and if you really want to replicate the full deal, slice some faux chicken and lay photogenically on top. Caesar, you must have been a delicious man.

My friend's stuffed peppers (not a euphemism)

My friend made stuffed yellow peppers for lunch last week. Don't they look delicious??

Non-passive-agressive soup

You know what goes best with passive-aggressive muffins? Butternut squash soup! Not really, but the appropriate follow-up post to complaining about that person who always tells me i can eat the non-vegan thing she brought or slowly starve to death at bookclub* is of course celebrating the person who always go out of her way to make something vegan and gluten-free even though she's an omnivore with absolutely no dietary restrictions whatsoever! She's a superstar. And her gorgeous soup was damn good too--there were even cranberries and walnuts to sprinkle on top for some extra flavour and texture. It was extra-yummy, and extra nice of her.



*I may be exaggerating. My fellow bookclubbers may go so far as to say that bookclub is basically a food-trough with a given discussion topic. I would say it's a food-trough with a book to discuss and people's personal lives to dissect. But I'm exaggerating for effect, so there.

My vegan heart, part 3

There's this Middle Eastern restaurant near my office that has an amazing appetizer plate. Hummus, babaghanouj, tabbouleh salad and falafel, and I actually moan when I eat it. The first time I had it, I told my date (!) I was going to go in the kitchen and make out with the chef. And the best part? On the menu, it's clearly labelled "vegan." Be still my vegan heart! With food like that, that is so clearly and considerately marked safe for yours truly, you better believe I'll keep coming back. And maybe I'll even  threaten to make out with the chef.

Tamales are awesome, papusas are awesomer

Have you ever made tamales? They're a lot of frickin' work.  Make the dough, soak the corn husks, make the filling, spread the dough in the husk, add the right amount of stuffing, close the husk, tie it up. And then cook it. Phew! Are you tired yet?? Tamales are so much work people get together and make tamales assembly-line style.
But I have a secret for you: papusas are like tamales, but faster. All the ingredients are the same, but you spend less time fiddling with husks. Instead you make a little circle on your palm, add the filling, then form into a filling. And you fry them instead of steaming.  The ones pictured are with black bean and sweet potato filling (and store-bought salsa). Delicious! I got the recipe from Viva Vegan, which is also an awesomer cookbook. Enjoy your papusas, my vegans!

Don't give up on dumplings

I had given up on dumplings. I love dumplings, so I tried to make them a couple times, but I got frustrated. You need a tablespoon each of 8 different things, but they're not things I have on hand. So I'd spend $20 bucks or something like that to get $4 worth of ingredients to make $15 worth of dumplings. And what's more, chopping all the ingredients took me an hour and then lovingly stuffing and sealing all the dumplings took much, much longer. And then I still had to cook them. No! I gave up. I realized you could order dumplings from a variety of restaurants. It was more expensive but it was well worth saving the time. It was pretty much a done deal: I'd never make dumplings again. 
Then somehow I discovered this recipe for edamame dumplings. I almost couldn't believe it at first: only a few ingredients, all of which were cheap and easy to procure, which required minimal prepping on my part? Yes, I still had to stuff and seal the little darlings, but I could live with that.
And they were easy. Cooked edamame practically puree themselves, and they were so adorably green inside that they won me over. Take it from me: it'll be the only dumpling recipe you ever make again.

(Partially) Illustrated Things I can Always Eat.

I asked a colleague out for lunch last week. She said, "I was going to suggest sushi but you just had some on Friday." First of all--good memory on her, no? Secondly, I can have sushi anytime.  Breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunch, midnight snack, post workout...I hope you get what I'm saying. There are a few things like that--if someone asked, "How about this for dinner, again?" I would say, hell yeah! So for my first post of VeganMoFo 2012, here is my very informative list, of (Partially) Illustrated Things I can Always Eat.

Sushi, obviously
The elegance of Japanese food is inherently appealing. The focus on the aesthetics is so different from the meat-potatoes-veg dinners so many of us grew up with. Hallelujah for that! And plus we get to use chopsticks, which is how I measured when I became a fully-formed city girl.

Pizza
Generally speaking, I have to make it myself. So I do. If I am especially disciplined, I will make a pizza and take it to work with me for a couple days' worth of lunch, health-ified with a salad on the side. Sex is like pizza, right? I can't remember how exactly, but it sounds right.

Dumplings
They're tiny and varied, they're stuffed with things, and they come with sauces. If dumplings aren't on your list of OMNoms, you must have been born without taste buds.

Grilled Cheese
Since going vegan, grilled cheese wasn't a popular item on my menu rotation. But then there was Daiya; and I discovered my panini press makes grilled cheese extra awesome. (It's all the extra space for crispy-ness that the panini press makes.) Now there is now going back. 

French toast
This has much the same appeal as grilled cheese--it's fried and it's carbs, so gimmeh! Only with French toast, it's not the gooey cheeze that make it extra nom-worthy, it's the stuff you eat it with--fruit, fruit sauce, maple syrup, icing sugar, or completing the full-on hot-breakfast trifecta of hash browns and meatless sausage/bacon. Weekends are made for this, people.

Falafel
Another food that builds on the basic fried carbs, falafel kicks it up a notch. Not only do you have the fried falafel balls and the pita, some food genius decided that contrasting this with cool, crisp parsley and adding some tahini for depth of flavour would take this food to a whole new level. And it did. 

Mexican

There is something about the flavour palate and the often vegan-ness of Mexican-style food that I can't get enough of. And seriously, anything I can add avocados to has my heart. Furthermore, chipotle peppers are the perfect addition of heat, and leave me teary with delicious joy--and a burning tongue.


Avocado
Do I really need to explain this one? If anything with avocados has my heart, then avocados themselves must be amazeballs. It's like this: if movies with Ryan Reynolds are inherently awesome, then Ryan Reynolds himself must be awesome squared. Hard to argue with my impeccable logic, right?
Avocados are smooth and creamy and go well with everything. If you're not convinced, look at the picture and try not to imagine how tasty that is.

Hummus

Humans have four basic needs: air, water, food, shelter. This being the 20th century, we can add Facebook and funny photos of cats if we wanted the list to be truly accurate. Vegans can add hummus to the list of necessities. How many sad, hungry vegan, lost and forlorn--on the road or at an event--has found that delicious saviour, hummus, and become instantly rejuvenated? Hummus is a vegan food that can be found so many places now that it frequently saves us from "just the salad". And thank hummus for that!

On-hand salad

You know those days, when you feel like you have nothing to eat, and you're really hungry? And you poke through your fridge and make whatever you can find? Well, sometimes you end up with delicious things, such as tomato-kale-chickpea salad, with the only dressing I had in the fridge (also delicious). I give you, on-hand salad: it was perfect!

Baked mac and cheese with Daiya

I made vegan baked mac and cheese yesterday. (Apparently, my logic goes: feeling sick? Don't wanna eat? Make comfort food!) And I regretted not trying this before. I tried a different vegan version once or twice, but it wasn't nearly as good. The Daiya vegan cheese made the difference. Nom! You can find the recipe on daiyafoods.com.

Hot and sour soup, you are wise

We know that ordering vegan food can be challenging when we're eating with omnivores. We often have to eat at places with few vegan options, but we also don't want to cause a fuss, or make it seem like eating vegan is "difficult", but we don't just want to eat the salad either. So when I ordered delivery for dinner on New Year's Day with my family, I was expecting to have to compromise--a lot. But we agreed to get Chinese food, went online, and found a good Chinese food restaurant nearby that not only seemed authentic, it also listed all the vegetarian dishes. Bingo! My family got to order a few things for themselves, and I ordered "bean curd and vegetables" with steamed rice--and a small vegetarian hot and sour soup, for kicks. And we were all happy!
The soup was an afterthought--"Have I had hot-and-sour since I went vegan? I don't remember. I should have some!"--but I couldn't resist, since it was so clearly labelled and I knew I could eat it. It was delicious! I haven't had that many hot and sour soups, and those I have had have been very light--mostly broth with a few thinly-sliced pieces of cabbage, carrot and celery, if memory serves--but this was almost a meal. It was so packed full of veggie and tofu goodness I had to take a picture for sharing. I kinda want to go back there just for the soup.
But it reminded me of a few Things Vegans Should Remember:
--ethnic food is your friend! Since so many cuisines around the world developed with limited availability of meat, their menus often have vegetarian or even vegan options.
--try new things! It can be easy to eat the same things over and over again (when I go out for lunch I usually either eat from 1 of 2 regular lunch places) but when we try new things, we can be pleasantly surprised.
And one thing I should remember:
--I am spoiled! I live in a time when there are more and more vegan items available every day. Today I saw a posting about vegan "egg yolk". Yowza! I also live in a city with an incredible diversity of veg entrees, veg restaurants, and ethnic foods. I rarely have to eat "just the salad". I'm pretty lucky. thank you for the lessons, hot and sour soup! You are so wise.