Greek Themed Feast

Man it feels good to post again. Its been forever & now I finally have my camera again. This is a feast all the way back from valentines day. I made at the last minute not knowing what we really wanted to eat or having much time to really make anything extravagant. So we quickly picked a theme and it came together pretty alright. Its not too pretty but it was damn delicious.

On the menu

Gyros
Grilled 'lamb' Kabobs
Stuffed grape leaves
Hummus
Rice and lentils
Tzatziki

The Gyros

Da Meet

3 cups vital wheat gluten

1tsp tapioca starch

coriander

cumin

cumin seeds

cardamom

sage

onion powder

1/2 onion

2 tbsp lemon juice

2tbs soy sauce

2 garlic cloves

3/4 cup water

tbsp sugar

Add everything together that's not the water or the flour. mix it up till you like the taste. Then add the flour and water.

Fix it into a nice log. Wrap in foil.

Steam this gentleman for about an hour checking your water level

so you don't burn your pan (like i did!)

When the the seitan is done cut it in half. use only one half and slice it really really

thin. If you have a serrated bread knife or a

slicer knife, that works good in absence of a mechanical slicer of

some type. Marinate the slices in cumin, coriander, salt, olive oil

sugar and pepper for about a hour or so.

The same meat can be used for the kabobs and for the grape leaves. Cut the remaining half into two pieces ,a bigger piece and a smaller piece. Cut cubes out of the bigger piece and mince or chop the small piece to put into the grape leaves.

Marinate the faux lamb cubes in lemon juice, coriander, cardamom, paprika, cumin, oil, and sage for about an hour and a half.

Grill it. Enjoy.

Stuffed Grape leaves

1 jar of grape leaves

Ground lamb seitan

2 cups cooked rice

3tbsp lemon juice

coriander

cumin

dill

1 cup of cooked lentils

salt and pepper

add all ingredients together. let sit four 20 minutes for flavors to be absorbed

traditionally the dolmas are steamed but for lack of time

we cooked the filling fully and c wrapped it in the raw leaves like a pro.

Rice and lentils

3 cups of rice

3 cups lentils

2 cloves garlic

2 onions

salt pepper

cumin

turmeric

lemon juice

add cooked rice and lentils together with olive oil salt and pepper lemon juice and cumin. sweat onions in saute pan with garlic and turmeric until nice and soft. add onions on top of lentils and rice bake in an oven at 350 for about 12 minutesto get the top of the mixture nice and crispy.

tzatziki sauce

1 tub vegan or Greek yogurt

half of a seedless cucumber

2 cloves garlic

lemon juice to taste

salt pepper

so now that we got everything..... cut up some lettuce, onion and tomato. grab so awesome olives, toast some pitaand oil and paprika up your hummus wrap a fat gyro and chow down.

cheese recipe over at my neglected food blog

http://theapeman.blogspot.com/2010/03/aged-cashew-brazil-cheese.html

Check it out!

Teese Coupon

I know this isn't a recipe, but totally an awesome link to a great product coupon, check it out!

FREE Teese Vegan Cheese Coupon

Enjoy! Thank me later.

Orange Tofu

Hey everybody. I decided that I had to learn how to make orange sauce as good as the Mandarin Wok and it turned out to be better than any orange sauce I have ever had (modest, I know). So I decided to share my recipe with ya'll so you could enjoy it too. Here it goes.

Orange Tofu

1 block of tofu, extra firm, cubed
salt
white pepper
oil for frying in wok

4 Tbsp garlic, minced (about 5-6 cloves)
4 Tbsp ginger, minced
1/2 jalapeno, super thinly sliced
1 Tbsp oil
1/4 cup mirin or sherry
1/3 cup OJ, fresh squeezed or whatever
2 Tbsps orange zest or rind chunks
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup agave nectar
3 Tbsp soy sauce
4 Tbsp arrowroot mixed with 2 Tbsp cold water
1 Tbsp siracha
white pepper
crushed red pepper

Start out by frying your tofu until golden brown on all sides over medium/high heat. Season with salt and white pepper. Set aside.

Keep you wok hot add the 1 Tbsp oil, and stir fry the garlic, ginger and jalapeno for about a minute. Add the mirin or sherry, the OJ, the orange zest, sugar and agave nectar. Cook for a minute or two. Add the soy sauce and siracha. Then once its boiling add the arrowroot slurry and let it get nice and gloopy. Adjust seasonings and make it hotter if you wish. Pour over your crispy tofu and some steamed broccoli. Serve with rice or like in my case some leftover low mein noodles.

Pairs nicely with a sweet wine like a Riesling to counter balance the spice. Beer is always a good option too. Maybe a nice pale ale would work well.

Indian Food

Hey dudes, good to see the blog is active again. Let's keep this going with an old one that I keep forgetting to post. Here's a dish that I made weekly for a while. Good for filling you up and warming your bones. Serve everything up with basmati rice and mint chutney, enjoy!



Channa Masala w/ TVP

1 large yellow onion
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp hot curry powder
2 cans chick peas
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1 handful tvp

Wow, I've been cooking with can's too much. I didn't realize that until I wrote down what goes in this recipe. The TVP makes this dish really filling and hearty. I think the recipe would be great without it. Pretty much here's the process:

- get the onions going in a cast iron skillet over medium heat with the oil and curry powder until the onions get translucent
- let your can opener do the cooking and add everything else
- keep adding water as the tvp soaks it up so it stays real saucy
- let it stew for a bit to mix all the flavors

Creamy Curry Kale

Alliteration alert! This dish's title would look good on a brew pub menu. Stephen? For this one I start the same way with the oil, curry powder, and onions. Once the onions are translucent, I add the kale and let it cook down. I finish it off by adding some cashew or almond cream and molasses.

Haven't tried it, but it might be nice to toss in some nutritional yeast to give it a Paneer kind of taste. I'll let you know how that goes.