Clear Noodle Soup w. Mock Duck - Vegan Mofo 2013

Can you make me some soup? Mr. Coconut asks.

Sure.

"Soup" means one of three varieties of instant ramen or rice noodle soups in the pantry. Flip through the food we have in my head. I mentally mix and match flavors, textures, colors.

ginger garlic onion greens - will arugula work? - rice noodles peppers - jalapeno or Thai? - tofu mock duck what vegetables do we have soy sauce coconut oil hot sauce


Got it.

One can of mock duck - drain, rinse, tear into smaller pieces. Coconut oil to saute in a pan while water boils for the broth and noodles of this soup:




Spicy Thai chili peppers get tossed in with the mock duck, along with a good pour of soy sauce. Seasoning powder into the boiling water, along with the rice noodles. In the mock duck pot - a handful of kale and turn off the heat for both pots.

I ladle broth and noodles into the bowl, then place the greens and mock duck on top of the soup. Garnish with limes and cilantro.

Coconut Curry #321 - Vegan MoFo 2013

I know what you may be thinking, "really?! *another* coconut curry dish?"  It is true, this is one of my favorite go-to dishes.  I decided to lay off on posting this sort of dish unless I had something new to share.  Well, I do have some new things to share about the coconut curry dish I made a couple weeks ago.  

Most of the dish is fairly typical: mock duck, rice noodles, some green beans and Thai peppers.  The sauce even seems typical - coconut milk with yellow curry powder.  However, I really wanted to punch up the sauce so I took some time with it.  I crumbled in a veggie bouillon cube and at least .13-.25 cup  of fresh sliced jalapeños into it and let it simmer for a while to really get that flavor from the peppers.  I also added a bit more coriander powder and some lime juice.  Simple steps to vastly improve one of my favorite simple dishes of all time.  Of course, I don't always have all of those ingredients, but when I do, I will certainly be adding them again.  

Mock Duck in Yellow Coconut Curry

Yum yum yum.  Just another easy-peasy curry.  One 15 oz can of coconut milk.  Some curry powder, veg broth = sauce done.

Mock duck fried up in a pan with soy sauce, garlic, hoisin, ginger, onion.  Broccoli and pineapple added, served over brown rice.

It only seems complicated because there are a few different parts to it, but really it's one of those simple "cook while watching TV" type of dishes that just satisfies and can leave leftovers for lunch tomorrow!  (Or breakfast.)

Mock Duck with Coconut Curry [Vegan Mofo]

Okay, so I owe this blog at least two days of multiple posts for Vegan Mofo.

Oh! And, I won something! I was super-excited to see my name up at the Vegan Mofo Blog. They have been doing daily giveaways, and I WON the So Delicious giveaway! Yay me! Ok, on to the food...

Mock Duck is easily one of my favorite foods, ever. It's the key in my favorite Laab Salad, it is my favorite pizza topping and my favorite at-home stir fry with curry sauce ingredient, as pictured above.

The curry was simple: one can of coconut milk and a couple spoonfuls of green curry paste. The stir fry: I sauteed onions that were thinly sliced and roughly chopped, then added the mock duck. Make sure to THOROUGHLY rinse the weird oil that they are canned in, and then I chopped the pieces to be more even in shape and size. I added a bag of frozen veggies that had asparagus, carrots, mushrooms, and other veggies. The whole thing is served over brown rice, but easily could be noodles instead.

On's Thai Kitchen: Tofu Pad Thai and Mock Duck with Green Beans

On's is a new-ish Thai restaurant here in Saint Paul. It is a delicious addition to the Midway. The photos are blurry (sorry) because I took them quickly with my phone. Perhaps next time I will take more time and get a decent photo. Above is a dish that originally was supposed to be with pea pods, but they were out and subbed green beans instead. I had it with mock duck, and it was delicious.

Below, a blurry Tofu Pad Thai. Very delicious. We also had a fried tofu appetizer which was pretty good, the sauce is amazing. Mr. Coconut spoke with the owner, On, and she verified that everything is made from scratch so a large variety of the dishes are vegan-friendly by request. I am excited to continue going here and enjoying more delicious Thai meals.

Vegetable Stir Fry: Mock Duck and Bean Thread Noodles with Broccoli

Another fairly simple stir fry. I love bean thread noodles as an alternative to rice noodles. They have a much more chewy texture, at least to me or the way I make them. The best part is that just like rice noodles, they are about a dollar for a pretty big bag.

I drained two cans of Mock Duck and pan-fried them with a lot of garlic, ginger paste, garlic chili sauce, and soy sauce. I also cooked up some frozen stir fry veggies: broccoli, snap peas, carrots, mushrooms, onions. Mixed together and promptly enjoyed.

Eden Pizza: Thai Mock Duck

This is a new local pizza joint, Eden Pizza. They have a variety of vegan options, including this tasty pizza: the Thai Mock Duck.

It has Thai sauce, mock duck, broccoli, red onion, cilantro and peanuts. DELICIOUS. I loved it! I look forward to eating Eden Pizza again soon when I have my allotted delivery food money for the week.

Not the best picture, next time I'll get it more in focus. This pizza was too good not to share, though.

Lentil Sage Field Roast Grain "Meat" Sandwich with Carrots

Well today I wanted to start what I'm sure will not continue for more than two days: blogging daily all the food I consume, even the boring foods. This may or may not force me to eat more healthy and/or be far too large of a task to keep up with, but since it's summer I decided to give it a go.

Of course, I started off with a bang by craving and creating this lovely sandwich this morning for breakfast. A sandwich consisting of Lentil Sage flavored Field Roast Grain "Meat," which I enjoy because it's a nice alternative to the soy deli meats. Field Roast is made from vital wheat gluten, which sounds gross but it is that protein which gives us seitan and more importantly, mock duck.

This sandwich consists of 3 pieces of said grain "meat," a few slices of tomato, some baby spinach, mustard and a piece of Galaxy Nutritional Foods' Rice Vegan Cheddar "Cheese," again a nice change from all-soy "cheeses."

I also enjoyed some baby carrots on the side, as well as throughout today. Sometime after the carrots, I had a Primal Strip in Thai Peanut flavor. I like these as a quick snack that fills me up and doesn't lead to mindless snacking.

So that's the food so far today. Plus lots of water and about one 8oz cup of coffee.

Fried Tofu Appetizer from Chiang Mai Thai

Mmm, this is fried tofu sticks with peanut sauce from Chiang Mai Thai, one of my favorite restaurants in the Twin Cities. Crispy shallot flakes top the tofu, and it is also served with sriracha.

On this visit, we enjoyed a Laab Salad with Mock Duck as well as a Garlic Pepper Stir Fry with Mock Duck. No pictures of those, though. I completely forgot and ate most of the meal before even thinking about picture taking! Ah well, the food was pretty good despite a lack of spice in the stir fry.

Breakfast: Pizza Lucé Brunch

WOW! This is from Pizza Lucé's Brunch: Portabello Florentine, basically Vegan "eggs" benedict. English Muffins, spread with olive tapenade, stacked with sautéed spinach, mushrooms, and finally topped with vegan hollandaise sauce!!! Hashbrowns are underneath all of this, and everything is garnished with sundried tomatoes and basil.

So tasty! I'm very addicted to the hollandaise sauce.

We also got a medium pizza with mock duck and "rinotta," which is basically soaked cashews blended with garlic and other spices made into a "cheese." Also very tasty.

Chiang Mai Thai: Laab Salad with Mock Duck

This is probably my favorite dish in the Twin Cities. It's from a restaurant called Chiang Mai Thai, and stands as one of the very few, if only, Thai restaurants I trust 100% to understand that vegan means no fish sauce or oyster sauce.

This "salad" is made here with mock duck, roasted rice powder, bell pepepers, lime juice, cilantro, scallions, onions, and some other spices/seasonings. It's served with 1/4 of a head of iceburg lettuce, 2-4 large slices of cucumbers, and 2-4 tomato wedges. Recently, they started serving it with fresh mint as well, which makes it even better. It's also served with a side of sticky rice. The idea is to make your own little lettuce cups. I also usuually get a spice level of 2 or 3 out of 4 because I like it spicy. I'm sure I'll have more pictures of this in the actual restaurant, maybe with an appetizer, too.

So freaking TASTY. They have some other dishes at Chiang which are decent, but it is really hard for me to ever order anything other than the Laab. Let's take another look:

Deep Fried Experiment #1: Tempura Green Peppers and Mock Duck

---> They look like sea monsters, don't they?

Deep fried food is oh so tasty, but a big pain to do at home. (I used to have a 3-in-1 machine that had a deep fryer, steamer and crockpot all in one.) Every now and then, though, it's fun to make a night of deep frying. Saturday night was one such night.

I happened upon some tempura batter without eggs a while back and had never gotten around to using it. I decided for the sake of the blog, I should really try it out. So I did. With one green pepper, a can of mock duck, and some onions.

What You Need:

software:
Tempura (check for eggs)
Mock Duck, one can, drained, rinsed, and sliced into smaller pieces for eating (also: packaged or homemade seitan, tofu, or anything else will work, too)
One Green Pepper, sliced into strips (or 5, or broccoli, or whatever)
One onion, sliced into rings
LOTS of oil (canola/vegetable) for frying

hardware:
Deep pan for deep frying (I used a wok)
Splatter Guard
draining rack/area
paper towels


Prep everything you plan on battering and frying. It makes the whole process much easier. Ideally, you should set up an area for the raw stuff, an area for battering, an area for frying and an area for draining. I have an extremely small kitchen, so this isn't really possible. Our draining area sort of crossed paths with the raw area, it was a messy situation, etc. I'm thankful that I was only working with green peppers and mock duck and not raw chicken.

The rest of this process is not very scientific. (as if the beginning half was.) Heat up oil to...really hot. But not too hot. Yep. (I don't have a thermometer. One more thing to add to my list of kitchen essentials.)

Batter the veggies or item you want to fry. We found that a really thin coating worked best. We also found that seasoning the mock duck ahead of time (pan frying with soy sauce, ginger, hot peppers, etc.) was an excellent decision. Place battered items into pan:


When the fried objects are golden brown (5-8 mins?) take them out of the oil and place on a wire rack on top of a cookie pan. (We used the toaster oven accessories for this because it was small and perfect.)

Yep. Use paper towel to soak up more oil after the objects have cooled more. Eat and enjoy. Soy sauce is a nice condiment, as well as cock sauce.

The Verdict:
It wasn't bad. Wasn't that good, either. More of a batter issue than anything. the tempura just didn't work well with deep frying, which is to be expected. The onions were the best. I thought they would not be tasty at all, and I feel foolish for questioning deep fried onions.

I will have to have a true deep frying night soon, testing a couple of batters.