The Vegan Thread

Did you change the water you soaked them in?
Lentils & other pulses contain sugars that humans cannot digest,
but,
the gut flora in your intestines can.
If you don't change the water the lentils were soaked in,
and for best results, the water that is used to bring the lentils to a simmer/boil,
you eat these non-digestible sugars and suffer the consequences the following day.

Ah well that explains it. I didn’t make the food but for what you describe, that makes sense.

Vegan lunch today; made cauli-burgers*(!) with bulgar and (cheating) artichokes from a jar.

*is what I called them. Cooked cauli, garlic, chickpeas, red pepper, sweetcorn, chipotle sauce in a big frying pan for 15 mins, blended a bit (not too much), flour to bind, used a small pastry cutter thing to press the mess into shapes, then fried to crisp them up.

They sound baller.
Any chance of a recipe/indication of proportions?
Well excited about having sausage and mash for tea...

Made 14! (have chilled some for later), about small cup-cake size. Bashed it all up on the spot so more surprised it worked at all.
Quarter of a cauli, broken into small florets, regular-sized tin of chickpeas, two garlic cloves, one large red (bell) pepper, big tin of sweetcorn, big glug of McIlhenny's Chipotle, seasoning.
Fried for 15 mins before dropping in the processor. 10 secs pulse, just to break things down a bit, dredged with plain white flower and then pressed into the cutter. About 5, 6mins to shallow-fry in olive oil to crisp them up.
Also simmered sixty portions of bulger. Need to get the hang of proportions for grains...
Terrible pic attached, presentation 3/10
Hopefully you get the idea. Your saus-n-mash sounds good for our next weekend :-)

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Perfect, will make those in the week as got all the bits already.

The sausages were good, texture was on point but despite the seasoning they had that unmistakable seitany taste, there's nowt wrong with it but I'd like to be able to mask it better, wonder if it's down to the stock I use.

On the subject of recipes I want to put some more stuff up on my naff little blog so send me things to attempt please!

blog? url?

seitany?

Seitany - that unmistakable taste which cuts through whatever seasoning you use in your seitan recipe. It's definitely not unpleasant but it always seems to be there in my recipes.

Blog only has one recipe on it as I only just started it. Only putting stuff that I've made a few times and is foolproof/repeatable.
https://vegmundro.wordpress.com/2017/09/17/walnut-kidney-bean-and-chilli-jam-sausage-rolls/

Will use my chestnuts in those sausage rolls - perfect!

Reminds me, I need to write out my chilli recipe. See if anyone can help refine it further

Has anyone played with soy curls yet?
Seen a lot of American recipes using them for stir frys and pulled pork type dishes. Seem expensive and not readily available over here tho so assume they're a relatively recent thing?
@TomvanHalen please post up your recipe, we always just make chilli up as we go along with mixed results.

Also on Seitan - any tips on making it it less chewy/rubbery /tough?
I'm trying to get a succulent 'chicken' texture not e.g. 'duck'

Actually - what am I doing - I don't even like meat!?

I just combine the ingredients into a loose dough, if I kneed it it ends up rubbery. The looser the dough the better the texture in my book. A touch of buckwheat or chickpea flour seems to help it stay fluffy too.

Are you boiling in broth, steaming or roasting in broth?
For me, boiling seems to work best.

You can get fudco soya chunks at Morrisons

Sweet. Got some fudco soy mince the other day, mostly cos it sounds like a brand from a ren and stimpy episode...

Any restaurant suggestions for Los Angeles? Already had the heartattack inducing Doomies

First few attempts were steamed (wrapped in foil) but the last one (the rubbery one) was boiled .
Will keep experimenting.
Thanks

Keep playing, I can't remember which recipe I use now but I've definitely found that wrapping and steaming makes for a much denser texture. The sausages we made today were wrapped then boiled. They were certainly dense but not rubbery.

This is LadyLiz's go to recipe(just the seitan bit obvs) http://www.theedgyveg.com/2014/03/17/vegan-mcdonalds-series-mcchicken-sandwich/
I generally don't use tahini when I make it tho.

I guess the size of chunks you cook is also going to affect the texture. We tend to make lots of smaller bits as opposed to big loafs. We generally tear chunks instead of cutting/squeezing them into shape which supposedly helps.

Ok, I have to write this up in the book anyway so I'll give it a go.

You will need to acquire dried chilies. I tend to use two big ancho poblano, three or so cascabel and a couple of arbol for extra heat. Costeño or new mexico would be could, but I can never find them.

Tear your chilies up, discard the seeds (because commercially dried chilies never seem to germinate, sadface) and toast in a heavy pan until delicious and pliable. Don't burn them.

Add to this a litre or so of your best stock (I use half-strength marigold swiss) and simmer for some time until you have some boiled chilies in maybe 300ml of liquid. Decant chilies and enough stock to cover them into the plastic pint glass type thing that came with your stick blender. Reserve the rest of the stock.

In the meantime, toast and grind at least a tablespoon of cumin and coriander seeds, a few cloves and a couple of star anise (I never know whether to do the whole things or just the shiny bits) and add to the chilies. Also add a teaspoon of your favourite yeast extract, two teaspoons of soy sauce, some tomato paste, a tablespoon or two of as finely-ground covfefe as you can manage and half a bar of dark chocolate. Maybe some chipotles in adobo for a smoky kick.

Blend. Blend more. Dip your finger in and revel in its glory. Adjust to taste. Blend even more. Clean up the mess. The resultant paste freezes pretty well, so you can scale up or down.

For the chilli itself:
I use one or two tins of chickpeas, two tins of kidney beans, one tin or carton of black beans and a tin of whole tomatoes in juice.

Drain the chickpeas, reserving some of the precious aquafaba and a few peas to make mayonnaise. Add the liquid to the remaining stock, and blitz the chickpeas in bursts to a coarse, mincey texture.

Add tomatoes to the chickpea liquid, breaking them up with your mighty vegan hands and removing the tough innards. Drain kidney beans and reserve liquid for topping up the chilli.

Dice a big tasty onion and fry over a medium heat in a big enameled cast iron pan or w/e in plenty of oil. Like 3tbsp ish. Grate three cloves of garlic on a microplane, add to the softened onion and fry until fragrant, with a big helping of dried oregano. Then add the chilli paste and continue to fry for a couple of minutes, add tomatopeastock, stir well, and add all the pulses.

Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for about an hour and a half, until the chickpeas are soft and the chilli is thick. Stir pretty often, or it will stick and burn. I haven't worked out if this is just my pot/burner/general mix or if it's a general problem. Top up with kidney juice if necessary at any point.

Just before serving, mix in a shot of bourbon and some Frank's hot sauce, to taste, and eat with nachos, guacamole, something like sour cream and pickled jalapeños. Any other way is wrong.

This chili paste sounds delicious!

I just tested another approach, which was to gently fry chopped onion, carrot and celery, add the garlic and tomato paste and fry a bit more. Then add canned tomatoes and blend with your hand blender. Then add spices, cocoa, beans etc and cook. 15 mins before done you add bell peppers and 5 minutes before you add sweet corn.

It's the first step that was new to me, and it really gives a good sauce/texture to the chili

Tried the What the Pitta's vegan donor at the weekend... I really should remember that I don't like imitation meat! I found it absolutely rank., but because I don't actually like meat and it reminded me so closely of meat. I reckon that if you're someone who does miss meat, they'd be bloody awesome!