plant-based

Carob glazed vegetable Yakitori

Carob glazed vegetable Yakitori, Bechamel & burned pepper purée

Carob glazed vegetable Yakitori, Bechamel & burned pepper purée You probably think it’s an egg yolk and a glazed pork belly Yakitori. Well… it’s not. It’s actually just vegetables. Let me explain. This dish was inspired by 2021 S.Pellegrino Young Chefs competition, where the winner presented a totally vegetable focused dish. It’s about time, right? You can watch the full video of me making vegetable Yakitori here Part 1 – Vegan yolk 2 Orange bell peppers 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp MSG Calcium Lactate (3% of the final puree volume) 1g Sodium Alginate 200g Water Ingredients, you’ll need Directions Burn bell peppers on open fire. Peel the skin off and remove seeds. Discard.  Use the hand blender to puree the burned bell peppers flash. Add in Turmeric powder and MSG and puree to smooth consistency. Measure the final puree amount, add in Calcium Lactate and blend for another 1-2 minutes.  Use a piping bag or a basting syringe to transfer the puree into half-circle shaped silicon molds. Freeze. Meanwhile, prepare a Sodium Alginate bath by blending Sodium Alginate into water and letting it rest for 5-10 min.  Prepare 2 more clear water baths. Perform reverse spherification by placing the frozen pepper puree into the Sodium Alginate bath.  Transfer the spherified vegan yolk into a water bath to clean off any extra Sodium Alginate and finally transfer to the final water bath for keeping purposes. Part 2 – Plant-based Bechamel sauce 1L unsweetened Plant-based milk of your choice 1 Onion 4 Cloves 2 Bay leafs 30g AP flour 30g Vegetable oil Ingredients Directions Infuse milk with onion, cloves and bay leafs and strain through a cheesecloth. Make a white roux with flour and oil. Incorporate infused milk into the roux 1 ladle at a time. Simmer for about 20 min, until the Nappe consistency. Strain through the cheese cloth again and season.  Part 3 – Vegetable Yakitori small Pumpkin Large carrots Large parsnip 30g Carob syrup 30g Scotch 50g Brown sugar 50g Dark miso paste 20g Soy sauce 100g Water 10g Mustard 3 large fresh Rosemary sprig Ingredients Directions Burn the above vegetables (or other vegetables of your choice) on open fire. Remove the burned skins and seeds. Discard them. Cut the vegetables into precise and equal size rectangles. Blend all the other ingredients (except for Rosemary). Put a frying pan on heat, pour in the carob glaze liquid. When the glaze gets hot, add in 1 sprig of Rosemary, carrots and parsnips (the harder vegetables).  Cook and baste vegetables, until they are nearly done. Add in the pumpkin cuts. Repeat the procedure until all the veggies are done. Remove the glazed veggies from the pan. Plant the charred and glazed vegetables on 2 fresh Rosemary sprigs. Vegetable Yakitori is ready. Part 4 – Vegetable Yakitory assembly Pour 2 tbsp plant-based Bechamel sauce on a warm plate.  Place a vegan egg yolk inside the Bechamel sauce. Place the vegetable Yakitory on the side of the vegan “fried eggs”, a.k.a. Bechamel sauce and charred bell pepper puree. Enjoy!

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Laminated Pasta dough

Pasta dough, laminated with fresh herbs (100% plant-based recipe)

This technique of making laminated pasta dough with various leafy herbs and edible flowers became quite popular in the recent years, and we’ve all seen tones of Instagram 15 sec videos, showing us how easy it is to laminate your pasta. What we haven’t seen though, are the technical difficulties that arise in this process. And today, I will share with you my experience and what I do to tackle them. [siteorigin_widget class=”WP_Widget_Media_Video”][/siteorigin_widget] And, here’s a written recipe of EGGLESS PASTA DOUGH for you: 600g Semolina flour 400g 00 Flour 1 tbsp Salt 4 tbsp Nutritional Yeast 400 ml Water Bunch of leafy greens/herbs/edible flowers Yield: app. 8 regular portions Prep. time: 40 min Cooking time: 15 min Tools & equipment required: Pot for blanching leafy greens and herbs; Pasta rolling machine (Click HERE to check out the pasta machine that I use) Directions: For the exact directions, please watch the YouTube video HERE. Once your laminated pasta is done, my suggestion would be to make a dish out of it that would showcase the beauty of your pasta sheets. I.e. I would refrain from just cutting it into fettuccine, or other pasta shapes that would hide all the beauty that you’ve just created. My suggestion would be to go for open lasagna, ravioli gigante, or cannelloni. Also, think about the sauce! Try to make something simple, and not too heavy, so you don’t hide again all the beauty of your laminated pasta under tones of thick sauce. I hope it helps! Let me know how this recipe works for you. If you want to learn other cool culinary techniques, click HERE. You can also see more of my video recipes HERE.

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vegan wheat meat | seitan recipe

What is vegan ‘Wheat Meat’, a.k.a. Seitan & how to make it yourself?

Seitan, a.k.a. wheat meat is probably the best plant-based meat alternative that you can actually cook yourself in your own kitchen. The dish itself is thousands years old and was cooked for years in Asia, Middle East and even Russia (not so common) for many years. But does make it a great meat replacement for a plant-based diet? Excellent question! Seitan is made of primarily 2 ingredients: wheat gluten and some kind of liquid (like water). Wheat gluten is THAT very gluten that we are asked to “work” when kneading bread or pasta dough. Gluten is the substance, made of proteins in wheat flour, you can say it is the main protein in wheat. It is thanks to gluten, that baked goods have structure and strength. When gluten absorbs the liquid and is being kneaded, it creates long and elastic strands, a lot like protein strands in meat products, like chicken and red meat. Unlike many other vegan meat alternatives, Seitan is probably the only that you can COOK YOURSELF at home and that gives the same MEATY TEXTURE. What makes it taste like meat – is the flavouring that you add when cooking it, or the marinate that you expose it to after loaf is fully cooked. Therefore, the flavouring is totally up to you, but if you want to know what I use, you can check out the video below for a full step-by-step guide on how to cook Seitan loaf at home from scratch. [siteorigin_widget class=”WP_Widget_Media_Video”][/siteorigin_widget] If you are not into videos, here is the written recipe, anyway: Preparation time: 40 min Cooking time: 1 hour Per servings: 4 servings Seitan loaf ingredients: 1 1/4 cups wheat gluten 3 tbsp nutritional yeast 1 1/2 tbsp almond flour 2 tsp smoked paprika 1/2 cup vegetable stock (*may need to add extra, if too dry) 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce 1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp tahini paste Seitan poaching liquid ingredients: 1/3 cup soy sauce 2 tbsp miso paste 3 cups vegetable stock Equipment & tools: 1 saucepan 1 stand mixer Measuring cups Measuring spoons Directions: Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Form a funnel and add all the liquid ingredients. Mix everything together either using a spatula or a stand mixer. Work the gluten / knead the loaf for about 5 minutes, so that the gluten strands are really developed. Form a loaf and let it rest for about 30 minutes in air-tight container. Mix all the ingredients for the poaching liquid in a large saucepan and bring the mixture to boil. Later reduce to simmer. Once the loaf has rested for 30 min, put it in a simmering liquid, close the lid and cook for 1 hour, turning to another side every 15 minutes. Let it cook down on a rack and ENJOY! *It is important to understand, that Seitan is a highly processed dish, although having very LOW SUGAR and CALORIES levels. **Despite, being almost pure protein, Seitan does not contain a complete set of proteins. It is very low in lysine amino acid, and, thus, it is a good idea to add foods rich in lysine to whatever you are going to enjoy Seitan with, like tomatoes, bell peppers and soy products. For an easy silken tofu recipe, click HERE. You can also see more of my video recipes HERE.

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