Spork-Fed. Jenny Engel
½ cup regular coconut milk
1 cup water, more or less, as needed
¼ cup tamari (wheat-free)
3 tablespoons maple syrup
¼ cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sesame oil (with or without chilies)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus grated zest of 1 lime
2 tablespoons pickled ginger, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons red pepper flakes (optional)
Directions
Press tofu gently with a clean towel to remove excess moisture. Slice block of tofu horizontally into two rectangles. Slice each rectangle in half and cut diagonally, creating smaller triangles. Place tofu triangles in a baking dish. Add vinegar, 1 tablespoon oil, sugar, tamari, garlic powder and black pepper to the tofu triangles, and coat them evenly. Marinate tofu for 10-30 minutes, turning over occasionally.
Heat a grill pan or large sauté pan and add remaining oil. Cook over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes on each side, or until grill marks appear, if using grill pan. Place one or two tofu triangles on each skewer and set aside.
For the peanut sauce: In a small (2-quart) pot, combine peanut butter, coconut milk and about ½ cup warm water. Whisk until peanut butter is smooth and uniform. Add tamari, maple syrup, vinegar, sesame oil, lime juice and zest, pickled ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes, if using. Stir until smooth. The sauce should be fairly dark. Heat sauce through for about 5-7 minutes over low heat, adding more water if sauce appears too thick, and set aside.
Pour sauce into a bowl and place on a large platter with the tofu skewers.
The Sporkie Scoop
FOR YOUR SMARTS Satay is commonly thought to have originated in Indonesia. If you want to make it more authentic, use the inner piece of a coconut palm frond as your skewer.
FOR YOUR PARTS Palm sugar is a great substitute for refined, granulated sugar because it is a pure sweetener made from the dried nectar of the coconut palm tree. It is packed with vitamins and is considered a low glycemic sweetener. We use it not only because it is natural and unrefined, but because its really rich and delicious!
Spicy Seitan Buffalo Wings
Sometimes people think that vegan food isn’t “man food,” but this dish is spicy and crunchy, and you can eat it with your hands — so it’s definitely man-approved. These make a super fun party snack—and if you’re cooking for a crowd that can take the heat, toss in some habañero peppers or scotch bonnets and make ’em breathe fire!
Serves 6-8
Seitan Ingredients
½ cup whole wheat pastry flour
½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon finely ground black pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon evaporated cane sugar
3 cups “chicken-style” seitan, or homemade seitan (see recipe on p. 86)
2 tablespoons neutral tasting high-heat oil
Buffalo Wing Sauce Ingredients
2 heaping tablespoons non-dairy butter
1 large red bell pepper, diced
2 ripe red jalapeño peppers, diced
½ brown onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon celery seed
½ teaspoon parsley flakes
Dash freshly grated nutmeg
¼ cup soymilk creamer
¼ cup unfiltered apple cider vinegar
½ cup water
Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F.
In a large bowl, combine flours, cayenne, sea salt, black pepper, garlic powder and sugar, and whisk. Add seitan pieces and coat in flour mixture. Reserve 1 tablespoon flour mixture for sauce.
Place coated seitan pieces on a baking sheet and drizzle with oil. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until coating is crisp, turning them over once, halfway through baking.
For the sauce: While seitan is baking, in a large (6-quart) pot add butter, peppers, onion, garlic, paprika, sea salt, celery seed, parsley flakes and nutmeg. Add reserved 1 tablespoon coating flour mixture. Cook on high heat for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add soymilk creamer, vinegar and water and cook about 5 minutes, or until peppers are soft. Transfer to a blender and blend sauce until smooth. Remove center of your blender lid to allow heat to escape. Cover blender opening with a cloth towel. Set sauce aside.
To serve, coat warm seitan in sauce. Serve warm.
Note: If you do not have a blender, use a food processor to make this sauce.
The Sporkie Scoop
FOR YOUR SMARTS Capsaicin is the component in chilies that makes them spicy and hot hot HOT. In 1912, a pharmacist named Wilbur Scoville came up with a way of measuring the units of heat in chilies: the Scoville scale. So what is the hottest pepper on the scale? The Naga Viper, measuring a whopping 1,359,000 units! That’s about 500 times hotter than a jalapeño!
FOR YOUR PARTS Celery seeds aren’t just delish, they are also an amazing diuretic and can help treat health issues like gout. They assist your body with eliminating uric acid buildup.2
Chickpea Cakes with a Sweet Truffle Drizzle (gf)
These gluten-free cakes are our spin on the traditional socca cake, or farinata, that originated in Genoa, Italy, and are served in certain parts of France. Sometimes they are made in a large, round pan and baked in the oven at about 500°F, but we find that making them as small, individual sized pancakes on the stovetop does the trick! And when you add the truffle drizzle? Mamma mia!
Yields about 16 cakes
Chickpea Cake Ingredients
2 tablespoons egg replacer, dry
2 cups chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour
½ teaspoon non-aluminum baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon finely ground black pepper
¼