Roasted Jalapenos and Vegetables Tacos with Roasted serrano pico - Vegan

When you have fresh Jalapenos , I just love to eat roasted or air fried with any Mexican meal I make but this time I wanted to make it as a star of the dish not just side of the dish, So I have added vegetables and make tacos and with roasted serrano was there too so Made fresh pico de gallo with it and enjoy it. For the protein I have added Vegan Red onion and Rosemary sausages , you can add your choice of protein and make it a meal too

Ingredients : 

3 big fresh jalapenos

2 sausages

1 carrot, cut in long matchstick size

few florets of broccoli

1 big white onion cut in long matchstick

4 cloves of garlic chopped

1 tbsp. taco seasoning

1 tbsp. garlic powder

1 tbsp. paprika powder

1/2 tbsp. cayan powder

salt to taste

1/2 tbsp. oregano

3-5 flour tortilla ( I prefer flour over corn)

2 tbsp. oil

For pico-

1 Roasted serrano chili

1/2 tomato chopped finely

1/2 white onion chopped

1/4 jalapeno chopped

Fresh chopped coriander leaves

salt and pepper and lime juice as per taste

Method :

For pico de gallo, chopped everything fine and mix it together in bowl , add salt , pepper and lime juice and let it sit on side till you make tacos.

For tacos

Roast Jalapenos first, you can do it on gas, or oven. I have used my air fryer and put it on air roast.

Once done cut everything in same size.

In a pan, add oil and add garlic in it. sauté for few seconds till you get nice aroma, then add your vegetables and sausages and cook on high flame for 5 minutes. 

Add your spices and salt and let it cook for 3 more minutes. You don't need soggy vegetables so don't over cook it.  

Warm up the flour tortillas and fill up the jalapenos stuffing in it , spread some pico on top, add slice of avocado and enjoy.

You can add your choice of cheese too but I like it this way so I didn't add any. 

Easiest Seitan (vegan Chicken) with Noodles

I just love to try new things and also like to eat soy based products but its not always cheap , sometimes its expensive and turns out didn't like the flavor or texture or something else. But this is the easiest and quick way to make seitan and from what I made , I freeze the other half so economically also its better. Some of the recipes with washed dough is taking longer and I didn't have that time to wait so for me this is perfect.

You can just make seitan, steamed it and pan fry it and add the sauce and enjoy it with rice or noodles but I wanted to make just one dish so I have added noodles with some vegetables and make a dish out of it. 

You have to steamed the seitan , not boiled so that is the only thing is must. you can store it extra seitan after its steamed and cooled down. 

I will play with that saved one later on. 

so lets  start making this one.

Ingredients :

For Seitan :

3/4 cup (12 tbsp.) vital wheat gluten

2/3 cup (10 tbsp. ) water

1/4 cup AP flour

1 tsp. vegetarian bullion powder

1/2 tbsp. onion powder, garlic powder each

Salt as per taste

1/2 tbsp. red pepper flakes

For the sauce : 

3 tbsp. Sambal oleak (or as per your spice level, you can use Thai sweet chili sauce too)

3 tbsp. Oyster sauce

2 tbsp. Dark soy sauce

2 tbsp. water

1 tsp. Vinegar

1 tbsp. spicy or regular sesame oil

2 tbsp. oil

For the noodles 

1 package of Fresh noodles - cook and keep it on side as per instructions

1 onion cut in long slices

1 yellow pepper cut in long slices

4-5 mushrooms cut in length wise

1 bok choy cut in pieces

1 medium carrot cut in pieces

4 garlic cloves cut it finely

1 green onion chopped

Method : 

Put the steamer on with water in it to boil.

on a steamer dish , where you are going to put the seitan to steam , brush it with oil.

In a bowl, add vital wheat gluten, AP flour, spices and salt and mix it , add water and mix it and make a ball of the dough, It will be quick.

Take the dough and make a bite size pieces and put it on greased plate. Make sure pieces are small because after steaming it will be big and you don't want too big pieces. 

Don't over crowd the plate and over lap it too. Cover it and steamed it for 10 minutes. 

In meanwhile, mix all ingredients except oil in a small bowl and keep it aside.

Once the seitan is ready, heat a pan with oil in it. 

Add those steamed pieces inside in single layer in pan with the help of tongs or forks. Cook from all sides till its nice brown and crispy.

Take it out from the pan.

If you need more oil just add 1 tbsp. oil. 

Add garlic and sauté for few seconds. Then add all the vegetables and cook for 4-5 minutes. 

Add seitan and noodles and mix it along with vegetables. 

Add the sauce and mix it nicely so it coat with vegetables and noodles. 

Taste it and  adjust the seasoning. 

Sprinkle green onions on top 

Enjoy it .

You can skip the noodles and add the sauce once seitan is browned from all the sides and when sauce is heated thru  , you can serve it with white rice and enjoy it too. 

 

Eggplant Unagi - Vegan

As per the  Wikipedia,  Unagi don is a dish from Japan. It consists of large bowl filled with steamed white rice and topped with fillets of eel grilled in a Japanese style Kabayaki , very similar to Teriyaki. Those fillets are glazed with sweet soy sauce and caramelized over charcoal fire. But with this Vegan version Eggplant is perfect to give fish kind of texture and look. You can use tofu also but I just love any kind of Eggplants so I go with Eggplant. You can make the sauce and cooked both side of 

eggplant , applying sauce on both sides and its done. 

You can long purple eggplant for this and make sure when you flip you don't break the skin , since presentation is also very important. You can roast or bake the eggplant too. But I like stove top method best. 

Ingredients : 

2 Long Chinese or Japanese purple eggplant

Sesame Seeds

Cooked rice

Oil

Sauce 

3 tbsp. Mirin

1/3 cup of hot water

2 tbsp. light soy sauce

1 tbsp. maple syrup

1/2 tsp. sugar

Method :

In a bowl, add mirin, hot water, light soy sauce , maple syrup and mix it. and keep it aside.

Trim off the eggplant top , then cut into 4 or 5 inch sections, Steam over high heat until tender about 8 to 10 minutes. 

Once the eggplant is cooked and cooled down, use a sharp knife to cut it open like a book but careful not to cut thru skin. 

Then make another slit on the right and then left. Now score the flesh to create a holder for the sauce.

Heat a non stick pan with oil over medium heat.

Put the cut side down and pan fry till its golden brown 

Apply the sauce one tbsp. at a time

Then flit again so now flesh is at the bottom  of the pan and taking all the sauce while you are applying sauce on the skin. 

To serve you can roast some scallions or bok choi or spinach or any greens in little oil and salt or you can skip that too and just eat the rice and eggplant

To assemble, put cooked rice in a bowl , top it with eggplant and drizzle with extra sauce and garnished with sesame seeds and enjoy. I had some fried rice leftovers so I used that one.

General Tso's Jackfruit - Vegan

I was never a fan of jackfruit but after making it as a replacement for the meat product, I stated to like the taste and texture. Its like tofu, it doesn't have its own flavor , you can add it in any sauce and it will take that sauce flavor and make it delicious.  I have made  Jackfruit Biryani - Kathal Biryani ,  Pulled Jackfruit Tacos,  Vegan Birria Quesadillas with Jackfruit, to name a few. And now I started to like it now. We all made General Tso sauce and use paneer, tofu, chicken, beef so why not this humble Jackfruit and here it is. It is ready in under 20 minutes and delicious.

I served it with fried rice , you can have it with plain white rice or noodles and If you need more vegetable on side you can have steamed bok choy or broccoli or carrots and diner is done. 

Ingredients :

1 tbsp. oil

2 cup defrost jackfruit or 1 can jackfruit

for sauce

3 tbsp. rice vinegar

3 tbsp. soy sauce or tamari 

2 tbsp. Hoisin sauce

1 tbsp. crushed or finely chopped ginger

3 cloves finely chopped garlic

1 tsp. corn starch

1 tbsp. sriracha or chili garlic sauce or red pepper flakes 

Garnish :

1/2 tsp. sesame seeds

Method :

If you are using frozen jackfruit then de frost it first and pat dry .

If you are using can one then drain , rinse and pat dry.

With fork or hands shred the jackfruit into bite sized pieces. I didn't like the seed in it so I took that out too. 

Heat a pan over medium heat. 

Add oil and jackfruit and cook for 5 minutes so its nicely warm and crispy too. 

In a small bowl combine sauce ingredients  together and mix it

Add sauce in to the pan and mix until jackfruit is covered in sauce. 

Cook on medium to low flame for 5 -6 minutes and make sure you are stirring occasionally till the sauce is thick and change the color little bit.

Don't let it burn the sauce , take it off from the heat and serve with rice and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top and enjoy warm General Tso's Jackfruit. 

Vegan Birria Quesadillas with Jackfruit

So this is a very hype and most "talk about" dish in Mexican food now a days. People travel far to get the taste of this dish. I was also amazed by all the recipes floating on Internet but when I made it , it was so easy to make and enjoy. Next time I will go for more spice and more chilies in the base. 

You can use mushroom , thinly sliced cabbage, carrot, tofu, seitan anything. I wanted to have it with jackfruit so I made it with frozen jackfruit but you can use canned too.

Don't go on the long list of ingredients , all are easily available in the pantry if you are a regular cook. 

Birria originated from the stat of Jalisco, its made with goat meat but they have it with beef too. 

Ingredients :

Sauce

3  dry California Chiles

3 dried chile de arbol

2 dried guajillo chiles

1 dried pasilla chile

1 white onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp. oil

2 cups broth or stock

1/2 can tomatoes

3 whole peppercorns

3 whole cloves

1 tsp whole cumin

1tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon powder

2 bay leaves

Jackfruit :

1 cup defrost jackfruit

1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp. oil

2 tsp. garlic powder

salt as per taste

Quesadillas :

6 corn or flour tortillas

1 cup vegan cheese

chopped cilantro and onion, Jalapenos for serving

Method for the sauce

Cut the dried chilies with scissors and remove the seeds and add all the chilies in a bowlful of hot water  for at least 30 minutes.

Mean time, in a pan, add oil and cook onions and garlic till its dark in color and little charred.

When chilis are soft, drain it and place it in a blender with roasted onion , garlic , 1 cup of broth, tomato all the seasoning and blend until it smooth. 

Transfer the sauce into a saucepan on medium high heat and add remaining broth and bay leaves and bring it to boil. Once its at a boiling point, reduced heat to low and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes. Remove bay leaves with tongs , taste and adjust the seasonings.

For the jackfruit:

Shred the jackfruit and take out what ever water in it. 

Add the oil in a pan and add jackfruit and cook it till its brown on the edges, I have added little bit of jackfruit direct in the sauce too. Add apple cider vinegar, garlic powder and salt and cook till its little crispy. 

Add those jackfruit in the sauce and cook for another 5 minutes. 

To make quesadillas :

In a pan, add a drop of oil, dip your tortilla into the sauce and put the tortilla in the pan, add spoonful of jackfruit and cheese and fold it in half and cook till its crispy on one side and flip it on the other side and cook on the other side. 

When its done, serve hot with onions and cilantro , jalapenos and additional sauce for dipping.