My Newest Favorite Vegan Recipe…

As I was making our grocery shopping list last week, I decided that Kyle and I needed to spice up our dinner routine.  Despite our crazy schedules, we’ve somehow found time to have dinner together almost every night of the week now.  We absolutely love that time together and appreciate every minute of it, but I was beginning to feel like we were cycling through the same recipes and meals from week to week.  So I began searching the web for some new vegan recipes that we could try and found an awesome website (TheDailyGreen.com) with some seemingly delicious recipes.  I picked one to try, and we both LOVED it so much that I thought that I should share it with you!

It’s called “Vegan Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes”.  They are a vegan spin on crab cakes and are made from tempeh (a soy-based protein that can be used in many dishes as an alternative to meat).  The recipe came from the book “Vegan Brunch” by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.  Here’s the recipe:

SERVINGS: 10 cakes

INGREDIENTS:
For the Cakes:
8 ounces tempeh (use the nori tempeh if you can find it, but plain soy tempeh is fine, too)
1 cup water
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons Vegenaise
1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard (stone-ground Dijon works, too)
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 cup very finely chopped red bell pepper
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
Fresh black pepper
1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs, plus extra for dredging
1 finely chopped nori sheet or 1 tablespoon kelp granules (optional, if you like a little fishiness)
Oil for panfrying

For the Remoulade:
2 tablespoons Vegenaise
1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard (stone-ground Dijon works, too)
1 tablespoon hot sauce
2 teaspoons capers (try not to get too much brine)

DIRECTIONS

First, steam the tempeh to get the bitterness out and also to give it some flavor with the soy sauce. Crumble the tempeh into a saucepan in little bits. Add the water, soy sauce, oil, and bay leaf. The tempeh won't be fully submerged, but that's fine. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, let boil for 12 to 15 minutes, until most of the water has evaporated. Stir once during boiling.

Transfer contents to a mixing bowl, remove the bay leaf, and mash with a fork. Let cool for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to hasten the cooling process. Make sure the tempeh is barely warm before you proceed, or the cakes may fall apart when you cook them. Add the Vegenaise, mustard, hot sauce, vinegar, bell pepper, ginger, oregano, salt, and pepper and mix well. Add the breadcrumbs and nori, if using, and use your hands to incorporate.

Once you are ready to form the cakes, preheat a thin layer of oil in a heavy-bottomed, nonstick skillet (cast iron is great) over medium heat. Pour a few tablespoons of panko into a bowl. Scoop a little less than 1/4 cup batter into your hands and form into a ball. Flatten between your palms and then roll the sides gently to smooth them. You should have ten 2 1/2- to 3-inch patties. Press them into the panko to lightly coat. They don't need to be thoroughly covered, just a little bit for some texture.

Fry a batch of five cakes for 4 minutes on one side and flip when dark golden brown. Fry for 2 minutes on the other side and transfer to a paper towel or paper bag to drain. Do your second batch and in the meantime make your remoulade by mixing all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Photo: Vegan Brunch

I made a few adjustments/omitted a few ingredients just because I didn’t have them at home (I omitted the bay leaf, nori sheet, and capers and I used Apple Cider Vinegar instead of Red Wine vinegar) but they still tasted a-maz-ing!!  I hope you’ll try them and love them as much as we did!

Until next time...