Vegan Cooking… Chef Randal Style

Hello to all food lovers. I’m going to share a recipe this week to give you something to play with. This is mainly for the vegans, but don’t you worry meat eaters, we will have something here for you as well (on a later post). What I’m trying to do is give people a recipe/meal to experiment with before I demonstrate how to do it.

First let me explain why I came up with this meal. My parents became vegans right before I graduated from culinary school so I pretty much never got a chance to cook for them. Last year they came down because my mom was doing a seminar for the Adventures at Alpha Seventh-Day Adventist Church. They needed something to eat after church, so I figure it was my time to impress and finally cook for them. I racked my brain for about two weeks because I wanted their meal to be really good. Also, I wanted to flavor it with something other than seasonings. Don’t get me wrong I did use seasonings, but I added a little somethin’ somethin’. This dish is smoked tomato and mushroom with sautéed tofu, savory sweet potatoes, and Tabbouleh.

Here’s the recipe:
4 Portabella mushrooms
2 Firm Tomatoes
1 Container of firm Tofu
2 Sweet Potatoes
2 cups of boiling water
1 cup Bulghar wheat
1 Roma tomato
¼ cup parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Olive Oil for sautéing and for the Tabbouleh
Basil pesto (optional)
Wood chips for smoking- I used Mesquite

Smoked Portabella and Tomato
Set the oven to 300F. First prepare the mushrooms by scraping the gills off from under the caps. Set aside. Cut up the tomato into 4 nice thick slices and season with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Soak the wood chips in water and transfer to a large pan. The easiest way to smoke anything in the oven is to use a perforated pan (it has holes) to place your food in and that pan will set inside of the pan with the soaking wood chips. Add the mushrooms and tomato slices to the perforated pan and cover it with a lid or foil and place it in the oven. Let it smoke for about 20 minutes. Let stand. Do not uncover.

Tofu
Cut your tofu into 4 slices add whatever seasonings you want. I used spicy seasonings like cayenne and chili powder and a little cumin because I just like it. I knew it would complement the smokiness of the mushroom and tomato. Cut the sweet potatoes into half inch slices and I used the same seasonings that you use for the tofu. Toss the potato and seasonings with olive oil place them on a baking sheet. Put them the oven and roast on 400F for about 30 minutes (or until done).

Tabbouleh
Boil the 2 cups of water and add the Bulgur wheat and cover. It should double in size. While waiting for that dice up the Roma tomato and parsley. Once the Bulgur wheat has doubled, add the diced tomato, lemon juice, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix well. That dish is done. Refrigerate. During the last 5 minutes that the potatoes are in the oven put the smoked tomato and mushrooms back in the oven.

Now sauté the tofu until it is browned on both sides. Once everything is out of the oven, combine to make a lovely plate. To plate (this is how I chose to do it), place the mushroom at the bottom facing up then the tomato slice, and tofu. Drizzle a bit of basil pesto on top…it’s optional, but will add a nice flavor and color to the dish. Add three potatoes slices on the plate depending on size around the entrée. Add the Tabbouleh to the plate straight out of the fridge…and you’re done.

The thing that made everything different was the smoke flavor and my parents loved it. For their food, I didn’t use olive oil. They don’t use oils of any kind, so I used pan spray instead for the sautéing and roasting. For the Tabbouleh I just omitted the oil all together.

To cook like this you’ll have to take the meat element out of your thinking. In reality, we are used to having meat at every meal it hard for us to just drop the habit. I’m the first to admit it. I know I need to change my diet to a healthier one. I really do enjoy cooking and I need to use what I know to make things healthier. But Like I said in the beginning everything isn’t going to be healthy. Let’s be honest eating healthy can be boring, but what’s worse than boring? Uh…Diabetes, heart disease, and joint problems, just to name a few. So hopefully, you’ll take this journey with me. I’ll try to give you good recipes to follow so we all change our eating habits to something healthier. We just have to bite the bullet and do it. In fact, I know 2 individuals that can get you in shape in no time. All you need to be is committed and watch what you eat. Exercise is key. I am back in the gym myself training hard. My trainer is AB (Anthony Brown-- Mr. Brown if you will). If you know what you want he’ll get you where you want to be. K Knox (K= Kerry) also trains with AB and has his own business called Physique’s Unlimited as a personal trainer. They both have reasonable rates. If you want to know more, just ask me and I’ll get you their contact info. You won’t regret it…I know I won’t.

Let me know if you try this out. I look forward to hearing your comments.

From Chef Randal THIS is how you can add a touch of gourmet to your everyday!