vegan day no. 3

broccoli rabe...rapini, whatever you want to call it - it's GOOD. 

a peppery-flavored (as opposed to bitter) green that you'll find often in italian recipes (remind me to share one with you for an appetizer that will make your guests forget all about the main course they were promised) but can easily be adapted to other cuisines. this one seems to veer a little further east.

spicy tempeh with broccoli rabe

here's the original recipe. the changes i made were - substituting udon for the wheat pasta and omitting the fennel and adding some nuoc gam (vietnamese dipping sauce) when serving, to make up for the flavor deficit.

here's the cubed tempeh (the udon noodles are cooking in the background)

and the sauce we will steam the tempeh cubes in (soy sauce, tomato paste, oregano, garlic, red pepper flakes, veggie broth....)

so we sauté the tempeh in the sauce for a few, then cover and steam 8 minutes.

add tempeh to udon noodles in large bowl:

wipe out pan and saute rapini with some garlic until bright green, add a bit of balsamic, then add to bowl with udon and tempeh

toss...add some nuac cham, and get out your chopsticks!

they call these "sweet potato burgers"

i made these today after deciding to give veganism another go round (i was going to say "decided to take another stab at veganism, but somehow that just didn't sound right). please refer to the photo at the link as my sandwich is woefully assembled. you see, i was really, really hungry and there are times (albeit rare) that function trumps form. and this was one of them.

sandwich styled by a very hungry person. i.e. NOT styled

they were yummy. i put mine on a roll with garden tomatoes, avocado and dijon. daniel made his with A-1, lettuce, tomato and onion, and SWORE it tasted like a real hamburger (i have my doubts about that).

here are the basic steps in picture form:

bake potatoes

rinse beans (2 cans)

puree beans and potatoes together with seasonings

put panko in a dish

form and coat patties

saute in oil 

until golden, crispy brown on booth sides

hope you try them. black bean burgers up next....