Moo Shu Tempeh

These last couple posts have been inspired by just your average weeknight meal sort of thing. It is not everyday one can make something like an Italian "Beef" Sandwich!

Moo Shu Tempeh

* Prep Time: 1 hour
* Cook Time: 20-30 minutes
* Ingredients:

• 5 tbsp soy sauce
• 5 tbsp sake
• 1 tsp + 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 1/2 tsp cornstarch
• 4 oz. tempeh, sliced thin*
• 5 shiitake mushrooms, sliced thin
• 4 button mushrooms, sliced thin
• 1/2 cup green onions, sliced thin
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp ginger, minced
• 1/2 medium Japanese eggplant, sliced into thin strips
• 1 cup snow peas
• 1/2 medium red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
• 1/2 medium yellow bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
• 1 14 oz. can chop suey vegetables*
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 tsp sugar*
• 3-4 tbsp hoisin sauce*
• 1 cup napa cabbage, chopped

* Recipe:

1. Combine 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp sake, 1 tsp sesame oil, and 2 tsp cornstarch in a small bowl. This is the marinade for the tempeh.
2. Add tempeh to a small ziplock bag, pour in the marinade mixture, and chill in refrigerator for at least one hour.
3. Add 1 tbsp sesame oil to a medium sized frying pan. Heat on medium heat.
4. Add the mushrooms, green onions, garlic, ginger, eggplant, snow peas, bell peppers, chop suey vegetables, salt, and pepper to the pan. 
5. In a small bowl, combine 3 tbsp soy sauce, 3 tbsp sake, 1/2 tsp cornstarch, and 1/2 tsp sugar. Add to the vegetable pan. Also add the hoisin sauce. Cook for about 10 minutes.
6. While the vegetables are cooking, in small pan add the last 1 tbsp of sesame oil to the pan. Heat on medium heat and add the marinated tempeh. Brown on each side; about 5-10 minutes.
7. In the last several minutes of cooking, add the tempeh and napa cabbage to the pan with the vegetables. Cook for a few more minutes.
8. Serve with moo shu wrappers, tortillas, or homemade moo shu pancakes.

* Note: I used Lightlife Organic Garden Veggie Tempeh. It's my favorite out there. For chop suey vegetables, I used La Choy brand. Feel free to use fresh been sprouts and some canned water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, etc. Make sure your sugar is vegan! For hoisin sauce, I used the Iron Chef brand at the store. Personally, I didn't care for it. I'm sure there are a lot of other brands out there that are better. Now I know!


To serve this, I used a really basic homemade moo shu pancake recipe I found. It wasn't amazing and I added some egg replacer to it. I would recommend trying to make a much more fancy moo shu pancake recipe. I remember how they taste and this was not doing it for me at all. In contrast, if you are feeling lazy or don't want to mess with the pancakes, just use tortillas. I couldn't find any moo shu wrappers in the store, but from Googling, they all seems to have egg in them. If it were me next time, I would just toast up some tortillas!

Chick'n Katsu & Katsudon

If you have ever seen a bento box menu at a Japanese or Hawaiian restaurant, chances are you'll see katsu or tonkatsu (pork katsu). Tonkatsu is generally the more famous of the various types of katsu one can get, though there are also beef, chicken, fish, and minced meat versions. So, hey, why aren't their veggie versions?! Exactly. There is probably someone out there that makes or sells tofu katsu. I thought about trying that, but then I realized we vegans and vegetarians are mighty lucky to have the super nifty company, Gardein. "Chick'n Katsu" was born.


Chick'n Katsu

* Prep Time: 10 minutes
* Cook Time: 15 minutes
* Ingredients:

• 1 package of Gardein chick'n scallopini, thawed
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• vegetable oil, for frying
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 egg replacements, preparing according to package instructions*
• 2 cups panko
• 4 lemon wedges
• tonkatsu sauce, for dipping* 

* Recipe:

1. Pour oil into deep frying pan and cover at least 1 in. thick. Heat on high.
2. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic powder over chick'n patties.
3. Place flour on one plate, panko on another, and egg replacer in a medium bowl.
4. Dredge chick'n in flour, then saturate entirely with egg replacer. Coat with panko completely and press to make sure chick'n is well coated.
5. Slip chick'n into oil and cook until both sides are golden brown, about 5-10 minutes.
6. Drain chick'n on paper towels once removed from pan.
7. Using a sharp knife, cut into slices about 1/2 in. thick.
8. Serve with lemon wedge and tonkatsu sauce for dipping.

* Note: For egg replacer, I swear by Ener-G for all my needs. Tonkatsu sauce is used for all sorts of katsu. It's sweet yet tangy. Kikkoman has a vegan one readily available. This recipe was modified from Japanese Home Cooking by Shunsuke Fukushima.


Chick'n Katsudon

Katsudon is a combination of katsu and donburi. It generally involves an egg. Vegans don't eat eggs. I modified it with my own little scrambled "egg" recipe in order to compensate for this.

* Prep Time: 5 minutes
* Cook Time: 10 minutes
* Ingredients (for donburi sauce):

• 1 cup water
• 5 tbsp soy sauce or tamari*
• 5 tbsp mirin*
• 1 tsp vegan dashi*
• 1/2 tsp sugar*
• 1/2 small yellow onion, thinly sliced

* Ingredients (for scrambled "egg"): 

• 1/2 package (14 oz.) firm tofu, pressed, smashed with fork
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• salt & pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp tumeric
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder 
• 2 tsp nutritional yeast

* Ingredients (for chick'n katsudon):

• 4 chick'n katsu, sliced into 1/2 in. pieces
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced 
• 1 tbsp nori, ripped or cut into narrow strips

* Recipe (for donburi sauce):

1. Combine all ingredients in sauce pan.
2. Bring to boil and remove from heat.

* Recipe (for scrambled "egg"):

1. In a small skillet, heat the sesame oil and add the smashed tofu.
2. Add remaining ingredients and cook on medium heat for 5-10 minutes.

* Recipe (for chick'n katsudon):

1. Place serving of rice in a bowl. Add scrambled tofu, then one sliced chick'n katsu.
2. Add donburi sauce over the rice, egg, and katsu.
3. Top with scallions and nori.

* Note: One could probably use Bragg's Amino Acid in replace of soy sauce or tamari. Mirin is a sweet rice wine cooking liquid. VegWeb has a great vegan dashi recipe that one can store and use for later. I highly recommend it. Make sure your sugar is vegan. I modified this recipe from Japanese Home Cooking by Shunsuke Fukushima.



Thinking about it, the one thing I'm not sure one could actually veganize in Japanese cooking is shabu-shabu (if you've seen Lost in Translation, you know what I'm talking about). I guess someone could try it with seitan. That would be interesting to see!

Teriyaki Tofu

Japan is on my top three list of favorite places in the world. In college, I minored in the language and studied abroad in Tokyo as well as lived with a host family in a small suburb two hours south of Tokyo (my host mother was a radio chef and they chose me specifically as a host daughter in order to cook vegan food to try something new - how lucky was I!). That being said, Japanese food is my favorite type of food. Hands down. I've been eating sushi so long, I don't even remember the first time I had it. As a little girl, my parents and I would go to the same little Japanese restaurant, Taka Sushi, just by our house in the Bay Area at least once a week, if not twice. Early on, I knew the names of various Japanese foods. The sushi chef at this restaurant (his name was Roni) would let me stand off to the side of the bar in order to watch him make sushi and explain to me about how to prepare it and the words in Japanese. I don't really miss what I chose not to eat anymore because of being vegan, but it's sure cool to take old favorites and spruce them up in a cruelty-free way. :D


Teriyaki Tofu

* Prep Time: 10 minutes
* Cook Time: 30 minutes
* Ingredients (for teriyaki sauce):

• 1 cup soy sauce or tamari*
• 1 cup brown sugar*
• 2 tbsp vegetable stock
• 1 tsp mirin*

* Ingredients (for teriyaki tofu):

• 1/2 package (14 oz.) of firm tofu, cut into 1/2 in. slices
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted (optional to toast)
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp nori, ripped apart or cut into fine strips

* Recipe (for teriyaki sauce):

1. Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil in small sauce pan.
2. Simmer for 5 minutes. Be careful not to let the sauce boil over.
3. Refrigerate for up to 2 months.

* Recipe (for teriyaki tofu):

1. Press tofu of any water before starting.
2. Bring oil in frying pan to hot heat.
3. Put the flour on a plate and dredge each side of the tofu completely in it.
4. Add the tofu to the frying pan and fry each side to a golden brown color.
5. In a new frying pan, put the tofu in there and add the teriyaki sauce. Bring sauce to a boil, then reduse and let simmer, covered, for 5 minutes. Turn tofu over periodically in order to coat each side.
6. Remove from pan and serve on top of hot rice. Top with sesame seeds, scallions, and nori.

* Note: One could probably use Bragg's Amino Acid in replace of soy sauce or tamari. Make sure your sugar is vegan. Mirin is a sweet rice wine cooking liquid. I modified this recipe from Japanese Home Cooking by Shunsuke Fukushima.