About vegan chicken
Vegetarians and vegans can choose from a variety of options when they want a meat alternative. Vegetarian chicken (faux chicken), an imitation of a meat product that tastes like poultry, is a popular vegan food. Vegan poultry can be prepared from a variety of ingredients and are generally a healthier alternative to common chicken products.
According to this useful guide, the chicken imitation has the same texture and often the same taste as a normal bird. The most common ingredient in vegan poultry is soy. Soybean chicken can also be seasoned with many other ingredients that include garlic, onions, dehydrated vegetables, herbs, and various leavening agents.
Vegetarian chicken is available in almost the same way as regular poultry. It can be bought with or without breading, as fried strips, nuggets, dumplings, and in many other ways. Like chicken, it can be used in everything from sandwiches and salads to grilled and baked dishes. It can be cooked in a way that you to cook other meats, preserving a sauce, herbs, and flavorings like they usually do with chicken.
In many cases, vegan food is more expensive than meat. This is usually due to the fact that most supermarkets have lower demand for these products. They often contain higher-quality ingredients which can also make them more expensive. Although not every grocery store has vegetarian chicken breasts, most health food stores do.
Several packaged faux chicken fillets are also available. These include pre-prepared chicken cutlets, microwave snacks, and vegetarian food for gourmets. Vegetarian chicken can be included in any snack or meal, whether it is a vegan breakfast, lunch or dinner. Ordinary canned or packaged popular products such as chicken noodle soup can also be purchased with vegan chicken as an alternative.
Some vegans prefer to refrain from eating meat because of ethical considerations, regarding the treatment of animals in agriculture. Others may choose vegan whole foods for dietary reasons. Vegetarian diet usually contains less fat and cholesterol than a diet including meat. Some people may also need a diet with special needs, including vegan food to avoid hormones or other supplements commonly found in meat.
Another advantage of vegan chicken is that it is easier to cook. Many varieties are pre-flavored with favorite additives, such as spicy seasoning mixes or vegan cheese. This can reduce the cost and time of cooking as additional products such as sauces or spices are no longer needed.
To prepare this delicious and light dish which is simply impossible not to fall in love with, you need only around half an hour and about 10 ingredients.
Ingredients
1 tbsp of vegan butter
1/4 cup shallot onions
1 tbsp of garlic/onion powder
8 vegan chicken fillets
1 cup of white wine
1 lemon (freshly squeezed)
1 tsp of fresh chopped rosemary
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Capers (sprinkled optionally)
Instructions
- Add vegan oil, shallots and garlic powder (or chopped garlic) to your griddle and cook on medium heat for 3 minutes until the shallots are transparent.
- Add 4 chicken breasts to the mix and cook until the golden crust (approx. 3 minutes on each side).
- After the fillets are ready, add wine, lemon juice, and rosemary. Cook on medium-high heat until the liquid is evaporated halfway (approx. 10 minutes).
You can also season the fillets with spices (by eye) and rub them on both sides of the strips. Add some vegan oil to your griddle or use ordinary oil, but vegan oil tastes better to me. Cook 4 fillets for 3 minutes on each side until a golden crust is formed. You can do this in 2 approaches if your griddle is not quite large, i.e. if you don’t have Blackstone Griddle 28″. Add some more vegan oil before frying the next 4 fillets and repeat the procedure.
About the spices. You can use garlic/onion powder, chickpeas, dried thyme, salt, pepper, capers, and rosemary.
Vegetarian burger
This delicious vegetarian burger will please everyone without exception. Of course, it’s not like vegetarians can add a little salami or salmon ham to it – it’s still no less delicious. And all your friends will definitely wonder about that interesting mushroom stuffing.
Ingredients
7 ounces of tomatoes
2 shallot onions
3 tbsp of salsa sauce
salt, pepper (to taste)
14 ounces of champignons
2 tbsp of vegetable oil
4 burger buns
3.5 ounces of lettuce
3.5 ounces of grated Emmental cheese
4 servings
Instructions
- Wash tomatoes, remove stalks, cut them into 8 slices. Peel shallots, finely chop. Mix with tomatoes and ketchup, season with salt and pepper.
- Heat the vegetable oil on your griddle, add mushrooms and cook until golden. Remove them from the griddle and put on a paper towel to get rid of excess grease. Rinse and sop up lettuce.
- Cut hamburger buns in half (if needed). Put the champignon slices on a baking tray covered with baking paper next to each other in 4 circles. Densely sprinkle them with grated cheese.
- Bake mushroom rings in a preheated to 360 BTUs oven below average for about 6 minutes. Place lettuce leaves on the lower half of the burger and spread 2 tablespoons of tomato salsa sauce.
- Carefully, using a spatula, put the baked mushroom rings on the sauce. Cover with the second half of the bun. Heat the burgers slightly in the oven or on the grill, serve with the remaining sauce.
Spicy seitan with mushrooms
Seitan is a meat substitute for vegetarians made of gluten or wheat protein. You can buy it in large grocery stores or Asian shops, or you can cook it yourself at home. I offer you an unusual variant of its serving – on a griddle with spicy oriental sauce.
Ingredients
14 ounces of seitan
9 ounces of champignons
1 onion
2 chili peppers
8 tbsp of soy sauce
4 tbsp of agave syrup
3 tbsp of rice vinegar or fruit vinegar
1 garlic clove
0.5 tsp of finely chopped ginger
7 ounces of water
1 tbsp of food starch
4 tbsp of rapeseed oil
salt, black pepper
4 servings
Instructions
- Cut seitan into 0.2″ thick slices. Wash the champignons, clean them, cut them into 4 parts. Chili pepper peeled (get rid of stem and grains), finely chopped. Garlic peeled, finely chopped.
- Mix water with 4 tablespoons of soy sauce, agave syrup, vinegar, garlic, half chili pepper, and ginger, bring to a boil in a small pot. Add starch. Cook for another 1-2 minutes to make the sauce thicken.
- Put champignons and onions on a deep grill tray or on a deep oven tray lined with baking paper. Pour them with a quarter sauce. Cook on the griddle or in a preheated (360 BTUs) oven for about 10 minutes.
- Put seitan on the other tray, pour the third remaining sauce on it, grill it or cook it in a preheated (360 BTUs) oven degrees for about 10-5 minutes until ready. Put seitan and mushrooms on a plate, pour the rest of the sauce and serve.
Grilled vegetables and fruits
Why should we apply high temperatures to fruit and vegetables? After all, it seems that they already want to get into our mouths? The fact is that heat treatment of products makes plant food safe by destroying pathogenic bacteria, toxic chemicals, and nitrates, preservatives, making food easily digestible, developing molecular chains similar to the digestive process in the stomach, thus, saving energy spent to digest and heat our bodies (and food) which is especially important during cold seasons. Besides, nowadays, many fruits and vegetables are not only grown artificially, in greenhouse conditions but also literally stuffed with various chemicals used at all stages of cultivation and transportation.
The necessity is due to the fact that industrial agricultural soils were exhausted at the beginning of the 20th century, and without the introduction of chemicals, it is now simply impossible to grow something. And the consumer wants to buy beautiful, shiny, and colorful veggies/fruits, not faint natural ones.
Therefore, all this “periodic Mendeleev’s table” and “beauty” is better not to be consumed in the raw form, and (except removing the peel) heat treat it, at least a little. If we are not talking about organic products but about not-clear-where-they-come-from and how-they-are-grown-and-preserved fruits and vegetables, then a small amount of heat treatment is a reasonable measure of safety. After all, our bodies need nutrients contained in fruits and vegetables and not their beautiful appearance and legends about the miraculous nutritional value of raw plant food. Which is sometimes lower than that of heat-treated food.
Unexpected for many people is the fact that the correct heat treatment (e.g. grilling) not only has very little effect on the nutritional properties of some vegetables but even increases them in some products. Grilled tomatoes, carrots, beetroot, asparagus, and some other vegetables are more bioavailable than raw vegetables. This is hard to believe, but it is scientific evidence obtained by American scientists.
Grilling Tips
The most pleasant rule says, “Eat more!” It has been proven that consuming at least 3 (preferably 5) servings of vegetables and fruits per day significantly reduces the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, obesity, and certain cancer types. In addition, it is hot veggie/fruit dishes that make perfect digestion. Instead of macaroni, rice, and potatoes, it is more beneficial to eat more grilled/baked vegetables + soy products (protein). So forget about side dishes!
Fruits can also be grilled (try grilled peaches or apricots – it’s unforgettable), And we all heard of baked apples. In combination with spicy and sweet sauces (e.g. Worcester) and gravy, jams, baked fruit is fantastic!
What vegetables are best to grill?
Corn
Tomatoes
Mushrooms
Onions
Bell pepper
Zucchini
Carrots
Beetroot
Eggplant
Broccolini
Asparagus
Fruits
Pineapples
Mango
Apples
Pears
Pineapple
Peaches
Bananas
Mangoes
Grapefruit
Watermelon
Nectarines
Marinate. Marinade before grilling can be lemon juice, soy sauce, honey, garlic, onion, other spices, olive oil, etc., including combinations. Marinades can make the flavor more vivid, and prevent from the formation of carcinogens during grilling (the use of marinade allows even meat-eaters to reduce the risk of carcinogenicity to 99%, not to mention vegetables). At the same time, if you pickle vegetables for longer than 30 minutes, put them in the fridge. Usually, 30-60 minutes of marinating for fruits/vegetables are quite enough.
The faster the heat treatment, the more nutrients remain. Therefore, heat up your oven/griddle/grill well before putting food on them. Most grilled fruits and vegetables are cooked in 3-5 minutes.
Flip over your vegetables frequently while cooking. Make sure they are cooked evenly from all the sides. However, fruits (and soft vegetables) should be flipped a little less and carefully, not to spoil the look.
Use the appropriate methods of roasting/grilling and the correct size of the pieces. So, large vegetables/fruits are good on the griddle in halves or large slices. Whole vegetables or fruits can be baked on a skewer (many have a device for roasting chicken in the oven) or on an oven grate. Finely chopped vegetables/fruits which can fall through the grate are best baked in the oven in a special “sleeve” or cooked on a griddle wrapped up in foil or on a baking sheet.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:
