Vegan Clam Chowder
scant 3/4 cup yellow onion, diced
1/3 cup celery, finely diced (about one stalk)
4 slices vegan ham, diced
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons tablespoon vegan butter
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon powdered sage
1 pound Dutch creamer potatoes (or any other variety), cubed
4 ounces vegan cream cheese
1 1/4 cups unsweetened soymilk
2 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 packets (12g) konbu dashi stock seasoning
2 cups oyster mushrooms, diced
fresh chopped chives, for garnish
1) In a medium bowl, whisk together the soymilk and cream cheese. Set aside.
2) Sauté the onion and celery in 2 tablespoons of vegan butter over medium-low heat until soft and lightly browned. Add the sage and "ham" and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the rest of the vegan butter and flour to make a roux. Once the flour has been lightly toasted, add the water, dashi seasoning, and potatoes, and bring to a boil. Turn down to simmer and simmer, stirring often, until the potatoes are soft, about 10 minutes.
3) Add the soymilk/cream cheese mixture and oyster mushrooms. Return to a boil and simmer for about 10 more minutes, until the mushrooms are soft and the soup is thick. Add salt to taste, and garnish with chives.
For an even "fishier" flavor, you can add flaked dulse to taste at any point in cooking.
* recipe for home-made dashi stock: http://japanesefood.about.com/od/soup/r/konbudashi.htm. If using this, use the same amount of kelp but only 2.5 cups water (not 4 cups as stated) to make a more concentrated broth.
Source of recipe: I wrote this recipe for the vegan chef battle :)
SO HOW'D IT GO?
This was hit for Thanksgiving potlucck. I used dulse instead of kombu. Poultry seasoning instead of sage. Skipped the ham. I doubled the recipe but used only 2.5 cups of mushrooms. I added corn instead. And white sweet potatoes. And for the roux used swwet rice flour. Yum!
WOW! this was GREAT.. seriously tastes like clam chowder (havnt had it in almost 20 years) i do not measure well, lol.. so i did not use the exact amounts of anything. i also did not have the konbu dashi stock seasoning - but i soaked some arame in hot water. seemed to almost do the trick, though i did add a bit of salt. thanks for posting! i do not usually review, but i had to on this since i saw no one else had :)