I just bought so much weird fake meat!
So, this morning my mom calls me up and she's like, "Do you want to go to Super 88 with me just to look around and see what they have?" Super 88 is this giant Asian market that has so much awesome stuff. So, obviously I agreed. I never really look at the frozen stuff, but today I did and OH MY GOODNESS! They had all of these packages of what looked like meat and chicken and fish that said VEGETARIAN: No Eggs, No Alcohol. They had shrimp that actually looked like shrimp and crawfish and squid and tuna and wow! I have never seen anything like this before!
My mom was so excited for me that she told me to pick out anything I wanted and she would buy it. (She thinks I don't eat anything because I am vegan...) So, I went crazy! I bought some veggie beef, veggie chicken, chicken nuggets, frozen gluten, and gluten in a can. I also found a bunch of dried TVP and got a couple different kinds.
I never buy stuff like this. I don't really even know what to do with any of it. Luckily most of it is frozen and the stuff that is not will last for a while in the cupboard. I should have plenty of time to find some recipes. Do any of you guys buy this sort of stuff? If so, what do you do with it? If not, have you SEEN the fake crawfish?!?!
Ohhhh, I would have died and gone to heaven. I just LOVE asian markets! Unfortunately the ones near us are a little shady and small and not exactly the most well organized and merchandised stores you will ever go in. Especially when you get to the freezer section. There are practically no lights in the freezers, so unless you open the door and poke through every item you can't really see at a glance what is in there. And then you end up touching all sorts of meaty "interesting" products....so needless to say my glances at the freezer section have never been fruitful. But, I do always make out quite well with what I find in the regular aisles...I noticed that they have a ton of canned gluten products. I actually just recently bought a couple cans of the fried gluton and used it to make gyros. Pretty good, a little squishier than the seiten I usually make, but it was nice to have it already pre made.
We do have a vegetarian chinese restaurant in town that has an extensive mock meat menu...pretty much anything you can imagine in fake form-shrimp dishes, chicken, pork, beef, etc. So if you were lucky enough to score stuff like faux crawfish and shrimp and what not, I'd just look up omni recipes that call for the real deal and substitute your fakes. If they are like the products they use at this restaurant, they would be a perfect sub for any such recipe. Sounds delicious, I'm jealous!
I've never bought this stuff--but I've had it! In fact, when I was in Tianjin, China a restaurant I went to gave us veg*ns a full-on banquet of the stuff! In some of the other cities I was at (Shanghai comes to mind) gluten main dishes were a mainstay of our dinners (I was with an orchestra, and we were treated like royalty there.) Also I've had it in some Asian restaurants state-side.
Given my association of them with Asian cuisine, the first place my mind goes is stir-fry. Cook it with all the fresh veggies you can find and toss it all in a delicious sauce. (In Boston I had mock shrimp with peppers, zucchini, and all sorts of other veggies in a mild curry sauce. In Rockville, MD there's a general Tso's "chicken" made with gluten.)
But I imagine you could take just about any omni recipe and veganize it!
I don't think I've ever seen the mock crawfish though! Any Southerner vegwebbers who can recommend a recipe?
ETA: Living_My_Truth beat me to a lot of my points.
Fake shrimp is really weird! I never really liked sealife to begin with, and my friend ordered something with it at a vegetarian restaurant once and I tried it and it was so bizarrely real.
Fake shrimp is really weird! I never really liked sealife to begin with, and my friend ordered something with it at a vegetarian restaurant once and I tried it and it was so bizarrely real.
YES!! In fact, I can't even bring myself to get it anymore at the restaurant I mentioned, because every time I am convinced that they messed up and accidentally used real shrimp!
Oh my god. THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME YESTERDAY!!!
I always get canned seitan from the maasive chinese supermarket near me (can't get vital wheat gluten easily in the UK) and i was going yesterday to stock up.
I've never really looked in the freezer section before, but was looking for some pancakes for peking 'duck' and right next to them was an amazing selection of 'meats' - it was sooooo bloody exciting.
They had 'chicken' breasts, 'chicken' peices, 'king prawns', 'cod' filliets, 'mutton' peices, breaded 'fish' steaks, 'chicken' satay sticks, 'chicken' wrapped in banana leaves, peking 'duck', 'steak' strips. It was all so cheap as well - £1.50 - £2 (don't know what it is in dollars sorry!). I've seen 'fish' steaks in a health food store before and they've been ~£4 for 2 peices and it was £2 for 3 peices.
It was so amazing. I had to limit myself as I knew my freezer doesn't have much space at the moment, so I only bought peking 'duck' (my omni bf was very keen on this), king 'prawns' and 'chicken' satay.
And yes it was all vegan. Sorry for the random long post, but I'm so so excited about it all! :D
that's cool! i don't usually use stuff like it, but i really want to try all that stuff, anyway!
Hehe that's great! I'm sure you'll find lots to do with it. Personally I can't usually bring myself to eat meat substitues (ie, stuff that is made to look and taste like meat), even though I know it's vegetarian, part of me still can't believe it is!
What is canned gluten like? I've never heard of it before.
i love all that fake-this fake-that that you can get at (usually) chinese markets. My bf is next door to a Chinese area and there are a few vegetarian restaurants there - they have everything from veggie shark fin soup to veggie kidneys, veggie abalone, veggie scallops, veggie shrimp! crazy stuff. A lot of the fake seafood type things are made (partly) from special mountain yam (konnyaku), which gives it a really chewy texture, almost like really dense agar.
I would just make sate out of everything. I looove sate... broil it with a mixture of spices/etc and make some peanut sauce!
I'm usually more about the appetizers and dessert than the main course. Is that ok? :D
Dude, you're from Massachusetts?
We should hang out sometime. I need more nice vegans in my circle of friends.
FABULOUS!!
I use a lot of the substitutes because it's a great way of getting my meat eating s/o to share dishes so I don't have to make two meals. I make spaghetti and meat sauce, beef stroganoff, chicken and noodles, bratwurst, sauerkraut, potatoes cooked in beer, Italian sausage and spaghetti, stirfrys, meatloaf, pot pies, all with substitutes, and they can be made so full of flavor so he doesn't miss the real meat.
Dude, you're from Massachusetts?
We should hang out sometime. I need more nice vegans in my circle of friends.
We should absolutely hang out! I have NO vegan friends. I don't even know any vegetarians!
what town do you live in?
you should add me on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/natatatasha
Aww! I deleted my myspace. Send me an email or something though. Let's make this happen!
eta: I'm in Somerville.
omg, i just read today my town might be re-developing it's china-town! yess!
What is canned gluten like? I've never heard of it before.
I like it. I use it in quick curry simmer sauce stuff. You can get a can of mock pork and a can of masaman curry stuff and voila! curry in a hurry.
I just made some of the canned gluten. I stir fried it with some green beans and soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sriracha. Very yummy! Like LMT said, it's a little squishy and pretty soft, but I thought it was good. And it is so easy to use! I can't wait to try my other fake stuff. Such a vegan adventure!
What is sriracha?
the hot sauce with the rooster on it that's at most asian restaurants...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sriracha
I'm not a big fan of the canned gluten. It's a texture thing though, not a taste thing.
Is the brand of the frozen stuff you bought Veggie Farms? If so, you're going to freak at how meat-like the products are. It's almost creepy. The first time I used their faux chicken I was like, "OMG, they made a mistake and put real chicken in the package". :o
Enjoy your bounty! It's always fun to find new vegan products!
Aww! I deleted my myspace. Send me an email or something though (jessica.haley@gmail.com). Let's make this happen!
eta: I'm in Somerville.
Hey fellow vegan Somervillian :D ! I'm near Davis Sq.
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