New member. I need some suggestions on how to VEGAN'ify my favorite ..
I am a brand new vegan.
I need some suggestions on how to turn my favorite pre-vegan dish to vegan:
of course I have a knowledge and a good one of most veggies/fruits but I am at a lack of knowledge for vegan foods that will serve as a point of substance other than tofu. I am looking to replace the salmon, in a dish which has many vegan parts.
I starts with a jasmine rice cooked with chopped dates and sesame seeds (great sweet, nutty/seedy flavor) which is atop a light pool of yellow or red curry.
Typically the main content of this dish was a soy/fresh ginger marinated salmon. layed across the rice/curry sauce.
It is then covered with shitake mushrooms sauteed in butter (no longer) garlic, white wine and some of the soy/ginger marinade.
It was so delicious. and not just because of the fish. The fish just provided substance that a meat eater desires. A substance that I think it still needs.
What can i use in place of fish? I'm very new to this and any suggestions are welcome though I hope it will be something that will be on par with the unique nature and great combination of flavors that this dish provides. This always impressed my friends, i wish to continue to do so with no meat.
Thank you
If you want to leave out tofu (which would work, if pressed and marinaded with the ginger and soy), you might try seitan or tempeh. Poach your tempeh a bit first, to get rid of the musty smell, and then marinade. If you ever make your own seitan, you could add the ginger and soy and other seasonings to the mixture before poaching. (Yes, I know they tell you to poach the seitan in the flavoured broth but in my experience it doesn't pick up much.) You might be able to use commercial seitan but I would marinade it for several hours, maybe overnight. In my experience commercial seitan has all the appeal and flavour of plasticine.
It's veganize, brother. Veganize.
If none of YabbitGirl's suggestions work, how about simply leaving that one item out? Maybe add in some mashed white beans to the curry sauce instead to add in extra protien. Or leave the beans whole and spoon them across like you did the fish, after simmering them in the liquid. The texture will be different no matter what. I have yet to find anything flaky textured as a meat substitute, but if you can enjoy something creamy like a good bunch of canellini beans or firm like baked seitan or oven fried tofu then it should be fine.
You can also use a lovely margarine like Earth Balance to replace the Butter in the garlic saute.
How about some beans - garbanzo beans sound like they would be good, or some type of patty/cake? I.e. risotto cake (yes, it is possible to make vegan risotto) or a bean or veggie patty? That would provide the substance you are looking for.
Would "chicken" work in this dish? Not only can you make chicken-like seitan at home, there are some commercially available fake chicken products. I'm just not aware of anything vegan that would be much like fish, though.