plant-based Archives – VeggieJeva

Oyster Mushroom Fried Chick’n

Karla — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 17:17:37 +0000

The best Vegan Fried Chick’n is the one that’s made with Oyster Mushrooms. Perfectly crispy outer crust and a meaty juicy center, for when you need that perfect comfort food indulgence.

Vegan | Gluten-free | Soy-free

Today we’re honoring National Fried Chicken Day with a recipe that I’ve been dying to make for months! This is truly one of the tastiest dishes that exists in vegan gastronomy: Oyster Mushroom Fried Chick’n.

The breaded mushrooms dipped in a vegan garlic aioli, are a delicious snack, side or main dish that combine amazing texture with intense flavor. These end up being so similar to KFC and Church’s Chicken that hopefully they’ll convince you to finally go vegan!

Oyster Mushrooms

Mushrooms in general are a rich source of fiber, protein, and antioxidants. According to Harvard School of Public Health, they may also mitigate the risk of developing serious health conditions, such as Alzheimer’s, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. I LOVE them, and find them to be the perfect plan-based meaty ingredient to add to dishes.

But oyster mushrooms specifically have the perfect texture to replicate chicken in this dish. They’re easy to handle, but incredibly difficult to find here in Puerto Rico. If you live near an Asian market, you might be in luck; if not, you might want to contact your local Fungiculturist (mushroom grower) or you can easily grow them yourself.

The Recipe: Pure Comfort Food

Oyster Mushroom Fried Chick’n is a very easy dish that you can prepare with few ingredients that, aside from the oyster mushrooms, you probably have everything else at hand. I know what you’re thinking, do they really taste like chicken? I know it’s crazy but it’s 100% true! Because of the resulting texture along with the seasonings, these really taste like fried chicken.

The batter is made from a combination of home-made cashew cream, pickle brine, sriracha, apple cider vinegar, along with herbs and spices. And the coating is made with chickpea flour, corn starch, baking powder and gluten-free panko. Completely vegan, gluten & soy free!

You can either fry them, bake them or air-fry them, but I’m going to be honest, fried will yield the best results. When done, you can serve the Oyster Mushroom Fried Chick’n as an appetizer with homemade garlic aioli, as a side or main dish.

I can guarantee that the end result will be delicious!

Serving Suggestions

As an appetizer with your favorite dipping sauce
Go classic with some mashed potatoes, gravy and biscuits
Alongside roasted potatoes
With some tacos, like my caesar salad tacos

Alternate Cooking Instructions

Baked: Preheat oven to 375°F. Once all the mushrooms are coated, place in a paper lined baking tray, generously spray them with avocado oil (or any other high smoke point oil). Cook them for 30 minutes; flip half way and respray with oil if needed to ensure they are cooking properly.
Air-fried: Set air fryer to 400°F. Once all the coated mushrooms are in the basket, generously spray them with avocado oil (or any other high smoke point oil). Cook them in increments of 5 minutes for 15 minutes. Every 5 minutes flip them and lightly spray any pieces that still have visible dry flour to ensure they are cooking properly. Repeat if you have to do this in batches.

Notes

For better tasting results, separate the mushroom cluster into smaller pieces before coating and frying.
This recipe is made gluten-free by using chickpea flour and gluten-free panko. If you don’t care for gluten-free recipes, you can use regular all-purpose flour and vegan panko.
Speaking of panko, many gluten-free panko are not vegan-friendly, so make sure to read the ingredients beforehand. This is the gluten-free panko that I recommend,
Be careful to not overcook as mushrooms can start losing moisture and sogging up the batter. Ideally cook 3-4 minutes on each side.
Leftovers? Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. I find that the best way to reheat them is to lightly air-fry them for a couple of minutes; alternatively, you can lo-broil them on each side for about 3 minutes.

Pin Print

Oyster Mushroom Fried Chick'n

Rating: 5.0/5
( 1 voted )

Serves: 4-6 Prep Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 15 minutes 15 minutes Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

4 cups oyster mushrooms, rinsed and patted dry

Batter:

Cashew Cream (smoothly blend: 1 cup raw cashews + ½ cup water + 2 tbsp + 1 garlic clove + salt to taste)

½ tbsp sriracha

1 tbsp pickle brine (from pickle jar)

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Seasonings to taste: salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, and cumin.

Coating:

1 cup chickpea flour (+ more if needed)

½ cup cornstarch

2 tbsp baking powder

Seasonings to taste: celery salt, pepper, oregano, all spice (optional), onion powder, and garlic powder.

Procedure

In a medium-sized bowl, combine ingredients for the batter: cashew cream, sriracha, pickle brine, apple cider vinegar and seasonings. Make sure the texture resembles pancake batter thickness. Set aside in the fridge.

In another bowl combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and seasonings.

Heat up oil to 375° F either in an electric deep fryer, or a regular frying pan to medium heat.

Separate the oyster mushroom clusters into smaller pieces while the oil heats up. Once the oil is ready, dredge your mushrooms first in the wet mixture, then dry, and then repeat to double dredge. Shake off any excess flour and batter.

Place carefully in oil and let it fry until golden brown on both sides. Be careful to not over cook longer than 3-4 minutes.

When done, remove pieces from oil and place to rest on a wire rack. Repeat until all your chick'n is fried.

You can keep the fried mushrooms warm in an oven or air-fryer set to the lowest setting or serve immediately.

Serve on their own with your favorite dipping sauce, along mashed potatoes or in a Chick’n Sandwich. ENJOY!

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Crispy Tofu Katsu with Vegetable Curry

Karla — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 13:00:00 +0000

Japanese-style Crispy Tofu Katsu served with a hearty veggie curry sauce, over a bed of rice and topped with scallions & sesame seeds.

Vegan | with Gluten & Soy Alternatives

I have been wanting to prepare this recipe for such a long time!

If you want to know a different way to prepare tofu than how you usually do, this is your lucky day because today on VeggieJeva, you’ll learn how to prepare Japanese-style Tofu Katsu and a delicious curry sauce on the side.

What is Katsu?

Katsu カツ is a Japanese word that means: cutlet. Traditionally, this style of cooking consists of breaded, deep-fried pork or chicken cutlet. It’s almost always accompanied by a sauce like teriyaki, yakisoba, or curry, which enhances the flavors of the dish.

Veganizing it

This recipe is surprisingly simple to veganize. You can achieve it by switching the traditional meat for tofu, choosing vegan-friendly panko, and leaving the eggs out of the batter. Everything else is vegan, including the curry sauce, which we’re going to make with onions, carrots, garlic & coconut cream.

The Dish

I love this recipe because it gives the tofu a whole different way to enjoy it! Ingredients such as panko, keep this dish authentic since it’s a type of Japanese breading. This helps give the tofu a very unique and tasty texture.

Along with the tofu katsu, we’re making a hearty veggie curry sauce, that’s going to help elevate the flavors of the tofu. Serve on of a bed of rice, and top with sesame seeds & scallions. I’m sure you will enjoy it!

Gluten-free & Soy-free alternatives have been included in the recipe notes.

3 Ways to Cook the Tofu Katsu

The recipe is written using the frying method, but that may not be the preferred choice for everyone. You can also bake it, but keep in mind that it’ll take a bit longer. The air-frying method is the one that uses less oil; you can choose to not use any oil at all, but the end result won’t be as crispy.

Below are the instructions for each method:

Fried: for this recipe, I did a shallow pan-fry. Although not the healthiest option, it’s the option that gives you the crispiest results. You’ll find the method written into the recipe.
Baked: Pre-heat oven to 425°F (220°C). Place battered cutlets on a greased baking sheet pan. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until golden brown; flip halfway through. When ready, remove from the oven and, if desired, sprinkle some salt on each.
Air fried: Set the air-fryer to 390°F (200°C). Lightly grease the inner basket with oil, place the battered tofu, and cook for about 20 minutes or until crispy.

Pin Print

Crispy Tofu Katsu Curry

Rating: 5.0/5
( 1 voted )

Serves: 4 Prep Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 20M 20M Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

Tofu:

1 block extra firm tofu

Seasonings to taste: salt, black pepper, onion & garlic powder

½ cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp baking powder

½ cup water (room temperature)

1 cup vegan-friendly Panko (or more as needed)

Neutral oil, for frying

Curry Sauce:

1 tbsp olive oil (or avocado oil)

½ yellow onion, diced

2 medium-sized carrots, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

½ tbsp curry powder

1 tbsp plain flour

1 ¼ cups vegetable stock

2 tbsp coconut cream, from the surface of a can of coconut milk

Seasonings to taste: salt, black pepper, onion & garlic powder, and paprika

Serving:

Jasmine (or white) rice

1 scallion (green onion), chopped

Black sesame seeds

Procedure

Tofu:

Drain water from the tofu and then wrap it in a cloth or paper towel. Place a heavy flat surface on top of each and leave until water has been drained out. Note: if you have one, you can also use a tofu press.

Slice tofu into 4 square cutlets, by cutting through the middle and then cutting in half those two pieces. But depending on the thickness of your tofu, you may only be able to slice one tofu into 3 cutlets.

Prepare the batter by mixing the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, seasonings, and water. On another plate, add the panko.

Heat the oil in a frying pan.

Dip each tofu cutlet in the batter then coat into the panko.

Once the oil is hot, add in the tofu. Fry for around 6-8 minutes over medium heat until golden brown; flip halfway through.

When ready, remove from oil and let them drain on a paper towel-lined plate. If desired, sprinkle a little bit more salt on top.

Let cool for 10-15 minutes to maintain the crispness.

See above, in the post, for baking and air-fried methods.

Curry Sauce:

To a saucepan, add olive oil, onions, carrots & garlic, and cook for about 8 minutes on medium-low heat.

When the onions become translucent, add curry powder and flour to the pan; and fry for 1 minute, stirring frequently.

Pour in the veggie stock, bring the sauce to a boil. Season to taste with salt, black pepper, garlic & onion powder, and paprika.

Reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the carrots are soft. Then stir the coconut cream into the sauce.

Remove from heat and set aside.

Serve:

Take the tofu katsu cutlets and slice them into pieces.

In a bowl or plate, serve rice, curry sauce, and top both with the Tofu Katsu slices.

Sprinkle chopped scallions and sesame seeds on top, and ENJOY!

Notes

Gluten-free: switch all-purpose flour with chickpea flour, and the panko for a gluten-free & vegan one.

Soy-free: Alternatively to tofu, you could use eggplant or seitan (gluten).

Coconut cream: substitute for cashew cream by blending equal parts cashews & water.

Leftovers: Store the tofu in an airtight container, and reheat either in an air fryer or toaster oven. Store the curry sauce in an airtight container as well. Both will last in the fridge for about 4 days.

Did You Make This Recipe?
How you went with my recipes? Tag me on Instagram at @veggiejeva

When you leave feedback it helps me improve and grow, leave me a comment below!

If you have Pinterest, you can find me here and Pin the following picture, if you like!

The post Crispy Tofu Katsu with Vegetable Curry appeared first on VeggieJeva.