Leaning Vegetarian

Archive for the ‘What the heck is...?’ Category

I’ve heard of brewer’s yeast used as a B-vitamin supplement, but wasn’t familiar with the nutritional yeast referenced in many vegetarian recipes.

Nutritional yeast is a deactivated yeast similar to brewer’s yeast. It’s made from a strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that is fermented and dried, and is sold in this flaky powder form.

Nutritional yeast can be used as a cheese replacement – I think the flavor is reminiscent of parmesan. It’s high in protein and B-vitamins (B12 may be added depending on the type of yeast you’re using) and is typically low in fat and sodium.

Rachelle’s used it at school as a cheesy popcorn topping. We used it in the seitan we made a couple weeks ago for the nutritional value and also for a little extra savoriness. For vegans, it’s used in recipes like this queso over at VegWeb.

When my co-workers Verna and Marti Lea took me over to the Lotus Pond restaurant for a vegetarian lunch many years ago, I was most puzzled by one of the main ingredients in the buffet there: wheat glutens.

This turned out to be seitan, a cooked and flavored wheat gluten. It had a surprisingly sturdy, chewy texture reminiscent of chicken. Seitan is high in protein and very low in fat; some store varieties have a dab of iron as well.

It can be prepared at home from flour and water, kneaded and run under water to remove the wheat starch, and marinated. There are recipes for simmering it, baking it, and frying it, all of which result in different textures.

What you see here is taken from the Post Punk Kitchen recipe (these amounts are halved – we didn’t have enough vital wheat gluten to make the full recipe).

Vital wheat gluten (the same gluten that bakers add to make bread chewier), nutritional yeast, garlic, soy sauce, and water are mixed to form a stretchy dough, and then boiled.

In this recipe, I’ve rolled it into sausages with the intention of slicing it later to incorporate into a stir fry or to pan fry the slices. I’ve also read preparations that form it into a cutlet shape for frying.

After the broth with the seitan is brought up to a boil, it’s simmered for an hour. The small sliceable shapes are, well,  a lot larger by this point:

I’ll store these in the fridge with some of the broth for use later in the week.

When we decide on a dish, I’ll post the recipe and our taste test in a few days.

Quinoa is a harvested from a plant originating in the Andes, revered by the Incan culture. Although we use it as a grain, the plant is actually related to beets and chard. The most common color found in grocery stores is ivory, but the colors vary from ivory to red to a black quinoa developed in the US.

How do you pronounce that?

I’ve most commonly heard it KEEN-wa, although ki-NWA is out there too.

What’s in it?

It’s high in protein, and contains the complete spectrum of essential amino acids. A one-cup serving has a 15% of the daily value for iron, as well as other minerals including magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium. Quinoa is also gluten-free.

I like the chewy consistency (think brown rice) with a lightly nutty flavor. It lends itself well to both sweet and savory dishes.

How do you cook it?

Quinoa has a bitter coating (saponin) that should to be washed off before cooking (some packaged varieties are prewashed). Rinse the grain in a bowl or strainer and rub the seeds between your fingers to remove this coating.  I’ve seen recommendations to soak it overnight, but I’ve also cooked it right after rinsing.

Prepare quinoa by adding two parts water to one part washed grain, and bring it to a boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer until the water has evaporated and just to the surface of the grain. Turn the heat down to low, cover it and let it cook until fluffy when mixed with a fork.

I like it for breakfast with raisins and brown sugar with a bit of flax seed for crunch.

Rachelle will be posting her delicious quinoa and chickpea pilaf soon. Here’s a sneak preview, with yellow tomatoes from our garden:

The ‘What the heck is…?’ series will be covering ingredients that are new to us or that we think might be less familiar. Let us know if there are any items you’d like to see us cover.

Tempeh is a cake of fermented grains or beans, which originated in Indonesia. The grains are compressed and inoculated with the rhizopus oligosporus culture, then fermented at a warm temperature until a web of white mycelia forms and holds the grains/beans together.

Three types of tempeh

I’ve cut some slices of three varieties from my local market (these are all from Lightlife):

Soy

Wild rice

Three-grain

A serving (4 oz, or half a package) has 20-22g of protein, depending on the variety.  Tempeh has more protein than tofu, as well as calcium, iron, and between a third and a half of the daily fiber requirement.

I sauteed these strips with a little bit of ginger, garlic, and a splash of soy sauce.  The three-grain is the mildest of the bunch, with a rice-like texture that crumbles readily.  The wild rice has a stronger brown/wild rice flavor, and combines the textures of those two grains.  The soy has the firmest texture, and to my taste buds, is the closest to a ‘meaty’ texture if that’s what you’re looking for.  I’ve used strips in stir-fries (excellent with snow peas), but you can also crumble them for use in dishes like tacos or casseroles.

Tempeh keeps in the fridge for about a week, and in the freezer for a couple months.  Darker spots are spores and are normal.

Thanks to Turtle Island Foods, www.soyfoods.com, the Vegetarian Research Group, and the contributors to Wikipedia.