I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 14, and my mom doesn’t cook, so I learned to cook on my own after I became a vegetarian. As such, I don’t know how to and never have cooked meat.
In more recent years, the fake meat products available have gotten to be pretty darned tasty. Tonight we had some fake “chicken breasts” for example that had a nice flavor and texture. The problem is… I don’t know what to DO with them. Tonight I just cooked them in a pan with some oil as per the packaging and had sides of mashed potatoes and broccoli. This was just a test run to see if they were any good. They are. So I’d like to get some more, but… you know… actually cook a recipe with them. Have them be something more than just slabs of beige stuff on the side of the plate.
So I turn to you, the teeming millions. Give me some ideas of how I can cook them. Adapted chicken recipes would seem to be the most logical place to start, but keep in mind they don’t have all of the same properties with regards to texture and so on that chicken has (for example, they aren’t all soft and squishy before they’re cooked.)
How about a nice Asian marinade? I use Vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce as a base, then add onion, garlic, ginger, parsley, sesame seeds and red pepper. Stir fry or satue your “chicken” in the sauce till done.
BBQ is good too, I use ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, pepper and garlic.
Wine, garlic and soy sauce makes a tasty marinade. I usually “smother” it with peppers onions, herbs and cheese.
(If you want a more detailed recipie, let me know, & I’ll post it.
“chicken” Parmisagna is good too. Bread your pieces, brown them, then bake on a bed of spagetti, top with your favorite jar sauce ane cheese.
I have a deviled chicken recipe that I like, and to adapt it for your use, I would just make the ‘deviling’ sauce and serve it over the cooked chicken:
Melt 6TBSP butter (or margarine) in a sauce pan
Whisk in 6TBSP spicy brown mustard, 3TBSP honey, 1/4tsp crushed red pepper flakes, pinch of nutmeg.
Whisk until slightly reduced, and desired consistency is reached.
Add hot sauce if you like it spicier.
If you don’t have a convenient recipe: Whip up a roux (about 3 tablespoons flour slowly stirred into 2 tablespoons melted butter, over medium heat), then slowly stir in a veggie broth or milk to make a gravy/sauce. Heat up some chopped vegetables and stir into the sauce. Add salt, pepper, and whatever herbs - try thyme, maybe sage - to taste. Mix in the chopped up faux-chicken, and add this mixture to a premade pie crust or a lightly oiled baking dish. Top with more pie crust or your favorite biscuit mix. Bake around 375 for about 20-25 minutes or so.
Thai-ish Peanut Chicken - saute the chicken in a little bit of vegetable oil+teeny bit of sesame oil, add onion and celery slices, soy sauce, cilantro, ginger, garlic, and just before everything is as soft as it should be, add a big dollop of peanut butter and stir in. Serve over rice, garnish with peanuts.
Usually for this recipe I cut the onion longitudinally, and slice the celery at a steep angle to match. I use two chicken breasts, one onion, and four ribs of celery.
I have a vegetarian “butter chicken” recipe. I have never tried it with fake chicken breasts, but that seems like a great idea! There are many veg. butter chicken recipes out there and I’ve tried a lot of them. Most of them are blah, but I settled on a combination of two. It’s quite rich though and I’m still adjusting it to get it just right. I can send it to you, although I really would recommend experimenting with it since it isn’t quite right yet. Perhaps, fake chicken is what I’ve needed to make it work. I’ve been trying texture vegetable protein, which is a bit too weighty on the digestive tract.
Beat me to the butter chicken suggestion. I use this recipe using the modifications suggested in the first comment to make it healthier. It is de.li.cious.
OpalCat, what brand of fake chicken do you use and where do you buy it? I am not a vegetarian myself but have an annoying number of vegetarian friends to cook for (;)).
I’ve become hooked on the simplist thing imaginable, which is just chopped chicken, fried with chopped green peppers, a little onion, and chopped tomato. So dang good! I suspect the cook at work cooks it all real quick on a grill that just had BACON on it, so that might be part of the secret, but I love it so much I do it at home all the time now. It seems so simple, but it’s so good!
