Lo Bak Go- Chinese Turnip Cakes that are traditionally prepared with sea kittens( as dumbass PETA refers to them as.) ( shite, it's a taboo to mention that name, it has such negative and hypocritical connotations, it also tends to turn veg*ans into raging green monsters!) (typically, lo bak go uses shrimp and piggies :(. It's part of Dim Sum, which is popular in Southern China, and entails a whole lotta grub! Traditionally, small dishes that have about 3 items per container ( baus(buns), gaus(dumplings), cheong fans(rice noodles) compose Yum Cha-ing. It's sofa king fun! Everytime I visit my family in Chinatown, we go for a Yum Cha, nothing can rival the way food brings us together. But I've been reduced to fiddling with my chopsticks and watching them gorge on greasy treats since I went gluten free(everything is coated in soy sauce or has some seitan in it! :(. I no longer expand my transitional epithelium by downing cups of tea as if they were shots of mango juice since I don't consume caffeine either. I can really only eat steamed tofu and vegetables when I'm there :(. Everything that is enjoyable about Yum Cha-ing has diminshed to just the pleasure I derive from socializing with my family. Anyway, I would love to recreate vegan dim sum dishes and make them friendly to the gluten free palate! I dream of reuniting with lobakgo! I don't understand why many chinese restaurants don't include gluten free options, it's extremely easy to incorporate them. Wheat-Free tamari sauce differs slightly from soy sauce, but there is nothing complicated about substituting it for soy sauce, the flavour of the food is not ruined by its usage! I shall undertake chinese food and attempt to recreate some of my favorite dishes. Other dim sum dishes I'd love to make :
- Congee (thick rice porridge that can be plain or seasoned with a variety of foods!)
- Doufu Bau (a rice bun that is steamed and filled with vegetables or protein, in this case, I'm eager to experiment with some baked -spice tofu ;-)
- Fu Pei Guen- Tofu skin rolls filled with vegetables
- Jin Deui-SESAME BALLS. the kama sutra of fried foods. Fried balls coated in sesame and filled with red bean paste. Since I do not use sugar, I will have to figure out some other way to sweeten it, or make it savory!
- Cheung Fan- Rice noodle rolls typically filled with protein or vegetables, but can be served plain with sauce to dip in!
- Fried Doufu- I can never perfect it, but I do try to stay away from fried foods, but when the day comes for celebration, let the grease and oil flow from the heated cages!
Other dishes I'd love to make :
- Stuffed Mushrooms
- Raw Apple Pie
- Cashew Cream
- Pumpkin Mashed Potatoes
- Butternut Squash Soup
- Date Nut Bars
- Baba Ghanoush
- Falafel
- Injera
- Chutney
- Lentil Loaf
- Cannelli-Bean Garlic Dip
- Chickpea pot pie
- Braised Tempeh
- Making homemade tofu!
More later, until I get on summer vacation, I'm afraid these may just be pipe dreams! I shall attempt to make one dish off my list every week!
Baba G is super easy to make. We'll do it up some time this summer. So's falafel. (oh super yum)
ReplyDeleteHere's some veggie dim sum recipes I've got bookmarked for future use:
http://veglicious.blogspot.com/2007/06/bao-fest.html Veggie char siu, or use seitan and marinate overnight. http://go-yumcha.blogspot.com/2009/02/in-search-of_23.html
Tamari might be passable in recipes it's added to (like soups, etc, where it's cooked with other things), but I'm skeptical of it on its own or as the base of a sauce. Then again, maybe it's just me - It just tastes like cheapie imitation soy sauce. Maybe you've got a better kind I haven't tried yet. I'd give that a shot.