Gluten-Free Mung Bean Pasta!

We've been on the hunt recently for something delicious and sans gluten to cook up for a gluten-free friend of ours. We really wanted to have a little dinner party and make something new and interesting that she could partake in. There were a few options we came up with but after recently sampling the gluten-free Mung Bean pasta made by Explore Asia we knew exactly what we were going to make!

This stuff is so unique and scrumptious! Made of totally organic green mung beans it is not only naturally gluten-free but also high in protein, low in carbs, and 100% vegan. 

So what are mung beans? They are small green legumes which are seeds from the pods of plants. You might know them better as bean spouts in their sprouted form. That's right! Those white sprouts that are served with Pho and other dishes- they're mung beans sprouts!

Like many other legumes, the mung bean can be eaten raw when sprouted, or else eaten cooked with the skin on or off, but unlike many other beans, the mung bean is quite easy on the digestive tract and doesn’t usually cause a gassy reaction.

At first we just stared at the bag and weren't quite sure how we were going to prepare them. Should we treat them like spaghetti noodles and cover them in lentil meatballs and red sauce? Should we follow the suggestion on the package and toss the cooked noodles in vegan butter? Hrm...

After a little thought and some research we decided this was a job for our signature coconut milk alfredo sauce! The main ingredients: coconut milk, nutritional yeast, and corn starch are all gluten-free! Yay!

If you link to the blog post for the alfredo sauce recipe note that we didn't follow the directions exactly as we would for the kale alfredo. Instead we made the sauce in one small pan, sauteed the kale in another, and lightly steamed some broccoli separately. We then mixed them all together and got this as a result:

And man on man was it just as delicious as it looks! 

One can of coconut milk made enough sauce for about half the bag, which was about 2-3 servings. You could certainly stretch the bag and feed 6-7 people. Just add extra veggies! 

The texture is a little different than a typical pasta. Thin and flat. Less starchy than flour pasta for sure, possibly slightly al dente, but oh so good!

Next time we may even consider adding this pasta to a stir-fry and going the soy sauce or other asian sauce route. We may even top it with some Gardein Mandarin Orange Crispy Chik'n.

Either way, we highly suggest giving it a try and doing some experimenting of your own. Especially if you are gluten-free or have gluten-free friends! 

With peace, love, and compassion-

The Two Vegan Ladies

Vegan MoFo! Day Four: Coconut Kale Alfredo Sauce

So let's be honest here... there's nothing quite like a good helping of pasta. And as vegans, we typically get pretty lucky when it comes to pasta dishes.

When you get stuck at a non veg-friendly Italian joint with omnivorous friends or family members it's pretty much guaranteed that you are going to end up munching on bread and a bowl of pasta with some sort of red sauce and veggies. (Hopefully veggies!)

It's wonderful that most marinara sauces, whether they be jarred, restaurant, or homemade are typically vegan. But, not to knock red sauce here, it would be nice from time to time to have a little variety. Like alfredo sauce for instance.

When's the last time you had a nice creamy garlic -egg and diary free- alfredo sauce to go with that pasta from the farmer's market you like so much? We know, it had been ages for us too! So we had to do something about it!

Now, we have posted about this recipe before. It's a little creation we came up with in the early days of the Two Vegan Ladies blog and we have since perfected!  You can read the original post here but we'll admit it has a few extra steps than are necessary.

This has really become one of our most requested dishes and after making it several dozen times at various potlucks and social gatherings we have changed our method a bit. What used to take almost an hour and a half to make can now be whipped up in 20 minutes!

So let's get started on this revamped recipe- shall we?

*Note: This is A LOT of sauce. If you are making this for a small family dinner you may want to cut recipe in half.

You will need:
4 tablespoons of Earth Balance (we like soy-free)
4-6 chopped cloves of garlic or 2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 chopped shallots
1 bunch of kale
2 cups of sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (leave some finely chopped pieces for garnish as well!)
3 cans of coconut milk
3 heaping tablespoons nutritional yeast
salt
pepper
garlic powder
1 teaspoon raw sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano (optional)
4 tablespoons sundried tomato paste (totally optional)
4 tablespoons corn starch
and 1 mighty whisk

What to do:
First, get out a large pot. We used to make this in a sauce pan but have found it easier to mix everything together in something with higher sides.

Put on medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of Earth Balance, and in this order, add: garlic, shallots, kale, and mushrooms. Let cook, stirring well, for a few minutes.

Next shake coconut milk cans and add to pot. Stir well and add chopped basil along with 2 more tablespoons of Earth Balance. Let cook for a few minutes.

Add 3 heaping tablespoons of nutritional yeast along with a few pinches of salt, pepper, garlic powder, sugar, and oregano (if desired) and continue to cook for a few more minutes.

Now, you may have noticed the picture above has a more redish-orange tint to it than our usual off-white alfredo sauce creation. This is because we decided to go for a sun dried tomato flavor in our alfredo sauce this time around.

If you would like to alter the flavor to some sun dried tomato goodness it's easy enough. You can certainly use actual sun dried tomatoes, or go the lazy way like we did. Most grocery stores carry a sun dried tomato paste or spread like this one. Just pop open the jar and stir about 4 tablespoons of the spread into your sauce pot.

This stuff is also great on sandwiches with hummus and fresh veggies!

So now remove your sauce from the heat and get ready, because it is time for... THE MIGHTY WHISK....

Grab your corn starch and your mighty whisk of choice because we're about to turn this concoction into a thick and creamy sauce.

Add the corn starch 1 tablespoon at a time into the pot and whisk, whisk, whisk those clumps away! You may need more than 4 tablespoons, you may need less... just keep whisking till you feel like it's working.

Also, keep in mind that the sauce will thicken as it cools so take it easy there vegan tiger as you add tablespoon after tablespoon of starchiness. You don't want to end up with a solid block of alfredo sauce.

You can use this sauce as a dip with bread or, of course, put in on top of your favorite noodles. In version 1.0 of this recipe we layered the sauce with our noodles and mixed it together. This seems to be the preferred method for potluck style dining because the sauce and kale are more evenly spread amongst the noodles. 

For social gatherings this is probably enough sauce to cover 2-3 boxes of pasta- depending on how saucy your guests like to be. ;-)

Top with freshly chopped basil and enjoy!

This has certainly become one of our signature dishes and we would love to see everyone's results and variations. If you would like, please post a picture on our facebook page here when you prepare it.

With peace, love, and compassion,

The Two Vegan Ladies

Teriyaki Glazed and Grilled Tofu

Last weekend we went home to visit family. Now, home... home is an odd clasification. Because home to us is the house the two of us share with our animal friends in central Florida. The place lovingly referred to by many as the 'crazy hippy vegan farm'. But home is also in south Florida where we grew up. The place where we met, the beach where we shared our first kiss... It's where our parents live and where no matter how old we get we will probably always think of as "home".

The thing about going home is that there is always an endless amount of things that your parents will try to get you to take with you when you come to visit. It's always great when you're nearing 30 years old and your mother asks if you would like to take a plastic film tube full of all your baby teeth back to Orlando with you. (lol Love you Mom!)

This weekend we were offered a George Foreman Grill. Our first reaction was... no... I mean what the heck are we going to do with that if it's meant to cook oil off of meat? But upon further inspection we thought well... maybe it may be worth a try. It's just an electric grill... we could probably cook anything on it.



And boy were we right! We've been experimenting on it since we brought it in the house and not to sound too overly 90s infomercial but man this thing can do it all!

So far we have made grilled zucchini, garlic, bean burgers, and a few other things. But by far the best creation was the teriyaki glazed tofu. This was so easy we were almost not going to write out a recipe, but it honestly tasted too good not to share.

This recipe will serve two.

What you'll need:

1 block of Tofu
Teryaki sauce
Soy Sauce
Spray Oil
Iron Chef General Tso or Orange Glaze
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Sesame Seeds

First, take a block of tofu and cut it length-wise in half. You want to make two thick "steaks".

Next, fill a shallow dish with a mix of teriyaki and soy sauce (you'll want to do about 3 parts teriyaki and 1 part soy sauce) and let your tofu steaks sit in the mix for a few minutes, flipping occasionally to make sure the sauce is getting evenly absorbed.

Then, sprinkle some light salt, pepper, and garlic powder on your coated tofu. Heat up the George Forman Grill to medium/medium-high heat, spray with non-stick cooking spray, and set on grill horizontally. (If they're rectangular -if they're square this really doesn't make a difference.)

While the tofu is cooking take your teriyaki/soy mix and add a couple tablespoons of the General Tso's or Orange sauce. Mix well and then drizzle or brush on to tofu periodically as it cooks.

The tofu will probably need to cook for at least 10-15 minutes. We suggest flipping it once half-way thorough and coating the bottom side with your sauce mix. The top grill side also seems to make those 'char' lines a little faster. So if you want them to be even on both sides it will definitely need to be flipped.

Most of this sauce is probably going to end up in the drip pan. Not a problem! When your tofu is nice and grilled pop it on a plate and drizzle it with the left over and dripped off sauce then garnish with sesame seeds.

We put our glazed tofu on a bed of sauteed kale and chickpeas. The only special thing we do for that stuff is sauté it in soy-free Earth Balance and add salt, pepper, and garlic powder.... and then the special ingredient... shallots!

If you have never cooked with a shallot before, do so as soon as possble. They are these amazing little onions that add so much flavor to anything they are cooked with, specifically kale and other greens.

The chickpeas could probably use a dash of soy sauce while cooking but be careful not to turn this meal into too big of a sodium-fest! You could also try balsamic vinegar or just plain old salt, pepper, and garlic. Those staples always work. Fresh garlic would be nice here too depending on what you're in the mood for.

Someone mentioned that this dish reminded them of asian style ribs but we think of it more like a faux glazed salmon.

We've really been able to make some versatile dishes in this thing so far. We have a whole list of items like seitan and tempeh we are going to try soon. The best part about this 90s-era contraption is how evenly it cooks the items. So if you have one of these grills lying around from your omnivore days, bring it down from the shelf and dust it off! See what kind of magic you can make happen! It's time to reclaim this grill in the name of the vegan world and make some tofu!

With peace, love, and compassion-
The Two Vegan Ladies