Remaking an Old Favorite

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For Mother’s Day, my daughter had a lovely, quiet day planned with a few favorite things.  Lunch at a favorite Vegan restaurant, watching a movie together and making popcorn chicken.  Everything was fine with our plans until we couldn’t find an essential ingredient in the popcorn chicken. 

The recipe she found required TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) chunks.  All we could find were granules.  Since we didn’t have this ingredient by Mother’s Day we made a different meal for a somewhat disappointing dinner.  Undeterred, Julia kept searching and found a delicious, simple recipe yesterday.  We tried it right away.
Picture with recipe from
 HappyHealing.com

This time, the recipe called for extra firm tofu that you first press, then break up and dredge in a batter before pan frying.  While our first effort was not as aesthetically appealing as the picture from the recipe, the flavor was outstanding and the texture was very nice.  We served it simply with some cut up raw veggies and our favorite Vegan Ranch dressing, which Julia made herself. 


I must admit to making some alterations to the Tofu Popcorn Chick’n recipe.  First, I don’t have a lot of spice blends in my house so when I saw this on the recipe, I got a bit worried.  However, as I searched my spice cupboard, I found Wash Park All-Purpose Seasoning from Savory Spice Shop.  I’ve used this blend in soup, on mashed potatoes, and to season pork chops, back in the day.  I used 1 tsp of this, per the recipe, and we were thrilled with the flavor it added.  The other alteration I made was to use regular wheat flour because we are not gluten free and don’t have substitutes on hand. 

Julia liked the addition of prepared mustard.  We used some Dijon that I have in the house.  The best part, however, was when we dipped the Popcorn Chick’n in the homemade Vegan Ranch Dressing.  It is simply divine and we couldn’t tell the difference between this and popcorn chicken made with poultry, which Julia loves.
Our version with homemade Ranch
 and veggies.

This isn’t the first time we’ve found a way to turn a non-Vegan favorite dish into a new, healthier, Vegan alternative that has become a staple in our house.  We’ve also discovered recipes for Vegan Alfredo Sauce and Cheese Sauce for Vegan Mac-N-Cheese.  Both are delicious and I’ve adapted them into one Vegan sauce base.  I’ll blog about our favorite sauces next time. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed our dalliance into new and exciting Vegan recipes and that you’ll join me for some more Vegan goodness.  If you try any of the foods mentioned here, please let me know in the comments.  I’d love to know what you’ve tried and what you like or don’t like.

Links to the two recipes I’ve mentioned are below, and the blogs where we found them, so that you may discover them for yourselves.  I’ve also included a link to Savory Spice Shop from whom you may order online. 
 
Tofu Popcorn Chick’n, HappyHealing.com
http://happyhealing.com/tofu-popcorn-chickn-vegan-gluten-free/

Wash Park All-Purpose Seasoning, Savory Spice Shop
http://www.savoryspiceshop.com/blends/washpark.html

Creamy Ranch Dressing #15 on list, It Doesn’t Have to Taste Like Chicken
http://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/2015/06/09/16-vegan-salad-dressings/

We found that starting with 2 Tbsp. of milk, then adding 1 Tbsp. at a time until you get the desired thickness works best for this recipe.

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