Vegan Good Eats

Beer-battered sexy green beans with cool and spicy ranch

I seem to always think of green beans around Thanksgiving time. Among my traditional variations are the wild mushroom green bean casserole, saute beans with slivered almonds and garlicky green beans.

Other than tradition, there’s nothing holding us back in bringing these to a Fourth of July celebration. This year, I was inspired by an appetizer at one of my favorite Houston establishments, Natachees’ Supper N’ Punch, where they serve a version of these with a ranch sauce.

These make a lovely [...]

When your family loves hummus, screw around with it: white truffle white bean hummus with mushrooms and thyme

“Joel Luks Jacobs, make hummus,” dad says in an authoritative imperative, using a guttural and rough sounding “h.”

Very Fiddler on the Roof-like of him.

No please or thank you. He used my full name. That’s when you know your family means business.

They like their hummus, well, my hummus, and that means I have to keep a seemingly bottomless supply coming. And there is nothing like the traditional: Chickpeas, tahini, cumin, olive oil, salt, pepper, and a touch of sumac berries, parsley [...]

Bend me over Sweet Potato Fries with Sassy Ketchup

When unexpected guests come by, I always like to throw something on the table. Having just made the most delicious picarones, I had an extra sweet potato looking at me begging for attention.

The solution? Fry up a batch of crispy, sweet and sassy sweet potato fries, and make some sort of doctored up ketchup. Anything straight from a bottle is just not me.

Cutting the sweet potatoes by hand made for wonderful, homey and imperfect strings. But in the interest of [...]

Tomato Zucchini Fritters with Vegan Tzatziki

I remember detesting both tomato and zucchini when I was a child. I could not even handle seeing other people eat them, and wonder if all adults have a skewed sense of taste. I did not understand the purpose of zucchini either, especially when introduced to zucchini bread. Why foodie Gods? Why?

I am not sure at what point I started accepting tomatoes as a possibility. Perhaps when I realized ketchup and pizza sauce were tomato based, or when I fell [...]

A southern favorite: Deviled Eggs sans the eggs

I often get a weird look when I come up with a vegan version of a dish whose main ingredient is not vegan. And of course, when the dish has the ingredient on its name, we run into a problem.

Or do we?

Yes, admittedly these don’t really 100% taste like the original, as it is difficult to recreate eggs. but using a little ingenuity, a doctored up cookie cutter, and the help of black salt, and we arrive at a delicious [...]

Foods I cannot pronounce but love: Muhammara Dip

I am unsure why this particular dip has not yet reached the popularity of hummus. Perhaps that is a good thing since hummus has been bastardized into a million of pseudo bull shit variations. I although in my research I have come across a variety of different recipes for muhammara, it seems that the majority agree to key ingredients: roasted red peppers, cumin, bread crumbs, and pomegranate molasses.

Muhammara is a dip native of Aleppo, Syria. Also in Turkey, it is [...]

Purple Basil Coconut Crusted Fried Green Tomatoes with Mango Salsa

I believe this recipe needs no introduction, but since I like to write, I will anyway.

The Paula Dean in me wanted to do something, well, southern. The type of dish I could practice with pseudo southern twang as I figure out a way to incorporate deep fried techniques into everything, substitute donuts where bread should be, and pretend a stick of butter is a standard ingredient in all recipes, including a peanut butter and jam sandwich.

Well, I didn’t quite go [...]

Vegan Har Gow: Traditional Chinese Dumplings with Shiitake and Red Spinach

Don’t you love learning new words in a different language you do not speak? I am silly as I love to practice my pseudo make-believe accent and attempt to sound authentic. Then I laugh at myself and cook. Then eat.

Dumplings are so flexible. Once you know the technique, you can fill them with whatever you like. Although these are traditionally made with shrimp, I am known for ignoring tradition. After all, I am a cultural mutt and think things get [...]

Vegan Tempeh Lettuce Wraps

I have to acknowledge that indeed, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro has an acceptable selection of vegetarian and vegan menu items. Their tofu lettuce wraps have been a recent addition, but I believe mine are better, because most home cooking should be, and because I use tempeh and wild mushrooms.

A perfect summer appetizer, light lunch, or meal, one can add a myriad of different accompaniments other than the lettuce cups to create exotic flavor combinations and textures. The presentation is stunning, [...]

Chinese Mushroom Steamed Buns a la Dim Sum

I am sure you have heard the joke: “I’ll have dim sum… And dim some more.” Well if you do not remember it, then you weren’t obsessed with Will and Grace circa 1999. I was, and still am thanks to Karen’s whimsical, dysfunctional and unpredictable zingers. Like Karen’s addiction to prescription drugs washed with martinis, it is easy to get carried away eating dim sum as traditionally, carts go around the restaurant and it is up to you to keep [...]