Low Carb Vegan

It’s Christmas day and I’m writing a piece about Kosher food. Is this multiculturalism run amok? No it’s just that things are slow at $WORK and I’ve just learned something interesting. And I’d like to share that with everyone out there.

Like most folks, I suspect, I was vaguely aware of Kosher food. I had read the Biblical dietary rules but didn’t really pay all that much attention. I was looking through a Jewish cookbook recently and noticed the definition of parve.

I need to take a step back here and explain that Kosher food draws a distinction between meat and dairy products. In fact, most of Kosher law concerns animals and their products, not all that relevant to a vegan. But, and this is where things get interesting, you’re not allowed to mix meat and dairy in the same dish. So it’s helpful to have a category that’s neither. And that is parve.

So if you see a food labeled parve (sometimes spelled pareve or parevine) you know it won’t have any meat or dairy in it. So parve = vegan? Well, no. There are a number of things Kosher law doesn’t consider meat or dairy that most vegans wouldn’t eat. Things like fish and eggs. You still have to read those labels!

Here’s wishing a happy holiday to all of my readers!

I was lucky enough growing up to be exposed to different kinds of ethnic foods. Of course, back then out here in flyover county, ethnic pretty much meant Mexican and Chinese. So I would have to consider dishes like Sweet and Sour to be something of a comfort food. Now Sweet and Sour pork or chicken are out of the question, and, from a low-carb standpoint, so are cornstarch and sugar. So, with all of that in mind, this is my version of Sweet and Sour Tempeh.

Sweet and Sour Tempeh

8 oz package tempeh
1 1/2 cup of vegetable stock
2 tablespoons of tamari
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 can of pineapple chunks (15 oz), juice reserved
1 green pepper, cut into strips
1 onion, sliced into thin half moons slices
3 carrots, chopped into matchsticks
2 tablespoons sweetener of your choice
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons guar gum

Chop the tempeh into cubes. Mix the stock and the tamari in a pan. Bring the mixture and the tempeh to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Once the tempeh has been simmered, drain off the cooking liquid and reserve. Heat the oil in a skillet and then add the tempeh. Sautee for about five minutes and then add the onions, peppers and carrots. Sautee for another five minutes.

While the tempeh is sauteeing, combine the cooking liquid from the first step with the reserved liquid from the pineapple, the sweetener and the guar gum.

Add the pineapple chunks to the mixture in the skillet and heat through. Add the sauce and bring to a simmer.

And that’s it! If you don’t mind the carbs it’s really good over rice or if you do, just by itself.

Have a good weekend everybody!

I apologize for the title but I just had to use it. I was making some salad dressing tonight and got to looking at the bottle of Dijon mustard and wondered, is there a Paris mustard? Or maybe a Lyon mustard? It turns out the Dijon isn’t so much about the city as a process developed there.

There are about forty different kinds of mustard plant out there but the seeds of only three of them make up pretty much all the mustard out there. Early mustard consisted of ground mustard seeds mixed into a paste with vinegar. The combination of the oils released by the ground seeds with the vinegar gave the mixture it’s bite. If you just put some mustard seed on your tongue, it won’t taste anything like the mustard we buy today.

This was popular but the vinegar gave the mustard a very sharp flavor that some folks didn’t like. So, in 1856 in Dijon France, Jean Naigeon combined the sour juice from unripe grapes with the ground mustard and developed what we know as Dijon mustard. Oddly enough, the name Dijon mustard does not enjoy any legal status and in fact, most Dijon mustard is produced outside of Dijon.

So what about the Grey Poupon I reference in the title of this post? Is that just some brand name of Kraft or somebody? Actually it dates back past the invention of Dijon mustard. To be true Dijon mustard, the husks of the mustard seed must be removed. In 1853, a man named Maurice Grey invented a machine the automated the processing of the seeds. Mr. Grey already operated a mustard shop in Dijon with a certain Antoine Poupon, established as the Grey Poupon mustard company.

Just to bring things full circle, here’s the salad dressing I was making when all of this occurred to me.

Mustard Vinaigrette

This is not the place to use your good olive oil, the other flavors will overwhelm it. I usually go with canola but any fairly neutral oil would be fine. The choice of herbs is up to you, but I like the following. Fresh would be good too.

1 clove smashed garlic
6 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
a pinch of dried parsley, thyme and basil
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until throughly mixed. Makes enough for about a pound of salad.

OK, you’ve picked up a couple of good knives and you’re all ready to practice some mad knife skilez, right? Not so fast there partner. What are you going to be cutting on? Please, please don’t tell me you’re going to use that glass cutting board Mom got you or a plate.

There’s a lot of options for a cutting surface out there but you really don’t want to use anything glass, ceramic or stone. And your counter top probably isn’t a good idea either. I won’t get into the debate over plastic, wood, bamboo and so on. My choice is a wooden cutting board. I like the way it looks and the whole tradition of it.

Wood does require some care though. Probably the biggest item is oiling the board. I’m a little over zealous about it but it’s not that big a deal once you’re past the first few days. I follow the rule I learned for applying an oil finish on wood. “Once a day for a week, once a week for a month and once a month forever” That saying probably dates back hundreds of years but it’s still valid today. The oil you want to use is mineral oil. Any sort of plant based oil, like olive, will go rancid. Not what you want to be cutting on. If you like you can pay a small fortune for a little bottle in the cooking store or just head down to the local drug store. Mineral oil is sold as a laxative, so you won’t want to chug it but it’s fine on a board not to mention a whole lot cheaper. You can also use it on your wooden spoons.

To apply the oil to your board, pour a small amount on the surface and using a paper towel or a rag, spread it evenly over the top. You can also put a film on the sides to help protect them. Let the oil soak in for a few minutes and then spread the oil out again. Repeat that process a few times and then wipe off the excess oil. That’s it!

If you spill something on the board, a little soap and water will take care of it. Your board, like your knives, is not suitable for the dishwasher. Don’t let moisture set on your board, just wipe it off with a towel. Use a trivet if you need to set something hot on your board.

If you follow these suggestions, your board should last you a long, long time. I’m looking forward to mine aging right along with me.

If you live in an omni household, there are probably some concerns related to cutting meat. I’ve never cut meat on mine (if you don’t count the occasional finger) so I’m not all that up on meat handling safety. Probably safest to just not handle it, but I’m a vegan and you knew I was going to say that.

This one’s a Japanese inspired dish featuring the flavor of wasabi. If you’re not familiar with wasabi, it’s the little ball of green paste you see in your take out sushi. The taste resembles horseradish although wasabi isn’t a kind of horseradish.

I prefer to steam the broccoli instead of boiling it but if you don’t have a steamer basket, boiling will work fine. Just watch to make sure you don’t lose the bright green color. And you could simmer the tempeh in some water and soy sauce if you don’t want to fry it.

Broccoli and Tempeh with Wasabi

1 8 oz package of tempeh, sliced into cubes

1 package of fresh broccoli, the flower part trimmed in florets and the stem peeled and thinly sliced

2 teaspoons wasabi powder

4 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce

2 tablespoons sake

1 tablespoons sweetener of your choice

Put some water in your steamer and bring it to a boil. Put some oil (I usually use peanut) in a pan and heat it over medium-high heat. When the water reaches a boil, steam the broccoli for about 10 minutes. When the oil is hot, fry the tempeh for 8 or 10 minutes.

Meanwhile combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl and mix well to dissolve the wasabi. Set aside to allow the wasabi to rehydrate.

When the tempeh and the broccoli are done, combine them in the pan along with the sauce. Heat over low heat until the sauce reaches a simmer.

I can remember when I was a kid on the infrequent occasions my mother would get her spices out, I’d love to look through them and smell them. My mother wasn’t big on actually using the spices mind, so that was usually all I’d get to do. I remember seeing the little bottle of allspice and thinking, “If that’s all the spices, why do we need the rest?”

I have, fortunately, gotten a bit wiser as my age has increased so I understand allspice isn’t really all spice but rather that’s the name of a certain kind of spice. It’s actually the dried fruit of a plant native to the Caribbean region. It’s just called allspice because the English thought it tasted like several other spices. As you would expect it plays an important role in the cooking of that area, especially jerk seasoning. And, this is the part I found interesting, is important in Middle Eastern cooking as well.

That struck me as a bit odd because I at least tend to assume that these cultures have established their eating and cooking habits long ago. Well, if allspice is native to the New World, then it can’t really have been introduced to other areas before 1492 and likely several years later. So it seems likely that dishes featuring allspice can’t have been a part of these cultures for more than a few hundred years.

Allspice is sometimes called pimento in some areas but shouldn’t be confused with the red fleshed pepper used in stuffing olives. Two very different things.

One of the things I’ve noticed as I try to eat a lower carb diet is the change in how I eat. Not just what but actually how I think about assembling a meal. Before, I usually ate something served over a starchy base or I might incorporate the base in the dish itself. Maybe Sweet and Sour Tempeh over rice or Red Beans and Rice. Good food and there are certainly a number of ways to still eat that way but now I find myself eating in courses. Maybe a bit of salad, an entree and some sort of dessert.

That presents a little bit of a challenge when it comes to carrying my lunch. It’s pretty easy to just throw everything in a container and take that in with me. When I have a number of items and I don’t want them to mix (if not wanting salad dressing dressing on my omelet marks me as neurotic, so be it); well, that’s harder. I still have bad memories of squashed PBJ sandwiches and potato dust instead of chips appearing from my lunch box in elementary school.

Someone, somewhere must have solved this. I’m certain a lot of folks have but the Japanese have a particularly elegant solution to the problem: the bento box. Bento boxes in Japan take many forms, from disposable ones sold in the equivelent of 7-11’s to hand lacquered works of art.

In its most basic form, a bento is just a compartmented box that holds food. As with so much from Japan, it has evolved well past that most basic form. I really am not sure how important making your food look like kitties or bunnies is but making food look appealing is a good thing.

The pattern I see with bentos is about four different courses of food. Perhaps a salad, some fruit as a dessert, a few veggies as finger food and an entree. I could see some shredded lettuce, cucumber and tomato with a bit of dressing filling in for the first course and perhaps some grapes would be a good choice as a finger food dessert. Veggies? Well, cauliflower could be dipped in the dressing or perhaps some carrots. And the entree? Well that’s where my interest at the moment is falling. A vegan omelet? Bean balls? A number of possibilities spring to mind and we’ll just have to see where we end up.

Oh, did I forget to mention the most important fact? My folks got me a Mr. Bento for my birthday last week. Let the good times roll!

I was working on an article about antioxidants (which is still in the works) and I noticed some interesting things about phytic acid. And I think those aspects illustrate some of the issues we face trying to figure out what we should be eating based on the latest results from nutritionists.

First of all, where does phytic acid come from? Well, phytic acid is a common way that plants store phosphorus. As phosphorus is the second number in NPK, it’s a pretty basic nutrient for plants. And phytic acid is found in nuts, seeds and grains. So you can see, a vegan diet could very easily include a number of those.

And why is that important? That’s where things get more interesting. Phytic acid binds quite easily with minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc. As I’ve been told in the past that I’m low in at least two of those, this definitely caught my attention. So, I’m announcing that I’m now eating dead animals where ever I can lay my hands on them? No.

This is a really good example of why looking at nutrients in isolation from each other just doesn’t work. I’m not eating just phytic acid. I’m eating tempeh and lentils and walnuts and, actually, a whole bunch of things. A number of those are high in phytic acid, true; but they’re also high in a lot of other things.

And just to make your head explode, there is some evidence to suggest that phytic acid protects against cancers of the colon by, wait for it, blocking minerals the cancer need to grow.

Bottom line, what do we do? For me, not much. Fermentation seems to reduce the amount of phytic acid in food and I do try to eat fermented soy. Past that, there really doesn’t seem to be a lot of consensus on phytic acid’s role so I’m just going to go ahead and eat the best I can. If it turns out that I’m low in something, I’ll address that as seems best.

We don’t eat nutrients in isolation from each other and the attempts to analyze them in isolation are not doing anyone a favor. We need to eat more food that’s not been processed within an inch of it’s life and, certainly, leave the animals alone! They have enough problems of their own.

Shish Taouk is usually marinated, garlicky grilled chicken. It’s a Middle Eastern dish and, upon doing some reading before writing this, the version I make is actually a bit of a hybrid. It’s got a bit of Shawarma, a Middle Eastern version of the Greek gyro, in it as well. It’s supposed to go in a piece of pita bread but that’s not very low in carbs so I usually just eat it as a salad. And, of course, I don’t use chicken.

Shish Taouk

8 oz package of tempeh
1/3 cup of olive oil
1/3 cup of lemon juice
8 cloves (or more!) chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon allspice
salt and pepper
oil for frying

Cube the tempeh. Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, allspice, salt and pepper in a bowl. Marinade the tempeh for at least four or five hours although overnight would be better if you have the time.

Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat and remove the tempeh from the marinade. Try not to get too much garlic stuck to the tempeh as it will burn when you fry the tempeh. Fry the tempeh for about ten minutes, stirring often.

I like to serve this over shredded lettuce, chopped cucumbers and diced tomatoes, along with the garlic sauce I mentioned last week.

Or, who is the man behind the keyboard. And probably more importantly, why is he trying to tell me about low-carb, vegan food?

OK, I’m tired of talking about myself in the third person, always seemed a little creepy to me. I’m a 40ish computer geek living out here in fly-over country. I’m single with no kids so my cooking probably isn’t all that kid-friendly. On the other hand, I have to eat all of whatever I make. Pretty good encouragement to do a good job!

I’ve been a vegetarian for several years now, tending toward veganism but I really didn’t become fully committed to a vegan lifestyle until a year and a half ago when I was diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic. That was quite a wakeup call I can tell you. Diabetes must be a real growth industry, I’m constantly bombarded by material that promises to fix all my problems. Well, most of it’s crap as you can imagine and even the folks who do know what they’re talking about disagree as often as not.

One ‘advantage’ of being diabetic is the immediate feedback you get on how you’re doing. I check my blood sugar several times a day so it’s fairly straight-forward to see if what you’re doing is working. And I’m finding a vegan, low-carb diet is working for me. I’m not interesting in some extreme lose-a-bunch-of-weight-fast diet, I want something I can follow the rest of my life.

And I hope I am able to share with folks that vegan food can be tasty, easy and good for both the animals and you. Let’s enjoy the trip!