How do you make vegetarian mock chicken, pork & other "meats"? There are Chinese restaurants, mostly in NYC or

Question

Philadelphia that are strictly vegetarian & make up all the mock "meats" & even versions of "seafood". Has anyone ever eaten at any of these places or other vegetarian restaurants? How is the food? How can you make these meat substitutes yourself? - Do you just use tofu?

Answer 1

I don't live in NYC but there is a really good vegetarian restaurant near me that my husband and I have been to. If you aren't a vegetarian, you may need to be open minded about the menu choices. If you think about it, when you have eggplant parm with pasta and simple sauce, you are eating a vegetarian meal. Pasta primavera is also a veggie meal. One of my favorite substitutes is seitan. My husband got a seitan "steak" in a restaurant a few years ago and like it so much I had to find out how to make it myself.

This recipe comes from the Vegetarian Resource Group
I included a link to their site so you can see some of the recipes.
Quick Homemade Gluten
(Makes 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 pounds or 2 to 2-1/2 cups)

This is the basic recipe for gluten. (Seitan)
2 cups gluten flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1-1/4 cups water or vegetable stock
3 Tablespoons lite tamari, Braggs liquid amino acids, or soy sauce
1-3 teaspoons toasted sesame oil (optional)

Add garlic powder and ginger to flour and stir. Mix liquids together and add to flour mixture all at once. Mix vigorously with a fork. When it forms a stiff dough knead it 10 to 15 times.

Let the dough rest 2 to 5 minutes, then knead it a few more times. Let it rest another 15 minutes before proceeding.

Cut gluten into 6 to 8 pieces and stretch into thin cutlets. Simmer in broth for 30 to 60 minutes.

Broth:
4 cups water
1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce
3-inch piece of kombu (a type of seaweed)
3-4 slices ginger (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring broth to a boil. Add cutlets one at a time. Reduce heat to barely simmer when saucepan is covered. Seitan may be used, refrigerated, or frozen at this point.

Total Calories per 4 oz. Serving: 77
Fat: 0 grams

I have made this a few times. You can add herbs and spices directly to the gluten flour before mixing it with the water or stock to flavor it.
We just had seitan marsala for dinner a few days ago. I just substituted seitan for chicken in my favorite recipe. It was delicious!



By the way, we are meat eaters, but we like to add a few no meat meals each week.

Answer 2

Go to your local Asian market and they should have tons of vegetarian mock meats. Asian markets are the BEST for veggie foods.

I have found mock duck in a can (it's amazing! But it's labeled as vegetarian abalone) and they should stock dried veggie beef/pork etc. It all comes dried and you pour hot water on it to reconstitute it. It starts out looking like dried dog food (to be honest). The store I go to has it in flat square chunks as well as rounded pieces. Also, they have quite a few frozen veggie chicken/mutton/shrimp/fish things.

I heard that many people in China have one day a week where they cannot eat meat, and it's because of this that Asian markets have so much vegetarian selection.

Answer 3

How To Make Mock Chicken

Answer 4

Gluten. Here's a detailed description. Just use it in a chinese recipe instead..

I see someone mentioned asian market. I once bought these little gluten pieces in a short glass jar at an asian market. I practically gagged they were so aweful. Ruined my dinner plans as I assumed they'd at least be halfway decent. That's just a one-dog study but just know that you'll need to do some experimentation if you go the pre-made route at an asian market.

Answer 5

All I can say is, try a wide range of products and if you make them yourself, try, try till you succeed. I tried some fake chicken once and it was like rubber. I couldn't believe someone would eat the stuff.

Fake seafood usually has seaweed incorporated in it. I guess that still makes it seafood, haha.