Vegan with a Vengeance

reviews vegan products, discusses life as an animal rights activist, and provides analysis of vegetarianism in pop culture.
    Veganfreaks.org is a relatively new site but became a fast favorite for me because our gregarious hosts Pleather and Vegannaise’s posts are always so full of insight, information, and that darn critical thought that the kids love so much these days. A visit to Veganfreaks always leaves me thinking for at least a couple of minutes, and in Internet time minutes equal months.
    Food Fight Grocery ( www.foodfightgrocery.com/ ) is the Web site for the Portlandbased vegan store, but they have a great blog on the home page. Chad always seems to find the stupidest and most amusing stuff, so I make sure to check their site every day, even when I don’t need vegan haggis.
    Recipes
    Cooking with Chef Deb at Vegsource.com ( www.vegsource.com/talk/recipes/index.html ) is an incredible message board where you can ask Chef Deb anything related to cooking and get an answer that day. Looking for a vegan trifle? Want to know the cooking time for Brussels sprouts? Chef Deb is the one to ask.
    PakuPaku ( www.pakupaku.info/ ) doesn’t have a ton of recipes, but every single one is delicious and vegan, including a wonderful section of Ethiopian yumminess.
    Recipezaar isn’t a vegetarian site, but do a search for “vegan” and you will get hundreds of results. What I like about this site is that the reviewers are usually pretty accurate, so you won’t end up with a dud.

Seitan-Portobello Stroganoff
    SERVES 6-8
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    If you’ve been let down by vegan stroganoffs in the past let it go here and now; this dish will cure what ails you. The sauce has a rich “depth of flavor” and is bursting with creamy mushroomy goodness. I make my own seitan for this and I recommend that you do, too; it tastes better and is much, much less expensive. If you do make your own, then have it ready to be sautéed in the cast iron by the time you start the stroganoff. If you use store-bought seitan you may want to use a little less than the 3½ cups called for because it is so expensive. Supplement it with extra noodles and peas. This recipe makes a lot, so you may have plenty of yummy leftovers. Use it in a sammich the next day!
    2 tablespoons arrowroot powder (cornstarch or potato starch will work, too)
    2 cups cold water or vegetable broth
    8 teaspoons olive oil
    1 cup shallots, thinly sliced
    1 large onion, quartered and sliced into half moons
    3 cloves garlic, minced
    2 cups cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
    2 portobello caps, thinly sliced
    2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
    3½ cups seitan, sliced into thin, wide strips
    2 teaspoons salt
    1 cup Burgundy cooking wine
    1 tablespoon Hungarian paprika
    Â½ cup nutritional yeast
    Â½ cup plain soy milk (I use Vitasoy)
    2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
    1 cup frozen green peas
    Â½ pound wide noodles (I use Eden Farms’ parsley-lemon strips or fettuccine or linguine broken in half), prepared according to the package directions
    Dissolve the arrowroot in the 2 cups of water; set aside.
    Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and onions, sauté for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cremini and portobello mushrooms, and thyme. Sauté for 15 minutes.
    Meanwhile, heat a cast-iron skillet with the remaining 2 teaspoons of olive oil, just long enough to coat it. Add the seitan and sauté over medium heat about 25 minutes, until it is dark brown and crispy on the outside. If you are using store-bought seitan you need only cook it for 10 minutes.

    Back to the sauce: add the salt, wine, and paprika. Turn up heat to high to reduce the liquid, about 10 minutes.
    Lower heat to medium-high, add the arrowroot mixture, stir well, and let the sauce thicken, about 5 minutes. Add the nutritional yeast and mix well until it is dissolved. Add the soy milk and mustard and bring heat down to low; be very careful not to let it boil now because it can make the soy milk and mustard bitter. Add the seitan and peas; cook for 10 more minutes.
    Divide the noodles into bowls and mix with the stroganoff. It is best to mix immediately so that the pasta doesn’t stick. You can top it off with tofu sour cream, but I like it just the way it is.

Cold Udon Noodles with Peanut Sauce and Seitan
    SERVES 4-6
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    Mmmm. I often get a dish like this on Allen Street on the Lower East Side at a vegan restaurant called Tien Garden.