Three Omnivores and An Occasional Vegan

Posted by Cidell:

I’m not participating in Lunch Club this week as I’m out of the country on vacation. But, I thought I would instead share something I made for dinner last week. Dearest Lizzie says it’s just mean to post food I’ve had that the rest of the group doesn’t get to eat. Maybe I’ll whip up a batch for them this summer.

I certainly didn’t cut meat from my diet because I didn’t like the way tasted. Plus, I pretty much everything fried!

 As soon as I saw the Vegan Fried Chicken Sandwich on Namely Marley, I couldn’t *wait* to try this one! I love that the fake chicken is a wheat gluten vs soy based product.

Cashew cream is the stand in for buttermilk.  I was able to find almost a pound of casews at the local Punjab for just $5. The cashews soak overnight and are then blended into a cream with a dash of hot sauce for flavor.

The crust has loads of seasoning including Old Bay. Hey. What can I say. I live in Maryland.

So, because of the deep frying — I wouldn’t call this ‘healthy’. But, it is delicious. You may be tempted to skip the testing the temp of the oil with a thermometer, but when cooking in batches it simplifies the guess work of if the oil is hot enough.

Mine were served on multigrain ciabatta from my 32nd Street Farmer’s Market. I made this for my omnivore roommate on Sunday.  We both could not believe how great it tasted.  And, she kept saying, ‘It looks just like chicken’. I do think a smidge of Veganaise / Nayonaise is helpful in keeping the sandwich together.

Absolute keeper!

Ingredients

1 pkg Gardein chick’n scallopini

other ingredients

for the cashew cream

• 1 cup cashews, whole raw

water for covering cashews by 1

for the chick’n

• 2 cups cashew cream
• 1 tbsp tabasco
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp old bay seasoning
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
• vegetable oil for frying

For the cashew cream…. put the cashews in a bowl and add cold water to cover them. cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight. Drain the cashews and rinse under cold water. Place in a blender with enough fresh cold water to cover them by 1 inch. Blend on high for several minutes until very smooth and strain through a fine mesh sieve. 

For the chick’n… place the chick’n in a medium bowl and add the cashew cream and tabasco. stir well to coat.

In a shallow bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, garlic powder, old bay, cayenne, and black pepper. Shake the excess marinade off the chick’n, and then dredge in the flour. shake excess flour then dip the chick’n back into the cashew cream and coat again in the flour. Add enough oil to a deep large skillet to create a depth of 1”. heat over medium-high heat to 350º f (use a deep-frying thermometer or an electric frying pan). Fry the chick’n in batches until golden and cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels and serve.