Kitchen Coaching with Janet and John: Tofu, Seitan and Soy Curls!

Thanks, everyone for the kind Facebook messages and Tweets getting me through a busy day of press events Monday! The appearance on Denver’s Fox 31 Everyday show is a blur; it’s not online but Ginny and Jasmin saw it via live streaming and said I did fine.  I wrote a summary of what really happened in the studio on my Facebook page.

Later that day I taped a segment for KGNU, Boulder’s community radio station (listen here: KGNU Radio VegFest Colorado; it will air at 5:30 p.m. MST today).  Oh, and the radio interview I did on Saturday for KVOR’s Table Talk is online; you can listen here (I’m at the 33 minute mark).

All of this press is to encourage people to go to VegFest Colorado this weekend and, of course, to promote Vegan for Her, which is in bookstores right now.

Now, about that kitchen coaching…

Last March I met Janet and John in my Beyond Meatless Mondays class.  Over the months Janet and I have stayed in touch and she recently asked me to do a Kitchen Coaching session with her. At my request she sent a list of the foods she had on hand, the appliance she uses/owns and, more importantly, what she wanted to learn to prepare: tofu, seitan and soy curls. YES! I sent her a list of recipes so that she could go shopping in advance of our coaching session.

I drove to Elizabeth, CO and spent a fabulous morning with Janet and John.  A reunion!

It turns out, Janet, a relatively new plant-based eater, had never prepared tofu at home. So I gave her a little homework. I asked her to put firm (or extra-firm) tofu in the freezer (still in the package). The day before our session she thawed the tofu (still in the package), once thawed she removed it from the packaging and marinated it overnight with my Tamari, Mirin and Date Marinade.

While we were preheating the oven (400F), I shared a couple of my favorite tofu tips:

1. The Marinade: Marinating with an oil, acid and spice of choice is a fun way to season tofu without much thought, and it’s a fun way to use what you have or to follow your intuition when it comes to a flavor profile or theme i.e., Asian, Italian, Indian, etc.
2. Use a cast iron skillet (thanks Isa and Ginny): I now only bake tofu on a cast iron skillet. I find that the tofu bakes more evenly and has a heartier, “meatier” texture. While Janet does own a cast iron skillet, she didn’t have it on hand, so I brought mine.

John and Janet loved the tofu texture and the flavor from the marinade!

While the tofu was baking it was time to turn to seitan. Janet mentioned in her email to me that she had prepared seitan on hand but as soon as I noted the pressure cooker on her appliance list, and her desire to work with the fabulous wheat-meat, I decided she should make homemade! We followed this basic recipe and she swapped out the cumin and used curry instead. The cinnamon, ginger and curry combo was inspired! She got the broth going in the pressure cooker and mixed the seitan in the Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Then we put John to work; he molded the seitan into two rounded roasts and plopped them in the pressure cooker.

While the setian was coming down from pressure we turned to soy curls. Janet recently supported the Vegan Cuts Oregon box and wasn’t sure what to do with the soy curls when they arrived. We put John in charge of the soy curls because he wanted to learn very simple ways – as a “non-cook” – to prepare vegan meals for one. We decided to go intuitive on this one. He rehydrated the soy curls and cut half a large, yellow onion, into half-moon slices (to match the shape of the soy curls) and diced some garlic. He sautéed the rehydrated soy curls, onion and garlic in a bit of extra virgin olive oil and then added a little paprika.  We decided to add some mushrooms to the mix – baby bellas and shitakes – and sautéed them for a few more minutes before adding kale and a few splashes of Bragg’s Liquid Aminos

and covering the skillet and reducing the heat to low. At that moment John said “That didn’t feel very fast.” To which I reminded him that we were making it up as we went along but now that he’s done it he knows that in the ten minutes that he’s rehydrating soy curls he can chop any veggies he wants and then it’s all ready to go in the skillet; he will be done in less than twenty minutes total.  He served up a bowl of soy curls and veggies with avocado slices and hot sauce.

Delicious.

We had such a fun three hours!

Janet and John outdid themselves by making delicious, healthy, plant-based foods and both said they feel very confident in the kitchen with these varied and tasty vegan staples.

So, Kitchen Coaching. How does it work?

Pretty much the way I just described. I ask my clients to let me know what they use in their kitchen. What foods they like and what they would like to learn. I plan out recipes and the tips, techniques and tricks I want to show them but once we’re in the kitchen they do the cooking – I simply coach them along the way, offering suggestions, facts, serving suggestions, etc.  It’s informal, fun, and ends with lots of yummy food!

Interested in kitchen coaching? Contact me:

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Tags: Kitchen Coachingseitansoy curlstofuvegan lifestyle coaching

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