Hi all, it’s been awhile since I have posted anything. I’ve taken a sort of unofficial break to work on some other stuff.

Things like my running blog, actually training for a half marathon, and my Banana Curl, Vegan Girl cookbook zine that’s all my favorite recipes from my childhood. I hope to complete it and start selling it by March. I’ve also started a new website, but haven’t done much work on it yet. It’s not ready to share yet, but I plan to have it be an informational website for vegans of all levels interested in various topics around veganism for social justice and support for people who want to become new vegans. I’m really excited about it, but I have to be patient and keep it secret for now while I’m working on it.

In the next few months or so I will be trying to post new recipes more often as I’ve gotten a bit out of habit with it. I will be sharing recipes I’ve created for the zine too to get you all excited about buying it when it comes out…(It’ll be cheap, like 2-5 dollars I think).

One of those recipes I’d like to share is my recipe for Vegan Hibachi. I loved hibachi and other Japanese foods so much growing up as a kid. We had this restaurant in Providence called Fuji when I was very young in Providence that we would always go to. We went there so often that we got to know the family who owned it really well. Their daughter even came with us on a trip to San Francisco. Unfortunately, it went out of business years ago, but I still have fond memories of it. They always gave us Botan Rice candies as a treat when we left, which I still love (and they are vegan too!) It wasn’t a hibachi restaurant. It was more traditional.  After it went out of business we often went to Hibachi restaurants. I feel like trying to recreate a dish from Fuji I would never get right, and would not do justice to. So, I have settled on making yummy vegan hibachi.

This recipe consists of 4 major steps, but with some planning I am sure you can pull it off! Make the Yum Yum dipping sauce and baked seitan the day before, then prepare the veggies and seitan and mushroom hibachi right before serving.

vegan hibachi!

Recipe for Yum Yum Sauce:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup Just Mayo (a commercial vegan mayo that can be found at Target and Whole Foods, among others)
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp melted Earth Balance
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• dash cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Stir together all ingredients.
2. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
3. Use as a dip for the hibachi.

Recipe for Seitan:

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 vital wheat gluten
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour
• 1/2 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp lemon pepper
• 3/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp organic brown sugar
• 1 tsp liquid smoke
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 2 tbsp ketchup

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. If you have an electric stand mixer, place them in the bowl for that.
3. Add the wet ingredients into another bowl or large measuring cup. Stir together well.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
5. Stir until there is no loose powder.
6. When cohesively stirred together, use the dough hook attachment on your mixer, or knead the dough by hand on a clean surface for 10 minutes.
7. Place into a loaf pan, stretching it to fit the length of the pan.
8. Heat for 30 minutes, flip over, reduce heat of oven to 350 degrees, and heat for another 20 minutes.
9. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then take out of the loaf pan and place on a plate to cool.
10. Slice up into pieces as desired.

Recipe for Seitan w/ Mushrooms and Veggie Hibachi

Ingredients for seitan hibachi:

• 8 oz whole white mushrooms, sliced in halves
• 1 batch Seitan (in the basics chapter)
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• 3 tbsp Earth Balance
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• Salt and Pepper

Ingredients for hibachi veggies:

• 2 cups chopped zucchini, cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• 2 tbsp earth balance
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• salt and pepper

Directions for Hibachi:

1. Place a tablespoon of oil in two separate skillets. Heat oil over medium heat.
2. Melt Earth Balance in the skillet in which you will cook the veggies in.
3. In the other, add 2 tablespoons soy sauce and the mushrooms.
4. Cook mushrooms until their juices are released.
5. Melt the Earth Balance with the mushrooms and 2 more tablespoons soy sauce.
6. Add seitan to the mushrooms, cook until heated, stirring frequently.
7. Add a pinch of salt and pepper.
8. In the other pan, place the veggies into the oil and melted Earth Balance, add 4 tablespoons soy sauce, and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper.
9. Stir frequently, until everything is fully cooked.
10. Serve with Yum Yum sauce to dip in.

If you like or dislike this recipe, please tell me why in the comments. And keep an eye out for the zine that will have this recipe inside!! 🙂

Ps: here is a beautiful picture of my cat, Franz, that I took recently and wanted to share. Isn’t he cute?