Adventures in vegan cooking- Velveegan v0.1
Been playing more with vegan and gluten-free cooking recently. I have friends who host family dinners where folks have various dietary restrictions and as someone who doesn't usually keep vegan/gf it's a fun challenge to adapt things that I would normally cook to accommodate the group!
I made a vegan buffalo "chicken" dip by shredding pressed extra-firm tofu, tossing with buffalo seasoning and air-frying it (sprayed with oil) until it got a little crispy. Then mixed that with cashew yogurt, a tub of Trader Joe's vegan cream cheese alternative, a whole mess of green onion, and buffalo sauce. Baked until bubbly and it was a hit! The coconut flavor from the vegan cream was pretty noticeable and the creamyness could have been thicker but for a first attempt I was pleased!
I've been toying with oat-based recipes for a while because I think they provide a wide variety of textures, are pretty cheap, and we tend to buy them in bulk from Costco so they're on hand. My goal is to come up with a recipe for what I call "Velveegan" to use in hot dips and really unlock the world of trashy dump and bake recipes that a potluck deserves. I also like the idea of forgiving at-home recipes that don't require access to super obscure processes! Here's my first draft:
Velveegan v0.1
Makes about 4 liquid oz, can scale.
This was some casual kitchen goofing, so I measured by volume and heated using the microwave. Sue me!
Ingredients
- 4oz liquid oat base- 1.5c water + 1c rolled oats, blended then strained. be sure to stir before measuring to get all the starch (it mattered in testing)
- 1 tbsp oil (I used olive oil bc it was quick to hand, but dealers' choice. It will affect the flavor though!)
- 1/2 tsp sodium citrate- the most exotic ingredient listed here but it's easy to buy online, lasts forever, and goes far. Great to stabilize non-vegan cheese sauces etc. This recipe will probably work without it but runs a higher risk of the oil splitting. Add an equivalent amount of salt if you're skipping this.
- 1/2 tsp nutritional yeast- maybe less available than rolled oats, but decidedly takes it in a "cheesy" direction. Could probably also skip depending what flavors you're adding.
Instructions
Mix ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl. The oil and oat liquid will separate until heated. Heat in microwave until liquid just begins to bubble up (30s in my microwave for the 4oz recipe). Take out and whisk well until smooth, and heat for another 15s or just until it bubbles again. Whisk again with any seasoning/flavoring you want- I did onion powder, garlic powder, a little turmeric for color, and a few dashes of hot sauce.
Notes
I thought the texture when warm was pretty great- had some gooey stretch, and the seasonings kept it from being too obviously "oaty" when eaten on a chip. Once it fully cooled, however, heating caused the oil to split out. Works well as made for something like a queso dip, but not gooey-processed-cheese meltability.
The 3:2 oat liquid base, when heated alone, sets at rooom temperature into a fairly creamy paste- some salt and sugar made it somewhat frosting-like. I'm going to play more with that for other dips/spreads or as an alternate ingredient in the buffalo dip.