This sauce started life as a test to produce a asian-style dipping sauce that was nut free. I was not sure what to expect and the first attempt was so delicious that I have not gone back to make any adjustments.
The recipe:
1 Can No Salt Added Chickpeas – Drained, Rinsed and Roasted 1 Tbs Braggs Liquid Aminos 1 Tbs White Miso 1 Tbs Apple Vinegar 1 Pitted Date 1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger 1/2 Zested and Peeled Lime Big Dollop of Minced Garlic, I use a prepared Minced Garlic in packed in water 2/3 C Low Salt Veg Stock 1 1/3 C Water
Place drained and rinsed chickpeas in your air fryer to roast. I used Instant’s Vortex Pro using both trays for 11 minutes. You may also roast them in a conventional oven at 375 until they are turning golden brown.
Chickpeas after 11 mins in the air fryer
Transfer 1 cup of the roasted chickpeas in to high speed blender, a bullet type cup blend works great. Add in rest of ingredients.
Serve and enjoy with fresh vegetables, spring rolls, really anywhere or way you want.
This sauce has become a go to sauce for me. I air fry my fresh cut French Fries and dip in to this sauce. It allows me to leave the fries unseasoned and still taste great.
Bonus recipe:
John’s WFPB White Beans and Kale Soup
This is really simple to make and it is totally up to you which beans you want to use. I used one 15.5 ounce can each of No Salt Added Cannellini, Great Northern, Butter beans and one 29 ounce of Navy beans. Simply add entire can of beans and juice to stock pot and heat. I added one cup of No Salt Added Vegetable Broth and blend of herbs to taste. The herbs included Italian Herbs, Oregano and a couple of Bay Leaves. Add Black Pepper to taste and if you need some salt character add in some White Miso at the end.
Once the bean soup is heated serve on top of chopped Kale. I fill the bowl with a big handful of Kale and then ladle the bean soup on top. Let the soup rest for a few moments to heat/cook the Kale. I freshly grate some Black Pepper on top and enjoy.
Hint: I purchase a large bag of pre-chopped Kale weekly to use throughout the week. it is a great time saver.
Often I feel the need for a good burger. I discovered a good recipe to start as the foundation for my adaptation. I was watching a YouTube video from Sauce Stache who was remaking a recipe from a Canadian chef. The video can be located at his site http://www.saucestache.com.
For my version of the recipe I removed the oil and upped some of the other ingredients. One major adjustment I did was to use Methylcellulose HV which is a thickener and emulsifier. It is soluble in cold water and when heated it adds a nice structure to the burger giving it a bit of chew. Methylcellulose HV is derived from cellulose and is inert to the human body. I felt the original recipe while tasted good still lacked the texture I was looking for in a burger this proved to be a good solution.
Time for the recipe:
12 oz Portobello Mushrooms 1 Can No Salt Added Black Beans drained and rinsed 1 Can No Salt Added Chick Peas drained and rinsed 1 Can No Salt Added Lentils drained 2 Cup Rolled Oats 1 Luv Beets 1 tbsp Tapioca Starch 1 tbsp Nutritional Yeast 1 tsp Marmite 2 tbsp Liquid Smoke 4 g Methylcellulose HV
Lightly brush portobello mushrooms to clean them. Chop the mushrooms. Heat in a skillet over medium heat adding mushrooms once heated and cook them until they have expressed most of their liquids.
Drain and rinse both cans of beans and drain Lentils and add 1/2 to food processor bowl (reserve the rest for later). Add 1 cup of oats and all the sautéed mushrooms into blender with the beans. Pulse quickly to mix
Chop beet and to blender. Pulse to mix
Add tapioca starch, marmite, nutritional yeast, and liquid smoke to blender and pulse to mix
Pour mixture into bowl and add remaining lentils and oats. Mix to incorporate.
Divide the mixture in to 12 parts and place each in a plastic bag (you can also us layers of parchment paper) to chill and then flatten. Our goal is to make the burger pretty thin.
Cook on each side for 4 to 5 mins and the burger is ready to enjoy.
To serve I have found a whole grain lavash bread at one of those big box store that serves as my bun/wrap. I start out by using a layer of hummus because hummus is just better than mayonnaise. I use mixture of baby spinach and arugula to get my cruciferous vegetables. Top the greens with some fresh salsa and then my homemade white cheese from John’s WFPB Béchamel Sauce bonus recipe. I place the cooked burger on top and then wrap the burger with the lavash and then in dry skillet brown both the top and the bottom. I serve the burger with homemade fries and John’s WFPB Ummm…my Sauce that will be posted in the next few days.
I have been impressed on how well this recipe solves my need for burgers. It has enough texture to simulate actual cooked ground beef. I hope that you find this recipe helpful in developing your own WFPB lifestyle.
The other day I came up with what I though was a great idea for a white/cream sauce replacement. I had been racking my brain on how to incorporate additional cruciferous vegetables in my diet per Dr. Michael Greger, MD who wrote in his book How Not to Die,
“Common cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, cabbage, collards, and kale. I recommend at least one serving a day (typically a half cup) and at least two additional servings of greens a day, cruciferous or otherwise.”
Greger MD, Michael. How Not to Die (p. 311). Flatiron Books. Kindle Edition.
Armed with this idea to increase my cruciferous intake I started to wonder if I could make a sauce that could be used on multiple dishes. When looking a most of the cruciferous vegetable you come to realize that they are mainly green and while there is nothing wrong with that in general, it tends to not be as appetizing on many dishes. It struck me that there was one cruciferous missing on the list above that could be the perfect solution, CAULIFLOWER! Once I got the idea to use cauliflower my thoughts went to how I could make it a silky / creamy sauce that fit into the WFPB mode of cooking. Thankfully we have many options to provide the smooth texture with the use of corn starches or tapioca flour. In this case I used both. I was able to make the John’s WFPB White Sauce meet all the requirements to be what is referred to Salt, Oil and Sugar (SOS) free. Some of the tricks include the use of white miso which is high in salt, but as Dr. Greger puts it:
“Over a four-year period, they tracked men and women in their sixties who started out with normal blood pressures to see who was more likely to be diagnosed with high blood pressure: those who had two or more bowls of miso soup a day or those who had one or less. Two bowls a day would be like adding half a teaspoon of salt to your daily diet, yet those who consumed at least that much miso were found to have five times lower risk of becoming hypertensive. The researchers concluded: “Our results on miso-soup have shown that [the] anti-hypertensive effect of miso is possibly above [the] hypertensive effect of salt.” So miso soup may actually be protective overall.”
Greger MD, Michael. How Not to Die (pp. 318-319). Flatiron Books. Kindle Edition
I also keyed in to one of the missing characteristics for many cream-style plant based sauces which is the addition of lactic acid. Once I figured out that adding a bit of plant based lactic acid to my non-dairy recipes the products came to life.
Enough of the blah, blah, blah…Recipe time.
John’s WFPB Béchamel Sauce
1 Head of Cauliflower ½ cup Corn Starch ¼ cup Tapioca Flour ½ cup Nutritional Yeast Flakes 2 tbsp Granulated Garlic 1 tbsp Granulated Onion 1 tbsp White Miso ¼ tsp Nutmeg 3 tsp Latic Acid 4 cups Low Salt Vegetable Broth
Remove the green leaves and stem from the cauliflower. Pressure cook the cauliflower for three minutes at high pressure then let natural release for 10 minutes.
In a high-speed blender combine all the ingredients. Recommend starting with the vegetable broth to help the blend from getting stuck. Blend all ingredients at the highest setting for five to six minutes. When the sauce is done it will no longer whirlpool in the blender and the sound of the blending will change. Transfer to storage dish or use right away. This will thicken more as it sits, you can add water a preparation time to thin it to the level you need.
John’s WFPB Carbonara
1 serving of either a whole grain pasta or grain free (chickpea or lentil) pasta Enough of John’s WFPB Béchamel Sauce to completely coat pasta and vegetables, you can’t add too much Additional items frozen green peas (requirement for this carbonara), onions, peppers, carrots really any extra vegetable is good option Let’s get in so extra cruciferous and use 1/2 cup of chopped kale
Cook pasta according to package. With about one minute left add in the kale. Drain and place back in pan. In a skillet add all but the frozen peas and sauté to soften. combine John’s WFPB White Sauce in with the pasta to coat thoroughly. Add in the frozen peas, do not thaw the heat will warm them through. Add remain sautéed vegetables and serve.
I topped mine with some toasted sesame seeds.
Bonus time:
Take about a third of the prepared John’s WFPB Béchamel Sauce and heat it in a pan and add in agar-agar. This will cause the sauce to thicken more like a block of soft cheese which is perfect for the John’s WFPB Burger recipe that I will be posting soon. Note: I used 1/4 of the water when preparing the agar-agar per it’s recipe. I did this to not dilute the white sauce too much. After adding the agar-agar I mixed the sauce for about five minutes to make sure I dispersed the agar-agar throughout.
