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Creativity Brings Out Veggie Dish Richness (TAIPEI QUARTERLY 2018 WINTER Vol.14)

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Post date:2018-12-11

1221

Creativity Brings Out Veggie Dish Richness

 

Article: Yang Zhihan

Photos: Li Zhongquan, Yang Zilei, Lin Weikai


TAIPEI WINTER 2018 Vol.14 Creativity Brings Out Veggie Dish Richness


The common impression about vegetarian food is that it’s either boring, tasteless or way too greasy. To turn around such false notions, creative Chinese and Cantonese vegetarian restaurants have developed innovative cooking techniques and ingredient combinations. They have made “less oily and salty” their priority, without losing the quintessential flavors of Chinese cuisine, be they light or rich.

 

Substituting Vegetables for Meat in Classic Dishes

Dietary habits and concepts have changed in modern times, and coming over to vegetarianism has become a trend in the culinary world. In business for over twenty years, and famous for its roast duck, Beijing Gold Kitchen New Vegetarian Cuisine (北平金廚新蔬食料理) transformed into a veggie restaurant eight years ago. It continues to flavor its dishes with that most traditional of northern Chinese seasonings: Sichuan peppercorn, and to highlight the natural sweetness of its veggie stock.

Its signature dish, Veggie Wrap (大餅捲時蔬) features cucumber, Youtiao (油條) and homemade soy meat wrapped inside a crispy Chinese pancake. It has a chewy texture and a wheaty aroma, and the accompanying XO sauce is made of soy protein isolates, monkey head mushrooms, fermented black soybeans, hot peppers and Da Hong Pao Sichuan peppercorn. This sauce, by the way, is perfect for stir-frying with radish cakes, and it also goes well with baked cheese and loofah, adding a creamy yet piquant aftertaste.

Their Typhoon Shelter Duo (避風塘雙味) is composed of bunashimeji mushrooms and tofu and has a classic crispy texture. The delicious Braised Monkey Head Mushrooms with Anka (紅麴猴菇燒) is made by braising a mixture of mushrooms, anka paste and Shaoxing wine (紹興酒) and then deep frying it.

 

Meatless Cantonese Dishes – Naturally Sweet and Rich

Taipeis first Cantonese vegetarian eatery, Yang Shin Vegetarian Restaurant (養心茶樓) has mastered Chinese and Cantonese fusion cuisine and makes delicate dishes.

Their fluffy Cantonese Barbecued Vege Ham Pastry (鬆化叉燒酥) is composed of chopped mushroom and soy-ham filling with a homemade tomato barbecue sauce. It has a slightly sweet taste from being brushed with egg yolk and honey before being crisply baked. The rather plain-looking Deep Fried Pastry with Shredded Turnip (蘿蔔絲酥餅) doesnt have any minced meat and derives its natural sweetness from the shredded turnip. The Healthy Herb Rice Noodle Roll (蟲草花腸粉) creatively presents a vegetarian version of Cantonese dim sum by wrapping diced king oyster mushrooms, diced potatoes and tasteless orange cordyceps in a net of rice paper. The mixture is briefly deep fried before being formed into a rice noodle roll. This wrap is thin and smooth and is sure to melt in your mouth! It exemplies traditional Cantonese cooking but in a vegetarian way.

The Hong Pao Spicy Hot Pot (紅袍麻辣鍋) blends Chinese medicinal herbs, Sichuan peppercorns, bell peppers and other fresh vegetables, and homemade Chinese toon-flavored soy-pork ribs that have a smooth and springy texture. The delicious stock uses Chinese medicinal herbs, such as Chinese angelica and ginseng tails. This light dish is delicate and tasty, not at all greasy, and full of surprises!


TAIPEI WINTER 2018 Vol.14 Creativity Brings Out Veggie Dish Richness

The richly-textured tofu set meal comes with cashew-flavored soup. (Photo: Lin Weikai)

A Feast of Soy – Handmade Fresh Every Day!

The trend in new vegetarian cuisine is towards natural flavors and products made by hand. DeliSoys (上善豆家) makes fresh soy milk and bean curd sheets every day. It also uses bittern extracted from deep-sea water to make its tofu and tofu puddings, thus offering extra protein and minerals to vegetarians.

Its richly-textured tofu set meal of braised Chinese cabbage and tofu balls comes with blanched organic vegetables, pickled tomatoes; and cashew-flavored soup on the side.

Such veggie eateries have broken through tradition, mastered cooking skills and become more creative to attract the younger set. At the same time, they are satisfying taste buds and health with rich flavors!

 

Beijing Gold Kitchen New Vegetarian Cuisine
11:20~21:00
3, Ln. 38, Tianmu W. Rd., Shilin Dist.
02-2873-8680

 

Yang Shin Vegetarian Restaurant
11:30~21:30
2F, 128, Songjjang Rd., Zhongshan Dist.
02-2542-8828

 

DeliSoys
07:30~21:00
16, Ln. 107, Sec. 1, Fuxing S. Rd., Daan Dist.
02-2731-6991

 

[recipe]

Teppanyaki Soy Oyster
(by Beijing Gold Kitchen New Vegetarian Cuisine)

 

TAIPEI WINTER 2018 Vol.14 Creativity Brings Out Veggie Dish Richness
Ingredients

Firm tofu 120g
White crab mushrooms  70g
Straw mushrooms   120g
Daylily stem    1
Minced ginger 1 teaspoon
Minced celery 1 teaspoon
Basil to taste
Chili pepper    half
Vegetarian oyster sauce 2 tablespoons
Dried fermented black soybeans    1 teaspoon
Sugar       1 teaspoon
Sesame oil       1 tablespoon

 

Preparation

1. Cut the chili pepper in half vertically and fine chop. Cut the daylily stem diagonally. Bring the water to boil, blanch the firm tofu, white crab mushrooms and straw mushrooms for two minutes, then remove and set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a shallow pan, add the minced ginger, minced celery, minced chili pepper, fermented black soybeans and daylily stem; then drip in some sesame oil and stir fry.

3. Add vegetarian oyster sauce to the stir fry mixture, then add one bowl of water and a teaspoon of sugar. Return the blanched firm tofu, white crab mushrooms and straw mushrooms to the pan, cover, and cook for three minutes.

4. Add the basil and thicken by adding a solution of equal parts potato starch and water; and it’s ready to serve!


\TIP/
For the last step, mix in the thickening solution quickly, making sure to spread it out evenly. If you don’t work fast enough, the dish will become lumpy.

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