Crispy Chickenless Nuggets

Servings: 12

These faux nuggets are so crispy you'll never believe they're not deep-fried. Serve them with your favorite dipping sauce

Ingredients

• ½ cup plant-based milk
• ½ tsp lemon juice
• 15 ounces chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• ½ cup textured vegetable protein (TVP)                  
• 1½ tbsp Dijon mustard                  
• 1½ tbsp agave nectar                  
• 1 tsp low sodium soy sauce                  
• 1 a dash of garlic powder                  
• 1 a dash of thyme                  
• ½ cup vital wheat gluten                  
• 2 cups unsweetened corn flakes
• ½ tsp poultry seasoning (not powdered)                  

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease or line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Whisk non-dairy milk and lemon juice together until foamy with bubbles.

 In a medium bowl, mash chickpeas with a fork or potato masher until coarse. You don't want any whole beans left, but don't overly mash them so that they are pureed and resembling refried beans.

 Alternatively, you can pulse the beans in a food processor 10-15 times and transfer processed chickpeas to the bowl.

Add in TVP, crumbs if using, vital wheat gluten, mustard, spices and agave.

Add in 1/4 cup water and mix with a spoon. Gluten should form almost instantly.

Turn out onto a clean surface and knead for about a minute, getting out any excess bubbles and making sure the gluten strands form.

 Mold the mixture into ball and set aside.

Pour cornflakes into a separate bowl and mash until very crumbly, like thick and slightly bigger bread crumbs and set aside. Re-whisk non-dairy milk and then pour mixture into a shallow bowl. Break off bouncy ball-sized portions of the gluten and flatten in the palm of your hand to it resembles a nugget shape.

Dip into the non-dairy milk mixture so that it's coated on both side then press into flakes on each side, making sure it's completely coated.

Place nugget on a cookie sheet and repeat with all nuggets.

Bake nuggets for 10 minutes, flip and bake another 10-15 minutes, until nuggets are firm and crispy.

 

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Caribbean Peas & Rice

Servings: 2

All the flavors of the Caribbean captured in this easy, well balanced meal.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch scallions, white parts sliced thin
• 2 whole celery stalks, minced
• 4 whole garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp fresh ginger root, minced                  
• 4 whole fresh thyme leaves                  
• 1½ tsp Tabasco green pepper sauce                 
• 2 tbsp ketchup                  
• ¼ tsp turmeric (optional)
• 1 bunch kale, chopped
• 15 ounces black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed                  
• 1 cup brown rice, uncooked
• 2½ cups vegetable broth                  
• 2 tsp Jamaican dried jerk seasoning                  

Instructions

Combine rice with 2 cups of vegetable broth in a large pot and set aside.

Line a skillet with a thin layer of broth and add scallions, celery, garlic, ginger, thyme, jalapeno sauce and 1 tsp jerk seasoning.

Cook over high heat, adding additional broth as necessary, until the celery is soft, about 3 minutes. Add remaining jerk seasoning, stirring to coat.

Transfer to rice, add 2 squirts of ketchup and turmeric (for color), stirring to combine. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling reduce heat to low and simmer 40-50 minutes, until rice is cooked, but keep and eye on it, as you may need to add more broth or water (some brown rice is very thirsty).

 

Meanwhile, lightly steam greens. Press out any excess water and chop into bite-sized pieces.

Once rice is fully cooked, fluff with a spatula then stir in black-eyed peas and greens.

 

Serve with jalapeno sauce on the table.