I stayed home from work yesterday (feeling really junky), and when my appetite finally arrived it was while I was watching an episode of "Kitchen Nightmares" about a Soul Food restaurant. It was a rare episode in the fact that the food wasn't disgusting or the kitchen unsanitary. Crazy. Needless to say I started craving some serious Soul Food. I did a bit of research online and find a recipe for vegan BBQ ribs. (Yum!) There are TONS of different recipes online. About a year ago I attempted a recipe I found on vegweb.com. The "ribs" were okay, but it took a lot of work for what were ultimately bread sticks tossed in bbq sauce. I found this recipe with a different technique and lots of positive reviews and was intrigued. I had almost all the ingredients and it was something new and fun to try. In some of the reviews it appears to be based on a recipe from the New Farm Cookbook. I didn't follow recipe to the letter, but here's what I did.
ingredients:
-2 c. wheat gluten flour
-1/3 c. nooch
-2 Tb smoked paprika
-1/2 Tb sea salt
-2 1/4 c. water
-1/2 c crunchy natural peanut butter
-1 large vidalia onion- minced
-1/4 c. olive oil
-1/2 jar BBQ sauce (or as much as you want)
instructions:
1) Combine gluten, nooch, paprika and salt in a big bowl.
2) Add in water all at once, stir with a wooden spoon quickly until all are combined (might need a little more water). You should have a firm gluten ball. Coat the ball with peanut butter.
3) Heat oil in skillet, add onion and cook until golden brown. Pour all the oil and onion on top of gluten ball. Poke with other end of wooden spoon to force some of the onion and peanut butter into the gluten. Allow to cool.
4) When mixture is cool enough to handle, use hands to mix all together. Try to mix the onion, oil and peanut butter in as much as you can.
5) Pre-heat oven to 350F. Grease 2 big glass baking dishes.
6) Pull off big hunks of the mixture with your hands (don't cut with knife), then pull, stretch and twist the gluten into little logs 4 to 5 inches long. (note: I made 8 and thought the smaller ones were the best, so maybe try to make 10). Place into the baking dishes, they will expand some while cooking so make sure to leave some room between.
7) Bake 15 minutes, then flip and bake 15 more. Coat the "ribs" with BBQ sauce and bake 10 more minutes. (40 min total)
These were freakin' AWESOME. Super chewy and "meaty". I served them with corn on the cob and mac and cheese (<-- really yummy vegan mac). The hubby and I both enjoyed our Soul Food dinner, and will definitely be making this again soon!
