Vegan MoFo 2015 - Day 6

Today's prompt is 'Recreate a Restaurant Meal'. So today, I'm veganising Wagamama’s Cha Han.

OK so technically, Wagamama will do this for you anyway, just ask for the Yasai Cha Han Donburi without egg and you’re good to go. However, it’s more fun to make your own at home and also, it’s really piss easy to recreate.

Here’s the pic of Wagga’s version 

(not sure if miso soup still comes with it as standard, I don't like it anyway but if it does, double check it's vegan as I heard rumours it might not be!)

 And here’s my attempt:

My recipe is, as usual, rough amounts mostly, because I was just throwing stuff in till it looked right.

To make enough for 2 servings, you’ll need:

Firm tofu (I used half a block of Cauldron’s plain tofu*)

Olive oil or cooking oil of choice

3 good sized spring onions, sliced thickly

150g (ish) of mushrooms, sliced (about a cup of slices)

100g (ish) of mange tout, cut into 2 or 3 pieces each

¼ cup of sweetcorn (add more if you like)

250g of cooked brown rice (I used a pack of Tilda brown basmati for ease, but feel free to cook your own)

2 tablespoons of Yakitori sauce** plus a bit extra for the tofu

And here’s what I did:

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Slice the tofu into squares and press it quickly with your hands and a piece of kitchen towel, just to get rid of some of the excess water. Then, dry fry in a hot pan for about 4 or 5 minutes on each side, pressing down well with a spatula to remove excess water.

Once they are bit browned, tip them into a bowl and toss them with a couple of teaspoons of yakitori sauce. Then tip onto a baking tray and pop in the oven while you prepare the rest. (You don’t have to do this, but I did as it was on anyway for the non-vegan part of Mr A’s tea!)

Then heat a teaspoon or so of oil, you can use the same pan, and stir fry the spring onions for a few minutes. Add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt and cook for a few mins until both sides are starting to colour and cook. Add the mange tout and cook for a few more minutes (add more oil as and when needed, I just used an olive oil spray to add a bit more).  Then add the cooked rice and sweetcorn and keep stir frying until everything is heated through.

Add the yakitori sauce and cook for a couple of minutes, until the sauce is absorbed.

Toss the tofu through and serve in a rad noodle bowl - or if you don't have one, a bowl with animal from the muppets on instead :)

*Some PPKers mentioned that Cauldron had changed their recipe again and that it’s now more like the old recipe, much firmer! I was super pleased to find that agree with this review and the texture is now much better and doesn’t need anywhere near as much pressing as the softer version needed.

**I used store-bought yakitori sauce, which makes this recipe so easy, as I found it in Waitrose when I was looking for the ingredients to make my own (which they actually didn’t have). If you can’t find that though, it’s basically soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar. Here a recipe from Wagga’s NZ site that includes ingredients and directions for yakitori sauce, but it seems to make a lot, so you could always scale it back if you don’t think you’ll use it all: http://www.wagamama.co.nz/at-home/recipes/negima-yakitori

Laterz

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