sauerkraut

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Vegan Beer Battered Fish Tacos

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The magic of battering and frying up banana blossoms is mind boggling. It looks like, feels like, and tastes like fried fish!

So aside from eating a giant plate of vegan beer battered fried fish fillets(which I will gladly do with some fries and tarter sauce) fish tacos are my next favorite way to enjoy this magic!

Now, I know most people serve fish tacos on a flour tortillas, but the fact is, if you know how to prepare corn tortillas, they reign supreme over flour all day! I was pretty anti corn tortillas until someone (my brother in law, Dan) showed me if you cook them in a hot pan with a little oil and seasoning, they are seriously the best thing.

We also made the slaw with sauerkraut instead of fresh cabbage for this recipe. We make our own quick dill kraut, and it is the perfect amount of briny tang, mixed with creamy vegan mayo, and little sugar to round out these tacos. If you have never made a slaw from kraut, as my mom always says, don’t knock it til you try it! It’s also a convenient option if you do not have any fresh cabbage on hand. I normally have a jar of sauerkraut in the fridge making a quick slaw that much quicker.

And lets not forget the '“fish” is beer battered, so as far as I am concerned, there is nothing not to love about these tasty vegan fish tacos!

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 can of banana blossoms in brine

  • 3/4 cups all purpose white flour

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

  • 1 teaspoon old bay

  • 1 teaspoons dulse flakes

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

  • 1/2 can of cold beer, any beer is fine as long as it’s not a dark, thick beer

  • Oil for frying (I used peanut)

  • 8-10 corn tortillas

  • 1 lime

  • 1 avocado

  • 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

  • 2-3 tablespoons plain vegan yogurt or sour cream

The Slaw:

  • 1 cup quick dill sauerkraut (or any sauerkraut you have)

  • 1/4 red onion thinly sliced

  • 1/4 cup shredded carrots

  • 2 tablespoons vegan mayo

  • 1-2 tablespoons sugar, or agave

  • A few shakes of dried parsley or cilantro

  • black pepper to taste

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INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Mash the avocado and mix it with juice from half of the lime, sour cream or yogurt, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste until it is nice and creamy. You can also drop all of the ingredients into a bullet blender or food processor. Set aside.

  2. Mix the sauerkraut (not the juice, just the cabbage) and remaining slaw ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.

  3. Drain can of banana blossoms and carefully remove the blossoms, laying them out on a paper towel to remove some liquid. They can easily fall apart so be careful. I found that only a few blossoms in the can that were fully in tact. I simply took all of the loose leaves and stacked them back together to resemble full blossoms. I have only been able to find one brand of blossoms on Amazon. I am uncertain if this is an issue with all canned banana blossoms, but stacking the leaves back together worked just fine for me.

  4. Transfer the blossoms to a shallow baking dish and sprinkle with the 2 teaspoons of dulce flakes and a dash of salt.

  5. For the batter, whisk together the flour, baking powder, teaspoon salt, old bay, and 1/2 can of cold beer (oh well, guess you have to drink the rest) in a medium sized bowl. The batter will be thick.

  6. Heat a deep skillet with a few inches of oil over medium/ high heat.

  7. While the oil is heating, begin carefully dipping the blossoms into the batter. For any blossoms that you had to reassemble, place them into the batter, and using a spoon, cover the top in batter. This will help keep the blossom in tact vs attempting to dip them. Carefully transfer the blossoms to the hot oil. TIP: if you are not sure if the oil is hot enough, place a chopstick into the oil, if tiny bubbles form around the chopstick, the oil is ready!

  8. Fry each blossom for a minute or two on each side, or until they are golden brown. If they seem to be browning too quickly, reduce your heat a bit. Transfer the finished blossoms to a wire cooling rack that has been placed on top of a paper towel lined cookie sheet.

  9. Heat a large skillet and spray with some cooking oil. Heat tortillas on each side, sprinkling them with a little all purpose seasoning, or any seasoning you like, and a squirt of lime juice. You just need to let them heat for a minute or two on each side, just until they get a little brown and crisp. This will help the tortillas taste amazing and not rip.

  10. Cut fish fillets into bite size pieces. Place a few “fish” pieces in each tortilla, along with some slaw, and a drizzle of avocado cream to serve.

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The Jax Biscuit Sandwich

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Just outside of our neighborhood is the best vegan breakfast and lunch spot in our city! It is our family’s go to spot for an always quick and delicious meal.

One of my most favorite menu items is something called the Blisscuit!

It is an herb biscuit topped with vegan egg salad, sauerkraut, and avocado.

So naturally for all y’all that are not in Jacksonville FL and who can not visit the infamous, Southern Roots, we decided to create our own version of this delicious bite with a few changes.

We used our fluffy southern biscuit recipe,tofu egg salad, and quick dill sauerkraut to create what we call the Jax Biscuit Sandwich!

We make a really simple quick dil sauerkraut to top this biscuit with. All you need is some cabbage, dil, vinegar, salt, and a microwave. You will have kraut in minutes!! It will only get better with time but is good from the start!

Our vegan egg salad using tofu is one of my favorite quick lunches and something we make almost weekly. Try and find some black salt (kala namak) if you can. Its actually pink and might also be called Indian kala namak. It is sulfur salt so taste and smells strongly of eggs. Its perfect for any and all vegan “egg” dishes you make!

And although we think our biscuit is pretty darn good, and you should definitely make yourself one or five, if you ever find yourself in our river city, go by and try the real deal! You won’t be disappointed! We are forever grateful for the full bellies Southern Roots brings us and all the tasty inspiration!

Ingredtiens:

Vegan Tofu Egg Salad:

  • 1 cube extra firm organic tofu

  • 1 teaspoons turmeric

  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder

  • 1 teaspoon onion powder

  • 3 tablespoon diced pickles (plus a teaspoon of pickle juice)

  • 1/4 cup vegan mayo

  • 1 tablespoon yellow mustard (optional)

  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

  1. Drain tofu and wrap in a clean kitchen towel or a few paper towels. Place a few cookbooks or a heavy pan on top and let sit for 10 - 15 minutes to press out the excess liquid from the tofu.

  2. Crumble tofu into a medium sized bowl using your hands or a fork. Mix in the remaining egg salad ingredients along with the tofu, and mix well. Adjust seasoning to taste.

  3. Cut biscuits in half and add a scoop of tofu egg salad, sauerkraut, and a few slices of avocado.

  4. Eat and be happy!

If you liked this recipe, try these:

Brown Bag “Chicken” Fried Seitan Biscuit

Vegan Deluxe Biscuits and Gravy

Quick Dill Sauerkraut

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Some recipes are just too easy…I mean like really, really, really easy.

Quick refrigerator sauerkraut is one of those recipes and so easy to make, in fact you can whip up a batch in as little as 15 minutes.

For starter, its microwaved. So easy. You literally just chop, sprinkle, cover and microwave.

Store it in a jar and pop it in the fridge and thats it!!! Seriously!

Not much muss no fuss. Just easy sauerkraut in minutes.

So who’s ready for a reuben?

Ingredients:

  • 1 small head green cabbage

  • 1 cup white vinegar

  • 1/2 cup water

  • 1 tablespoon salt

  • 2 teaspoons dried dill

  • 1-2 teaspoons caraway seed (optional)

Instructions:

  1. Wash and core the cabbage.

  2. Finely chop the cabbage and place in a large glass bowl.

  3. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl, and cover in plastic cling wrap.

  4. Microwave for 7 minutes. Remove from microwave but leave the plastic wrap on until the cabbage has cooled.

  5. Transfer the cabbage and liquid to a large mason jar or airtight storage container.

  6. Store in the refrigerator.

Stewed Sauerkraut with Lentil Meatballs

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I will find any way I can to incorporatesauerkrautinto a meal. So when I ran across a non vegan recipe for a dish similar to this, I knew it was something I would love. I mean come on, sauerkraut is so good for you and the tang mixed with the creamy tomatoes in this recipe is just perfection!

The lentil “meatballs” are tasty and filling, and the stew is warm and comforting. You could use any premade meatball you want if you are not in the mood to whip up some lentil balls, but they are pretty quick and easy to make.

The zesty kraut and tomatoes, coupled with the cream cheese and milk are a perfect combination. Trust me here. I just keep repeating myself about this perfect combo, but I seriously pretty much licked my plate the first time I made this meal. No lie, it was not my classiest moment. Moving on…..

This meal is delicious on its own and even better with some oven crisped potatoes. Well, because we all know crispy potatoes can make the worst day better, and an already great meal an absolutely fricking fantastic, rainbows and unicorns, kind of meal. So just go ahead and make the potatoes.

One thing I am certain of is this stewed sauerkrautand lentil meatball dish is definitely going into my regular winter dinner rotation and hopefully yours, too!

Ingredients:

Lentil Meatballs

  • 1 cup dried brown lentils

  • 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats

  • 1 medium onion

  • 2 tablespoons tapioca starch

  • 1 teaspoon garlic powser

  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste

  • 1 teaspoon liquid smoke

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Stewed Sauerkraut

  • 1 25 oz jar of sauerkraut, store bought or homemade

  • 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, drained

  • 2 tablespoons vegan cream cheese

  • 1/2 cup unsweetened plant based milk

  • 2 teaspoons smoked paprika

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

  1. Add lentils to a medium sauce pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Allow the lentil to cook 15 - 20 minutes. You want then soft enough to bite through but now mushy. Drain and set aside.

  2. Peel and cut onion in half. Pop it into a food processor or high speed blender, and blend until it is nice and minced up.

  3. Next, add the lentils, oats, and remaining meatball ingredients and blend until the mixture is well combined. It should be thick and a little sticky.

  4. Scoop up lentil mixture with a small scoop or spoon, and from 1 inch “meatballs”. Place the “meatballs” on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes.

  5. In a large pot or dutch oven, while “meatballs” are baking, combine all ingredients for the sauerkraut stew, stirring well to incorporate the cream cheese. Heat over medium heat, reducing to low once the stew has come to a simmer.

  6. Once “meatballs” are done baking , add them to the sauerkraut stew pot, and allow them to simmer in the pot for 5 to 10 minutes.

  7. Serve in bowls topped with vegan sour cream, or with a side of oven crisp, or air fryer potatoes.

Serves 4 - 6.