HOT FOR FOOD VEGAN COMFORT CLASSICS: 101 Recipes to Feed Your Face
Lauren Toyota Lauren Toyota, Vanessa Heins
Ten Speed Press
February 27, 2018
$22/Paperback
ISBN-13: 978-0399580147
Lauren Toyota is a former MTV Canada host and a YouTube sensation. Her channel and blog, hot for food, attract a wide and engage audience of young people curious about how to make vegan food fast and fun. In less than three years, her YouTube channel has gained over 391,000 subscribers. She lives in Toronto, Canada.
A fun and irreverent take on vegan comfort food that’s saucy, sweet, sassy, and most definitely deep-fried, from YouTube sensation Lauren Toyota of Hot for Food.
In this bold collection of more than 100 recipes, the world of comfort food and vegan cooking collide as Lauren Toyota shares her favorite recipes and creative ways to make Philly cheesesteak, fried chicken, and mac ‘n’ cheese, all with simple vegan ingredients. Never one to hold back, Lauren piles plates high with cheese sauce, ranch, bacon, and barbecue sauce, all while sharing personal stories and tips in her engaging and hilarious voice. The result is indulgent, craveworthy food – like Southern Fried Cauliflower, The Best Vegan Ramen, and Raspberry Funfetti Pop Tarts – made for sharing with friends at weeknight dinners, weekend brunches, and beyond.
crispy crabless cakes
Makes 10 cakes
The first time I had a vegan crab cake I was shook! John and I were eating at Lakeside (Wynn Hotel) in Las Vegas and devoured chef Tal Ronnen’s crab cakes in seconds. There was no way I could get access to his secret recipe, but I carefully examined every bite so I could figure it out at home. There are a lot of vegan crab cake recipes made from artichokes or hearts of palm floating around the Internet, and while they’re all pretty delicious, ours has been tried and tested by many former seafood addicts who claim they’d rather eat this than the real thing any day!
PREP TIME 30 minutes.
COOK TIME 15 minutes.
prep ahead
The Horseradish-Dill Aioli. Makes about 2⁄3 cup.
PREP TIME 15 minutes.
- 2 cups drained marinated artichoke hearts, finely chopped, plus 2 tablespoons liquid
- 1⁄4 cup finely chopped shallot (about 1 small shallot)
- 1⁄2 cup finely chopped celery (about 1 stalk)
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1⁄2 cup chickpea flour
- 2 teaspoons coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
- 1⁄4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 to 2 cups vegetable oil, for frying
horseradish-dill aioli breading
- 1⁄4 cup chickpea flour
- 11⁄4 cups multigrain bread crumbs
- 1⁄2 cup unsweetened nondairy milk
To make the crabless cakes, place all the ingredients except the oil and aioli in a large bowl. Combine well with a fork. It’s important that the artichokes, shallots, and celery are very small and uniformly chopped so that the cakes will stick together while frying.
You should have a 1⁄2 inch of vegetable oil in a large cast-iron skillet or other heavy-bottomed pan for frying. Heat it to a temperature of 350°F to 360°F on a deep-frying thermometer.
To make the breading, place the chickpea flour in a wide, shallow dish. Use another shallow dish for the bread crumbs and a bowl for the milk.
Take 1⁄4 cup of the crabless cake mixture and press and form it into a thick patty with your hands. Gently place the cake in the chickpea flour and coat all sides evenly. Quickly submerge it in milk and make sure all the flour looks wet. Remove it from the milk and place in the bread crumbs. Using your hands, coat all sides of the cake well in the bread crumbs, then lightly shake off any excess. Set the coated cakes on a plate or baking sheet. Once they’re all assembled, immediately deep-fry in batches.
Delicately place 2 or 3 cakes in the hot oil. Fry for about 4 minutes until golden brown, flipping halfway through. Gently remove the cakes with a slotted frying spoon and place on paper towels to absorb any excess oil.
Serve immediately with the aioli. Leftovers can be heated over medium heat in a pan lightly coated with vegetable oil.
tofu benny with hollandaise
Makes 4 servings
This popular dish from the blog has saved my ass many times whether I’m hung over or entertaining the in-laws, so I knew it had to be included in this book. Though I was an eggs Benedict superfan back in the day, I haven’t ever fantasized about the traditional version once since creating this masterpiece. Give tofu a real chance if you haven’t yet. It comes in many textures, and all it requires is proper seasoning and cooking technique! If you thought your vegan life would never let you dive deep into a plate full of bennies again . . . you’re welcome!
PREP TIME 20 minutes
COOK TIME 20 minutes
prep ahead
the hollandaise sauce
Have you ever Googled how to make real hollandaise? It’s rich on rich on rich! Rather than relying on butter and egg yolks for fat and flavor, I make the base with lean, mean almonds. You’re definitely serving it with the Tofu Benny (page 20), but it’s also a classic pairing with grilled asparagus or other green veggies.
MAKES about 1 cup
PREP TIME 15 minutes
COOK TIME 5 minutes
ingredients
- 1⁄2 cup sliced blanched almonds
- 1⁄2 cup unsweetened nondairy milk
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1⁄2 teaspoon mustard powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1⁄4 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Place all the ingredients in a high-powered blender and blend until very smooth. If you need to thin the sauce, add small amounts of nondairy milk until the desired consistency is achieved.
Heat the sauce over low heat in a saucepan, whisking constantly, before serving. If you overheat the sauce or forget to whisk it constantly, it will thicken and get lumpy. If this occurs, reblend it to smooth it out or add more nondairy milk or water.
When reheating leftovers, you’ll definitely need to add a bit more nondairy milk or water to thin out the sauce again. It keeps up to 7 days in the fridge.
tofu
- 1 (16 oz/450 g) brick medium-firm tofu
- 1⁄4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1⁄4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
toppings
- 10 cups packed baby spinach or stemmed and chopped kale
- Sea salt and ground pepper
- 2 vine tomatoes, sliced
- 4 English muffins, split in half
- 4 tablespoons vegan butter
- Small handful of chives, for garnish
- 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, for garnish
Drain the tofu and pat dry of excess moisture with a tea towel or paper towel. Slice the tofu into quarters and slice each quarter in half lengthwise, so you have 8 thick medallions.
Season the tofu on all sides with the paprika, salt, and pepper.
Heat a large cast-iron skillet or nonstick pan over medium-high heat and coat the bottom with a thin layer of vegetable oil. Place the pieces of tofu in the pan and fry for about 3 minutes on the first side. Flip and fry for another 3 minutes. The tofu should develop a nice golden crust. Continue turning the pieces to fry all sides.
Remove the tofu to a dish, cover to stay warm, and set aside.
Lower the heat to medium and sauté the spinach with a pinch each of salt and pepper until just wilted and cooked through. Remove the greens from the pan. Then fry up the tomato slices for 1 minute each side.
Warm up the hollandaise sauce and toast, and butter the English muffins.
Top each muffin half with greens, a tomato slice, a piece of tofu, and a dollop of warm hollandaise. Garnish with the chives and a sprinkle of ground cayenne pepper.
Reprinted with permission from Hot for Food Vegan Comfort Classics, copyright 2017 by Lauren Toyota. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
Contact: Erin Welke
510-285-2948
Erin.Welke@tenspeed.com