I used Made With Lau’s chili oil and it added a lot to the dish: https://www.madewithlau.com/recipes/homemade-chili-oil
Another tip is to use chinese black vinegar in the sauce. It’s really good!
Chili pepper oil is like black magic. Highly recommend everyone either grabs some from the international isle or follow the recipe.
Recipe please? Looks really tasty.
I hit that link only to realize that it was just the oil. The picture is so delicious looking, I swear that I can smell it!
I made this mostly free-hand a while ago but I’ll try to list the main points.
For the sauce, I used hoisin sauce, dark and light soy sauce, black vinegar, a bit of agave syrup and mirin for sweetness and that photogenic glaze.
The vegetables were green and yellow bell peppers and brown mushrooms stir-fried with garlic and chili oil.
The TVP was hydrated in simmering veggie stock and dark soy sauce. I usually marinade it a little (10-15mins) with a bit of vegan worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and maybe a drop of toasted sesame oil. Pan fry it in plenty of fat (it’s important because TVP has no fat whatsoever on its own).
Add the sauce to the vegetables, let it simmer a little and add the TVP and coat it nice and well in the sauce. Garnish with green onions and chili flakes. Done.
For the rice, it’s just prepared as the packet says and garnished with chili flakes and green onions.
I hope this helps!
Thanks! I’ll give this a try in the next few days. Fat for both the mushrooms and the tvp are really important tips I discovered the hard way haha.
Lovely work, typing this all up to share.
Incredible
Thank you! I’ve seen a couple of your posts and I’m jealous of your plating skills :)
No need to be. You absolutely killed it on this one!
I’m guessing, TVP is this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textured_vegetable_protein
I was surprised by TVP when we started cutting out meat. It looks disgusting when dried and the name textured vegetable protein couldn’t possibly be less sexy. Contrary to what I thought, it does a great job of soaking up flavors of what it’s cooked in, and the texture is probably second to real meat.
A good tip is to quickly rinse it with cold water before rehydrating it. It removes any lingering ‘dried’ taste that it might’ve had.
Appreciate it!
Woah this looks incredible. I love Zhenjiang vinegar and use it a ton! Did you use dry tvp like the big chips?
Yes, large dried TVP strips. I usually rehydrate them in a mix of veggie broth and dark soy sauce for some colour and umami before adding any extras for the final flavour profile.
I found a few drips vegan worcestershire sauce to add a very satisfying umami complexity to the final product.
