Thanksgiving cannot be complete without a feast. It’s a day when family and friends gather over a table of delicious food and eat until they can no longer chew. For me, I planned to cook a hearty vegan dish my carnivorous family would find insatiable. But to do this, I planned to match the same flavors Thanksgiving meals are famous for: sweet, heavy, and savory-yet familarly Filipino but innovatively vegan.

My boyfriend, Chris had an idea: because we wouldn’t be able to celebrate Thanksgiving together,  we should make a dish for each other’s family. So for my family, Chris made what he calls,  ”Fried Whole Asian ‘Fish’ “, and for his family,  I cooked “Seitan Tocino”.

The Seitan proved tricky to make from scratch. I used the recipe from Post Punk Kitchen then marinated with brown sugar, little bit of white wine, and red food coloring. In a pan over medium heat, I fried the Seitan bits until they were extra firm.

I got the Vital Wheat Gluten Flour, kneaded and simmered it to form my Tocino Seitan

Ta-da! Seitan Tocino for Chris' family

Made some for my family as well

Chris' dish: Asian Style Thanksgiving

Per my family’s request, I also made my Squash Coconut Curry  (which reminded me, it’s not too late to enter this for the Blog Hop, Squash Love). I served it with a side of vegan bagoong mady by sauteeing minced onions and tomatoes then adding black bean garlic sauce. To make it spicy, Thai Chili pepper would do the trick.

My Squash Coconut Curry served with side of vegan bagoong

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 eggplants, sliced
• 1/2 kabocha squash, chopped
• half bunch of String Beans, quartered
• 1/2 lb mushroom, quartered
• 1 pack extra firm tofu, cubed
• 2 cans coconut milk
• 1 cup water
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 4-6 cloves garlic, minched or grinded
• 1 tbsp Sea salt
• 4-6 pcs Thai Chili pepper, chopped (take it out if you don’t want it spicy)
• cooking oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Fry the tofu in a pan over high heat until tofu is crispy. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, in a pot over medium heat, add oil
3. Sautee the garlic until light brown, add the onions. Sautee until tender.
4. Add the coconut milk and chopped Kabocha squash, simmer and boil until squash is soft enough to be mashed
5. Mash the squash to dissolve in the soup
6. Add salt and Thai pepper
7. Add the tofu and the rest of the vegetables, simmer until boiling
8. You’re done! Serve with black bean garlic sauce or vegan “shrimp paste”

My family, the happy bunch