Vietnamese Crepe (Banh Xeo)

After buying some fresh scallions from the farmer's market at Union Square, I decided to make Vietnamese Crepes.  The main ingredients for the crepe flour included rice flour, wheat flour, salt, baking soda, and tumeric (I always add a little extra tumeric for color).  I think you can find the prepared flour at your local asian supermarket.  Look for the brand I used below.

Prepared Rice Flour (Bot Banh Xeo)

Follow the directions on the package for making the crepes.  You will need coconut milk, water, scallions, and ingredients for the filling.  For a vegan version, I made the crepes with tofu, onion, mung beans, scallions, and bean sprouts.  I also served the crepes with romaine lettuce, fresh cucumbers, and fresh mint.   In addition, I made a soy vinegar dipping sauce (a vegan nouc mam-traditional Vietnamese fish sauce) with sugar, vinegar, water, fresh lime, soy sauce, fresh garlic, and red chiles. Here are a few photos of the crepe making process.

Cooking the mung beans

Crepe with tofu, scallions and onions

Adding the mung beans and fresh bean sprouts

Drum Roll please.....a nicely seared Vietnamese Crepe

This meal reminded me of eating Vietnamese food with my lovely family:)

Three Grain Tempeh with Couscous

For dinner I made couscous with tempeh and roasted brussel sprouts.  I enjoy making cous cous because it only takes about 7 minutes. 

Recipe for couscous:

1 cup french couscous

1  1/2 cup of water

extra virgin olive oil

2-3 T nutritional yeast

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp dried parsley

salt & pepper to taste

Boil water with 1 TB of olive oil.  

Add couscous and bring to a boil.  Then turn the heat off, remove the pot to another burner, and cover for 5 minutes.

Next, remove the lid (I used a small plate) and fluff cous cous with a fork. 

 Then add the seasonings and finish with an additional tablespoon of olive oil.  

Fold all the ingredients together and enjoy!

I also had a side of BBQ sauce for dipping:)

Memorial Day

Vegan BBQ Plate

Here was my plate from yesterday's feast.  On the left was a vegan chili cheese dog.  Top right, vegan mac and cheese and bottom right was a vegan potato salad.  I wanted to try another potato salad recipe from eat'n veg'n, but didn't have all the ingredients.  Hopefully I'll try it soon.

Vegan Mac and Cheese

Organic Fruit Salad

To end this meal, I had a nice bowl of organic fresh fruit (kiwi, blueberries, banana, and orange).

Recipe for the Vegan Potato Salad:

1/3 cup diced red onion, yellow and red bell peppers, scallions and gherkins

6 baby potatoes

2 T vegannaise

1 tsp dijon mustard

salt & pepper to taste

Boil water and add 1T salt.  Cook potatoes until barely tender (10-13)minutes. While the potatoes are cooking, chop vegetables and set aside.  Drain potatoes and let cool until warm.  In a large bowl, combine chopped veggies with potatoes, add the vegannaise and dijon mustard. Fold all of the ingredients together.  Add S & P to taste.  Chill for at least 30 minutes then serve.  

Mini French Bread Pizza

I had some leftover french bread from making sandwiches the other day.  Not wanting to waste it, I decided to make mini pizzas. The sauce is made with organic tomatoes, basil, oregano, garlic powder, and nutritional yeast.  Each mini pizza had a different topping.

Mini Pizza #1: Sauteed spinach, fresh garlic, and tomatoes

Mini Pizza #2: Peppers, vegan sausage, and mushrooms

Although these pizzas were small, they were full of flavor and easy to prepare. I'll definitely add these mini pizzas to my quick go-to meal list.  

Restaurant Reviews

Lan Cafe, Mamoun's Falafel and Stogo

I would like to share with you 3 reviews of restaurants in the East Village. Starting with Lan Cafe, this is a Vietnamese vegetarian restaurant with mostly vegan items (the only dairy ingredient is the condensed milk in the Vietnamese coffee, but you can substitute soymilk).  The food here is affordable, fresh and mostly authentic.  On my first and second visit (sorry no pics), I tried their seitan vermicelli (bun) and seitan baguette (banh mi). The vermicelli was mediocre at best. The rice noodles were bigger than the usual vermicelli used in traditional Vietnamese (bun) dishes, which made it a little less authentic. However, the use of fresh basil, cilantro, crushed peanuts, pickled daikon and carrot reminded me of eating traditional vermicelli in Vietnam.  Next, the seitan baguette.  This warm, delicious sandwich was a winner. Hopefully when I return to Lan Cafe, I'll be sure to take pictures of this delectable sandwich.

When I did have my camera in tow, I managed to take a couple of pictures.  As you can see, the restaurant was empty (I arrived as soon as they opened) and pretty small.  I think there were 12 tables of 2. 

Photo of Lan Cafe (interior)

For my lunch, I ordered the Vegan Pho.  Pho is a traditional noodle soup dish made with rice noodles.  The dish is normally garnished with mung bean sprouts, fresh lime, red hot chile peppers, fresh basil and cilantro.  The soup was excellent. The vegetarian broth had subtle flavors of star anise and cloves.  The vegetables in this pho consisted of carrots, straw mushrooms, tofu, baby corn and baby bok choy.  

Lan Cafe's Vegan Pho 

Lan Cafe

342 East 6th St.

New York, NY. 10003

Vietnamese Vegetarian

Website: None, but their menu can be found here.

Next up, Mamoun's Falafel.  Mamoun's was first established in 1971. They have three locations, which are located in the East Village, Greenwich Village and in New Haven CT. I've only ever been to the East Village location, but hope to visit the Greenwich Village location soon (there's a bigger selection there).  This has got to be my favorite falafel sandwich in all of New York so far.  The service here is very fast and the falafels are made fresh to order.  Here is a picture of their famous falafel sandwich.  

Mamoun's Falafel Sandwich

You can't go to Mamoun's without trying their lentil soup. Always piping hot, this soup had fresh bits of carrots, onions and lentils.  Also at an affordable $2.50 for each item, you'll be sure to come back for more.  

Mamoun's Lentil Soup

Other vegan-friendly items on their chalkboard menu include a hummus sandwich, falafel platter and many sides such as baba ghannouj (eggplant with sesame sauce), hummus, stuffed grape leaves, falafel balls and tabbouleh (cracked wheat parsley).  

Mamoun's Falafel

22 Saint Marks Place

New York, NY 10003

Middle Eastern

Website: http://www.mamounsfalafel.com/

Last, but certainly not least is Stogo, a gourmet organic dairy-free ice cream shop.  

Photo of Stogo

They offer soy and soft serve flavors some of which include chocolate hazelnut, mango berry, Mexican spiced chocolate, toasted almond joy and pomegranate chocolate chip. They have many toppings such as cookie bits, dark chocolate chips, coconut and goji berries. On a recent visit I tried the peanut butter fudge and cinnamon banana cookie.  

Stogo's Vegan Ice Cream

I have to say that Stogo is very good, but not as good as Lula's Sweet Apothecary.  I'm compiling my pictures for a full review of Lula's coming soon.  

Stogo

159 2nd Ave.

New York, NY. 10003

Gourmet Organic Dairy-Free Ice Cream

Website: http://stogonyc.com/

Phew! End of a very long post. Thanks for sticking with me.