Vegan Pepper Lunch

Cook time: 60 minutes | Makes 3-4 servings

Sauce: 

• 1 tbsp, cooking oil

• ½ of a white onion, sliced

• 4 cloves of garlic, minced or grated

• 1/2 cup maple syrup or agave

• ¼ cup Kikkoman soy sauce

• 1/4 tsp salt 

• 1/2 cup slurry (2 tsp. cornstarch + 1/2 cup water)

Combine everything in a sauce pan until onions and garlic are cooked down. Then use a blender or emulsifier to pulverize the mixture completely. Add the sauce back into a sauce pan on low to medium heat and stir in your cornstarch slurry until the sauce has thickened. Remove from heat for later. You can keep the sauce in your fridge for up to 2 weeks. 

Fake beef: 

1 cup of TVP (rehydrated as instructed) 

1 tsp grated ginger 

2 tbsp sesame oil 

2 garlic cloves, minced 

1 tbsp coconut sugar 

⅓ cup shoyu 

White pepper to taste

Add ginger, garlic, and coconut sugar with the sesame oil to a pan and saute together until fragrant to make a paste (do not overcook the garlic as it will burn easily). Add your rehydrated TVP into the pan and sauté for 5 minutes or until the sauce has soaked up and the TVP’s moisture has dissolved. Add the soy sauce and white pepper last and sauté until browned. 

Pepper lunch:

½ cup of cooked rice

½ inch cube of vegan butter 

Other ½ of the chopped onion

¼ cup of frozen corn 

1 tbsp sesame oil

Sauce to drizzle 

½ cup of TVP to surround the rice 

Black pepper

1 stalk of green onion, chopped

To assemble, heat up a skillet or pan to medium heat then drizzle sesame oil. Saute your chopped onions until they’re softened then add your TVP and push to the outer perimeter of the pan. In the middle, place your rice and top with the cube of butter. Add your corn around the rice then drizzle as much of your sauce over the food as you desire (I suggest ¼ cup). Top with green onions and lots of black pepper then enjoy it straight out of the pan! 

You can save the rest of the ingredients to make 2 or 3 more pepper lunches!