Wheatable

I've been thinking about doing a 30-day vegetarian quest (fish on Fridays) for several months and decided that there's no time like the present.

We stopped by my aunt's house after brunch and she was preparing dinner - vegetables and seitan over black beans and rice (she embraced veganism many moons ago).  I resisted seitan when it was an option in my CSA several years ago, largely because I've always been leery of fake meat..it seemed illogical to consume a processed substitute for something you're trying to avoid. She offered me a piece and the texture wasn't bad at all...I thought, I might try it...one day.

We ran errands and almost stopped for dinner but I was determined to kick off this veggie quest, so we swung by H-Mart, I was thinking pancit...veggie pancit.  I picked up sugar snap peas, garlic, scallions, carrots, and nappa cabbage.  (Every time I visit that store I wonder if the low produce prices are because the large Korean community gardens are the suppliers).

When I got back to the car I thought it would be great to have some sort of protein...eggs, perhaps...no, I thought I should go back in and get some firm tofu and dice it small...that's when I saw it - "vegetarian chicken" - I read the ingredients and it seemed pretty harmless (unless you have celiac disease) although, the hype about gluten-free and the fear of carbohydrates made me a smidgen apprehensive. Conversely, wheat gluten has been a staple in Chinese & Japanese cooking since ancient times so I gave it a shot. 

I needed a bit more tamari but the pancit turned out fine, and only my daughter realized that there was either chicken or seitan mixed in.  We have certainly broadened our horizons.