August 26, 2023 – Tiki

Saturday, August 26, 2023
VBC Meeting #126: Tiki Foods
Hosts of the month: Drew and Mehgann
Location: Denton, TX

For August, Vegan Bake Club went with a Tiki theme suggested (and decorated) by Minji.

This is what we made:

Alaric: Mango Avocado Salsa with Plantain Chips

Alaric asked ChatGPT to give him a recipe for a vegan Tiki themed event, and it delivered a mango avocado salsa recipe. He made the salsa with mango, avocado, red onion, red bell pepper, fresh cilantro, fresh lime juice, salt, and pepper. To go with the salsa, Alaric made plantain chips by peeling and slicing ripe plantains, tossing them in coconut oil and salt, and baking them at 375°F. He flipped the plantains after ten minutes then baked them for another ten.

Drew: Papaya with Rawnola

Drew made a Hawaiian papaya and rawnola set for the Tiki theme. He chopped up a good sized papaya and mixed it with lime juice. To accompany it, he prepared the rawnola by combining rolled oats, dates, cacao nibs, macadamia nuts, and goji berries in a food processor with a little water. He also offered toasted coconut flakes on the side.

Minji: Coconut Curry with Coconut Rice

For the rice portion of her coconut curry with coconut rice, Minji cooked jasmine rice in coconut milk with a piece of ginger. She toasted coconut, and mixed it into the rice when it finished cooking, then fluffed! For the curry, she julienned red and orange bell peppers, red onion, and carrots then stir-fried them in coconut oil with ginger, garlic, and curry-type spices. She added water to bring it to a boil then added coconut milk and simmered it, adding sugar just before turning off the fire.

Billy: Vegan Spam Musubi

Since Spam is a popular food in Hawaii, Billy made a veganized version of Spam Musubi. He marinated tofu in beet juice, smoked paprika, garlic, rice vinegar, liquid smoke, and soy sauce then pan-fried it. He made sushi rice seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar, and salt that he spread onto sheets of nori. He wrapped up the Spam-style tofu in the sheets to make sushi rolls that he sliced into pieces.

Kori: Huli Huli Cauliflower Bites

Kori made a double recipe of Huli Huli Cauliflower Bites, huli huli sauce being commonly used in Hawaii. She mixed up the dish’s namesake sauce with pineapple juice, low sodium soy sauce (instead of the recipe’s tamari), sesame oil, brown sugar, ketchup, rice wine vinegar, minced garlic, and ground ginger (not fresh because the store was out). In another bowl she made a batter with flour and almond milk that she mixed pieces of cauliflower into. She put a rack into a baking tray that had a piece of parchment paper in it onto which she placed the coated cauliflower to allow the extra batter to run off. She discarded the paper and put the tray in the oven to bake. With a few minutes left to cook, she added the huli huli sauce to the cauliflower. Then she turned up the oven to broil for some crispness. After the cauliflower came out of the oven, she added the rest of the sauce.

Mehgann: Pineapple Fried Rice

For the Pineapple Fried Rice, Mehgann cooked pineapple and red bell pepper in coconut oil that she combined with green onion, garlic, peanuts, brown jasmine rice, lime juice, cilantro, soy sauce, and sriracha. Though not in the recipe she was looking at, she opted to add hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and sesame oil for bonus flavor.

Lauren: Mango Cucumber Salad; Paradise Cookies

To make the Mango Cucumber Salad, Lauren soaked garlic, a small amount of minced serrano, and red onion in 1/4 cup of lime juice and salt. After allowing this to sit for a while, she added sliced English cucumber, chopped mango, cilantro, and black pepper.

Because she wanted to ensure a dessert for the Tiki gathering, she also made Paradise Cookies with flour, sugar, baking powder, Natural Grocer’s brand vegan butter, drained crushed pineapple, coconut flakes, and chopped macadamia nuts.

Since at the time of writing this post, the online recipe Lauren veganized for the cookies was not available, here is the veganized version:

Paradise Cookies

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup softened vegan butter
• 1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple in juice, drained
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2/3 cup chopped macadamia nuts
• 3/4 cup flaked coconut, separated

Cream together the sugar and vegan butter, then mix in the pineapple and vanilla. Mix in the flour and baking powder. Once you have a dough, add the macadamia nuts and 1/4 cup of the coconut. Form 1 tablespoon sized dough balls and dip them into the remaining coconut before placing them on a couple of cookie sheets. Bake each tray at 350°F for somewhere around 12-15 minutes.