A Breif Vegan Guide to Asian Inspired Dishes

We’ll begin with a certainty: if you are here, you love Asian food. You don’t just eat it, you live it and breathe it too. So do we, of that you can be sure. Maybe we need to come up with a nickname for ourselves; a collective term for our sweet & sour, stirred not shaken, gyoza gang! What about the ‘SuSu’s’? ‘Itsu’s SuSu’s’? We’ll let it marinate for a moment.

In the meantime though, what about plant based Asian food? Have any of you ever sat at home, dunking your dim sum and wondering whether it would be possible to exist exclusively on an Asian diet [as, let’s face it, we all would like to do] if that diet could not contain any animal products whatsoever? Well, we did some digging in the vegetable garden of our recipe page and, as it turns out, it’s not only possible to be a vegan, it’s epically exciting too! And so, to kick off our Asian Vegan Adventure together, we found three of the most mouth-watering and heavenly herbivorous Asian dishes on the internet and laid them out for our SuSu’s below!

quick gyoza stir fry

With only 4 main ingredients and 20 mins from start to finish there is no excuse not to give this vegan stir-fry a go. A bit of trivia for you; we cooked this up in Gok Wan’s kitchen when we made our ad.

Serves 2

ingredients

• 8 itsu vegetable fusion gyoza
• 1 red pepper
• 4 tender stem broccoli
• 1 courgette
• a few dashes of soy sauce
• a glug of toasted sesame oil
• 2 pinches coriander

method

step 1
Cut the broccoli in half lengthways & slice the red onion, peppers and courgette
step 2
Pan-fry the gyoza as per pack instructions
step 3
While the gyoza are cooking, put your wok [or another frying pan] on a medium-high heat and add a glug of toasted sesame oil
step 4
Once hot, add the onions and pepper and fry until they start to go soft, but don’t let them catch
step 5
Add the broccoli and courgette along with a few of dashes of soy sauce and fry for a further 5 mins, making sure to stir frequently
step 6
Taste your stir-fry veg and add more soy sauce or sesame oil if necessary. You want it to be glazed nicely
step 7
Once the broccoli is tender, plate up your stir-fry veg and top with the pan fried gyoza
step 8
Finish with a splash of soy and a pinch of coriander

mushroom & tofu soba

Our classic ramen brilliant broth is based off a traditional Tsuyu broth recipe. This beautiful broth usually calls for dashi stock made using fish, but fear not vegans, our kitchen team have created a version with only plant based ingredients!

Serves 2

ingredients

• 1 carton itsu classic ramen brilliant’broth
• 160g soba noodles
• 1 bunch asparagus
• 1 handful mushrooms
• 80g firm tofu, sliced
• 2 radish
• 2 okra

method

step 1
Cook the soba noodles in boiling water for 7-minutes.

step 2
While the noodles are cooking, steam, boil, or pan fry the asparagus, okra and mushrooms

step 3
Add a carton of miso mushroom brilliant’broth to a small saucepan and heat to a simmer.

step 4
When the noodles are cooked, separate them into 2 bowls and top with the sliced tofu then pour over the simmering brilliant’broth.

step 5
Finish with the cooked asparagus, okra, mushrooms, and finely chopped radish.

vegan tofu banh mi

Banh mi this one’s a winner! This vegan twist on a classic will be enough for you and whoever you’re kind enough to share it to never look back at chicken or pork versions of old.

Serves 1

ingredients

• 1 sachet miso’easy
• 2 tsp tamari
• 1 tsp sriracha
• handful shredded carrots
• handful bean sprouts
• 4 sheets itsu sea salt crispy seaweed thins
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 100g tofu
• 1 tbsp sriracha

method

step 1
To create the spread for the baguette, mix together the miso’easy, tamari and sriracha in a small bowl. Set aside.

step 2
Make a pickling liquid by mixing the ginger, rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt together. Add the veggies to a bowl or jar and pour the pickling liquid over them. Set them aside and leave to pickle.

step 3
Fry the tofu in coconut oil gently until browned. Set aside.

step 4
Cut the baguette into the size of your choice for the perfect sandwich. Spread the miso sauce you made over the baguette and place the seaweed thins on top. Add the tofu and pickled veggies.

step 5
Drizzle some sriracha on top or a vegan sauce of your choice.

And that, dear readers, is how you do it! All it takes is a little Vegspiration! Now go forth into your kitchens and be adventurous. This is only the beginning of your Asian Vegan Adventure!