The Guardian - 29.08.2019

Section:GDN 12 PaGe:6 Edition Date:190829 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 28/8/2019 17:00 cYanmaGentaYellowbla

• The Guardian
  6 Thursday 29 August 2019

China

The c hef Andrew

Wong is baffl ed

by western food

manufacturers

pouring money into developing

mock meats. “Why waste your time

R&Ding this stuff? It’s been done.

Just go into Chinatown,” advises the

chef-owner at London’s Michelin-

starred A Wong.

Since Buddhism’s arrival in China

a bout 2,000 years ago, regularly

abstaining from meat has been a

feature of Chinese life. Wong says a

meat-minimal approach to eating is

now “ingrained”.

“In every province , people

understand food is medicine and

eating too much meat is not good. In

old recipes, there’s never a massive

amount of protein. ”

In the Forbidden City’s imperial

court, that absence of meat spawned

highly playful food theatre in which

other ingredients were used to

mimic meat. Today, Chinese chefs

and food producers simulate meat

and fi sh textures using vegetables,

gluten and tofu in endless ingenious

dishes and products. In these,

mushrooms might pass for eel or

off al, for instance.

Despite being widely available

in the UK’s Chinese supermarkets,

many of the core ingredients are

little known outside Chinese

kitchens. “When westerners think

of tofu,” Wong says, “they think of

one hard, claggy 80s product, not

the variety and fi nesse in 50 types of

tofu all specifi c to individual dishes.

Now you can get tofu as smooth as

cr eme brulee. Bean curd skin, a tofu

by-product, is versatile, too. You can

fry and crisp it, steam things in it to

give them a skin-like texture .”

All this mimicry is underpinned

by numerous fermented ingredients

that build umami fl avours into

dishes: “Bean curd or chilli bean

paste, dried black beans, preserved

vegetables – these all add layers of

savouriness that fool your brain into

thinking there must be meat there.”

Ethiopia

Even within

Orthodox

Christianity, the

Ethiopian Tewahedo

church is hardcore on fasting.

F ollowers abstain from meat and

dairy for up to 180 days of the year.

“It’s very common to be vegan every

Wednesday and Friday,” says Tutu

Melaku, the chef-owner at Tutu’s

Ethiopian Table in Reading, who

estimates : “The Ethiopian diet is

70% vegan.”

Some Ethiopian staples, such as

injera, a tangy, pancake-like bread

made from fermented batter, can

take years to master. “Sometimes,

even I don’t get what I really want,”

laughs Melaku, who uses wheat

fl our, not the traditional teff , in

her injera. Export, she believes, is

exacerbating the soaring cost of teff

back home, so she adapted: “Why do

I need to bring teff from my people,

taking what they can’t even aff ord?

I can’t do it.”

However, from breakfast beso, a

pan-toasted barley fl our porridge,

to tikil gomen, a cabbage and fried

potato dish seasoned with whole

jalapeño, there are easier ways into

Ethiopian cooking. On fasting days,

families often enjoy beyaynetu,

individual vegetarian platters where

dishes such as fasolia (green beans

in tomato sauce), gomen (simmered

greens), shiro (a highly seasoned

chickpea fl our paste similar in

texture to pease pudding) and thick,

spicy wat stews are all served on an

injera fl atbread.

From misir (red lentil) to atakilt

(cabbage, potato and carrot), wat

stews of just a few ingredients,

perfumed with hot ber bere spice

mix, are central to Ethiopian

cooking. Find a high-quality berbere

and take time with the wat’s onion

base. The onions must be fi nely

chopped and gently sweated until

utterly broken down, which can

take over an hour. “We do

everything by the book and by

hand,” says Melaku.

Food

L

ike most revolutions,

the current surge in

meat-free eating takes

much of its energy from

its newness. This is a

hip and sexy break with

the past, a movement with Silicon

Valley solutions to the historic

restrictions of a meat-free diet.

Consequently, we hear a lot

about trashy vegan street food,

plant-based wellness and futuristic

“bleeding” burgers, but little from

those nations where meat-light,

vegetarian and vegan food has

fl ourished for centuries. It is bizarre.

Such cuisines off er huge inspiration

for anyone keen to increase the

creativity and fl avour of their meat-

free cooking.

‘Mock

meat?

It’s

been

done!’

While veganism

is growing rapidly

in the west, other

parts of the world

have had meat-

free cuisines for

centuries. Mining

them is key to a rich

and varied plant-

based diet. By

Tony Naylor

Kim-Joy

bakes

Tangzhong is more commonly used

for Asian breads. It makes these

chelsea buns much lighter and

fl uffi er than usual.

First make the tangzhong. Whisk the

fl our and water in a saucepan, then

switch to a spatula and continue to

stir over a medium heat until the

mixture has reached 65C. Pour into a

bowl, cover with clingfi lm and place

in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Put the milk, butter, sugar, salt,

egg and tangzhong in a bowl and

whisk together.

Add the fl our and yeast. If using a

mixer, knead for 10 minutes with the

dough hook attachment. If working

by hand, use a spoon to combine ,

turn out on to a fl oured surface

and knead for 10-15 minutes. Keep

kneading until the dough is smooth

• it will be a little tacky , but don’t add
  extra fl our.
  Place in a lightly oiled bowl and
  cover with clingfi lm. Leave to rise
  until two to three times its original
  size ( one to two hours).
  Prepare the fi lling. Mix the
  cardamom with 100g pistachios and
  the caster sugar.
  When the dough has risen, roll it
  out into a long rectangle on a lightly
  fl oured surface. Brush the surface
  with the butter, then sprinkle over
  the pistachio mixture. Roll up (from
  the longest side) into a tight scroll.
  Slice into 12 pieces. Arrange on a
  baking tray (slightly separated ).
  Leave to rise until doubled in size.
  H eat the oven to 200C/180C fan/ gas
  mark 6.
  B rush with beaten egg, then bake
  for about 20 minutes until golden
  brown.
  Meanwhile, make the syrup. Put
  the sugar and water in a pan and stir
  until the sugar has dissolved. Then
  stir in the rose water.
  When the buns have fi nished
  baking, immediately brush them
  with rose syrup, sprinkle with rose
  petals and the leftover pistachio,
  then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
  If you like, you can add edible eyes
  to one or two, where the pistachio
  fi lling looks like a mouth.

Prep 20mins

plus rising

(about 3 hours)

Cooking 20 mins

Serves 9

Ingredients

For the tangzhong:

25g strong white

fl our

100g water

For the dough:

125g whole milk,

warmed

40g unsalted

butter, melted

60g caster sugar

7g salt

1 large egg

350g strong white

fl our

7g fast-action/

instant yeast

For the fi lling

2 tsp cardamom

(from pods, and

ground to a fi ne

powder in spice

grinder or mortar

and pestle. You can

use pre-ground

cardamom but the

fl avour won’t be as

strong)

140g shelled

pistachio nuts,

ground in a food

processor

60g caster sugar

80g unsalted

butter, melted

For the rose water

sweet glaze

80g caster sugar

50g water

1 ½ tsp rose water

Plus

1 egg for brushing

on top before

baking

Edible rose petals

Edible eyes

(optional)

Pistachio, rose and cardamom

tangzhong chelsea buns

Jamaica: Ital, a belief

system focused on

increasing “livity”

or life-energy,

whose purest adherents eat only

organic, vegan food, developed

alongside Rastafarianism in 30s

Jamaica. Check out the bean and

pumpkin curries and stews at

Negril in Brixton, south London,

or Liverpool’s street-food outfi t

Ital Fresh. Think jerk-marinated

caulifl ower wings.

Vietnam: Mahayana

Buddhist dietary

rules gave rise to

dedicated meat-

free dishes and veggie versions of

everyday staples, such as banh mi

sandwiches and noodle bowls. For

his much-praised book Vegetarian

Vi e t Nam (£25, WW Norton),

Cameron Stauch spoke to monks

and home cooks to get the skinny on

daily dishes and specials, such as the

Twelve Predestined Affi nities Salad.

Three more meat-free hot spots

w o a J p N o I c

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