Over 20 years ago, Hawaiian Electric sponsored a healthy recipe contest that featured a mixed plate of prizes including a 3 day trip to the Big Island including accommodations at the King Kamehameha Hotel. Because Hawaiian Electric was still airing their weekly Electric Kitchen show (it ceased production in 2005), the grand prize winner would also be featured in an episode creating their winning dish on television. And as luck would have it, I won the grand prize with my vegetarian Chili Lentil Loaf. However, about a week before the winner was announced, Electric Kitchen approached me about creating healthy side dishes for their Thanksgiving episode and later when it was announced that I won their recipe contest, asked me if I could graciously allow the runner-up to appear on the recipe contest episode since the two episodes were on successive weeks. I agreed even if I saw no reason viewers wouldn’t want to watch The Rock two weeks in a row… okay, maybe The Pebble.
Why Vegan?
Back in 1997, my sister lived with Mom and still was a strict vegan including what she wore (no leather goods). I say “still” since she’s converted to carnivore ways including flavoring her bacon with food. But back then, we always had to create vegan dishes especially during the holidays since my sister didn’t cook a lot and since I didn’t have a lot of time to create Thanksgiving side dish recipes for the Electric Kitchen program, I just demonstrated what was cooked at the Tatsumoto household.
Vegan Dressing
It is dressing as it’s cooked on its own and if you place vegan stuffing into the cavity of a turkey, it’s not vegan once those turkey drippings infuse the stuffing. Plus I’m not a fan of stuffing like Ms S since stuffing gets a little too wet for my tastes and I learned a long time ago that stuffing the cavity of a large turkey simply promotes that unwanted Thanksgiving guest, Sal Monella. So even if I make regular dressing with real pork sausage, I still cook it on the stovetop by itself.
Along with the usual cubes of dried bread – yes, I purchase bags of dried, cubed bread because if you cube your own fresh bread and it’s not dried enough, leads to dressing mushiness – I add the usual onions, celery and chestnuts along with fresh minced rosemary and sage. The only difference is the sausage and stock as my favorite is the Morning Star sausage which crumbles nicely like pork sausage and vegetable stock in place of chicken stock. And other than being a vegan side dish, the only noticeable difference is the dressing doesn’t feel as “oily” in the mouth due to a lack of pork fat. Since Sis has moved to the Valley Isle, I haven’t made this dressing for a while and actually prefer a mochi rice based dressing with lup cheong, shiitake, takenoko, water chestnuts and chestnuts spiced with Chinese 5-spice powder, shoyu and hoisin sauce sprinkled liberally with chopped fresh cilantro… But I still like bread-based dressing though not served as-is but rather placed in a waffle maker to crisp the outer layer which you should try… I actually purchased an electric specifically for this application after viewing it on Diners, Drive-Inns and Dives though I now also place Tater Tots and other non-waffle goodies in the waffle maker…
Vegetable Gratin
I also created a Vegetable Gratin that wasn’t redolent of artery clogging cream and cheeses but dressed in a light vinaigrette and was simply a warm, colorful salad. The gratin was lightly sprinkled with cheese albeit a vegan cheese substitute but once again, since Sis doesn’t reside in Kaneohe anymore, I use real grated Parmigiano for its umami qualities and technically, with just cheese still qualifies the dish as vegetarian, just not vegan.
Fresh Cranberry Sauce
For my last side dish on Electric Kitchen, I created a fresh cranberry sauce instead of the usually canned cranberry sauce complete with the perfect mold of the can. It was a basic recipe I found in the bible of cooking, The Joy of Cooking and simply consisted of water, sugar, fresh cranberries and orange juice. However, since then we found a recipe that also adds diced pears, honey, cinnamon and star anise and since then, we’ve never made any other recipe for cranberry sauce.
I searched the internet especially on You Tube to look for a clip of my appearance on the Electric Kitchen but it’s probably so old, Hawaiian Electric only has the original reel-to-reel version. Not to relive my “glory” days but it’s probably one of the last vestiges to prove that I once had a full head of black hair that’s now been sadly reduced simply to freckled scalp… But you can go to the Hawaiian Electric website and re-create these recipes for vegan or vegetarian family members this Thanksgiving.
And for posterity’s sake, I’ll include my winning healthy recipe for my vegetarian Chili Lentil Loaf which I still make and usually stuff into whole wheat pita pockets or crumble over diced lettuce and tomatoes with salsa on multi-grain rice for my own vegetarian version of the classic Okinawan Taco Rice.
Vegetarian Chili Lentil Loaf
1 cup dried lentils
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 can (15 oz) reduced-sodium kidney beans, drained
1 can (15oz) reduced sodium black beans, drained
1 can (4 oz) roasted green chilies, drained
1 can (4 oz) chopped olives, drained
1 medium tomato, chopped
2 tablespoons salt-free chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon dried cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
3 egg whites
1 to 1 & ½ cup quick oats
I’ve changed the award-winning recipe a little by adding more lentils and adding a 2nd can of beans, the black beans. Rinse lentils and cook according to package directions; drain well. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan. In a small skillet, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, mash kidney beans into a coarse paste and lightly smash the black beans. Add the cooked lentils, onion and garlic mixture, green chilies, olives, tomato, seasonings, and egg whites; mix well. Stir in oats until mixture has the consistency of uncooked meatloaf. Press into prepared pan. Be aware that as a vegan loaf, it crumbles easier than a loaf made with animal protein. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes. Makes 6 to 8 servings.
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