Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Chili-Chocolate Mole Seitan

Hi everybody! I'm back at home, after a busy couple of weeks in Europe. I had a great time - which I guess goes without saying - visiting friends in the Netherlands and Germany. After a few days of sleeping on couches, the ultimate budget accomodation, I headed off to be a happy tourist in Prague, Cesky Krumlov, Venice, and Paris. This was my first trip to Europe, and something I've put off doing for years, so I was thrilled and so grateful to finally go.

I'm skipping the full slide show presentation for the moment (so much to say!) to get this vegan food blog deal rolling again. Today's star is a chili and chocolate mole recipe test for the upcoming Farm Sanctuary cookbook. I don't think my photo comes close to capturing how good this was - it was made with lots of home-ground spices, seeds, chilis, and nuts, with tomatoes and a heaping helping of cocoa. The flavor was deep and complex, and I'm glad I still have leftovers. I simmered the mole with seitan chunks from Veganomicon. After boiling the seitan, I cut them into chunks and pan-fry them for a few minutes, and they develop a nice golden-brown color and slightly crispy exterior. Definitely my new favorite seitan approach.

That's about all for now. I think I'm finally starting to catch up on sleep from the past couple of weeks, and once I sort through the pile of photos from the trip I'll get a couple of them up here. I have some more FS recipe tests I'm excited about trying, and hope to get going with some recipes from Europe - no lack of inspiration. In the meantime, as much as I love being out there in the world, I'm happy to be back to my own kitchen and the dogs. Look forward to catching up on everybody's blogs!

8 comments:

Sal - AlienOnToast said...

Your chili choc mole looks great - looking forward to seeing some food inspired by your trip!

Anonymous said...

whoa baby! ya came back and ya churn that from the kitchen!
well done!

Welcome back welcome back.

Wow you had some fantastic travels buddy!dont forget to share your piccies Mikey!

Ohhh yea I moved while you were away. Had too many problems with the ol' blogger.

Jenn said...

That looks fantastic! Glad you had a good trip.

janelle said...

Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful trip! I would love to visit Europe someday. Your food looks so awesome!!

Bianca said...

Glad you're back! That mole seitan looks fan-freakin'-tastic! Would you believe I've never had real mole sauce? I made a sweet-spicy version (sans the onion-y stuff) for mole cupcakes once...but never had it the real way.

River (Wing-It Vegan) said...

Welcome back, Mike! Your trip sounds like so much fun, I would love to go to Prague some day!

Your seitan looks fabulous, as do all your dishes! Enjoy your kitchen and the doggies!

Lisa said...

Welcome back! The FS cookbook sounds like it will be such a winner.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back Mike! The Chilli Chocolate Mole Seitan looks incredible! Making me hungry now....
Looking forwards to hearing more about your travels >:o)