Recipe Sun Jan 11 2009

Savory Vegan Crepes

By Chris Brunn

My friend and neighbor Rose walked across our hall to lend me a cookbook that her mother was the testing editor for years ago, Vegetarian Creations, and I simply had to try its recipe for savory crepes, or as the book puts it, "entrée" crepes. The crepes cooked up soft and tender, while somehow at the same time, embodying a substantial texture that easily gave way on each bite to the filling they were wrapped around. The seitan chorizo and tofu scram inside was robust, tantalizing, and nurturing - the kind of taste that you "never want to end," according to my friend and also neighbor Jessica, who arrived on the scene to try them, and who I later called in search of these words to describe the filling.

I blended the first three ingredients, as the book suggested: 1 3/4 cup milk (soy milk in my case), 1 tablespoon melted butter or oil (oil worked just fine), and 1/4 cup mashed tofu (drained). I used a food processor, but you could probably use a blender just as easily because the mixture doesn't get incredibly thick. When blended smooth, I added in 1 cup all purpose flour (the book calls for whole wheat pastry flour, which I'm curious to try and compare), 1/3 cup nutritional yeast, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. As instructed, I let the batter sit for at least one hour in the refrigerator.

To get the crepes cooking, I spooned out about 3 tablespoons of the batter onto the middle of a hot cast iron pan (deviating from the book's non-stick pan suggestion) on a low flame (deviated from the book's medium heat for the high heat retention of the cast iron), quickly following up with enough hard shakes to the pan to make the filling spread out along the pan's surface in a thin sheet (the book suggests to "tilt and swirl," but I found the batter to thick for this, at least on cast iron and with all purpose flour). When the top of the crepe starts to look dry, flip and wait for the other side to finish. Roll them up with a savory filling, like my tofu scram with seitan chorizo.

For the seitan chorizo and tofu scram, I sauteed half a chopped onion until soft, then added a cup or so of chopped mushrooms and cooked until soft and darkened. Then, when the veggies looked tender, I added 1/2 pound of firm tofu, crumbled between my fingers, and mixed in a sauce I combined from 2 tablespoons tahini, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and several dashes of Co-op image's hot sauce. I added 1/2 package of crumbled Upton's Naturals seitan chorizo into the pan. When the tofu had shriveled and the seitan was hot, I mixed in a handful of arugula for some green and turned off the heat. Spinach would work just fine, too. Enjoy.