Southern dinner

Who says that southern food can't be vegan! My favorite band, The Drive-By Truckers, came to Boulder last night. We decided to cook a southern dinner before the show. We made biscuits, fried pickles, hushpuppies, fried okra, pulled "pork" and sweet tea. Sara brought some amazing greens to complement all of the fried cornmeal.



I used this recipe for the hush puppies, although I ended up having to add a ton more soymilk to get the right consistency.


The batter.


Frying the puppies. Use lots of oil and make sure it's hot! Use a thermometer if you have to.


The puppies should get nice and golden brown like this.

I used this vegan biscuit recipe for the first time and it came out really, really well. You want to just barely work the dough. Folding it over a few times helps get that nice flaky, layered consistency.

For the pickles and okra I used the same breading.

Wash: 2 cups unsweetened soymilk
           2 Tbsp egg replacer (I use a blend of potato starch and xanthan gum)

Breading: 1.5 cup fine cornmeal
                 0.5 cup all-purpose flour
                 0.5 cup chickpea flour
                2 Tbsp salt
                1 Tbsp cayenne
                2 tsp dried herbs

Make sure your pickles and okra are cold. I just use frozen okra pieces and let them thaw for a bit.


Dip the pickles or okra in the wash, and then transfer to the breading. For the pickles, repeat this step.



Fry in hot oil.

Ta da!