Vegan Miscellaneous Things

So before my massive post on Cambodia I was looking at smaller things to talk about. I found three things to discuss. One was Coexistence Vegan Cafe in Dapsimni. 

Coexistence Vegan Cafe is basically what it is in the title; it is a cafe that offers vegan goodies. It is very close to where I live and I absolutely love it! The ladies are nice and the food is decent. They have a simple menu so they could focus more on quality over quantity, and they seem to portray a love for animals and a love for vegan culture. I think restaurants like these offer a bit of humanity to the lesser known and less popular parts of Korea. Dapsimni isn't like itaewon or hongdae, so there isn't a large foreigner base or even a liberal viewpoint. Having Coexistence Vegan Cafe in Dapsimni is like finding a designer bag at a discounted store, or finding a great book at the library. Coexistence Vegan Cafe is a great place and I highly recommend it. Go out of exit four and walk down the street. Turn left at the fruit seller guy and go straight for about four blocks. Coexistence Vegan Cafe will be on your left. It is a fun bright yellow building. Also there is an animal rescue right next door so you should check it out.

Cafe Sukkra is a jazzy little cafe in Hongdae, and proves the point that Hongdae is actually good. While there might be a huge uproar on this confession, i feel like to should make it, I personally did not like Hongdae. I always figured it was an area for wannabe hipsters and huge fraternity assholes. However there is a calmer side to the district. Going left, from exit nine you can see a more relaxed setting. Cafe Sukkra exemplifies that feeling. It offers a healthier meal set, with large vegan options to make you feel comfortable and less processed. The better thing is that Whole*istic provides their cooking there. So you can experience the deliciousness of raw vegan food. There is even vegan hot chocolate which is rich and delicious all at the same time.

For some strange reason I forgot that there is very few vegan or even healthy items in South Korea and convinced myself at the notion that I can cook totally gourmet vegan meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I have become a lot wiser to that foolish thought but beforehand I managed to scrounger up a chia seed pudding for one of my breakfasts. The chia seed pudding is very easy to make. Basically all you need is....

1/2 cup of chia seeds

a smidge of maple syrup

a smidge of cinnamon 

1 cup of soy milk

Mix that shit all together, keep it in the fridge for about 12 hours, and there you have it.

I'll try to throw up some more posts soon!

More Of My Crazy Vegan Cooking

So, I am so far keeping up with my promise. I have another entry. 

It's full of food, cause that's all I care about now.

It's the only thing I care about.

#1

Another delicious stir fry

Honestly I think I mastered the stir fry, but it's probably considered the easiest thing to make. Whatever, I'm damn proud of myself. I made this a while ago so I might be a tad off my recipe...

• 1/3 of a pumpkin 
• 1/3 of a onion
• 4 garlics
• 3 bok choy bulbs
• 1/4 of enoki mushrooms
• 1/4 of a tofu block
• oil
• nutritional yeast
• braggs liquid amino

I basically do what I usually do with all my stir fries. I put the oil in a saucepan with some chopped up garlic and onion, and I wait for all of it to heat up and get nice and soft. After that I throw a dash of nutritional yeast to get it crispy and so I can have my B12 vitamins. Then I put in the mushrooms, pumpkins, and bok choy in that order. I top it up with a sprig of braggs and some diced up tofu, and I'm done!

#2 

A soufflé! jk it's another stir fry 

I know I shouldn't write about every stir fry I make, but seriously I am super proud of what I make.

• 1/3 of a pumpkin 
• 1/3 of a onion
• 5 or 6 of those little bouquets of broccoli
• 4 garlics
• 3 bok choy bulbs
• 1/4 of enoki mushrooms
• 1/4 of a tofu block
• oil
• nutritional yeast
• braggs liquid amino

Basically it is the same instructions as #1 but this incorporates broccoli. Try putting the broccoli in after the mushrooms so it can be a bit soft but still crispy.

#3

The god warrior salad

This was a special treat. It contains one thing I can't find in South Korea, and one thing that is hard to find in South Korea. Quinoa is as foreign to South Koreans as peeing standing up is to me, and avocado is only found in the English owned giant supermarket HomePlus, which is taxicab drive away. Basically I combined the two to make one of my favorite dishes I always made in California. I'm going to call it the god warrior salad because that is what I felt like when I was eating it; I felt like a god warrior.

• nutritional yeast
• 1/4 of a cup of quinoa
• 1/2 of a avocado
• pinch of salt
• 3 or 4 red lettuce leaves chopped and diced

Boil the quinoa or cook the quinoa in a pot. Mash the 1/2 of the avocado and add a pinch of nutritional yeast and the salt. Once you have a great mashed consistency, mix it with the quinoa. Once that is done, throw it on the bed of lettuce and then bob's your uncle. Well, actually, I don't know much about your family.

Are they nice?

Long overdue... Vegan foods I've been making in Seoul South Korea

So it has been a boring couple of weeks. So much so that there has LITERALLY been nothing to write about. 

I haven't really gone out.

I haven't really eaten out.

I just have worked and chilled at my little apartment.

So I haven't written anything, mostly because I didn't want anyone to read, "hi I didn't do anything today", seven or eight times a week. It makes me look pretty boring.

However I've been accumulating pictures I could write about. One of those were vegan foods I've been making to survive. I thought, hey I should share this with the world.

So here are two meals I've made that are relatively easy and very much vegan.

#1

Stir Fry 

I'm going to have a taxicab confession moment that might be too revealing. No, I have not eaten any meat, and no, I have not burned down my apartment or anything but, I am getting sick and tired of rice.

Yes, I might have written about this before, but I am getting sick of rice.

I mean it this time.

I am just not a heavily carbohydrate person. My dad is gluten-free, and I came from the land of wanting to be perfect.

Even our signs are perfect

At home, I barely ate any rice and bread. I never ate pasta, and  pizza was the sign of the devil. 

Hey wazzup Greg Harlin?

So arriving in Korea I've been finding the abundance of rice to be a tad overwhelming. So I've been making stir fries...

refer to the original pic

Stir fries are simple to make in your small Korean kitchen. If you are going to be a new traveler to South Korea, don't think that you'll get the exceptional big apartment with the massive kitchen that you've always wanted... chances are, you won't. 

This stir fry was made with these ingredients...

1. Tofu. --> Maybe about a quarter of a packet. Diced and quartered
1. If you are a medium-small sized girl that is enough for two servings.  
2. Enokitake mushrooms. --> Maybe about 1/5th of the packet. Cut into small 1/2 inch length pieces.
1. Generally the Enokitake mushroom packet provides a lot of mushrooms. I like my stir fry with a lot of mushroom crunch to it so I throw in a lot.
3. Eggplant. --> 1/3 or 1/2 of the skinny eggplant cut up and diced.
1. WARNING. For some weird reason it makes the rest of the meal turn slight blue-purple color.
4. Yellow Bell peper. --> Dice 1/4 of the bell pepper into small squares.
1. MAN! I used to hate pepper but I love it now!
5. Onion.--> Dice 1/4 of the onion into squares
6. Garlic.--> One garlic clove. Cut and dice.
7. Bragg's Liquid Aminos All Purpose Seasoning--> a few squirts. (I KNOW THIS DOESN'T HELP BUT I DON'T HAVE A MEASURING SYSTEM FOR THIS!!!)
8. Red Star Nutritional Yeast Flakes--> a few shakes. (I KNOW THIS DOESN'T HELP BUT I DON'T HAVE A MEASURING SYSTEM FOR THIS!!!)
9. A small amount of canola or olive oil for frying.

This is how I cooked it...

1. I started by frying the onions and garlic in the frying pan.
2. I fry it with some Red Star. 
3. Once it gets soft and crispy, I throw in the bell pepper, mushroom, and eggplant.
4. I give the vegetables maybe three or four minutes so that I know the veggies aren't hard. 
5. I squirt a bit of Bragg's.
6. Once everything looks and smells cooked, I throw in the the tofu. 
7. I mix it all up and them I'm done!!

#2

Black beans and cooked eggplant and bell pepper

Ok so I made this one time for my lunch at work. I went to the famous HomePlus (which is like a korean walmart or target) and bought about four canned black beans. 

This meal was a lot easier to make...

Heat the black beans in a pot.

In a different frying pan, stir fry some garlic and onions with some yeast.

Add pepper, eggplants and Bragg's afterwards.

YOU'RE DONE!

WARNING! Make sure that the black beans do not have any animal derivative products. 

I promise to keep adding more posts.