I pretty much grew up on seafood. Fish, clams, crab legs, lobster tails, shrimp, scallops...my dad and I ate these all the time. Each New Year's Eve we'd have a seafood fest with all of our favorite seafood, and my dad would make crab cakes. As you can imagine, we were quite the connoisseurs of seafood, and were quite particular about our seafood. So when my dad said these vegan crab cakes were better than the real thing...well, that's saying something.
Crab cakes ingredients:
1/2 onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 leek, cleaned well and diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2-3 slices whole grain bread, ground into breadcrumbs and toasted in a skillet
1 can young green jackfruit in brine, rinsed and drained
1/2 - 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
2 sheets of Seaweed Snacks (or 1/2 sheet Nori sushi seaweed)
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder (optional)
1/4 cup hummus
2-4 T cashew ranch dressing or your favorite vegan mayonnaise
1/2 T Dijon mustard
1 T dried parsley (or small handful fresh, minced)
Vegan remoulade: I added whatever amounts sounded good to me.
Hummus, about 1/4 cup
Vegan cashew ranch dressing, about 2 T
Hot sauce to taste
Few dashes of sweet paprika
Few dashes of garlic powder
Few dashes of onion powder
Dash of smoked paprika
Dash of creole seasoning (optional)
A drop or two of vegan Worcestershire sauce
Roughly 2 T sweet pickle relish
Make the breadcrumbs: Place bread in a food processor and pulse several times to make crumbs. Place crumbs in a skillet over medium heat and cook until toasted, stirring frequently.
Place onion, celery, leek and red bell pepper in a skillet over medium heat. Add a splash of water as needed to prevent sticking, and saute until veggies are softened.
The canned jackfruit I find comes in wedges. Embedde within these wedges are seeds and the seed coverings. The seed coverings and seeds are edible from what I understand (but I'm not sure if canned jackfruit seeds need to be cooked first, or if they already are cooked as a canned item), but they have a texture I didn't want in this recipe, so I removed them. At the smaller end of the jackfruit wedge is a tougher core piece, and the larger end of the wedge is more tender fruit that can be pulled apart and shreds easily. I use this part for the "crab meat." Pull off as much of the shredded fruit as you can and place in a bowl. It will have a good deal of moisture , which is good, as it will help bind the crab cakes together.
Place the shredded jackfruit, seasonings, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, hummus and a small amount of ranch dressing (or mayo) in the pan. Add the toasted breadcrumbs.
Crumble the seaweed sheet in your hands and add to the pan.
Warm through, allowing the flavors to combine.
Once the mixture is cool enough to handle, form patties. Add a little more vegan ranch (or mayo) if needed to help bind the mixture together.
To cook: Lightly oil a skillet if needed to prevent sticking. Place patties in skillet and cook over medium heat for a few minutes on each side until they are browned and warmed through. Serve with remoulade.
Comments