Vegan Chili Rellenos

Howdy there,

These are my chili rellenos made with baby bella mushrooms, brown rice, walnuts and fresh herbs from the garden There is also a layer of soft tofu underneath the stuffing that you can't see. The sauce is a mild tomato with onion and peppers and the cheez is Toffuti brand, which by the way, melts very quickly. If you don't get your dish out of the oven in time the slices of cheez will disintegrate into your food.


3 big Poblano Peppers

Stuffing

1 cup of cooked brown rice

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup any kind of mushrooms, chopped

1/2 cup walnuts

2 or 3 cloves of garlic

1 heaping tablespoon fresh savory herbs such as basil, oregano, thyme, cilantro, rosemary etc..

1 tablespoon soy sauce

salt, pepper and an pinch of cayenne

2 tablespoons of canola oil or 1/2 cup water

1/2 lb soft tofu

Tomato Sauce

1 can cubed tomatoes

1/4 cup onions

2 cloves of garlic

Slice Toffuti Mozzarella cheez.

Put the poblanos in the oven on high heat (like 400 f or higher). Cook the poblanos until they blister all around. You will want to turn them so that all sides get a nice blister.

When all is blistered, place the poblanos in a plastic container and cover them. You can use a big old ziploc if you have to but treat them delicately. Set aside.

Take the onion, mushrooms, walnuts, garlic and herbs and give them a rough chop in the chop chop (food processor). If you don't have a chop chop, just mince these suckers up very fine. This is a mixture I use constantly as a fake meat. It has the earthy base note of meat with the mushrooms and the chewy texture with the walnuts.

At this point you can do one of two things; you can either saute this mash in oil or steam it in water. If your on a diet do the water. Put the 1/2 cup water in a saute pan with the soy sauce and dump the mix into the pan and spread it around evenly. Cover the saute pan with whatever you can. You can use another saute pan or a plate if you don't have a cover. Let this cook on medium heat for 3 to five minutes. After you open it up you can just stir it around and cook it like normal (add the rest of your seasonings) until it's done. If it's dry add a little more water. You need a little juice because you are about to add it to your cooked brown rice. Add your brown rice to the mix, stir and taste for flavor. Set aside.

For the sauce; Puree all ingredients in the chop chop then transfer to a saute pan and let it simmer.

Now you are ready to assemble.

Peel the poblanos carefully. You may want to do this near the sink with the water running but don't put the poblanos under the running water. Just use it to clean your hands. You'll see what I mean. You can leave the stem and all of its parts intact.

Cut a slit in the pepper. Stuff the pepper ,first with a generous portion of soft tofu, then on the top with your mash put this in the oven for about twenty minutes and then add a few slices of the fake cheez. That cheez will melt in about two minutes. Pull the rellenos out and place them on a plate on top of the tomato sauce and your done. I put those in the saute pan with the tomato sauce because I wasn't sure what time the Old Man was getting home and I didn't want the cheez to disintegrate.

Wally and Larry from the Progressive Forum enjoying a Chili Relleno casserole I made with the extra intredients (I always make way too much food)