And now the tofu version of this dish. I think I actually prefer it to the seitan, or I’m just getting better at preparing it.

Well, kinda. I knew I’d be short on time, so I got candied walnuts from Trader Joe’s. And their brand of microwave brown rice. But other than that, totally homemade.

I just realized I was supposed to garnish with sesame seeds. Whoops.

I found this awesometastic recipe here this morning, and in a rare fit of non-laziness, I made it when I came home from work.

Before I went vegan (or even vegetarian), there was this Chinese restaurant in Corona (my home town) that I used to frequent called Lotus Garden. They had a somewhat bizarre dish that I have yet to see elsewhere – honey walnut chicken. The chicken was sliced in very thin sheets, breaded and deep fried and served in a honey mayo sauce with walnuts. I loved it and it was one of the few dishes that I didn’t think I’d ever see again, let alone have a recipe fall into my lap. I decided to go with a carton of store bought chicken-style seitan to try and replicate what I remembered.

The recipe calls for you to make the sauce from scratch, so it was the first time I’ve made my own vegan mayo. Yeah, real difficult. In fact, I think once I run out of Veganaise, I might just start making it myself. Also, you candy walnuts, which was a first for me. Again, it’s not real hard. I suggest that when you pour the walnuts back on to the baking sheet to use a spatula to pry it all up before it gets cold, but after it’s started to solidify. In hindsight, wax paper might be a really good idea, too.

I’d also never really had any experience with battering and frying anything (yeah, I know, I need more cooking experience), so that was a semi-frightening experience. All in all, I didn’t set anything on fire, but I will publicly admit to being dumb enough to pour water into a pan that still had warm oil in it. Good going, me.

The dish did come out slightly different than what I remember having at the restaurant, which is to be expected. It tastes exactly the same, but I remember that they deep fried the chicken and it had a thicker batter… and the sauce was gooier? I can’t place my finger on it, maybe it had been reduced or had more honey in it than there’s agave in the recipe? At this point I’m just nit-picking, because it was a truly wonderful recipe. Thanks, veglicious!

Secret confession #2: I forgot to make rice for the dish, so I resorted to a package of Annie Cheung’s microwave brown rice. I suck.