This Vegan Basil "Chicken" Has a Secret

When I served this vegan Basil Chicken to meat-eating guests the other day, they were blown away when I told them there was no meat or fish in the dish. How did you do it? they asked.

While turning a meat dish into a vegan alternative will always involve trade-offs, by choosing the right dish and getting creative with your choice of ingredients you can create a similar dish thats just as delicious as the original. When considering how to substitute your ingredients, keep in mind that the goal is to reproduce the texture, taste and flavor of the meat.

The texture of ground meat is fairly easy to mimic using firm tofu thats been frozen, thawed and thoroughly washed. The process creates a crumbly vegetarian meat thats very similar in texture to ground meat.

Getting the taste and flavor right is a bit more of a challenge. Without the chicken or fish sauce, the dish lacks ingredients rich in amino acids that stimulate the umami taste receptors on your tongue. This is what normally gives meat and fish its savory taste. While no vegetable is going to taste exactly like chicken, mushrooms have the meatiest flavor and when browned, the Maillard reaction accentuates this similarity.

For the fish sauce, Ive found that the closest vegan substitute is shiro shoyu(?????) white soy sauce. Its a Japanese soy sauce thats light amber in color, has a fairly neutral flavor, and provides a boatload of umami. Its not going to have the same aroma as fish sauce, but if you plug your nose and dab some on your tongue youd be hard pressed to tell the difference. It can be difficult to find in the US, but Ive seen it at Mitsuwa and its also available online.

Stir-fried along with plenty of garlic, onions and basil, these ingredients produce a delicious meat-free dish thats more than just a second-rate substitute for the real thing.