Sequestration Meal #305

 

I'd been wanting to try this recipe for vegan schnitzel from Chef Jana for ages, and finally managed to find the energy to do it! Because the proteins in the schnitzel come mainly from oatmeal and flax, I wanted to amp up the protein content of the meal, so it occurred to me that the tempeh bacon in my fridge would probably go well in German potato salad, a natural accompaniment to schnitzel, in my mind. I made the German potato salad--something I've never made before and only recall ever eating at the age of six at a picnic and being weirded out that it was warm--based on an omnivore recipe I found at All Recipes. It's pretty easy to veganize German potato salad, because the only non-vegan thing in it is the bacon. After all that I was too tired to make anything to go alongside this other than sliced cucumber with salt and pepper. By the time I was finished (as you can tell from my terrible lighting) it was pretty dark outside, and that isn't common for me at dinner in June.

The schnitzel does not pretend to be meaty and makes no strides toward meatiness; I think it might have benefited from some no-chicken broth rather than water to soften up the flax and oatmeal. It has some textural contrast with cabbage and onions, but otherwise has the same texture you'd expect from a patty made of oatmeal and flax. I've loved all the Chef Jana recipes I've made before now, so these were a bit of a disappointment, but fortunately they were pretty cheap to make--the most expensive thing in them were the corn flake coating, and that's only because corn flakes aren't typically vegan around here (for some reason, American cereals seem to have cholecalciferol added to them) and a box of the actually vegan kind cost me about $5 (because I had it shipped, long ago when I was first considering this recipe). So it was no huge loss that these were a bust, other than the time I took to make them.

The potato salad, on the other hand, redeemed the meal. It still intrigues me. I liked it better the next day (cold) but it wasn't bad warm. It was the perfect sweet/sour/salty blend. I love how so many cultures have their own potato salads!