I am not a great fan of barbecue, and unlike many of my meat-eating friends, I have never tried the barbecued stands on the streets of China. Though I do think the act of barbecuing, (cooking food together outside, enjoying the sunshine and laughter…) is a hallmark of summer for many people. Sometimes the emotion that food invokes in people is much more important than the food itself. Perhaps this is also one of the reasons that many people are unwilling to give up eating meat; those dishes are keenly connected with their fond memories.

However, I don’t think people have to give up their food memories when nowadays mock meat alternatives are available. Soy protein or seitan products can be made to resemble the dishes they’re used to, without sacrificing a single hair of the animals. Isn’t that great? For instance, for this recipe, I made the famous Indonesian national dish, satay. It’s originally a marinated, skewed and grilled meat dish served with a sauce, and now I can also enjoy it with vegetables and soy protein chunks. The satay sauce I got is from Malaysia, and it’s made of coconut extract, onion, peanut, palm oil, tamarind, spices, salt, sugar and chili pepper. Luckily it happens to be vegan too (as most South Asian sauces contain shrimp sauce or fish sauce). ^O^ Now once in a while, I can also enjoy a bit of homemade, much cleaner (and arguably yummier) vegan barbecue at home!

Kitchen Gadgets: Oven

Ingredients

• 50g Soy Protein Chunks
• 1 zucchini
• 1 red pepper
• ½ yellow pepper
• ¼ corn starch
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp sea salt
• ¼ cup Satay Sauce
• 9 bamboo skewers

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C(392°F) and soak the bamboo skewers in the water.
2. Soak the soy protein chunks in the water for 15 mins, squeeze out the water.
3. Cut the vegetables into chunks.
4. Add soy protein chunks and vegetables into a pot, sprinkle corn starch, olive oil and sea salt, then add the lid and shake like crazy to let them coat evenly. Then add the satay sauce and continue shaking like crazy to mix everything throughly.
5. Dry the bamboo skewers, and skew the vegetable and soy protein chunks onto the skewers. Lay them out on a baking sheet in a single layer and bake for 20 mins. Serve hot!

Note

If you want it to be extra tasty, try adding extra satay sauce over the skewers!