Health is Wealth--Eat Me

If you're vegan and accustomed to buying Health is Wealth chik nuggets for your son (or appreciate a wee bit of comfort food yourself), stop forking over $5 for each box right now. Y'all can make them yourself in the comfort of your own kitchen and pjs. And I think I've got the start of a darn good recipe. But in the words of LeVar Burton, don't take my word for it.

Vegan Nuggets of Gold
1 cup cooked white beans (preferably not chickpeas. I used great northern white beans)
1/2 c vital wheat gluten flour
1/2 c panko
2 T soy sauce
any seasonings you'd like to encourage a chicken flavor

For breading purposes you'll need flour, water and 1 cup more panko.

Start with some soft, moist beans. I had a big batch of great northern white beans that I had cooked up with 5-6 cloves of garlic the previous day. Add the remaining ingredients and mix together with your hands, kneading until you see strands of gluten forming. The consistency should be firm and slightly moist, but not drippy or goopey or anything too wet. If your mixture is too dry, add 1/4 cup or less of water or vegetable broth. It should not easily break apart and should resemble something akin to playdough.

Take a thumbful of the gluteny goodness and form it into whatever shape you want. I went for the traditional nugget shape, but no reason to avoid heart shaped nuggets for your sweetie. Just make sure they aren't too thick. You want something about 1/4 inch thick.

Then dip these shaped nuggets into batter and then into a bowl of panko. Now I'm not an expert at breading and frying, so I just threw some flour, water and seasonings into a bowl and mixed up a simple batter for the first bath. Then I tossed the nuggets into a bowl of panko and put them in a pan of hot oil. Fry them for a few minutes (depending on how hot your oil is) on each side. They should be lightly golden brown. Let them rest on a cloth napkin (or paper towel if you must) and then serve immediately.

When you're done here's what they look like. (notice there's only one left. i almost ate mine all before i remembered to take a picture!)


Mr. Man says they are very chewy, which he likes. He says they have a nice, hard, crunchy outside, which he likes. He says he likes them better than the chick nuggets we buy. According to Mr. Man, they're best served with ketchup. On a ten-thumb scale, he rates them 9 1/2 thumbs.

I would agree with his review. They were soft inside, crunchy fried goodness outside, though I recommend them with BBQ sauce.

Enjoy!!!

P.S. These were inspired by the abominable Isa's recipe for Chickpea Cutlets from Veganomicon.