Downtown Portland: I Dig Sonny Bowl - and anticipation

My latest lunch from Sonny Bowl -

$5. BBQ Soy Curls. Green Beans. Brown Rice. Sauce.

Comforty, wholesomey, lunchy. adorable.

SW 3rd and Stark.

Oh, Hey! PDX!:

• Try Vegan Week starts this weekend! I'm going to go to as many events as possible, and will definitely be at Vegan BBQ at 5pm tomorrow - Tofurkey and veggie bonanza!

• The U Can't Touch This! Vegan Prom is next Saturday night, the 22nd. I'm going nuts listening to 90s classics at work.

• Buy your tickets online or this weekend, late night, at the 12th and Hawthorne food carts - or at the Hawthorne Street Fair (old Daily Grind parking lot at 41st) or Sunday Parkways at Laurelhurst. $10 advance price! We'll have free cookies at the carts tonight! I'm going to try and make something from Isa's upcoming cookie book, of course. Stop by and say hi!

Baked BeerBQ Soy Curls Sandwich

Say that 10 times fast.

Soy Curls are an Oregon based product that I first tried at a food demo by the lovely Julie Hasson (she enlists me as a cheering section). They are Oregon based and are like big, 'chickeny' strips of tvp waiting to be flavored. You can order cute bags of them online from Food Fight! or if you're in Portland, buy them in bulk from the store. I know this is a tad hypey, but they're a fun change of pace from tofu, tempeh and seitan and cooler than tvp. I'm not much for faux meat, but there's something to the tender texture of soy curls that can be somewhat crispy on the outside, and well absorbing of flavor and again, the texture works.

Behold the BeerBQ sandwich:


And how it came to be:

The key to soy curlin' is to flavor the hydrating liquid.

• My liquid was a mix of boiling water, beer (an organic IPA) and hot sauce.

• I then drained the curls, lightly squeezing them of their juices, and tossed with a bit of bbq sauce, tamari and more beer.

• They sat in this marinade in the fridge for a few hours, while I ran errands, which including picking up some parbaked organic panini rolls and pickles.

• Then it came to the matter of baking - I have panfried them before with success, but I wanted to use less oil. So I set my oven to 350F, threw the curls with a couple mists of olive oil onto parchment paper on a baking sheet, and cooked for 20 something minutes, tossing a couple times.
  
• Then I sauced them with about 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce, cooked an additional 15 minutes or so, tossed, and then turned up the oven for an additional few minutes.

• And then I bunned em. And ate em.
  

Time to buy some more.