I have had a weird craving for ranch dressing lately. My friend Danny, knowing my penchant for cosplay, suggested perhaps I was just craving dressing ranch. I do love me an episode of Bonanza and I look smashing in a cowboy hat. But no. It was definitely a craving for ranch dressing.
But when I looked at recipes they tended to be mayonnaise based (blech) and need buttermilk, but hey--I could veganise anything, so I knew I could work around the buttermilk issue. And yes, I am fully aware that I could use vegan mayo...but mayo by any other name would taste just as gross. (As Shakespeare really meant to write.)
So then I started thinking--what goes with ranch dressing? As (wo)man cannot live by dressing alone, I needed a full meal to go with it. Lots of recipes suggested Buffalo Wings with ranch dressing and so I did my old faithful substitute of chickpeas for chickens because they both start with CH. I also decided to use the ranch spices on some roast potatoes and the results were spectacular.
The chickpeas are a tad spicy (in a good way) and the cool dollop of ranch dressing made with soya yogurt is a pleasant contrast. I used Frank's Red Hot sauce for 2 reasons--it was on sale for £1 and it was the one I found people mentioned the most in Buffalo Wing recipes. Most recipes were a mixture of equal parts butter and hot sauce...I cut the butter down to a tablespoon...you still get the flavour but without all the fat.
Ranch Potatoes with Buffalo Chickpeas and Ranch Dressing
Ranch Spice Mix
1 TB dried parsley flakes
1 TB dried dill--I use dill tips
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt.
Mix well and store in a container.
Ranch Potatoes
Preheat your oven to 220C/425F
400g potatoes, cubed
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 TB nutritional yeast flakes
1 TB ranch spice mix
1 TB starch (like cornflour/cornstarch or arrowroot or tapioca)
1 TB oil (optional)
I did it with and without oil because i forgot it the second time and it was fine, just a little less crispy.
In a large bowl add your potatoes and stir over the vinegar and toss to coat. then add all the dry ingredients and make sure the potatoes are well coated then add the optional oil. Stir to coat then spread out over a greased roasting tin. Bake 13 minutes, stir and flip the potatoes and bake 13 minutes more. Make sure the grease the pan as they WILL stick otherwise.
Meanwhile, make the chickpeas.
Buffalo Chickpeas
1 onion thinly sliced
1 tin chickpeas
garlic to taste
1 TB vegan butter
1/4 cup (60ml) hot sauce
1/2 cup defrosted frozen peas
Melt your butter and cook your onion and garlic until soft and add your chickpeas and hot sauce. Simmer, stirring occasionally until the potatoes are done. Stir in the peas and warm through at the end.
Meanwhile, while the chickpeas are doing their thing, make the Ranch Dressing.
Ranch Dressing
1/2 cup plain unsweetened soya yogurt
1 TB nutritional yeast flakes
1 TB ranch spice mix
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
Mix well.
Serve your crispy potatoes with the spicy Buffalo Chickpeas on the side with a dollop of cool ranch dressing. Yummers!
Yummmm
ReplyDelete