Many people now are familiar with Poutine which is a classic Quebec dish. The first time I heard of it was in 1987 on a trip to Montreal. I was living in Ontario at the time and never heard of it.
I thought it was a rather strange dish. For those who still don't know what it is, it's simply french fries with gravy and cheese curds.
I wasn't thrilled about cheese curds so I never tried it until much later on another visit to Montreal where we were partying and had the late night munchies. We went to an all night diner where we had a plate of sloppy gravy and cheese curd covered chips.
This diner offered Poutine with all kinds of additional toppings like meat sauce and mushrooms.
If a Poutine loving Quebecois who is not vegan knew that I was calling this Poutine if it doesn't have cheese on it, they would probably nail me to the wall and throw darts at me. They take their Poutine very seriously.
I substituted the cheese curds for cashew cream cheese made from cashews lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper. Nutritional yeast would be good to add but I didn't have any. It was ground up in a blender and put on with the gravy.
The gravy was made from 4 cups chopped mushrooms, 4 cups vegetable broth, garlic, 1 onion, bay leaf,1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon flour, 1 teaspoon thyme, 1/2 teaspoon dill, pepper, 1 tablespoon soy sauce and 1 teaspoon sugar. It was blended until smooth.
Since I try to avoid deep frying I put the fries in the oven. I don't have a bottom element so it had to be carefully done under the grill. Because of this I blanched them until they were a little tender but not completely cooked.
After the gravy is poured on, I put dollops of cashew cheese on which looked kind of like Poutine cheese.
I cut some chives from the garden and tossed them on top. It was sloppy but that is what Poutine is all about anyway. That's my excuse. Actually my in-laws whose kitchen it is came home just as I was finishing this off so there was no time to get fancy.
Even though Poutine is traditionally with cheese curds on deep fried potatoes, I will call this Vegan Poutine anyway, because there is more and more demand for it in restaurants these days, plus I am the boss of this dish so I'll call it Poutine if I want.
Thanks for dropping by!
I would love to try a proper Poutine sometime, and yours sounds like it would be just as good (if not better!) than the original dish. I really like mushroom gravy! 😋
The only thing I can't get my head around is the exact composition of what Canadians call "cheese curds." I was always taught that what we (in the US) call "cottage cheese" is composed of cheese curds in a liquid whey. So, if one drains the whey completely, one would think "cheese curds" is what would remain. Yet in several conversations with native-born Canadians, they recoil in horror and firmly state that their "cheese curds" is not the same thing. So, if they aren't the same, what they heck are they and how are they made? And why is cottage cheese sometimes called "curds and whey" (as in the Little Miss Muffett nursery rhyme) if "cheese curds" is something different altogether? 🤔
Hahaha I know what you mean. These cheese curds are in the same shape as large cottage cheese chunks but the same consistency as mozzarella. Before I went vegan I still could never eat cheese unless it was melted. I hated cheese not melted. These curds as far as I'm concerned taste the same as mozzarella and here in Quebec it's found even at the corner stores in small plastic bags on the cash counter. Some people just get it and eat it out of the bag. If you want to experience poutine without the curds just use gravy and put mozzarella cheese on it. Some people prefer that anyway. I loved it with my cashew cheese. To me it's about the gravy.😊
Great recipe.
Thanks for sharing and greetings from Mexico.
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 12/18)
Thank you!
Muchas gracias and greetings to you too
nice!!!! thanks for the recipe
Thank you too!
Simply and delicious love my potatoes in any way 😊
Thank you potatoes are always a great staple🙂
My pleasure and you are right about that 👍