OUTSTANDING VEGAN REUBEN SANDWICH

I made vegan "corned beef" for a St. Patrick's Day feast. I bought Jewish Rye bread at the bakery, raw sauerkraut, and made vegan Thousand Island Dressing. I did not include vegan cheese because I did not have time to make any myself and the grocery store options are loaded with oil. My family thinks this sandwich is wonderful even without cheese. I do not typically use vital wheat gluten flour but make an exception for this special occasion each year since my husband is not vegan.

You can find this simple “corned beef” recipe on “Vegan Dad” blog: Vegan Reuben Sandwich. See below for my modifications.

The Thousand Island dressing recipe I used is by “Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures”:

OIL FREE VEGAN THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING

If you are concerned about wheat gluten, read Dr. John McDougall’s easy-to-understand newsletter:

Gluten-free Diets Are Harmful for the General Population (Except for one percent)

What I did differently for the "corned beef":

-Instead of 1 TBSP oil I used 1 TBSP of aquafaba (the liquid from the can of chickpeas)

-Used 2 tsp of seasoned salt. The first time I made this I added the additional 1 tsp of regular salt but the second time I left out the regular salt.

-I did not have dried juniper berries on hand. If you want to include them, I know the Good Foods Co-op sells them in the bulk section and you would need to grind them yourself

-Used a piece of parchment paper between the dough and the tin foil

-As described in the "Method" section, it is very important to double fold any seams because the dough will expand as it cooks

- Steamed it for about 60 minutes