From Korea's "Family Life" Magazine - Cooking
Friday, April 25, 1997, No. 2535 Reporter Shanying Piao

Now you can enjoy fragrant vegetables from the mountains, in addition to vegetarian roast meat, and vegetarian-meat soup made with gluten and soybean protein, because a specialty vegetarian restaurant has opened.

On attractive serving tables in the S.M. Ching Hai Vegetarian Restaurant, there is a great variety of cooked and raw vegetables, and delicacies containing vegetarian meat made with either gluten or soybean protein. On the 15th, the S.M. Ching Hai Vegetarian Restaurant (Telephone: 503-4410) that's located near the Pusan Department Store, Wenquandong, Tonglai Town, Pusan, opened for business. This restaurant is managed by the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association and promotes vegetarian cuisine.

The restaurant is open from 12 noon to 3 o'clock in the afternoon. If you go there you will wonder how vegetarian food can have so much variety. Although it is a vegetarian restaurant, the food is rich in protein. There are more than twenty self-serve dishes with main courses consisting of: rice, mixed grains, rice soup, vegetable soup; and other dishes such as vegetable salad, various raw vegetables, pickled vegetables, fried vegetables, mixed vegetables, vegetarian roast meat and cold dishes.

Even though it is a vegetarian restaurant, its menu is similar to those of other restaurants. In fact, the S. M Vegetarian Restaurant serves more dishes than other restaurants because it uses gluten and soybean protein to make vegetarian meat, which is no different from animal meat in appearance, taste and texture.

Home-made gluten and soups cooked with vegetarian meat are quite unique: They are very nutritious and effective in preventing many illnesses. A cooking class will be held for interested housewives.

The kitchen manager Songzi Yang said, "Gluten protein is made by washing gluten flour dough. With only a little effort, it can be made at home." She explained how to make gluten as follows: Mix 1 kilogram of high quality gluten flour, 800 cc of water and one teaspoon of salt to form a dough. The longer the dough is kneaded, the better. Set the dough aside for 40 minutes and then wash the dough in water until the water is clear. In this way, all the starch will be washed off leaving only the gluten protein. Then put the gluten in a square shaped container, cover it with plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator for one day. After the gluten takes shape, boil it on medium heat for 40 minutes, and then it will be ready. Gluten has a better texture when it is cold, so it is better to store it in a cool place.

Besides producing dairy products, the restaurant uses milk powder to replace egg yolk, and adds vinegar, salt, salad oil, etc., to make a special cold milk salad. Then by adding strawberry, lemon and haw juices, it becomes a fruit salad of various colors.

To make pickled vegetables, the restaurant uses pumpkins instead of fish and shrimp sauces. By using soup stock made from seaweed and dried mushrooms rather than a meat broth, the restaurant makes vegetable soup that has a meaty flavor.

Changsha Zheng, the Pusan representative of the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association said, "In order to prevent various diseases caused by eating meat, the main task of our vegetarian restaurant is to promote and provide nutritious vegetarian food to the public."

And the manager, Chunji Zhao, added, "If housewives wish, our restaurant can give them cooking lessons or sell them the vegetarian meat made by the restaurant."

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