Buffalo "Chicken" Sandwich

This recipe was inspired by my favorite vegan sandwich shop in Salt Lake City - Buds.  They have amazing sandwiches, and I especially love their "Buffalo Sandwich."  Unfortunately, Buds has been closed for the past several months for renovations (or something).  Their opening date keeps getting pushed back, and my cravings for their delicious food has been through the roof.

I satisfied my craving for a Buffalo sandwich this week by coming up with this recipe that combines spicy and savory buffalo "chicken" with a smooth and tangy blue-cheese-like white sauce, with crunchy purple cabbage.  The whole family loved these!

This recipe is easy to prepare once you have the ingredients.  I grabbed a package of (vegan) ciabatta bread from my local store to make this super easy.  If you are feeling ambitious, you could make buns by using my 60-Minute Roll recipe.  Using the ciabatta bread, which was about the size of a standard veggie-burger bun, the recipe made about 8 sandwiches.

I toned down the spiciness of the sauce for the kiddos - but feel free to amp up the cayenne or pepper sauces if you want a bit more kick.

Again, I'm using soy-curls.  If you are unfamiliar with this wonderful product, check out my recipe for Coconut Curry "Chicken" for all the details.  You are missing out if you've never tried them.

Ingredients:
2 cups water
1 Tablespoon of "Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base"
8oz Butler Soy Curls (one package)

6 Tablespoons vegan margarine
6 Tablespoons Frank's Red Hot Hot Cayenne Pepper Sauce
1 1/2 Tablespoons white vinegar
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (or similar vegan pepper sauce)
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegan mayo (I like Just Mayo)
3/4 teaspoon tahini
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/8 lemon juice

1/4 head of purple cabbage, chopped

8 vegan buns of your choice (home-made or store-bought)

Directions:
(For the buffalo "chicken":)
1.  Combine the water and "Better Than Boillon No Chicken Base" in a sauce pan with a lid.  Heat on medium heat until almost boiling, then remove from heat and add the soy curls to the mix.  Stir the soy curls into the broth and put the lid on.  Set aside, and set a timer for 8 minutes while you make the buffalo sauce.
2.  In another saucepan, combine the margarine, Frank's sauce, white vinegar, cayenne pepper, 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, and salt.  Heat on low until simmering.
3.  After the time (for 8 minutes) goes off, stir the soy curls and broth again.  The soy curls should have absorbed almost all of the broth.  If there is a little left in the bottom - just leave it.  Pour the prepared buffalo sauce over the soy curls, stir, replace lid and set on very low heat (or a still-warm burner).  Stir to evenly coat the soy curls with sauce before making a sandwich.
(For the tangy white sauce:)
4.  In a small mixing bowl, combine the mayo, tahini, 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder, apple cider vinegar, and lemon juice.  Mix well until smooth.
(Construction:)
5.  Apply a generous amount of the tangy white sauce onto both top and bottom sides of the bun.  To the bottom half of the bun, add plenty of the buffalo "chicken" soy curls, then top those with some chopped purple cabbage, and then finish it off by placing on the top half of the bun.  Enjoy immediately.

The buffalo sauce recipe was adapted from a recipe from John Mitzewich from About Food for the buffalo sauce, which claims to be the authentic recipe from Anchorbar in Buffalo, New York.  The original recipe can be found here.  The tangy white sauce was adapted from a recipe from 'Livvy' from 86lemons.com.  The original recipe can be found here.