A Veggie and Vegan thread

[ZedLeg]

I thought as we had big threads for a lot of other general food stuff it might be good to have one for vegetarian/vegan food.

I've been eating vegan since last sept and I'm always looking for new ideas. Here's some of the things I've made recently

Homemade dirty takeaway. Chips and japanese curry with an experiment in making salt and chilli tofu, it worked pretty well.



Gnocchi baked in a fairly simple tomato sauce with fresh basil and toasted pine nuts. We had folk drop by for dinner and threw this together from stuff in the cupboard.



Chipotle smashed tofu tacos with homemade guacamole and salsa, another tofu experiment that was pretty good (idea stolen from Taco Mazama in Glasgow if I'm being honest ).



Spaghetti with homemade pesto and garlic bread. Was trying to see if I could make a decent version of pesto and garlic bread with no dairy.



As you can see, I'm not a great photographer .

[ZedLeg]

Love a bit of panzanella, is that croutons you've made it with?

We usually use the sourdough baguette from Morrison's, it dries out really well when it goes stale.

[ZedLeg]

Shaw Tarse said:

Why & do you miss bacon/meat?

Honestly, mostly to see if I could stick with it.

I’ve been mostly veggie since I was a teenager and I have concerns about animal welfare and the environmental damage of large scale farming but it was mostly a challenge to myself.

I’ve never found anything that matches a decent beef burger and I miss good cheese but apart from that I don’t miss anything else.

I was never that fussed about a steak or a big pile of breakfast meat anyway.

There’s a place down south that apparently does really good vegan cheese but they’re pretty pricey so I’ve not been able to justify it to myself yet.

Edited by ZedLeg on Wednesday 10th July 12:59

[ZedLeg]

petemurphy said:

I make a great hone made pesto using kale/spinach anything green, nutritional yeast, pine nuts, garlic, lemon, basil, seasoning - my youngest loves it will post a pic next time

Yep pretty much that, I never had spinach in mine’s but I might add some next time to bulk it out.

[ZedLeg]

21TonyK said:

Yep, only have frozen baguettes or sliced dread in school so hacked up some baguettes, bit of oil and seasoning and chuck then in the oven for 10 to crisp up.

Makes sense to use croutons if you’re making a lot. No one needs piles of stale bread lying around .

[ZedLeg]

DDg said:

Crispy Korean Tofu

It's a thermomix recipe but pretty easy to cook without one. Gochujang (Korean chili paste) should be at your local Chinese Supermarket.
It's easy, delicious and looks just like the glossy pic you see on the internet.

Love gochujang, we make something like Buldak chicken but using grilled tofu instead.

I can never really be bothered battering things because as soon as I touch a bag of flour it explodes all over my kitchen.

[ZedLeg]

I put brocolli in a japanese curry once, it was horrible.

Roasted brocolli with garlic the other night though. That was amazing.

[ZedLeg]

Ruskie said:

Vegan for 14 months now, recipes with the pictures would be very much appreciated thank you!

I tend to play it by ear when I'm cooking so I don't really keep recipes but if there's anything I post that you're interested in I'll try and remember what I did.

[ZedLeg]

At least it managed to get off the first page, I’m just sad they reminded me of all the cream crackers I can’t eat .

[ZedLeg]

Another late night homemade takeaway. Vivera shawarma and chips with a bowl of guacamole.



Not the most inspired meal but the vivera stuff is good if you just want something quick to eat.

[ZedLeg]

EarlOfHazard said:

petemurphy said:

Good idea and hopefully we can keep this a food thread and save the “why and what about protein st” for another thread..

I make a great hone made pesto using kale/spinach anything green, nutritional yeast, pine nuts, garlic, lemon, basil, seasoning - my youngest loves it will post a pic next time

You can also meke a nice pesto with avacado, pine nuts, salt, olive oil and basil leaves. I myself have not added nutritional yeast to it but I imagine that you could.

I'd really recommend the nutritional yeast, it gives the pesto a similar umami flavour to what you'd get adding parmesan. Also gets some vitamin B12 into the dish (which is what you need if you don't want to have a vegan mental breakdown ).


Not convinced about the avocado though, doesn't it make it quite thick?

[ZedLeg]

Aye it's the annoying part of my macaroni cheese recipe.

Cannae just decide to make some at the last minute when you need to soak your nuts for an hour .

[ZedLeg]

Morrison's have started doing vegan pasties and sausage rolls at their takeaway bit. There was a pasty marked down when I was in yesterday afternoon so I picked one up to try.

It was alright, wouldn't be surprised if the filling was made by Linda McCartney as it had a similar taste to their frozen pies. It had a lot of potato as well so it was pretty filling.

Pastry probably had palm oil (most seem to) so I wouldn't make a habit of buying them but it was pretty decent.

[ZedLeg]

Mines is based on roasted stock veg, garlic and soaked cashews. I liquidise them with a little oil, doesn't have to be really nice. I use rapeseed oil. Put as much Nutritional yeast in as you want, add this before any other seasoning. When you're happy with the cheesiness of it season and add a bit of mustard if you like, I like French's yellow mustard because I'm a trashbag but nicer ones work too.

Add the sauce to cooked macaroni, I melt in a little grated Violife cheese at this point because I think it helps the texture.

It's good to serve at that point but you can bake it in the oven with a layer of herb and garlic breadcrumbs on top if you want something a bit different.

[ZedLeg]

21TonyK said:

DoodoolTala said:

I'm going to give it another shot but I'm going to transition slowly and take supplements alongside.

Before you think about supplements look at the meals you are eating, its very easy to have a good healthy veggie diet with plenty of protein from dairy, eggs, beans/pulses etc

Aye, the main one is vitamin B12 which you can get from eggs and dairy. You have to find away to get it into your diet if you go vegan. Whether it's fortified foods or a supplement.

If you were feeling tired it was probably lack of protein, iron & zinc. You can get enough of these things just from food but it's not always completely obvious what you should be eating without some research.

People tend to eat a lot of carbs and not much protein when they first start which leaves them crashing a couple of hours after eating.

[ZedLeg]

I’ve had seitan but I’ve not made it myself yet.

[ZedLeg]

I think that Seitan works best when it's been able to sit in a marinade.

The best ones I've had are doner kebab and carnitas, although I do like fried chicken style, Bread Meats Bread in Glasgow used to do great Seitan chicken style burgers but they've stopped doing them. which is annoying.

Got churros and great vegan ice cream yesterday at a place called loop & scoop.

google search pic so you know why they're called loop & scoop.



Also some Avocado toast from yesterday, just so you know I'm a millenial.

Edited by ZedLeg on Monday 15th July 10:22

[ZedLeg]

My missus is experimenting with vegan kimchi. This is for her work but I'm hoping we'll see some at home too .

[ZedLeg]

Indeed, junk food vegans are a definite subculture (which I'm occasionally a part of) .

Can we have "why are they called sauages and burgers when they're not made of meat?" next.

[ZedLeg]

Yeah, I started making lentil ragu after messing around with Jack Monroe's slow cooker recipe. Works well for a bolognese type thing or in a lasagne.

I find a combination of mushrooms and beans works well too. Browning the mushroom like you would beef, a porcini mushroom stock and a can of borlotti beans makes a pretty hearty bolognese.

Edited by ZedLeg on Wednesday 17th July 10:10

Edited by ZedLeg on Wednesday 17th July 10:11