The Vegetarian Meals Thread

[Madhuri]

Hi all,
it seems we have a lot of long-term and newbie vegetarian and vegans on the forum and every now and then people ask for meal ideas. So I thought I'd make a sticky thread where we can share our favourite recipes and meals- preferably with pics!

To start, I'll share what I made for dinner tonight. I've a few veggies growing in the garden so this meal is made up with many of my own organic ingredients, including garlic, spinach, chilli, capsicum (peppers) and more.

A simple vegan stir-fry is one of the easiest meals to make, imo. Put some oil in your pan and add turmeric powder, a little cumin powder and grated garlic and ginger.

Have your main veggies chopped up and ready so that when the pan with powders and spices heat up and start to cook, you can quickly add them in. Stir together the veggies and spices and add some soy sauce (just a little). Regularly stir. In the meantime, have some firm tofu ready (to make it firmer/nicer, first press the tofu in paper towels to get rid of the water content) as well as the chilli and spinach. After cooking the main veggies for at least 5 minutes, add these final ingredients. Continue to stir every couple of minutes until ready. Your veggies should be a little crunchy so don't leave your food cooking for too long!

If you're avoiding carbs like rice or noodles, you can do what I've done tonight which is eat my stir fry with spiced cauliflower rice.

I'll be adding other meals here from time to time and I look forward to seeing what others have to contribute

 

[Terese]

Getting hungry...

 

[Wu Wei]

Had these for lunch last Saturday

Vietnamese Tofu Spring Rolls

 

[crossfire]

Right now I have a heavy ova-lacto dish in the oven: a whole sweet onion chopped, sauteed, and then add as much chopped kale as I could fit into the extra large frying pan on top of the onions, seasoned with salt, lemon zest, and a generous amount of freshly ground pepper and dill seed, covered, and steamed until kale is done. In glass baking pan, mix cottage cheese, feta cheese, eggs, nutmeg, more freshly ground pepper, and then fold in onion-kale mixture, and bake. It's like spanakopita without the phyllo pastry.

 

[Madhuri]

Right now I have a heavy ova-lacto dish in the oven: a whole sweet onion chopped, sauteed, and then add as much chopped kale as I could fit into the extra large frying pan on top of the onions, seasoned with salt, lemon zest, and a generous amount of freshly ground pepper and dill seed, covered, and steamed until kale is done. In glass baking pan, mix cottage cheese, feta cheese, eggs, nutmeg, more freshly ground pepper, and then fold in onion-kale mixture, and bake. It's like spanakopita without the phyllo pastry.

Yum! I'd love to see a pic of that

 

[crossfire]

Yum! I'd love to see a pic of that

I don't think I can get my son to swallow the camera!

 

[Vouthon]

This is very useful Madhuri, thanks!

 

[Wu Wei]

Today for lunch
Vegetable Dumplings

and a Vegetable spring roll

 

[Madhuri]

Looks delicious, Wu Wei!

 

[Madhuri]

I made this spanakopita last Thursday:

I used this video to help make it:

It was sooooo good. Make sure to use lots of Dill. So good. My mouth is watering... oh no... I need to make it again. Yuummmm

 

[crossfire]

I made this spanakopita last Thursday:

I used this video to help make it:

It was sooooo good. Make sure to use lots of Dill. So good. My mouth is watering... oh no... I need to make it again. Yuummmm

It's addicting, isn't it? You can also use part kale-part spinach, and you can also add leeks to the onion mixture. It's really really good with a slight drizzle of balsamic vinegar at the table!

 

[Madhuri]

It's addicting, isn't it? You can also use part kale-part spinach, and you can also add leeks to the onion mixture. It's really really good with a slight drizzle of balsamic vinegar at the table!

Excellent suggestions!

 

[Vinayaka]

We had our first garden kale tonight ... in dal. Yay. Three more months of fresh kale.

 

[crossfire]

My son wanted pancakes for breakfast, but we were out of eggs. So I looked for a good eggless pancake recipe. This blog says you can stop looking, because this is the best eggless pancake recipe ever. I would have to agree. (These pancakes are VERY thick, so if you want thinner pancakes add more milk. {I used almond milk.})

http://www.egglesscooking.com/eggless-pancakes-recipe/

 

[Madhuri]

My son wanted pancakes for breakfast, but we were out of eggs. So I looked for a good eggless pancake recipe. This blog says you can stop looking, because this is the best eggless pancake recipe ever. I would have to agree. (These pancakes are VERY thick, so if you want thinner pancakes add more milk. {I used almond milk.})

http://www.egglesscooking.com/eggless-pancakes-recipe/

I want this now!
Great find.

 

[MD]

I eat veg only three times a week. One of my favorite dishes is Palak Paneer (spinach and cheese).

Another good meal I had today actually was Chana daal (chickpea soup)

Finally there's Veggie pakora (Vegetable patties)

Indian veg food is amazing, the cuisine is made for vegetarians and it is delicious. It's why I don't even notice when I am only veg on those days.

 

[Madhuri]

And Indian food is so filling and satisfying! Great for vegetarians.

 

[Vinayaka]

Another good meal I had today actually was Chana daal (chickpea soup)

Indian veg food is amazing, the cuisine is made for vegetarians and it is delicious. It's why I don't even notice when I am only veg on those days.

We had a remarkably similar looking chana dal last night. Even the bowl looks similar. Only difference is ours had more coriander on top. Hmmm... coincidence?

 

[illykitty]

I just ate a peanut tofu Buddha bowl. The sauce is so delicious, it's made primarily with soy sauce, peanut butter, maple syrup (though one could use any sweet ingredient I think). I really recommend it! I modified it slightly though, made it with just garlic, not chilli garlic sauce. Not my picture, btw, but here's what it can look like:

Here's the recipe, if anyone is tempted: http://delishknowledge.com/peanut-tofu-buddha-bowl/

 

[Madhuri]

This is one of my new favourite dishes to make. Really simple and quite filling. Tastes soooo good- especially if you love halloumi cheese. I don't recommend eating it rice as I show in the pic. I just love rice so can have it with most things.

Ingredients:

Carrot, Parsnip, Capsicum (green or red but red is best if you have it)
Halloumi cheese
Cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric and hing (or garlic powder)
fresh parsley, preferably Italian/flat-leaved parsley
Optional: lemon to sprinkle on after

For best results, fry the halloumi on a pan first so that it becomes a little brown. Put to the side. Place oil and the powders in the pan and heat. Then add and stir fry the veggies. Add some salt.
Once the veggies are halfway done (don't make them mushy), add the halloumi and parsley and continue to stir fry until it looks properly cooked.
Enjoy!