Seriously considering becoming vegetarian, but have always been a shabby cook and not sure where to start. I know there are quite a few vegetarians on here. If any of you fancy sharing recipes or general meal ideas please do so. 🙂

Loads. What kinds of things do you like/ are prepared to cook?

I’m prepared to give anything a go to be honest. The more varied the better.

Start easy – (re-l)earning to cook veg properly and replacing the ‘meat’ with Linda McCartney 1/4 lb burgers which I find to be very good (oven cooked). Cauldron sausages are good too. Otherwise continue as per before while gathering recipes.

Learn proper curries. India has almost endless delicious vegetarian recipes.

Tip: when cooking a minced-meat type dish instead for the ‘mince’ use darkg green lentils cooked in bouillon/stock, garlic, and chopped mushrooms to make the bulk. Have a recipe somewhere will post.

* edit – Here’s a ‘green lentil cottage pie’: (and a few more recipes)

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/whats-yr-best-veggievegan-pie-recipe

veggie burger: bit of lettuce and a slice of tomato in a brioche bun. 😯

julie sahni’s vegetarian indian book was my bible whilst veggie. Still my go to indian reference.

Lentil Dal is awesome and easy.

I highly recommend The Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookbook

Simple but lots of new things to try

Malvern Rider – Member
Start easy – (re-l)earning to cook veg properly and replacing the ‘meat’ with Linda McCartney 1/4 lb burgers which I find to be very good (oven cooked). Cauldron sausages are good too. Otherwise continue as per before while gathering recipes…….

Now you see, as a meat loving vegan I’d say don’t try to replace the meat like-for-like, cos it’ll taste worse than what you’re used to, you’ll feel short-changed, and sticking with it will just become more of a challenge. Fake meat is just that… fake. I’d always steer clear from the “vegetarian beef bourguignon” type recipes as they’ll only be a let-down.

The internet is your friend for recipes, and a good starting point would be dishes / “cuisines” which are traditionally meat free. Indian is a great place to start, with loads and loads of great dishes which were never designed to have meat in, in the first place.

Give it a go, don’t beat yourself up if you falter or it’s not for you, and reassure yourself that giving up meat is a million times easier than giving up cheese!

Fake meat is just that… fake.

Depends on how you look at it. Quorn / TVP / soy etc is just an alternative source of protein, and burgers and sausages are a convenient way of packaging said protein. Chicken isn’t fake beef.

I’m a meat eater and the Linda macartney mozzarella burgers are bloody ace

Cougar – Moderator
…. Quorn / TVP / soy etc is just an alternative source of protein, and burgers and sausages are a convenient way of packaging said protein. Chicken isn’t fake beef.

Completely agree – if the reason you eat meat is because it’s a convenient way of packaging protein. But if you eat it because you enjoy the tastes, textures and smells of that meat then – speaking for myself – I find the labelling of it as “vegetarian beef”, for example, sets up expectations which aren’t met. Like if chicken were sold as “beef-y meat”.

But you’re right, it’s a really personal thing. No rights, no wrongs, just about finding out what works for you (or going back to meat if that’s what you like). There are far too many dietary zealots in the world. Sorry if that’s how I came across, too.

I’m a meat eater and the Linda macartney mozzarella burgers are bloody ace

Check out the ingredients in Linda’s shit. She’d be turning in her grave if she could see the crap that’s put in them.
If you need meat alternatives try Cauldron and Wicken Fen, and even Tesco.

check out the ingredients in Linda’s shit

Can’t speak for the other stuff as rarely buy it, but the 1/4lb burgers I mentioned:

Ingredients

Rehydrated Textured Soya Protein (58%), Rapeseed Oil, Water, Onion (9%), Seasoning (Yeast Extract, Malted Barley Extract, Onion Powder, Flavouring, Salt, Garlic Powder), Stabiliser: Methyl Cellulose, Flavouring, Garlic Puree, Onion Powder, Malted Barley Extract.

http://lindamccartneyfoods.co.uk/our-food/frozen-range/vegetarian-14lb-burgers/?Vegan

Now you see, as a meat loving vegan I’d say don’t try to replace the meat like-for-like

Not what I was suggesting, just a ‘stop-gap’ for occasional easily-prepared meal within existing cookery repertoire whilst learning/experimenting new veggie recipes

I really like this easy and very tweak-able baked risotto recipe
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/member-recipes/recipe-detail/2064/

Ottolenghi has lots of great veg recipes. Some are complicated, but often taste fine even if you mess up some of the steps. This black pepper tofu https://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/black-pepper-tofu-a-shop is great (with a third of the suggested pepper for my taste). It’s fine with oil instead of butter if you’re dairy free.

I also like the River cottage veg book recipes – they’re generally quick and/or easy. Many of the recipe from the book are online https://www.rivercottage.net/recipes-in/veg.

Good luck with both the cooking and going vegetarian.

We always have some of Anna Jones’s’s’s Chili in the freezer. Recipe here: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/sep/30/vegetarian-chilli-recipe-beans-pulses-anna-jones-the-modern-cook-student

Makes more than you think it will when you weigh out the lentils.

We’re not even veggie but I prefer this to meat chilli

^ looks good! Almost a simplified version of my green lentil chili (without the sweet pots) 😉 Also recommended, albeit with a healthy amount of bias:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/your-best-comfort-food-recipes-lets-have-em-then#post-6382906

Tex-Mex vege chillis are so much fun and easy to cook, you can mess around with the basic recipe to yr heart’s content. I find the stock really crucial, along with getting those lentils cooked right. Yeast extract really gives some oomph, as does cocoa/choc, don’t skimp on the fresh oregano, cumin and garlic. Smoked paprika is the cherry on the top. And chilli flakes. Think this will be Sunday meal. Minus the sweet potato, plus some more mushrooms.

Thanks all. Some great suggestions.

Yep, bean mex syle chilli, veg stir fry, curries, pasta all good. If you want simple, look at chorizo pasta recipes and add mushrooms, beans/puy lentils and smoked paprika for bulk and flavour. Tray of roasted veg is easy, either as warm salad in spring or with parcels in winter. For stir fry, make more interesting with sides of green beans stir fried hot with garlic, rock salt, chilli and pepper; and steamed bok choi in sesame oil.

Mushroom spinach and blue cheese wellington – easy with premade pastry and frozen spinach (squeezed well)
mushroom welly

Moroccan parcels with aubergine spicy salsa – bit more faff but very tasty
Moroccan parcels

Lentil and ricotta moussaka
moussaka

In order to add texture to things like chili we add a measure of either bulgar wheat, spelt or ebly about halfway through cooking so it absorbs the sauce. It work for vege bolognese sauce as well.
As above Ottolenghi is good (if complicated at times), The Palomar is similar, Anjum Anand great for Indian food, Carluccio had a vegetables book which was good too. Even Nigel Slater has some good recipes – I use his Risotto guidelines and vary between asparagus, broad beans and peas as the added flavour/ texture/ colour.

Any of Malvern’s recipes! They’re bloody ace, and I’ve stolen all the ones he generously posts on here, they’d be great even if you’re a meat eater TBH.

from an earlier post about veggie food:

An easy win

Mushroom Stroganoff: Make some rice, in the time that takes to cook through, gently fry a chopped onion with some smoked pakprika in good splash of olive oil and a generous knob of butter, roughly chop a couple of hundred grams of various mushrooms, and let them soften, season to taste, add a splash of white wine and gently fry for about 7-10mins. As you’re ready to serve, turn off the heat and stir through a small pot of soured cream. Drain rice,serve with a garnish of fresh corriander

I’m no vegie, but personally if I went that way I wouldn’t go for fake meat veggie burgers and sausages. I would be lying to myself that I was vegetarian as really it’s saying I want meat. As I say, that’s just me. I realise others are just looking for the protein substitute etc, or want the taste/texture but without meat. It depends on your reason for going vegie really. Though I’m not big on burgers anyway (do like the odd sausage casserole or toad in the hole though). Have tried the veggie options and can’t say they were convincing.

I’d just cook naturally vegetarian dishes. Loads of options that don’t have meat or don’t need meat. I’ve done plenty of stew, casserole, curries, pasta type dishes and barely put much meat in and realising it would work just as well without the meat, plus done plenty more that just don’t have meat anyway. Ratatouille is a classic example. Veggie lasagne comes in various forms and works well. While I do eat meat I’ve done it some times just for a change, or have no meat to use.

Just noticed the following from that chilli recipe that stevious linked:

Eight ways to eat your chilli

1 Tortillas or wraps (flour or corn), yoghurt, with chilli and thyme oil.
2 Spooned over corn tortilla chips, topped with a grating of good cheese and melted in the oven with some guacamole and salsa for dipping.
3 Sandwiched between two slices of fresh bread with a grating of cheese, a hit of sriracha and shredded lettuce.
4 In a couple of crispy taco shells with all the trimmings.
5 Folded into a wrap with some brown rice, chopped tomatoes and a little sour cream, burrito style.
6 In a toasted cheese sandwich.
7 With rice, yoghurt and chutney.

Have to take my hat off to that. And to puy-type lentils. After 20+ years experimenting with veggie chillis and bolognaises I now couldn’t imagine a life without those protein-packed, plump, peppery pulses of perfection. Where before I’d use TVP and/or beans for the bulk of the dish, there are now densely delicious dark-green lentils. They are a near-perfect foodstuff. Have only been using them in recipes for about five years so it’s still very early days to explore different varieties and recipes.

Eaten along with a whole grain I think that they are as perfect as can be. Hard to believe something so low in fat/sugar is actually so addictively delicious and filling. Soups, salads, sauces, chillis, pies, casseroles etc etc. They work in absolutely anything, and while having their own deliciously subtle flavour and texture they also absorb flavours remarkably well. Trust me, if you’re a veggie (or just love food) and these aren’t already one of your main protein-sources then stop stopping and start starting.

^ Madhur Jaffrey’s Green Lentil Curry

I’d just cook naturally vegetarian dishes. Loads of options that don’t have meat

Let’s be having those recipes! #gamechanger

Ottolenghi has lots of great veg recipes.

The great thing about Ottoleghi’s recipes is he’s not a vegetarian even though he’s a bit of a go-to guy for vegetarian food (he got into hot water in his Observer veggie food column for suggesting one of his dishes was a great accompaniment of lamb). The reason his recipes work for veggys so well is he draws from cuisines where meats not really a key ingredient. So he’s not making the vege equivalent of something – replacing the meat in a meat based dish – they’re just dishes where those ingredients work at their best together.

If I have a criticism of his recipes is he over-describes process a bit and doesn’t write in the most time efficient way to prepare a dish, Things take a long to time to make first time round – are then delicious – but the second time around you make them in a third of the time because you realise you can be preparing X while Y is cooking. Everything is easier than reading the recipe would have you think.

I think Hugh Fernely Wittingstall has been doing some great work with vege and vegan recipe ideas too and perhaps is a different approach in terms of devising ideas to use instead of meat for meaty meal occasions.

I gave his vegan gravy recipe (find it on youtube) a go – and not only is it one of the quickest and easiest gravies you can make its also properly nice – side by side on the table with another meaty gravy that took me two days to make it was easily the winner.

And as a seasonal tip – veggie haggis. During January (with Burns Suppers approaching) veggie haggis starts appearing on supermarket shelves south of the border (its available all year up here). Its properly nice in its own right as real haggis has hardly any meat in it in the first place, so theres no attempt the synthesis the meat element, its just not in there.

Veggie haggis, baked potatoes and that gravy above – a really nice winter belly warmer.

So much easier now than it was 20 years ago.

Could I recommend the The Happy Pear

Until well into their twenties twins, David and Stephen Flynn, were typical meat-eating, pint-swilling, girl-chasing jocks. Until – entirely independently – they tried a vegetarian diet. It transformed their lives. They developed a passion for good food and health that was both addictive and utterly infectious.

Their food just seems really good for your typical blokey bloke who happens to be a veggie without lots of lazy meat alternative reciepes. Big food, big flavours, healthy but also filling, warming and hearty. You could put most of their stuff in front of your carnivor friends and they will thank you for it.

As a meat eater I heartily recommend that Ottolenghi tofu recipe posted above – one of my all time favourite dishes. Chopping the gazillion shallots is a major tear-inducing ball ache though. I’d try it with the full compliment of pepper first to see if you like it (I do).

As a committed meat eater i’m happy to report that the best food in the world – cheese on toast – is fully vegetarian

Though I’ve just checked and you can’t have Worcester sauce as it’s got anchovies in it. Sorry 😥

A nice cheese and onion pie is a thing of joy and wonder

There’s lots of nice veggie risotto dishes too

Though I’ve just checked and you can’t have Worcester sauce as it’s got anchovies in it. Sorry

You can’t have Lee & Perrin’s. Veggie Worcestershire sauce exists, often in the “free from” aisle in supermarkets. I’ve got this on the go (bought in a country that cannot pronounce it):

cheese on toast – is fully vegetarian

Only if using vegetarian cheese, always best to check the ingredients to check that vege rennet is used. Quitting cheese is the hardest for me tbh.

Try river cottage veg book great recipes, Nigel Slater was my go to when we went veggie 25 years ago, lots of options, Madhuri Jeffrey as well old school Indian cooking. Thug kitchen gets lots of good reviews and indeed has some good recipes.

Did this mole the other day – delicious!

Quitting cheese is the hardest for me tbh.

Its the hardest thing to decide to do – but its really easy once you’ve done it. After a few weeks off dairy you’re pretty ambivalent about it if you try it again. After a few months its something you genuinely don’t like – you really don’t miss it.

BBC Good Food website is one I often go to if looking for something nice to cook.

Loads of meat free recipes.

Vegie I could do, but I’d still have fish, and no way I could give up cheese, so vegan is right out.

1 x can of bean’s
2 x slices of white bread
Butter

Grab a toaster and you have a meal straight from heaven!! So many variations I’ve yet to find the ultimate combination. Easy to pimp (if you must) with grated cheese, poached eggs or hash browns.

In fairness a fried egg butty runs a close second.

Despite being a life long meat eater I would certainly recommend Burger Lolz if you are ever in Sheffield.

maccruiskeen – Member
Quitting cheese is the hardest for me tbh.

Its the hardest thing to decide to do – but its really easy once you’ve done it. After a few weeks off dairy you’re pretty ambivalent about it if you try it again. After a few months its something you genuinely don’t like – you really don’t miss it.

Not for me.

It’s funny, I really loved meat and thought I would struggle with that side when I went vegan (without going through the veggie halfway-house), but I’ve never really missed it. Not even bacon. But cheese? Oh dear lord, every single time when I open the fridge and my wife’s topped up the cheese shelf, I waver.

Thanks for all the great ideas everyone.I’ve saved this thread to my favourites and will be attempting some of the recipes

As already said, Indian food has endless vegetarian recipes and eating them you really wont miss the meat.

And again as someone else has already mentioned, the river cottage veg books are excellent. Easy to follow recipes, excellent results and some interesting ideas you probably would never think up yourself.

P.S im not a vegetarian but could quite happily live off indian veg recipes and the recipes in the river cottage books.

Eggs, chips and beans is as good a meal as any. Vegetarians can eat eggs right?