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OK, hands up, I was wrong on the soya front.
As said before, very few of my meals contain meat. Zero home cooked meals contain meat. The GF has been vege since time immemorial.
Roast veg and salads, curries, stir fries, and soups make up most of my meals.
Having said that the GF is out tonight and a mate gave me a wild boar salami from her parents farm in Sardinia and a bottle of red.
if you have no ethical (or similar) reason not to eat ANY dead animal product, why would you care if someone has used animal gelatine (or rennet, perhaps even stock etc!) in a product you would otherwise eat.
Conversely, if you didn't have to eat a dead animal product and instead had a perfectly viable alternative, why would you?
"OK, we want to make jelly, so we've get two options. We can use this vegetable stuff that we've made from seaweed extract, or we can take ol' Porky there, cut her feet off and boil 'em up."
Any vegan recommendations please for butter and cheese?
There's loads of non-dairy spreads. A vegan friend used to swear by non-dairy Vitalite.
Vegan cheese exists, though I'm lead to believe it's somewhat Not Good. I've never had it myself, I can't eat regular cheese and I don't particularly want to suddenly develop a mid-life taste for it.
OK, hands up, I was wrong
Kudos for having the testicular fortitude to admit that, many would've just gone quiet.
Any vegan recommendations please for butter and cheese?
Have yet to make vegan butter. Sarnies and toast I tend to use dairy free-spreads if anything, or vegan mayo, or homemade humus. Depends on the sarnie/meal. Sometimes warm extra virgin olive oil with a little shake of both garlic powder and salt. Goes nice on a decent salad sarnie or a piece of hot toast.
Cheese is not easy or cheap if going the cashew route. Commercial brands I find more ‘miss’ than ‘meh’, even. Have a look at recipes on youtube there are hundreds or more. Cheapest to make is probably to go the agar-agar route, and a pepper jack flavour is probably a safe bet.
For pizzas we use the Violife Grated Mozzarella flavour. Same stuff they put on the chilled Waitrose Vegan pizzas (so a store- assistant told me) So we bought a pack of cheese and a pizza, as the store-made pizzas are stingy on the old vegeese 😎. Looking fwd to spring as friend has a pizza oven and home-made pizza margherita IS still 10 times better than the best store-made.
I want to try making this pizza in the oven for a treat
Not much I can add except stay away from the ready meals, which aren't always as nutritionally good as they could be.
Recently I've discovered that green lentils, simmered for 30 mins or so in water with a veg stock cube, make an excellent base for a lentil bolognese. Very hearty.
I made the Chilli linked on Page 1 by Malvern Rider tonight.
Wow 👍 T'was very good indeed.
Eh, I bet mine's better. (-:
I'll stick up a recipe tomorrow.
There’s loads of non-dairy spreads. A vegan friend used to swear by non-dairy Vitalite.
Vegan cheese exists, though I’m lead to believe it’s somewhat Not Good. I’ve never had it myself, I can’t eat regular cheese and I don’t particularly want to suddenly develop a mid-life taste for it.
Thanks Cougar, shall take a look at Vitalite. There's a huge selection of vegan cheese available but am looking for a cheddar style that will hit the spot. Which won't be easy!
Have yet to make vegan butter. Sarnies and toast I tend to use dairy free-spreads if anything, or vegan mayo, or homemade humus. Depends on the sarnie/meal. Sometimes warm extra virgin olive oil with a little shake of both garlic powder and salt. Goes nice on a decent salad sarnie or a piece of hot toast.
Cheese is not easy or cheap if going the cashew route. Commercial brands I find more ‘miss’ than ‘meh’, even. Have a look at recipes on youtube there are hundreds or more. Cheapest to make is probably to go the agar-agar route, and a pepper jack flavour is probably a safe bet.
Thanks MR but have no intention of making them! By the way, I've read that a nut milk bag should not be used when making oat milk. Apparently a fine sieve should be used instead.
Cougar,
Conversely, if you didn’t have to eat a dead animal product and instead had a perfectly viable alternative, why would you?
“OK, we want to make jelly, so we’ve get two options. We can use this vegetable stuff that we’ve made from seaweed extract, or we can take ol’ Porky there, cut her feet off and boil ’em up.”
Well there might be many reasons, cost, availability, easy of use, quality/reliability of outcome, waste efficiency (How much effort, energy, water, air miles etc goes into harvesting and then extracting seaweed extract, vs using some bits of leftover animal that would otherwise be going to waste?), shelf life of the finished product, all spring to mind as factors that might be in some complex equation to decide which is better today. (I’m not suggesting that seaweed gelatin is any worse than meat gelatin in any of those criteria - I really don’t care enough to check - because I eat enough bacon to make me feel guilty about her leftover trotters*!)
The scenario I was imagining though was being out for food and faced with say a panacotta you really want to eat but technically can’t as a true veggie, or similarly with real Parmesan coated fries, or a lovely bit of toasted cheese with Worcester sauce...
*i’m not sure how much gelatin is commercially produced from trotters - they are too much of a delicacy for that - I suspect the bones whilst lower yield have less market value so are probably more common.
I like Vitalite. Not sure if its really much like butter, it does kind of taste of sunflower oil. But nice enough on my sandwiches anyway. Or try Pure dairy free spread.
Or I think all Flora spreads are now vegan, including the "Buttery" type. Not tried it myself.
Recently I’ve discovered that green lentils, simmered for 30 mins or so in water with a veg stock cube, make an excellent base for a lentil bolognese. Very hearty.
+1
Try this lentil and mushroom bolognese...
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/mushroom-lentil-pappardelle-bolognese/
On the veg/health advice make sure to get regular helpings of both whole grains PLUS pulses, nuts, legumes in order to provide complete proteins, as (except for whole soy ie tempeh, miso, tofu etc) in general plant-based proteins provide some the 11 amino acids we need from our diet yet they need to be combined to make complete protein (not necessarily together but it makes sense as a meal to have, say, rice + lentils)
Basically eat a varied diet and don’t sweat it.
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/do-i-need-to-worry-about-eating-complete-proteins/
Recently got a great book of veggie/vegan recipes.
It's by Meera Sodha and called East. it's full of different Asian dishes (Indian, Thai, Chinese etc) so if you like that sort of food it will give you lots of new dishes to try.
My wifes been veggie for about 3 years and I've slowly cut down on meat to the point now where I'm not eating it. I'm not categorizing myself as a veggie but I'm choosing options which don't contain meat.
On the sauce front Hendersons relish (Worcestershire sauce equivalent) doesn't contain anchovies and is also a superior product!
On the sauce front Hendersons relish (Worcestershire sauce equivalent) doesn’t contain anchovies and is also a superior product!
Never had heard of Hendo’s until recommended on STW. Was given a bottle last xmas. Lovely stuff.
We generally get Vitalite; both my non-veggie kids prefer it to butter anyway.
For vegan cheese I follow the "less is more" approach. Often, less equals zero. I was never a big cheese fan anyway.
I make up tubs of the Minimalist Baker 'parmesan' to sprinkle on food instead of grating cheese. Lovely, salty noochy goodness.
For vegan cheese I follow the “less is more” approach. Often, less equals zero. I was never a big cheese fan anyway.
I've gone down the zero cheese route as I just don't see a suitable alternative. But I loved cheese. In fact I probably loved cheese a bit too much. A lot too much. My weight loss and change in blood pressure and cholesterol reduction post veggie to vegan switch is probably as much down to the lack of cheese in my life as anything else. I see the vegan cheeses a bit like giving someone coming off the booze who was previously a red wine snob a dubious sugar free asda knock off of Ribenna. If I can't have the real deal any more I'd rather have non at all.
The good news is cheese free pizza is still nice. Different, but nice!
Top notch recipe here.
Just licked clean a bowl of this aubergine and red lentil dahl, and it’s 1. Economical 2. Addictively delicious and 3. Has great colour and texture, 4. Easy to make and 5. Nutritious.
For the rice Mrs Rider suggested mixing 50/50 wild rice and basmati, cooked in water with a stock cube. Really? Yes, yes, BOOM! Taste buds are singing. Sharesies:
https://www.easypeasyfoodie.com/roasted-aubergine-red-lentil-dhal-vegan/
* wait, here’s a pic: 
Do it!
Looks delicious that Malvern rider. I'll try it tomorrow. Did a mixed bean casserole tonight:
Seven bean mix (put in soak in the mornin)
Chopped leek (1), celery (1 1/2) garlic (3 cloves)
Fried till soft
2 tins chopped tomatoes/Passata
Onion powder, sweet smoked paprika and cayenne pepper
Added brocolli and a packet of Linda McCartney Vege sausages, chopped up
Lots of Vege stock
Served with a small portion of red rice (for texture rather than to make it a curry portion)
It takes a while to slow cook the beans, particularly the butterbeans, but it's so nice.one of the tastiest things I can do and so so easy
The scenario I was imagining though was being out for food and faced with say a panacotta you really want to eat but technically can’t as a true veggie, or similarly with real Parmesan coated fries, or a lovely bit of toasted cheese with Worcester sauce…
Eat what you want. No-one else really cares, why feel the need to conform to a label?
My point really was attempting to challenge that "eating meat" is the default and not doing so is considered somehow outlandish. Why do something just because everyone else does?
I forgot about this:
[Chilli] I’ll stick up a recipe tomorrow.
2 onions, diced
2 bell peppers, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
400g tin chopped tomatoes
400g tin red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
300ml stock
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp mild chilli
1/2 tsp coriander leaf
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tbsp Marmite
1 tbsp tomato puree
Chunk dark chocolate
Star anise
Pack Quorn mince
Fry the onion and garlic in a lug of oil on a low heat until softened. Add the peppers and give it another 5 minutes. Hoy in everything else bar the mince, bring to a simmer for maybe 40 minutes stirring occasionally (fish out the star anise after 10 minutes). Then chuck in the mince and give it another 10-15 mins.
This makes a pretty mild chilli suitable for a wide audience. Add more cayenne, chopped red chillies or chilli flakes to bring up the heat for chilli fiends.
Eh, I bet mine’s better. (-:
Now you have to do a chilli-off. If you lose (as did I) - it will at least be happily 🙂 (just dial the heat back by about a half)
Does such a thing as a veggie chilli-off exist?
I made that Knorr katsu curry the other night off the back of this thread. Absolutely lovely, all the family liked it and that's no easy feat. The sauce is really good, and you could swap the aubergine for pretty much anything that can be fried so really versatile.
I think in our house now we're probably 2-3 vegetarian meals a week now. I'm not entirely sure why I eat meat other than tradition to be honest. When I used to travel more for work it would have been very hard to be vegetarian but now it would probably be better for my health, my wallet and the environment. All the debates have been had about the morals of it, there's a good summary here. I struggle to square the circle of why I eat meat without falling back on tradition, but there's huge spectrum of beliefs out there.
Naturli vegan block was recommended by at a local vegan restaurant and is the best alternative to butter I've found.
To the OP: if you don't have a strong ethical reasons then you needn't describe yourself as a vegetarian. When my wife (who does most of the cooking) went veggie I thought that I might miss meat but it's the opposite, I very quickly found I just didn't even want any but I am not a vegetarian.
I don't quite understand why meat-eaters enjoy trolling on this kind of discussion. It's like a bunch of noisy pissheads gatecrashing an AA meeting with some tinnies, a bottle of vodka and bad breath. No problem with differerent perspectives but if you want to big up eating meat (and slagging off people who don't) then why not start your own thread?
If it's veggie chilli you want then this is worth a read - https://www.seriouseats.com/2012/01/best-vegetarian-bean-chili.html and the recipe is at https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/01/best-vegetarian-bean-chile-recipe.html I substitute a couple of the ingredients because some are hard to get but it makes a bloody good veggie chilli.
Asda vegan mature cheddar is OK. Asda vegan blue cheese is great - tastes of blue mould just like stilton!
I'm sure it does, but unfortunately anyone putting Quorn in would be instantly disqualified 😃Does such a thing as a veggie chilli-off exist?
I’m sure it does, but unfortunately anyone putting Quorn in would be instantly disqualified
I do know that the ‘bowl o’ red’ rules for (Texan style) chilli-con-carne are pretty strict on ingredients. ie no beans, pasta, rice or similar items, and no ‘complete commercial chilli mixes’
So a veggie cook off would be: ‘ no meat, pasta, rice, and no ‘complete commercial mixes’
http://abowlofred.com/official_rules_and_cook-off_forms
Quorn is a weird one. I don’t like the taste of it, but that shouldn’t exclude it from a cook-off 😉
It's just not necessary. It's not a vegetable, not everyone will want to eat it, won't add anything to the taste, and if you're banning "commercial mixes" you can't allow ultra-mega-processed ingredients... it's about cooking from scratch, surely!!
Lifelong semi vegetarian, recent full vegetarian (used to eat fish occasionally).
You don't really need to worry, you'll get plenty of protein as long as you eat reasonably. And any pretend meat won't be any worse for you than the real meat, but will still be a bit better for the environment.
Here's an odd thing. Since I've become full-time vegetarian, I've spontaneously lost about 8lb in weight.
Nothing much else has changed, its just happened- and I do feel much better for it. I think it just might be keeping a close eye on my diet but I'm not sure.
Bonus!
I made that Knorr katsu curry the other night off the back of this thread. Absolutely lovely, all the family liked it and that’s no easy feat.
Nice one! Pretty easy to mess around with it as the sauce is completely separate to any other “main” ingredient so if aubergines are not your thing, you can offer up anything that will taste good under a curry sauce - which is pretty much...anything! 😀
Here’s an odd thing. Since I’ve become full-time vegetarian, I’ve spontaneously lost about 8lb in weight.
Not odd your just eating fewer calories. Once you reach a weight your happy with look to increase those.
It’s not a vegetable, not everyone will want to eat it, won’t add anything to the taste
You've just described meaty mince there too.
quite right. Call me draconian, I probably wouldn't allow that in a veggie chilli either 😂You’ve just described meaty mince there too.
Saturday night and the chilli non carne is nearly cooked.
Went with chef John’s tried and tested. This time in addition to the bulgur, refried beans and kidney beans I also added extra garlic, chopped mushrooms, butter beans, tblspn of cocoa powder and just a few teaspoons of molasses. By the cojones of Quetzalcoatl it tastes and smells amazing. ... I need creme fraiche and corn chips and forgot to get 😫
Top tip - I bought some proper paprika (El Avion brand) for about £1.50 from TK Maxx Dec 2018. Still using it. It’s so much richer and better-tasting than the supermarketlarky stuff sold in little jars.
Also - the refried beans. Used over half the bag to thicken the sauce rather than masa/flour. So about half as much again as per the recipe. Any spare I cook up into a bean dip.
Wanted to make colcannon with some smokey vege-bacon. Found this colcannon hash recipe and want to share because it was so satisfying in all ways and the easiest recipe to follow. Utterly delicious. See my vege-tizing tips below.
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/246529/chef-johns-colcannon-hash/
Instead of the pancetta use:
‘This Isn’t Bacon’ (4 rashers, diced). Cook until more the chewy/crispy side of hammy. If you want to go unprocessed/no meatalike then instead gently fry half a cup of halved or flaked almonds and stir in a good pinch of smoked paprika towards the end. Don’t let them fry too long as burned nuts are bad in every sense.
I was also serving a veggan so used local free range egg and vegetable spread rather than butter, and Violife grated original in place of cheddar. I would have preferred cheddar but it was still delicious.
Used 50/50 leek and spring onions
Instead of kale used chopped spring greens.
Massively moreish. Nicer still with a splash of Hendo’s 👍🏼
I was also serving a veggan so used local free range egg
Vegans eat free-range eggs now?
I mean, yours might, but I don't think that's a thing generally.
‘Veggan’
ie Mrs Rider eats a 99.9% plant-based diet with the exception of eggs , always sourced from hens we ‘know’.
Didn’t really want to have to explain as people will ask and then want to argue and play ‘gotcha’ ..then threadjam, you know how it is? 🙄
I wasn't looking for an argument, I assumed it was a typo. I've never heard that term before. Explanation helpful.
I know, not you! 👍🏼
When I first went plant-based, I continued to eat the eggs from the hens that we keep in the garden. I didn't realise that it had a name 🙂
I only use the term vegan as an easy shorthand - based on some of the more, erm, evangelical vegan groups I'm not vegan enough for them.
I didn’t realise that it had a name
Neither did I. I can see the whole eggs from your backyard 'pet' chickens being relatively easy to square with yourself. But I'm a person of easy rule - if I had some eggs I think the grey line to someone else's egg to organic free range eggs would catch me out. So it's easier to be no eggs at all for me.
Here’s an odd thing. Since I’ve become full-time vegetarian, I’ve spontaneously lost about 8lb in weight.
Nothing much else has changed, its just happened- and I do feel much better for it. I think it just might be keeping a close eye on my diet but I’m not sure.
Bonus!
My diet at the moment is basically veterinarian as I'm tying to lose weight. I suspect if I was planning on it long term it would be easier, but for the moment just eating veg (without 'carbs') it's a struggle to get 300 calories on a plate!
I suppose if I was allowed pasta/rice/potatoes it would go up significantly, but for the usual "veg in a sauce" stuff there's more calories in a mars bar than in a plateful!