[Closed] Properly tasty vegetarian recipes?

Buy Dirty Vegan my Matt Pritchard.

Blokey big flavour food from a slightly mental but now very healthy/sporty bloke.

Or the Bosh Books. But the list of options is way to large to possibly list on a mtb forum.

chips.
fries.
potato wedges.
french fries.
parmentier potatoes.
potato gratin.
potato waffles.
all with baked beans and tomato sauce.
(non vegetarians can have a side of bacon/black pudding/sausages/egg)

This is our go to winter warmer, but we add chestnut mushrooms too.

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetable-recipes/smoky-veggie-chilli/

He does some quite nice veggie recipients, we did this last night and my burger loving son had thirds!

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetable-recipes/allotment-cottage-pie/

Try the Green Roasting Tin cook book- advantage of being one tin meals! Also, if you like Asian flavours, check out Meera Sodha’s recipes from the guardian. Currently cooking her soy-pickled pumpkin maze gohan.

From a recent thread here search out Tom Kerridge's baked bean recipe. Top tip use one tin of finely chopped tomatoes and one of normally chopped tomatoes. Also watch the video as the recipe in the comments on you tube has a couple of errors. They're great with a baked potato.

Dal is your friend, red lentil and butternut squash dal is great stuff, serve with super-sized naan bread from your local Indian Supermarket.

Buy “Plenty” from Yotam Ottolenghi.

So many fantastic veggie recipes. Cooked so much from this book.

Here’s a summary of some of the highlights:

Link to 10 recipes

Came on here to say most things by Ottolenghi. Ultimate tray bake ragu is a staple in this house, but faffy to make but freezes well and works with rice, pasta, jacket potatoes and so on.

Edit. If you like pasta you have to try this too. Simple but amazing. https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/zaatar-cacio-e-pepe

https://www.smartblend.co.uk/blog/butternut-squash-and-hazelnut-risotto-joe-wicks-healthy-vegetarian-recipe

We have this regularly. Best risotto recipe I've tried.

Wow. So many replies ... so quick. Off to look at recommendations now.

I had to learn to cook veggie for vegan OH. Discovered that it’s really just about learning to cook per se! I also read ingredients on readymade meals if they taste good, and then later attempt to make them better.

Bought a big granite pestle and mortar, visited local asian supermarket to build a decent spice larder and decent knife and never looked back.

What I’ve discovered:

1. Learn how to cook authentic Indian food. (Aloo Gobi, Tadka Dal, Gashi, etc)
2. Jamie Oliver’s vegetarian spaghetti bolognese (youtube)
3. This chilli is a stunner https://www.brandnewvegan.com/recipes/soups/best-damn-vegan-chili-ever
4. This gravy is ridiculously good (use it as a base or accompaniment for lentil/veggie cottage nut roasts, etc): https://www.avantgardevegan.com/recipes/best-ever-vegan-gravy/

Growing up in a virtually anti-veggie household (meat and taters valued above all, other veggies boiled to death and grudgingly eaten) am regularly surprised by this new adventure into food.

Went to a friend’s for dinner once and sat down to a homemade lentil casserole with pan-fried almonds and cherry tomatoes on the side. I was blown away by the taste of the whole meal, and how it went together. I think they said the recipe came from Nigel Slater so may be worth looking up?

If you feel like a mega-tasty cheat-night (10 min prep) just get some pitta, mixed salad, and fry up some Vivera shawarma with plenty of olive oil shakes of garlic powder. Serve as per a doner kebab with chips and/or superslaw (slaw recipe to follow)

Best tip I ever had was to learn about veg and pulses and buy freshest and best quality. Also the book:

‘The Flavour Thesaurus’ by Niki Segnit

(*edit: Always read entire OP first. Ignore my Indian food enthusing, apologies)

That lentil stew recipe:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/almond_lentil_stew_69086

Just remembered, as a meaty-taste (umami) lover myself and while struggling to learn to cook veg/vegan - something finally clicked three years ago.

It was when I’d bought a tin of Amy’s Kitchen Lentil Soup while camping. It had that indescribable ‘full’ taste reminding me of a sort of Irish stew. Completely delicious. It was expensive for tinned soup (but great quality, organic etc) so I was determined to cook the stuff myself. I found an ‘Amy’s Kitchen Lentil soup copycat recipe’ online and was surprised again at how few ingredients there were. Basically bay leaf, soffritto, balsamic vinegar.

But that was the simple key I was apparently missing. It was the complement and quality of ingredientsmi a recipe, not the number of them. I’d been busy for a decade throwing increasing heaps of increasing flavourings in my (increasingly wrecked) veggie soups and chillis. That Amy’s soup moment was like a taste-bud reset. Beginning to unravel the addictive secrets of savoury/umami flavouring.

Here: https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/vegetarianism-for-a-meat-lover/page/6/#post-11723288

Same went for Jamie Oliver’s simple veggie bolognese. Amazingly tasty.

Another tip: found it more economical to keep a small herb garden(potted), a bay bush, and also buy decent balsamic vinegar. That’s the basic kit.

Then (most of all) to buy, grow/steal/sabe/beg good quality veg, fruit wnd nuts, and keep a good selection of pulses and legumes.

Falastin book by Sami Tamimi also great if you like Ottolenghi.

Came here to recommend the great roasting tin recipe book, see lapierrelady already has so will give it a massive +1.

We do alter the recipes slightly - counterintuitively we tend to add more variety of veg and use a bit less salt than recommended (your palate may vary), but overall the book is genuinely brilliant. It's really helped us reduce our meat consumption

It was when I’d bought a tin of Amy’s Kitchen Lentil Soup while camping. It had that indescribable ‘full’ taste reminding me of a sort of Irish stew. Completely delicious. It was expensive for tinned soup (but great quality, organic etc) so I was determined to cook the stuff myself. I found an ‘Amy’s Kitchen Lentil soup copycat recipe’ online and was surprised again at how few ingredients there were. Basically bay leaf, soffritto, balsamic vinegar.

By far the best tinned soup I've ever had! I'll be trying the recipe you linked to.

Kapushka, but made with mushrooms chopped really small instead of minced meat.

If you know how to cook and understand flavours then look to cuisines that have a lot veggie dishes. Mediterranean, Indian sub continent, East Asia etc ... Take inspiration from their dishes, the spices, herbs and flavouring combinations they use and how they cook the ingredients.

I find veggie dishes taste a LOT better when they were designed with veggies in mind from the start, rather than a dish where the meat has been substituted with a vegetable. Meat and vegetables are very different and require different techniques when cooking and adding flavour so I find that substitute recipes don't always work very well.

eg Take Indian food for example, I think only one region of India is mostly vegetarian (Gujarat) rest of the country happily easts both but every region has a wide repertoire of vegetarian dishes because its just part of who they are and I find these veggie dishes have bags of flavour.

P7's already linked to it but ICYMI, start here:

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/vegetarianism-for-a-meat-lover

Kapushka

I'm not sure how Kate Bush songs are going to help...

DELETED

This was mingin'...

Korean BBQ tofu in home made bao buns and pickled veg.

Pizza
Macaroni cheese
Spaghetti with garlic, chilli and basil, olive oil
Spinach n ricotta cannelloni

Apart from looking at Ottolenghi etc, also think about how you might substitute things. We use bulgar wheat in chili instead of meat.
But there a loads of really good veggie recipes out there.

Just made this. Mmmmm

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/nov/24/nigel-slater-recipe-for-pappardelle-mushrooms-and-harissa

some good ideas here, thanks

Ive been a pescatarian for a couple of years and have a core weekly diet of chillis, curries and bologneses as its best way for me to batch cook and use plenty of veg

best things I've done recently are:
refried pinto beans fajitas, either using a kit or with a coriander and lime spice mix
spicy cauliflower & halloumi rice
lentil kedgeree

I tend to use the BBC good food app for ideas, just search for a food that you want to use and away you go.

I used coconut milk as well as tinned tomatoes the other day, with a madras paste. And I always thought curries were either a tomato or coconut based sauce and rarely mixed but it blew me away with its sharp taste.

Pumpkin 'wedges' are tastier than any potato (including sweet potato) ones I've ever tried.

https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/roasted-pumpkin-wedges-with-feta-and-thyme.html

Asparagus is probably my favourite vegetable. Just lightly boil them, then toss them in salted butter.

Lentil Dahl is a good one too.

One of my favourite things to eat is French onion soup.

best things I’ve done recently are:
refried pinto beans fajitas

Nice! If you like that, maybe try this bean dip a try (it’s Mrs P’s favourite)

1 x 430g pack of Gran Luchito chipotle refried beans/or roughly equivalent amount of homemade refried (pinto) beans

In large non-stick frying pan or non-stick saucepan add the following:

- 1 teaspoon olive oil

Heat on medium/high

Add

- 2 x teaspoons cumin seeds to the hot oil, stirring until they sizzle a little for a second or two.

Add:

- 1 x teaspoon garlic granules (or 1 x large clove minced garlic)
- 1/2 a teaspoon of dried oregano (or a few sprigs of fresh oregano leaves)
- 1 x teaspoon good smoked paprika (eg El Avion brand, or from wholefoods shop)

Stir quickly, remove from heat.

Turn heat to low, return pan to heat and now add:

250ml of passata (or 4 x chopped salad tomatoes, or small tin of blended or chopped tinned plum tomatoes)

Stir.

- Add juice of one lime.

- Add all of the refried beans and stir again until well-combined

- Add salt and pepper to taste.

- Add powdered or flaked hot red chillies OR favourite hot sauce to taste/heat-level required.

- Variation: Add also a can of black beans, a few teaspoons of blackstrap molasses and double the cumin.

Leave the dip simmering on a low heat for 10-20 minutes, stirring frequently until bubbling. Turn off heat and remove from stove.

Serve with warmed plain salted corn chips, warmed pickled jalapeños, tomato (or mango and red onion) salsa, soured cream.

Store up to 3 to 4 days in the fridge. To reheat just add a little water and heat them up again on the stove or in microwave.

Also freezes ok.

#erratum: should be 1 x tablespoon of olive oil

@fingerbang if you like ‘different’ curries maybe have a crack at this? (Again from Camellia Punjabi)

I’d never have dreamed of a ‘dried fruit and nut curry’ but it is indeed ‘magical’.

There’s also her pineapple curry

And this is tadka dal/dal fry is demolishable with some hot, soft flatbreads and/or some jeera rice):

We do a vege lasagne which is awesome, basically vast amounts of roast vegetables instead of meat. Totally recommend, much better than a normal meat lasagne.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/best_vegetable_lasagne_50381 looks like the rough recipe.

Spaghetti with garlic, chilli and basil, olive oil

This is dead simple and really good.

Garlic Spaghetti

• 1 whole bulb of garlic
• 200g spaghetti
• 60ml good olive oil
• a pinch of red pepper / chilli flakes
• 40g pine nuts
• 25g bag fresh basil, finely chopped
• salt and fresh cracked pepper
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• Knob of butter
• grated cheese (the recipe I originally spawned this from suggested "Asiago"?)

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Slice the top off the garlic bulb, drizzle with olive oil, replace the top, wrap in foil and roast in the oven (200'C, 40-60 mins).
2. Simmer the spaghetti until just al dente.
3. Toast the pine nuts in the oven until golden brown, takes a couple of minutes. Remove and set aside.
4. Squeeze the roasted garlic out of the bulb and roughly chop.
5. Add the olive oil back in the same pan along with the lemon juice, butter, chilli flakes and garlic. Heat the oil to a sizzle, mashing the garlic with a fork or the back of a wooden spoon. Heat for a minute or two, but don't get it so hot that the garlic starts to toast or burn.
6. When the pasta is done, remove it with tongs directly into the hot oil and garlic. Toss well.
7. Add in the basil, add salt and pepper to taste. Stir well again.
8. Serve and optionally scatter with cheese to finish.

One of my favourite things to eat is French onion soup.

Eh... proper french onion soup Isn't vegetarian it's basically a beef broth with added onion, really really good french onion soup is cooked with bones in it!

I made a decent chili type of veggie dish.

Various bits from the veg pile: Carrot, squash, sweet potato, Red and Yellow pepper, Celery. Fried over a low heat with some garlic, Cayenne, paprika.
Can of plum tomato added later once it had started to all go soft.
Then added kidney beans and cannellini beans.
Final thing before letting it all bubble away for a decent time was salt and black pepper ground together in a pestle (apparently, this does something special to black pepper) and chipotle chili flakes.

The cannellini beans tend to mush apart and give it an almost creamy base, and the various peppers/chili flakes and be increased or decreased for your tastes. Mine was fairly tame with 2 garlic cloves, just a 1/4 teaspoon of each of the peppers/chili for a 4 person serving.

I'm going to try it again with fresh chili too, but to be done in moderation as Mrs Seadog can't do hot flavour dishes.

Joshvegus, I'm pretty sure using yeast extract is just as good as beef stock, well it works great on beef flavoured crisps.

https://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/healthy/vegetarian-french-onion-soup/

Lots of good suggestions. Amazon were doing the bosh and dirty vegan books for cheap. Liking a few more recipes in the bosh book at first glance.

Joshvegus, I’m pretty sure using yeast extract is just as good as beef stock, well it works great on beef flavoured crisps.

Sure it probably tastes great but it's definitely not french onion soup.

Proper onion soup isn’t vegetarian

French chefs/food-historians still argue over origins and stock in onion soup, but the argument isn't bouillon vs de bouillon de boeuf. The argument is Paris vs Lyon, and stock vs no stock.

Some Parisian chefs have used meat stock, and some bouillon. Lyonnaise chefs - no stock.

The purist’s recipe for French onion soup.
Paul Bocuse, without any argument, was the greatest chef in the second part of the 1900s; he came from Lyon, France. Paul Bocuse’s French onion soup is the soup of a purist; he uses no stock at all. Onions rule…

…I read Paul Bocuse’s English language book: The Cuisine of Paul Bocuse, Grafton Books. Bocuse’s recipe is onions, butter, a bouquet-garni, and a little pepper. To thicken the soup, he uses egg yolks along with a small drop of Madeira wine for additional flavor; he uses no stock.

https://behind-the-french-menu.blogspot.com/2014/10/soupe-loignon-french-onion-soup-most.html

Forgetting purism for a moment - try cooking up some fried onions in this (skip the flour if making for stock), I’ve tried all kinds of different veg and meat stocks for decades but it beats anything IME. (YMMV, but it’s excellent nonetheless)

Mrs Kenny is veggie so I end up eating a fair bit of veggie stuff too. Best recipes tend to be Middle Eastern or Indian, though plenty other good ones too. She's a fan of that Green Roasting Tin book someone mentioned above.

Keep it simple and buy decent quality, though that applies to just about any recipe I guess.

I like French Onion Soup. I've experimented with various recipes* with wildly different results. I love making it, it's really satisfying.

But I have one problem. I have no idea what it's actually supposed to taste like! I never had it before I was veggie and I can't eat cheese which seems to be a core component. So I can cook something I like but I don't have a scooby what I'm supposed to be aiming for beyond that.

(* - my approach to cooking is to take a bunch of recipes, try to distil them into one, then iterate each time until I'm happy.)

and I can’t eat cheese which seems to be a core component. So I can cook something I like but I don’t have a scooby what I’m supposed to be aiming for beyond that.

If you follow a recipe that has pics included you can pretty well discover classic French onion soup. It’s such a simple dish.

https://alexandracooks.com/2014/01/20/no-stock-french-onion-soup/

(Short version - caramelise 6lbs of onions for four hours, with a splash of wine)

The cheese on toast is optional if/when onion soup is eaten as a main course. But there are other options (see bottom)

The toast is replicable/replaceable for haters of cheese with a nice thin slice of buttery/vegan buttery garlic baguette or sourdough toast.

If OTOH it’s only dairy/lactose that stops you eating cheese then maybe try melty vegan cheese? Something like (bought) MozzaRisella or home-brewed, something like Gaz Oakley’s melting vegan mozzarella recipe used on this pizza (4 mins in):

I always keep a kilner jar of vegan parmesan for sprinkling on things like toast or soups. It’s p-easy to make too. (Extra tip: lightly dry-toast the cashews in frying pan first, remove before they brown)

For extra stank/richness use black salt.

Other options to accompany French soup could be:

- Baked Potato with Sour Cream and Chives.
– Steamed Carrots with Crumbled Bacon.
– Sautéed Mushrooms.
- Broccoli with (vegan) Cheese Sauce.
– Garlic Breadsticks or Fresh Baguette

https://eatdelights.com/french-onion-soup-sides/

A Parisian version

https://awaytogarden.com/david-lebovitzs-french-onion-soup-win-copy-my-paris-kitchen/

Use a vegan no-chicken bouillon recipe. Or cheat and spend 12 quids on 38 servings of ready made No Chicken Base Better Than Bouillon Although for my money I’d still cook up a batch of Avant Garde Vegan’s Best Gravy (minus the flour) and freeze in roughly 250 ml portions to use whenever

https://www.theharvestkitchen.com/how-to-freeze-chicken-broth/

or else this general purpose broth

That gravy must be good, because you're bloody obsessed with it. (-:

If you follow a recipe that has pics included you can pretty well discover classic French onion soup. It’s such a simple dish.

Sure. I just don't know whether it's "right."

If OTOH it’s only dairy/lactose that stops you eating cheese then maybe try melty vegan cheese?

Honestly, I really don't want to, I've long since given up. I'd rather go without cheese that I don't miss than develop a taste for something I mostly can't have.

I'm liking the notion of your cashew-based 'parmesan' though, that could be fun.

Crap, talking of gravy, I promised you a recipe like a year ago. I'll endeavour to revisit that at the weekend.

If you follow a recipe that has pics included you can pretty well discover classic French onion soup. It’s such a simple dish.

Sure. I just don’t know whether it’s “right.”

Well that surely goes for every recipe? There is no universal ‘right’, but there can be glaring ‘wrongs’. eg there is no “right” Cornish pastie otherwise Cornish people wouldn’t argue about Pengenna’s vs Ginsters vs Cornish Maids etc etc. I could follow one of dozens of Cornish pasty recipes to the letter and get it ‘right’ but it would taste ‘wrong’ to someone else simply on account of preference for another recipe.

The bigger worry would be to put my own ‘twist’ to it, ie stick some parsnip instead of swede, or add a pinch of this or that herb, or get it wrong ie overcook, whatever. But follow a simple classic recipe to the letter and you’d have to try really hard to go wrong?

I’ve been served various chef’s/cook’s/family’s onion soups in and out of/north and south of France over the years. Every one has been slightly (or sometimes strikingly) different.

At least when following a classic regional recipe to the letter you’ll know that it’s ‘right’ for that particular recipe (and dish).

I was cooking my own (veg or meat) chillies for decades, and they were becoming more ridiculous without me knowing it. Trigger’s broom style. Yet I put my (inordinate) pride aside a few years back and began slavishly following (highly-rated) recipes to the letter and then just maybe tweaking them a slight amount (often not at all). This improved my understanding of cooking massively. My ‘more is more’ approach dissolved to something more reverent, something akin to an obsessive interest of what makes a dish balanced, ‘complete’, satisfying, and authentic.

It’s remarkably like painting or music as in you can over-egg (or under-egg) things so easily. Or even (like I did with chillis) to go so far down ‘my own’ route that I get it utterly wrong and yet stick to my guns in the belief that my (normally top-heavy, throw everything and more in there) chillibombcareless effort was better than a Texan’s best (It wasn’t)

Pleased to report - have been eating much better since keeping it simple and following instructions.

Occasionally I’ll figure that some recipe could be ‘improved’ with a dash of sweet/splash of sour/nudge of savoury, less thyme/more time etc. Minimally.

Moreover, I found that the simple act of using fresh, quality ingredients will usually make the necessary (and more impressive) difference that was previously lacking in my increasingly sprawling, messy iterations.

Recent revelation has been the buying of proper quality tinned toms (ie Marzano, or even pomodori pelati etc) after decades of using watery 30p specials. Still use budget toms + puree method to make homemade cream of tomato soup, but I’ll now always (if possible) use the good stuff for ragu, pizza, chillies, bolognese etc. Same with rice, pasta, potatoes.

I’ve become a veg-lover. Became one of those people who fondle (and ask about veg) in markets. I even know that the cheapest canned chickpeas are darker, more bitter and about half as tasty as the better ones, which are lighter, more plump and fresher-tasting. About 10p more a can-can sometimes make all of the difference in chickpea-based dish.

But I’ll wager most of you know your onions (and how to suck eggs) so I’m off because I’ve bored even myself

@Cougar bring the gravy!
#gravyoff
#battleofthebroths

Well that surely goes for every recipe? There is no universal ‘right’, but there can be glaring ‘wrongs’.

True enough. I can make "things what I like" but whether I'm making French Onion Soup or broth with onions in I have no clue.

I strived for ages to make the perfect tomato soup. I finally knocked it out of the park, a perfect replica of Heinz cream of tomato... then realised I could've done the same thing for 80p and got three hours of my life back, and felt like a blithering idiot. Point here though is, I understood what my end goal was, I've eaten more tomato soup than most people have taken breaths. Even though ultimately I could've just got a can from Tesco I enjoyed the journey, I had confidence that I knew where I was heading. (Though the biggest embuggerance with that little voyage was, I didn't write the sod down.)

But follow a simple classic recipe to the letter and you’d have to try really hard to go wrong?

Hiya!

That's exactly the thing though... did I go wrong? Who knows?

That’s exactly the thing though… did I go wrong? Who knows?

The recipe knows. Take the first (classic/no stock) one:

After slicing six pounds of onions and caramelizing them for four hours, I poured six cups of water into the pot and seasoned the broth with a few cracks of pepper.

I gave it a stir and took a taste. I could have stopped right there. I could have served the soup without taking a single taste more, without adding a pinch more of this or a splash more of that. I could have forgone the broiled bread-and-Gruyère topping altogether.

The broth, unadulterated by any chicken or beef flavor, tasted of pure, sweet onions. Because Ruhlman suggests adding a splash of vinegar to temper the sweetness and a little sherry and wine for more depth of flavor, I did, and the broth may have been the best I have ever made.

It’s right! You cannot ‘go wrong’, because if you read that entire recipe and study the photos - it is so simple and yet thoroughly presented that one cannot go wrong (unless either burn it or mistakenly buy pomegranates instead of onions, or use 6 cups of vinegar instead of water etc)

Now if only Heinz had given you their Cream Of Tomato Soup recipe

The secret I found to Heinz-style cream of tomato is a splish of vinegar to replicate that undeniable ‘tinny’ taste (which most cream of tomato soup recipes omit). Luckily there are much tastier cream of tomato soups out there than Heinz tinned. If it’s your favourite then you finally did well to instead buy a tin at that price.

You would be amazed at the amount of wrong I can be with little effort.

(... actually, regular readers probably wouldn't.)

whether I’m making French Onion Soup

Yes

or broth with onions in

Sort of.

I have no clue.

Yes

The clue is in the recipe’s title and description. French Onion Soup is what you are making. The liquid part is referred to as ‘broth’ or ‘stock’.

Broth, also known bouillon is a savory liquid made of water in which bones, meat, fish or vegetables have been simmered. It can be eaten alone, but it is most commonly used to prepare other dishes, such as soups, gravies, and sauces. (Wikipedia)

Because the ‘no stock’ recipe uses no bouillon other than that created by the onions and water then it would be technically correct to say that you are making ‘broth with onions’.

Likewise, because you are minutely following a classic recipe for French onion soup then it would also be correct to say that you are making ‘French onion soup.’