Vegetarianism for a meat lover.

Found some of the Cauldron Lincs, looking forward to trying them out, the cooked breakfast a few pages back got me in the mood. See also chilli, that just looks brilliant!

I agree Cauldron Lincs are v good. Kind of a faggot/haggis sort of taste. A good posh choice. Sometimes get them as a treat for a full fryup. Along with some king oyster mushroom rashers or This Isn’t Bacon rashers.

Found a video

thanks, i think ill have bash at that, just not sure about how much to dilute the ingredients by. it says it feeds 16, but theres just 2 of us and i dont really want to be using quarter of a can for this, quarter of a can for that. also not got some of the ingredients, but i reckon i can make a good fist of it.

thanks

Hmm. Agree, who cooks with 1/4 tins?

It does fill a big saucepan. There’s only two of us so I cook it up and freeze portions. 16 portions though? More like 8-10 depending if call 1 x ladle a ‘portion’ or whether you’re more the 2-3 ladles.

I like less rice/corn chips and more chilli.

Here’s the recipe/method on a page:

https://www.brandnewvegan.com/recipes/soups/best-damn-vegan-chili-ever

The ingredients I use:

1 large Onion (diced)
1 large Red Bell Pepper (diced)
1 large Green Bell Pepper (diced)
3-4 cloves Garlic (minced)
1 splash Vegetable Broth (for sautéing)
3/4 cup Buckwheat grits (uncooked)
400g passata
1 400g can chopped tomatoes
2 cups veg broth or stock (low sodium) I use 1 and a half Kallo cubes
400g can of Refried Beans (or I use half a pack or more of Gran Luchito (Smokey Chipotle in the orange pouch)
tablespoon of Chili Powder
2 tsp Ground Cumin
1 heaped teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tsp Oregano
2 cans Kidney Beans (I drain them. Keep some back in case chili is too thick then add as required at the end)
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
3 tsp 100% cocoa powder
(Optional) 2 Tbs Pickled Jalapeños (with juice) (again, adds a little heat so adjust accordingly)
Salt to taste

Vegetarian pesto can contain cheese, just not the cheese made with animal parts.

I still think that a failure to label something as vegan or vegetarian when it is so, is a form of discrimination against certain religions.

Certain religions forbid the consumption of meat (Buddhist, Jain), and some permit the consumption of certain meats (Hindu, Judaism, Muslim).

Vegan or vegetarian food labelling is the common denominator for all these religions.

Without the correct labelling of the food, the members of these religions can either eat the food (and thus compromise their beliefs), or go without.

Bit unfair?

And oxtail soup.

Tastes fantastic.

Is there any reason to keep using animal parts?
There wasn’t much actual meat in it anyway.

I’m not a good cook by any means, but pretty much anything can be made delicious with a load of shallots.

What maniac puts grits in chilli?

Actually, what maniac puts grits in anything? Revolting items.

not sure about how much to dilute the ingredients by. it says it feeds 16, but theres just 2 of us

I reckon there’s probably four good meals there, it’s not a million miles from my own recipe (I’ll repost if anyone wants it?) and I’ve tweaked that so that a full pack of Quorn mince is about right. If you’re cooking for two and are unfamiliar with the concept of freezers I’d halve it, tops, and for the faff I probably wouldn’t bother. I’d rather make too much food than not enough, there’s always tomorrow’s lunch.

Dial back on the chilli powder

The trick here is to use more mild chilli rather than less hot. If you don’t like too much heat then why are you making chilli you loon you still want it to taste like chilli rather than tomato and ‘meat’ soup.

Cougar you’re (partially) right thanks. Totally wrong abou the ‘tomato soup’ though.

I just checked the recipe and they recommend ‘McCormicks’ chilli powder which I read is a blend of spices, herbs and ‘medium hot’ chilli powder.

What I use and call ‘chilli powder’ is the raw hot red chilli powder as per the big cheap bags of that you get in Asian supermarkets. I like my food stupid hot, but Mrs P not so much. I add my own herbs (which are, incidentally, the same as the ones in Mc Cormicks powder, but I prefer to source quality smoked paprika and grind my own cumin etc) and seasoning so I don’t tend to seek out ‘chilli powder’ blends like those etc. It gets confusing.

So (per the recipe) a 1/4 cup of Mc Cormicks chilli powder (or similar).

If I had it my way I’d be soaking anchos and serranos to blend with the red hot chilli powder. Soaked chilli stock included. But then it gets expensive and no-one here but me eats it (somewhere north of Vindaloo and South of Phaal, in a town called El Diablo 🤣)

I get around that by having a chilli flake grinder and adding to my own bowl.

The buckwheat. It cooks in perfectly and adds thickness and nutrition and a little texture. If it makes you squeamish just grind it first. It’ll cook in much the same, but you’ll feel better about it 😉

Best Damn Confusing Vegan Chilli

Without the correct labelling of the food, the members of these religions can either eat the food (and thus compromise their beliefs), or go without.

Or apply a little intelligence / common sense of their own to read the ingredients and confirm if it fits with their belief system?

Quite. Having a little (V) on the package is handy but not essential as I can read and there’s only so much space on the label.

Religious beliefs are different though. If something contains say chicken, you can’t tell whether it’s Halal chicken or not unless the label explicitly states so.

So (per the recipe) a 1/4 cup of Mc Cormicks chilli powder (or similar).

see, the ‘US cups’ measure confuses me. ive tried googling the equivalent grams measure but get different results every time. so it looks like its a ‘volume’ measure rather than a ‘weight’ measure would that be right? so its different for every ingredient? so is it easier just to buy a ‘cup’ for the US recipes?

What maniac puts grits in chilli?

never heard of them so had to google it and still not much more the wiser. ive looked on my ‘go to’ wholefoods supplier site and see a choice of ‘organic buckwheat raw’ (are these the grits), flakes, flour, or puffed buckwheat. whats a boy to do? ignore the buckwheat or do i need it for taste or texture?

@sadexpunk

organic buckwheat raw’ (are these the grits)

Most likely

Buckwheat grits/groats are

are the buckwheat kernels which have been hulled and crushed. Buckwheat groats are typically cooked like one would cook rice. Buckwheat is actually a herb and the edible portion is the triangular shaped seeds. The seeds are also ground into buckwheat flour which is used to make pancakes and the famous Russian blini.

https://www.gourmetsleuth.com/ingredients/detail/buckwheat-groats

I often use them in this recipe (and other recipes calling for ‘mince’, including patties) for the texture/sauce-consistency and nutrition/health benefits. They cook somewhat like rice but soon ‘disappear’ in the sauce. I once used pearl barley by mistake. Big mistake, it takes two or three times longer to cook. Now that wasn’t pleasant 😎

https://www.naturespath.com/en-us/blog/health-benefits-of-buckwheat/

As for cups, I just go somewhere between 200/250 mls. Or about 16 tablespoons. I’d think. That can be a lot of chilli powder if you buy a hot one! I never buy ‘blends’ such as Mc Cormack (never seen it In the UK tbh) so instead use however much heat I want (via red chilli powder and/or fresh/dried hot chili varities) combined with the seasoning/herbs/spices elements of the dish which come from a good smoked paprika, dried or fresh oregano, ground cumin seeds, salt, black-pepper, garlic, bell pepper etc. As listed.

Sorry it got confusing. It’s often the problem trying to recreate US recipes with UK ingredients.

Cougar you’re (partially) right thanks. Totally wrong abou the ‘tomato soup’ though.

Hadn’t even crossed my mind that “chilli powder” might be anything other than, well, chilli powder.

I love many things about America but by christ their recipes irritate the shite out of me. Over-reliance on brand names, measuring dry weights by volume, no concept that anyone outside of the US might want to try to follow then. ‘The one in the orange packet,’ really?! Get in the goddamn sea.

For my part, I rely mostly on jars of herbs and spices for flavouring. I’d love to go to the ‘next level’ in cooking, crushing fresh whole spices and using a special house blend of dried chillies and the like, but I’m just not there yet. On “Cougar’s Pasta Sauce Scale of Cooking Sophistication” which ranges from “jar of Lidl’s own-brand version of Dolmio” to “home-grown organic tomatoes picked off the vine two minutes ago” I’m somewhere around the passata and tinned tomatoes level. And honestly, I’ll take that for the time being, it’s not all that long ago that on the aforementioned scale I was at “Heinz Spaghetti Hoops.”

I’m self-taught and I mostly get by but my main failing is that I’m a very slow chef, “ready in five minutes” packet Pasta ‘n’ Sauce takes me 20. Adding more complexity is just going to take me even longer and it’s a whole raft of new things to learn. Plus I’m space limited, I already have an entire cupboard dedicated to herbs, spices and sauces, though that at least is going to change soon.

see, the ‘US cups’ measure confuses me. ive tried googling the equivalent grams measure but get different results every time. so it looks like its a ‘volume’ measure rather than a ‘weight’ measure would that be right? so its different for every ingredient? so is it easier just to buy a ‘cup’ for the US recipes?

A cup is 240ml and yes, it’s a volume measurement. So obviously makes total sense for things like flour which changes density if it’s compacted or sifted.

I bought a set of measuring cups for exactly this reason, and even then it’s still a $%^&ed-up measurement because most cups available in the UK are ‘metric cups’ at 250ml rather than the US 240. I eventually found some US-accurate ones on Amazon but it wasn’t easy.

My theory is that “cups” were originally supposed to be a relative measure and the actual size of it didn’t matter. Like, if you’re making batter then you need one cup each of eggs, flour and milk and it’s doesn’t matter if your ‘cup’ is 200ml or 2000ml. But then the wheels come off as soon as you involve not-cups, a tablespoon of salt might be fine for the latter there, the former not so much.

The one in the orange packet,’ really?! Get in the goddamn sea.

Well that was me to be fair. Not America. Couldn’t remember at first that it was ‘smoked chipotle flavour one’ I bought so I just wrote as I remembered/mnemonically. I’m a bit spectral that way. As for prepacked? I agree it’s better to cook fresh. I could of course have bought some chipotle chillies from online/local deli if available, then soaked some dried pinto beans overnight, cooked them, mashed them, seasoned etc. Good idea if preparing bulk. I could freeze the mash.

It never pays to assume others don’t wish to source/prepare from scratch. I’m not a fan of plastic packaging either so that is a good kick up the arse. I’ll buy either Old El Paso tins and season, or make scratch in future.

I should maybe contribute here less often and when I’ve got more time because I rush things and have to go back and re-edit a ton of times only to get it wrong again as the edit window closes! Apologies all. (crawls back to the ocean, covered in groats) 🌊

@sadexpunk – use your judgment, it’ll be good! I’ll go away and work at a ‘UK-friendly’ bestest everest gosh crikey vegan chilli to beat this one. And with easy to understand measures and ingredients!

Cougar:

The trick here is to use more mild chilli rather than less hot. If you don’t like too much heat then why are you making chilli you loon you still want it to taste like chilli rather than tomato and ‘meat’ soup.

vs

Cougar:

Hadn’t even crossed my mind that “chilli powder” might be anything other than, well, chilli powder.

No wonder you thought it must taste like ‘tomato soup’ if your chief flavour/seasoning is raw chilli powder!

12 tablespoons of raw (hot) chilli powder is hot by most standards. Not so flavourful IME? Not sure why I’d add more ‘mild’ chili powder with less heat, rather than just add less hot chili powder?

What am I missing?

@sadexpunk – use your judgment, it’ll be good!

A cup is 240ml and yes, it’s a volume measurement.

well if every cup is 240ml, i guess i could use a measuring jug to ‘fill up to the line’? not as accurate as scales but if youre saying ‘a cup is 240ml’ i can work with that.

is that the same for liquids too? so, different weights for water vs custard say, but still 240ml?

I should maybe contribute here less often and when I’ve got more time because I rush things and have to go back and re-edit a ton of times only to get it wrong again as the edit window closes! Apologies all. (crawls back to the ocean, covered in groats) 🌊

Please don’t. Your contributions are great and if you screw something up and the window closes then report your own post and we can change it for you.

What am I missing?

Eh, different chillies are different? I have two Tesco chilli powder jars here, mild and hot. The hot is 83% chilli, the mild 81%. I doubt that the difference between the two is a 2% change in chilli content.

My point was that “chilli” is a flavour in and of itself and separate from heat. Rather than “use less (fewer) chilli peppers” in a dish that’s too hot, I was suggesting using gentler chillies instead.

well if every cup is 240ml, i guess i could use a measuring jug to ‘fill up to the line’? not as accurate as scales but if youre saying ‘a cup is 240ml’ i can work with that.

is that the same for liquids too? so, different weights for water vs custard say, but still 240ml?

Exactly that, yes.

My point was that “chilli” is a flavour in and of itself and separate from heat

Only if you seek out particular varieties of dried or fresh chilies and prepare specifically. ie not the stuff in your Tesco jar which is added just for heat.

It is confusing. Especially in the UK. Chilli powder? Chile powder? Chili powder?

Your Tesco brand ‘chilli powder’ in those little 50g jars is a ready-mixed chile con carne/tex-mex spice/herb/seasoning blend ie approx 80 % (med or hot) heat (from cayenne and/or red chilli/capsaicin extract) and approx 20 percent chilli con carne/tex mex herbs and seasoning (oregano, ground cumin, salt, garlic powder etc)

This is a comparitively expensive and sub-par (if convenient) way to flavour a chili con carne/non-carne as you’re paying not for some nice distinctive (fruity/smokey etc) chili peppers flavours as you might imagine, you’re instead paying for a basic red (almost tasteless) chilli/cauenne powder/extract that is mixed with the above herbs and spices (themselves non too fresh either)

So the heat in your Tesco ‘chilli powder’ (basically a tex mend blend for chilli con carne) comes from cayenne and/or capsaicin extract and/or dried red chilli powder.

You’d have to seek out the more expensive varietals of chile powder (ie ancho, chipotle, serrano etc) to get the smoky, fruity notes.

You’d still need to add all the other herbs and spices to make a tex mex.

This is why I make my own tex mex blend. Using good quality smoked and/or unsmoked paprika (dried pimento chilli peppers, aromatic tasting) along with the heat (basic red chilli powder, ie packet of Rajah hot chilli powder – 200g for roughly the same price as your 50g jars of blended spice)

Then add cumin (use a pestle and mortar on the seeds), oregano fresh or dried, salt, garlic/garlic powder etc. Works out a whole lot cheaper and much, much tastier than the little 50g jars of readymix tex mex (sold as ‘chilli powder’

*There’s some written about the differences here:
https://www.bonappetit.com/story/chili-powder-vs-chile-powder

Have a good Mexican cook book and if you want to get the flavour of actual chili peppers you need buy specific chilli varieties noted for their flavours, dry toast them, soak in water/extract flavour etc etc. Then use the whole shebang in the sauce. It’s still usually subtle so you’ll still be adding herbs and spices, garlic etc to your recipe

But if you just cook some ‘chilli powder’ (not a tex mex blend) into some tomatoes onions and beans, then you’d just have a hot tomato, bean and onion soup.

In short – the ‘flavour’ in your Tesco blend is, I’m almost certain, from the 20% herbs and spices, and not from the chili powder/heat.

Test it out yourself!

Deffo recommend buying a tin or four of (say) El Avion brand paprika (smoked hot, smoked sweet, etc) it will delight your taste buds (use sparingly) and add some real depth of flavour to chili dishes.

@poly

I don’t think that it should be incumbent upon the purchaser to analyse the ingredients.

How would anyone know if the ’emulsifiers’ are of a vegetarian origin?

While I was in hospital with my broken leg, I asked for a ‘vegetarian’ cheese and onion sandwich.
Fair enough, but the label said ‘may contain crustaceans’ !!!

A cheese and onion sandwich, FFS.

And then there was a huge list of ingredients, including a bunch of E numbers.

It was a lot of ingredients for something with such a short shelf life.

I ate it regardless, but it left me thinking about the quandary id have been left in, had I been a Buddhist or Jain.

What this topic did make me think about is this:

Are there any vegan or vegetarian dishes that have become part of the vernacular, in the way that ‘toad-in-the-hole’ or ‘roast beef and Yorkshire puddings’, have?

And ‘beans in toast’ doesn’t count😊

While I was in hospital with my broken leg, I asked for a ‘vegetarian’ cheese and onion sandwich.
Fair enough, but the label said ‘may contain crustaceans’ !!!

A cheese and onion sandwich, FFS.

That usually just means it’s been made in the factory space as some crab sandwiches or whatever, and they can’t guarantee 100% there won’t have been cross-contamination. Unless you’re allergic to seafood it’s not an issue, and you can eat it with a clear conscience.

Unless you’re in Spain of course, where the vending machine in the bank I work in would happily sell you a “sandwich vegetal” with ham in it… they’re slowly getting the idea here, but it’s taking time 🙂

Naked Glory Vegan Sausage Experiment No. 1.

‘English Breakfast Sausage‘

Had a bash at seasoning a Naked Glory sausage, seeing as had a sage bush nearby.

Tried a pinch each of:

Chopped sage
Black pepper
Salt*
Garlic powder
Nutmeg*

* Actually was more like half a pinch of salt and nutmeg.

When the sausages had nearly finished frying I sliced each lengthways in the pan, opened flat and rubbed seasoning into both halves of each.

Then closed them back up and let finish cooking for a 3-4 minutes longer

Plopped them on plate with some egg and chips and tucked in.

Taste? A quite startling difference. They already have great texture (as do the Linda Mac 1/4lbs burgers) but … again, why aren’t they using traditional seasonings???

If there were fats and juices running out of this I’d be very hard pressed to tell the difference between this vs a pork breakfast sausage. Some meat sausages have a mild ammonia taste to them, but I don’t miss that so much so will just focus on the flavours that I did like.

I think all that this hack needs now is juicy fat, and a little more of both umami and sweet. Maybe refined coconut oil, mushroom powder and a touch of something swee? Will attempt to add those next time.

Just a fun experiment. I wouldn’t recommend sausages of any type as a staple diet 😉

Yet if you’re a veggie/vegan missing a cheap and dirty sausage fryup, here you go! Would be easy to instead use dried thyme and make up a little shaker.

I’ll stick with fresh. Blimmin lovely.

Would anyone recommend a decent (even affordable) mushroom powder? Porcini or shiitake? Wouldn’t know where to begin…

Please don’t. Your contributions are great and if you screw something up and the window closes then report your own post and we can change it for you.

Sorry just noticed this comment, Cougar. Thanks for that, and big up you mods. Will remember this if I really mess something up! I need discipline to learn to construct (especially recipes) comments in Notes first. No volunteer needs or deserves to be tidying up my attention-deficient mess, but the option is appreciated! 😬

@p7eaven Food for thought, as it were, thank you.

I’d disagree that chilli powder doesn’t have a flavour other then ‘heat’ (chilli flavoured crisps exist) but you might be right, I hadn’t realised that there were other things in the jar till I went and looked. Nonetheless, I’ve been meaning to switch to the bulk stuff like you linked to for a while. I live in East Lancashire so there’s no shortage of authentic options, I could literally throw a brick out of my back yard and hit an Asian mini-mart that sells spices at two quid a kilo.

I don’t think that it should be incumbent upon the purchaser to analyse the ingredients.

I think that the buyer should be made aware of what they’re buying and then they can make an informed choice. If we had a logo to cover every potential -ism out there there’d be no space for the name of the product.

How would anyone know if the ’emulsifiers’ are of a vegetarian origin?

I would expect an individual to know how to interpret a label according to their particular requirements better than a lay person. For instance, I wouldn’t expect your average meat-eater to be able to answer your question – why would they know or even care? – but as a vegetarian of 40 years I know that ’emulsifiers’ in food are generally either dairy-based (milk or egg protein) or soy. I can’t think offhand of any that wouldn’t be vegetarian (cue half the forum immediately googling to prove me wrong), though the dairy ones will be problematic for most vegans. If I were vegan then I’d do more research into what was and wasn’t ‘safe’, there’s probably a website somewhere with huge lists, but I’m not so I don’t know.

I need discipline to learn to construct (especially recipes) comments in Notes first.

Honestly, I’ve been using Notepad for anything longer than a couple of lines for years, long before I ever used this forum even. Far too often I’ve typed war and peace just for the browser to crash or something. It’s less of a common occurrence these days, and if the forum borks then Chrome’s ‘back’ button almost always recovers it, but still. Composing in-browser I usually hit ctrl-A, ctrl-C before hitting Send.

No volunteer needs or deserves to be tidying up my attention-deficient mess

Eh, it is what it is. I’ll generally tidy up URLs that have a paragraph of useless metadata in them, or mop up when the swear filter doesn’t. Folks’ posts get edited a lot more than you might realise.

I’d disagree that chilli powder doesn’t have a flavour other then ‘heat’ (chilli flavoured crisps exist)

Again, confusingly you’d be right. And wrong. ‘Chilli flavoured‘ crisps have (variously) oregano, garlic, cumin, lemongrass, etc etc.

Again, they say ‘chilli flavoured crisps’ (not ‘chile-flavoured’) but ‘chilli-flavoured’ usually means a whole lot of things to tempt you to buy exotic-sounding tasty crisps, corn chips etc. All (variously) flavoured with herbs, spices, MSG, salt, smoke, and a touch of that generic, red, virtually tasteless ‘chilli powder’ (or extract) for the heat. Buy a pack of that powder! Did I say? 😉

99.99% of the time ‘chilli-flavoured is North American/Western short-hand for ‘some blend of herbs, garlic and spices with a degree of heat from chilli peppers’

They may as well say ‘foreign flavoured’. Sometimes they’ll specify that it’s Thai Sweet Chilli (lemongrass, garlic, coconut, heat) or ‘Tex-Mex chilli (cumin, oregano, garlic, smoke, heat)

It’d be really easy to test out what I’m saying. Buy a bag of Rajah, Natco etc 100% ‘chilli powder’ (again, confusingly, but check it does at least have just 100% chilli peppers in it, and no other herbs and seasonings), dip a finger, flavour your next soup with it. Whatevs 😉

Compare it to your Tesco ‘chilli powder‘ (80%).

I suspect you’ll either double down, else realise that for ages (buying flavoured crisps and jars of spice blends labelled ‘chilli’) you may have long-believed that (sic) ‘chillis’ are fruits which taste variously of garlic powder, salt, cumin, oregano, lemongrass, smoked paprika…etc!

Again, ‘chile’ vs ‘chilli’ in the US. In the UK? They hardly ever use ‘chile’ but use ‘chilli’ to mean anything at all to do with heat from peppers/capsaicin and/or as some vague term for spicy foreigny food.

Have a read?:

https://www.culinaryhill.com/homemade-ancho-chile-powder/

I suspect you’ll either double down, else realise that for ages (buying flavoured crisps and jars of spice blends labelled ‘chilli’) you may have long-believed that (sic) ‘chillis’ are fruits which taste variously of garlic powder, salt, cumin, oregano, lemongrass, smoked paprika…etc!

Fair enough. Let me try and rephrase what I meant.

I’d disagree that chilli powder doesn’t have a flavour other then ‘heat’

I’d disagree that the chilli powder I and likely most other people have in the cupboard doesn’t have a flavour other then ‘heat’ (-:

I’ll do as you say though. I’m running low and was planning on doing exactly that anyway so it’s a timely suggestion. I’ll read the articles after I’ve eaten.

Just had some Fry’s veggie hot dogs from Tesco. Better than real hot dogs!

I’d disagree that the chilli powder I and likely most other people* have in the cupboard doesn’t have a flavour other then ‘heat’ (-:

Maybe. Depends on background/culture. I’m white Brit and like yourself thought ‘chilli powder‘ meant tex mex chii seasoning/blend. Until I became addicted to spicey foods, esp cooking/replicating Indian, Mexican, Southern US dishes. Someone bought me both a Mexican and and an Indian cook book in the 90s and I still use them. I lived in the USA/Florida for a short while and found they like their Gumbos, Chilis, and other spicy foods. Conch fritters….(drool)

Don’t know if this would help but I found that a good basic ‘toolkit‘ for chili/tex mex dishes breaks down to five essentials:

Heat, smoke, herb, spice, garlic.

(And a pestle and mortar!)

1. Heat

from either/or

A: Cheap neutral heat

(Powdered hot peppers)

ie 100% chilli/cayenne/kashmiri powder (or dried whole, or flakes) easily sourced from Asian supermarkets or online. Largely flavourless/neutral. Commonly used in every spice blend requiring heat.

Or

B: Expensive fruity heat

(varietal chile powders, chili sauces, etc)

ie a bottle of strong chilli sauce with high scoville rating. Something neutral is more versatile. I was given a bottle of ‘Blair’s Sudden Death‘ which lasted me many years. A couple of drops is enough to heat a bowl of chili. It was made from habaneros and cayenne pepper extract IIRC. Slight fruity heat from the habaneros. Mad hot. Can cause reflux if sensitive.

And/or

C: Fresh whole/sliced hot chillies or hot pickled chillies.

I’ll buy these if see on offer or have grown some, and will either make into a sauce or add directly to the dish and cook in. They can be unpredictable on heat scale, but they do impart a delicious fresh fruity ‘green’ flavour (as well as heat) in a way that most chilli powder cannot.

2. Smoke

I prefer/can afford to buy a quality dried smoked paprika (pimentos)
It should be a really deep vivid red, ‘clumpy‘, and smell earthy, smoky, aromatic, sweet, pungent. El Avion brand is good, you can buy hot smoked or sweet smoked. Good local whole food shops may sell quality smoked paprika in cellophane bags.

If it’s light-coloured, overly dry etc…then walk away. Similarly, supermarket stuff in jars is generally old overpriced rubbish.

Liquid smoke is an option (hickory, mesquite etc) but this is a blunt tool IME. Also expensive and it lacks the peppery aromatics of smoked pimento/paprika or chipotles etc.

Smoked paprika will provide a similar earthy smoke as chipotle powder. Both are made from smoked chilies. Ancho chili powder is made with poblano peppers and has a lot in common with chipotle powder.

https://rawspicebar.com/blogs/spices-101/best-chipotle-powder-substitute

3. Herb

Oregano

Fresh home grown or dried in jars. It’s all good* I like the small purpley-green-leaved stuff fresh from herb garden best.

*Dried oregano is more pungent/coarse-flavoured so use less by comparison.

4. Spice

Cumin

Grind them seeds up in pestle and mortar. As needed.

5. Garlic

Garlic powder

Cheap and useful. Adds a full-flavour and ‘salty’ taste without the sodium. I use in recipes alongside fresh crushed garlic. Also handy on it’s own added in sauces and seasonings

With these five basics for starters you’ll never be stuck for a killer chilli!

Aghy. Cougar, I just tested your ‘report/fix’ 😳.

Just had some Fry’s veggie hot dogs from Tesco. Better than real hot dogs!

But the mechanically-separated turkey testicles are the best bits!

Will remember to give the Fry’s a go cheers.

Taifan Tofu Weiners (Whole-food shops, Waitrose etc) are really good but flipping expensive. They are massive to be fair.

Fixed.

IMHO Fry’s are good, Tivall is better.

think im becoming a bit of a ‘one-trick pony’, altho what im making is good and i enjoy it.

this whole new veggie thing is opening up so many ingredients id never normally use that im overloading with ingredients a bit rather than cooking owt simple.

f’rinstance, so far ive made some chorizo seitan ‘logs’. so theyre going in. need to see what cauliflower tastes like in a curry. in it goes. squash. yep, dice it, chuck it in. along with the usual onions, mushrooms, peppers and the obligatory 2 tins of chopped tomoatoes. fry them all in a bit of oil first and then into the tommies…..
now then lentils, hmmmm a choice between the red, yellow, black, organic, oh just stick some red uns in.

just making another curry this morning, and i cant think of how to change it (too late now, its simmering).

what results is a lovely curry, but i havent got a clue really what the different elements are bringing to the party. i think i forgot to put the ground coriander in this one, but will i notice? will i ‘eck!

id like to actually know what the difference is between all those different lentils and which to use. when i make a chilli id like to know what the difference is between the beans.
i spose the only way to do that would be not to cover it all in a curry sauce, but then i wouldnt have a curry 😀

its good to be cooking some different food tho, wifes not really so keen on it, so im just ending up freezing extra portions. this then has the knock on effect of needing to use those instead of experimenting further when im impatient to dial in some recipes.

s’all good tho, im now encouraged to eat more veggie meals as ive enjoyed what ive cooked so far.

what results is a lovely curry, but i havent got a clue really what the different elements are bringing to the party. i think i forgot to put the ground coriander in this one, but will i notice? will i ‘eck!

^ Beyond help 🤣

Just go online and follow recipes? Then tweak.

when i make a chilli id like to know what the difference is between the beans.

(Canned/dried) beans are really more for nutrition and texture than distinctive flavours* . It doesn’t make any/much difference to the flavour *except for the red kidney. Since making veggie chillis I’ve divided beans into two categories

1. ‘soft beans’ pinto*, haricot, black beans etc (*ie the refried beans in the chilli recipe on this thread) for thickening and bulk. You can use butter beans, too, in fact there’s probably more I’m no bean expert. I actually dislike those ‘bean chillies‘ where it’s all a mountain of whole mixed beans in a sauce and little else. I like it more like the one in the recipe so am stuck with that forever now! Just like my mum’s beef stew, or Mrs P’s black bean stew, or my mate’s red dragon pie, or Amy’s Kitchen lentil soup. Or Jill Patel’s veggie samosas.

Why reinvent a perfect thing? Just tweak.

2. ‘Red kidney beans’ for that slightly chewy, irony ‘tang’ that finishes of a chilli con carne. If using cans they only need go in in the last 10 mins of cooking. You want a nice bite to the kidney beans to offset the sauce

If you make a mixed bean salad you’ll just taste ‘beans’. The flavour of the salad is more about the other components. ie the garlic, the onions, the dressing herbs, and fresh veg. The ‘aromatics’

Here’s a bean guide:

https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/10/beans-legumes-pulses-varieties-recipes-cooking-tips.html

And

https://www.allrecipes.com/article/types-of-beans/

One bean-y tale of exception:

A few weeks ago someone gave us some fresh broad beans. So rather than let them dry up or go off we took them out of the pods and cooked them up in a little water and salt. Forgot that they were on the stove tbh and the water nearly boiled away. I saved it and let them cool a little. The water had gone really dark like a stock (aquafaba?) and the beans were a little wrinkly now.

Tasted one and it was honestly delicious. Just a bean, water and salt.

Don’t think I’ve ever cooked a fresh bean before. True story! 🤣

I discovered that pouring curry sauces on to plain veg (or boiling veg in sauce) to make a ‘curry’ is always going to taste like sauce poured on plain veg. Same thing if you pour curry sauce on a boiled chicken breast rather than preparing the meat with spices, specifically for a curry.

If I make aloo gobi/cauli and potato curry I’ll always roast the veg first to get most flavour and ‘bite’. To prepare the veg before roasting it’ll at minimum get tossed in oil, crushed garlic, caraway seeds, paprika (plain or smoked) and lemon juice.

Sometimes I’ll make a paste or marinade and marinade them overnight in a bag in the fridge)

Can’t remember the last time I made one or which recipe I used. Have been lazy cook of late. I do know that I liked to add coconut cream. But I always season/spice/marinade and roast the veg before adding to the sauce. It makes a really satisfying meal.

Here’s a random roasted aloo gobi

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/roasted-aloo-gobi

Hope that whole splurge above helps. When I find my aloo gobi recipe I’ll post it up. But again, indian cooking us a delight but like everything there are rules To get the best. Just imagining my dad’s face if I’d cooked him a Cornish pastie without the key ingredients

No onions?

What? Onions? Ah yeah I just used garlic instead, and bunged some coriander in because we didn’t have black pepper.

Argh!

Nah, it’s delicious. You can’t tell.

What about the swede?

Oh yeah, I had to use sweet potato.

And the beef?

Oh yeah. It’s Quorn mince

*dull thud*

Dad? Was it because it was boiled not baked?

⬆⬆ Quornish Pastie.

Beyond help 🤣

pretty much 😀
just dont have those sensitive taste buds. same with beer. my mates picking out burnt toffee, caramel etc and im just er…..it tastes like beer 😀

Just go online and follow recipes? Then tweak.

pretty much what im doing, mainly to make sure i get the right spices in. but, much the same as me forgetting the coriander, i dont know what each one brings so i wouldnt know what it was missing. yep the recipes are calling for cumin, garam masala, turmeric, fenugreek but i dont know what each one tastes of, i just follow the recipe, and i end up with something that i can say yep thats tasty. but i dont know why its tasty, wish i was better at that sort of thing.

I discovered that pouring curry sauces on to plain veg (or boiling veg in sauce) to make a ‘curry’ is always going to taste like sauce poured on plain veg. Same thing if you pour curry sauce on a boiled chicken breast rather than preparing the meat with spices, specifically for a curry.

what, even if its dry-fried for 10 mins in the spices, simmered for an hour, then left to soak for an afternoon, then heated up again before eating?

If I make aloo gobi/cauli and potato curry I’ll always roast the veg first to get most flavour and ‘bite’. To prepare the veg before roasting it’ll at minimum get tossed in oil, crushed garlic, caraway seeds, paprika (plain or smoked) and lemon juice.

Sometimes I’ll make a paste or marinade and marinade them overnight in a bag in the fridge)

interesting. i do actually fry them for 10 mins or so first in a bit of oil and all the spices, hoping that they actually do take the flavours in. hadnt thought about roasting them first, or marinading, that seems a good idea.
so youre chopping all the veg, then rolling in oil to make them sticky, then rolling them in all of the mixed spices, then roasting in a tray with a bit more oil?
then into the chopped tomatoes and simmer for half hour or so, that right?

thanks for that.

This is rapidly turning into one of my favourite threads.