Transitioning to Vegetarianism: Recipes Needed

neuro-praxis

So, like the title says, me and my husband have decided to transition to vegetarianism (or more correctly, semi-vegetarianism), because of how excessive meat production is hurting the planet, and how excessive meat consumption is hurting our bodies.

However we like our meat and we don't like meat substitutes (fake meats) so we need some help with tried and tested delicious veggie recipes.

What are your favourites? As soon as we have a good repertoire of veggie main meals we'll complete the transition and go vegetarian completely.

Thanks in advance for any help! I'm quite excited about doing this.

sweet-rasmus

Try googling whatever main ingredient you want to cook with here: http://vegweb.com/
I did this last week (searched pumpkin) and ended up cooking roast pumpkin, then roasting the seeds and then I made soup with the leftovers there are plenty more websites with recipes and ideas in the "Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes and Links" sticky in this forum. Also, if you want to read "The vegged up 'Here's what I had for dinner last night' thread " you'll get some ideas. Everyone has their favourite meals so you are best to search around and discover what you like and what you don't. Let us know how you get on!

maameeo

im useless at cooking (well just learning) so im no help there but have you gone to any veggie restaurants like govindas or cornucopia?
if youre good at cooking you could get ideas from the food there, yummy!

good luck with your transition!

Blueskye

Here are two I really like:
Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie
and Sweet Potato Chilli.

I try to avoid dairy so there's soya milk mentioned in one, but you can use normal milk if you want.

VEGETABLE SHEPHERDS PIE
(serves 6)

6 large potatoes for mashing
natural sea salt
sunflower margerine
soy milk
1 medium onion, diced
1 small leek, white and green parts, diced
olive oil or unrefined sunflower oil
2 medium carrots, diced
2 sticks celery, diced
115 g mushrooms, sliced
1 level tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
½ x 450g tin organic plum tomatoes, chopped with the juice
170g red lentils, washed
55g puy lentils, washed
natural soy sauce
coarsely ground pepper

Oven: Gas 5, 190 C, 375 F

Peel and cook the potatoes in plenty of salted water. Drain and mash. Stir in enough sunflower margarine and soy milk to make a creamy mash.

Saute the onion and the leek in a little sunflower oil until the onion is soft. Add the carrots, celery, mushrooms, thyme, tomatoes and top with the washed lentils. Do not stir. Add a little salt. Add water to 2 ½ cm above the lentils. Bring to the boil, place a lid on top, lower the heat and simmer for 30 mins until the lentils are cooked. Stir and season with a little soy sauce.

Place the vegetable mixture in a 25 cm rectangular ovenproof dish. Spread the mashed potato over the mixture and sprinkle with a little black pepper. Flick the potato with a fork and dot with a little sunflower margarine. Cook in the centre of a pre-heated oven for 30 mins or until the top is golden.

Suitable for freezing (without potato topping).
Dairy Free
Wheat Free
Sugar Free

Sweet Potato Lentil Chili
Makes 5-6 servings

1 tbsp coconut oil or olive oil
2 onions, diced
4 sticks celery, diced
16 oz sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
½ tsp cumin
¼ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes (no idea what these are and didn’t use them)
9 oz dry red lentils
16 fl oz water
1 tin tomatoes
1 tin red kidney beans
1 bay leaf
3 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice


In a large pot on a medium heat, add oil, onions, celery, sweet potatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, chilli powder, paprika, nutmeg, cumin, cinnamon, and red pepper flakes and stir to combine.
Cover and cook for 6-8 mins, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat if onions sticking to bottom of pot.
Rinse lentils.
Add lentils, water, tomatoes, beans and bay leaf.
Stir to combine and increase heat to bring to boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 25 mins or longer until sweet potatoes are softened, stirring occasionally.
Stir in lime juice, season to taste with additional salt, pepper.

Serve with guacamole and tortilla chips or bread, or some nice brown rice and a salad.

neuro-praxis

Thanks folks. I've had a good root through all the resources here, and elsewhere. I have compiled a list of recipes I want to try but I came here to find out your faves. Special thanks to Blueskye - I'm going to give both your recipes a go.

Does anyone have a good daal recipe by the way? My husband loves Indian food.

Absurdum

have a look at this site too
http://vegfamily.com/vegan-recipes/
don't let the vegan-ness put you off

I love http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/ for indian recipes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_19HdZ5-crs

neuro-praxis

Looks good, but what is the main ingredient here? I can't understand what she is saying. Is she saying moong dal, split bean? Is this the same as split green lentil?

Time Magazine

The OP is trolling.

There's no way her husband would ever be gay enough to stop having Strong Man's Dinner.

Sorry she does include recipes with her videos.
http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/2008/11/17/moong-dal-with-spinach/

Moong dal is a mung bean.
I imagine green lentils would work.

http://food.sify.com/vegrecipes/category/daals_and_curries/daals/

I also like this website for Indian recipes.

sweet-rasmus

Time Magazine wrote: »

The OP is trolling.

There's no way her husband would ever be gay enough to stop having Strong Man's Dinner.

Behave Time Magazine! Everyone should know that they are related so it's all in jest. Constructive and helpful comments in future though, please :P

neuro-praxis

Sorry Time Magazine, it's true...we're both going over to the dark side!

Mellor

Does anybody know of any low-carb vegi recipies.

It's a dirt thing,

The only I can think of are stir fry veggie with bean sprouts to replace the rice/noodles.
Vegi soup with no starchy veg (I'd prefer to just buy tomato soup for this)



Any others????

Mary-Ellen

Hi Mellor,
I've a low carb veggie cookbook at home.
If you give us an idea what type of thing you're looking for I post up a recipe or two later.

neuro-praxis

Involtini

Make a mixture of ricotta cheese, pine nuts and chopped dried apricots and dates. Get some aubergines, cut into long slices and sear each slice on both sides on a griddle pan with a little olive oil and salt. Set aside on a plate. Put some of the mixture into the middle of the aubergine slices and roll up into "sausages". Put the aubergine rolls side by side in a baking tin. Make a some-made tomato sauce with canned tomatoes, onions, garlic, olive oil and fresh herbs, salt and pepper. Pour the sauce over the aubergine rolls, and then top with mozzarella and Parmesan. Bake until piping hot and golden. Veggie and low-carb (maybe you'd want to omit the fruit).

neuro-praxis

So we had our first intentionally vegetarian meal at lunch time today: Dhal and home-made roti. It was really delicious (and actually vegan).

Dhal (Makes 4 servings):

1 cup red lentils
3 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil (or ghee)
2 large ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 dried chillis, crumbled
1 tablespoon grated ginger
3 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
Salt and pepper

Roti (Makes 4 rotis):

Half cup plain flour
Quarter cup lukewarm water
Splash olive oil (plus more in a spray dispenser)
Dash garlic powder, dash dried coriander leaves, plenty of salt and pepper

Method:

Leave the lentils to cook in the water until soft and gloopy, whisking occasionally. Meanwhile, fry the onion, garlic and ginger in the olive oil until soft. Add the spices and chopped tomatoes and fry until soft and aromatic. Mix the lentils and the vegetables and spices together and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, form a soft dough with the roti ingredients and knead on a floured board for a minute or two. Set a frying pan (or cast iron skillet if you have one) to medium. Divide dough in 4. Form 4 small balls. Roll out thinly with a rolling pin. Spray a thin coating of oil on the hot pan (or wipe a little oil on with a kitchen towel). Place one roti on the pan until bubbles rise on it. Flip it over and allow bubbles to rise again. Flip it a second time and this time it will start to puff up. Gently press the air out so that it evenly disperses.

Serve the dhal in a bowl with roti for dipping.

This was so good, very spicy and filling, and my husband loved it, and it was a really terrific introduction to vegetarian eating. He's not a cook, but he made the rotis, and was chuffed with how light and delicious they were. Next time, I'll include photos.

maameeo

aww no pics? that sounds yum!!!

Mellor

Mary-Ellen wrote: »

Hi Mellor,
I've a low carb veggie cookbook at home.
If you give us an idea what type of thing you're looking for I post up a recipe or two later.

I suppose low calorie is part of the goal too, so nothing with huge amounts of cheese or nuts (i've a good low cal solid cottage cheese that I use to replace cheddar/feta etc)

My current fav low carb veggie meal is all-veg spicy stir fry


Thinly sliced carrots, onions, squash, garlic, ginger, chilli, into a pan to brown.
Nice big splash of of soy sauce and vinegar, and a diced tomato
Finish with some tomato, brown, or chilli sauce if too watery.

Served on a bed of steamed beansprouts



something along that line.

I'd love to do a veggie lasagna or pasta bake, if I could thing of a sub for the pasta

neuro-praxis

Mellor wrote: »

I'd love to do a veggie lasagna or pasta bake, if I could thing of a sub for the pasta

Where do you get solid cottage cheese?

A replacement for the pasta in a lasagna could be thinly sliced courgettes (sliced lengthways) or Aubergines.

Mellor

I never tried courgettes that way, don't like aubergines.

The solid cottage cheese was with the feta, labeled "farmers cottage cheese", the calorie content is about 120 (max) per 100g. However, it went a little funky after a day or two being open, use all at once, or re-seal well. Actually, that applies to all cheese. My fault there

Shenshen

neuro-praxis wrote: »

Thanks folks. I've had a good root through all the resources here, and elsewhere. I have compiled a list of recipes I want to try but I came here to find out your faves. Special thanks to Blueskye - I'm going to give both your recipes a go.

Does anyone have a good daal recipe by the way? My husband loves Indian food.

I've got a nice lentil daal recipe :

1 onion, chopped not too finely
1-2 cloves of garlic, grated
2 inches of ginger, grated
1 tsp of mild curry poder
1.5 tsp of tumeric
2 tsp fenugreek
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 packet of coconut cream (make sure it's coconut cream, not coconut milk)
2 cups of red lentils (no need to soak them, they can go straight in)
Salt and chili to taste
Butter or oil

Fry up the onion, garlic and ginger in a good bit of butter or oil until the onions are soft, then add the spices. Fry together shortly while stirring, it'll create a bit of a paste.
Add the lentils and the tomatoes, and leave to simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the coconut cream and keep it simmering, until the lentils are soft.

I like to make vegetable pakoras to go with this, just take 60-80g of chickpea flour, add 1 egg and enough water to make something a lot like pancake batter. Put in some chili, salt, and a bit of tumeric.
Chop any kind of vegetable you like coarsely, and add them to the batter. Fry it up one spoonful at a time.

Mary-Ellen

For the low carb pasta the main things used in the book are thinly sliced cabbage like January king or sweetheart and spagetti squash.

Here's one recipe I use anyway

cabbage tagliatelle with cream cheese and mushroom sauce
450g cabbage (January king or sweetheart)
125g button mushrooms
1 tbs olive oil
75g cream cheese with garlic and herb
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Slice cabbage into thin long strips
Cook in boiling water cover for about 4mins
Fry mushrooms in olive oil for 3-4 mins
drain cabbage and add to the pan with the mushrooms stir in cream cheese a little salt and pepper and serve

When I make this I like to vary it up a bit with a splash of white wine or plain cream cheese add herbs myself or a variety of mushrooms.