Vegetarian Recipes and Meals

[Luckylies]

I made a terrific Ma Po Tofu the other night, sans pork, and my Chris, who has the carnivorous propensities of a T Rex, merely said, "Put a LOT of tofu on MY rice---I like LOTS of tofu."

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this is just the cutest thing I've ever heard.

*ducks*

I made a tofu ballentine today...

....um, homemade tofu turkey...

I'm a sucker for accomidation...if anybody cares for the details...i'll fess

it's actually not gross. and it took all day..so for me, perhaps the beauty of cooking without pork is the...

process

It will be deep fried on t-day though.

[tejon]

I made dinner for visiting friends a couple of weeks back. He is vegetarian, she's vegan. Together, we worked out a Chinese meal that both of them were thrilled about. It came out pretty well, especially considering the "ice cream", which was a last minute invention. We had scallion pancakes to start, siu mai with tofu and ginger, curry puffs (the filling for these was amazing!), stir fried bok choy from my garden, marinated broccoli stems (with sugar, salt, vinegar and sesame oil), and steamed rice. Dessert was coconut ice cream with ginger and lime. No pictures, but it was an incredible meal.

[vinelady]

I made dinner for visiting friends a couple of weeks back. He is vegetarian, she's vegan. Together, we worked out a Chinese meal that both of them were thrilled about. It came out pretty well, especially considering the "ice cream", which was a last minute invention.  We had scallion pancakes to start, siu mai with tofu and ginger, curry puffs (the filling for these was amazing!), stir fried bok choy from my garden, marinated broccoli stems (with sugar, salt, vinegar and sesame oil), and steamed rice. Dessert was coconut ice cream with ginger and lime. No pictures, but it was an incredible meal.

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Can you give more details about the curry puffs?

[tejon]

The puffs had a pastry shell that was layers of fat and flour. The filling consisted of stir fried potato, cabbage, onion, and celery (all diced fine) liberally flavored wtih garma masala and a bit of turmeric. The pastry I could have taken or left - it didn't have much going for it beyond the flaky texture - but the filling was delicious.

[MissAmy]

My vegetarian lunch: falafel gyro, babaganoush, tabouli, dolmas, and spanikopita. Yes, it was all shared among three people! No, I DID NOT eat all that on my own. But I'm still full! It was great!

I've decided that due to the environmental factors tied to the meat industry and the fact that I highly disagree with mainstream commercial meat processing, I will be incorporating more vegetarian meals into my diet. I could never be a vegan long-term, and seriously doubt that I will be a vegetarian ALL the time, but I think that if I am going to live according to my basic belief sturcture and philosophy of protecting the planet and respecting all creatures, I should seriously limit my meat intake. So I'm going to.

I sincerely hope this thread continues and thrives as I'm sure I'll get just as much inspiration here as I do from the "Dinner" thread.

[hathor]

Cool idea, Pontormo! Not by design, but we tend to eat one vegetarian meal a day.... protein twice a day can be sooo heavy.

Today's lunch, pecorino risotto and sauteed spinach. Oh, can somebody tell me, is it safe to eat spinach in the States again?? I sure hope so.......

I posted the photo on the dinner thread...but here you go!

[mizducky]

Today's lunch, pecorino risotto and sauteed spinach. Oh, can somebody tell me, is it safe to eat spinach in the States again?? I sure hope so.......

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Yeah, at this point spinach is officially back to whatever level of safety it had before the E. coli scare.

As I've previously mentioned elsewhere on eGullet, I'm not a full-fledged vegetarian, but limit my animal protein intake, eat a lot of meatless meals, and am always on the lookout for more meatless dish ideas.

The other night I made a lovely Japanese-style stew of cubed tofu, onions, carrots, and shiitake mushrooms, simmered in a dashi broth spiked with soy sauce and slices of ginger root. The flavor was mild and mellow but definitely yummy. Great warming dish to help my bod fight off a cold.

[tejon]

Tonight's meal: Channa dal with herbs and garlic tadka, basmati rice, cauliflower with mustard seeds, and an onion relish. This is one of my favorite comfort meals - dal of some sort, rice, and a vegetable.

[Milagai]

Tejon, are you sure you're not me?

You described almost identical to what

we ate for dinner today - mixed dal (mostly chana with a

little moong and masoor) with onions, tomatoes,

red chilli and panch pora.

Rice; and asparagus with the black mustard seeds!

Yogurt...

This is one of our comfort staples too.....

Simple every day food....

Your description of what you fed your veg*an friends

(the chinese-ish meal) was heavenly too....

Hathor - question - is fennel same as anise? I saw

anise in the grocery today, and wanted to make your

braised fennel for TG....

By the way - vegetarian food means getting your protein

from mostly plant sources, it does not mean "no protein"...

And you had pecorino in your pasta, so a hunk of animal protein

right there

MissAmy - the reasons you gave for going mostly vegetarian

is the same as why my family is vegetarian. I have the

"easy out" of my Indian food background so it's no hardship

for us to be fully lacto-ovo vegetarian, (though

we rarely eat eggs but don't

rule them out, though we do consume a fair amount of dairy.)

And GiftedG - you didn't go wrong at all! Your daughter is lucky

that her mom is open to her very thoughtful dietary choices

and there's really no deprivation there - on the contrary -

a universe of exquisite food....

Our TG obviously is vegetarian, and having no Thanksgiving

traditions we have to replicate, our "thing" is to find a new and interesting

set of recipes every year and splurge.

So far on this year's menu much inspired by eg:

Lunch:

Hathor's braised fennel

(maybe) the stuffed baby artichokes from the Medieval food blog

roasted baby potatoes and brussels sprouts

EITHER

Chufi's Dutch cheese-filled crepes

OR

Spiced up spanakopita (more likely this as I have

an oversupply of fillo that needs to be used up)

dessert yet to be determined......am open to

suggestions.......

Dinner:

Evening a TG pot luck with friends,

our contribution:

Daniel's fillo-wrapped camembert cheese triangles

which I will take up a notch by slicing and spreading

with a spicy spread before wrapping.....

and whatever the others make......

Milagai

[hathor]

I'm not an expert, I don't think fennel and anise are the same thing, but I thing braised anise would taste wonderful!

Uh, obviously I'm not a vegetarian either.... no milk products?? That would be a challenger fro me.

[Gifted Gourmet]

I don't think fennel and anise are the same thing,

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Splendid Table, NPR, has an answer to this ...

[Milagai]

I'm not an expert, I don't think fennel and anise are the same thing, but I thing braised anise would taste wonderful!

Uh, obviously I'm not a vegetarian either.... no milk products?? That would be a challenger fro me.

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Hathor:

Ok: I'll try braised anise, same recipe as for fennel?

And do I use the upper frondy parts along with the bulb?

Re milk products - a vegetarian is a person who does

not eat dead animals (so no fish, chicken, shellfish, animal stocks, etc.)

But vegetarians usually consume dairy products (because

the animal is not killed in milk production) and some eat eggs.

So they're called lacto-ovo vegetarians.

Vegans on the other hand don't eat anything animal in origin,

so no dairy products, no eggs, no honey, don't wear silk or leather

or wool or fur, etc.

My remark to you was in response to your description

of your one vegetarian meal a day saying "protein twice

a day can be so heavy". I wanted to point out that:

1) vegetarian meals DO include protein, whether from

bean type ingredients, or as in your pecorino pasta dish, from dairy products.

So your vegetarian meal cannot be described as a no-protein meal.

And also, there are small amounts of protein in almost all foods.,

which add up.....

2) dairy products ARE animal-origin ingredients, but are acceptable

to most vegetarians (unless they have food sensitivities) since

it's not directly a dead animal. Vegans on the other hand would not

find dairy products acceptable.

Like others have pointed out, it's not that hard to have to

leave out animal products from one's diet as there are

myriad ways to omit or substitute. It's a matter of habit.....

HTH

Milagai

Edited November 21, 2006 by Milagai (log)

[Milagai]

I don't think fennel and anise are the same thing,

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Splendid Table, NPR, has an answer to this ...

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Thanks GiftedG! One lives and learns!

The item in my grocery store appears to be fennel,

based on the description in that link. I'm off to google

images of fennel and of anise to see how different they look.

ps: I just did that, and I am still confused about the difference.

They look very similar to my eyes. The only thing that comes

out is that the thing in my grocery store is almost definitely fennel......

Milagai

Edited November 21, 2006 by Milagai (log)

[hathor]

I'm not an expert, I don't think fennel and anise are the same thing, but I thing braised anise would taste wonderful!

Uh, obviously I'm not a vegetarian either.... no milk products?? That would be a challenger fro me.

←

Hathor:

Ok: I'll try braised anise, same recipe as for fennel?

Re milk products - a vegetarian is a person who does

not eat dead animals (so no fish, chicken, shellfish, animal stocks, etc.)

But vegetarians usually consume dairy products (because

the animal is not killed in milk production) and some eat eggs.

So they're called lacto-ovo vegetarians.

Vegans on the other hand don't eat anything animal in origin,

so no dairy products, no eggs, no honey, don't wear silk or leather

or wool or fur, etc.

My remark to you was in response to your description

of your one vegetarian meal a day saying "protein twice

a day can be so heavy". I wanted to point out that:

1) vegetarian meals DO include protein, whether from

bean type ingredients, or as in your pecorino pasta dish, from dairy products.

So your vegetarian meal cannot be described as a no-protein meal.

And also, there are small amounts of protein in almost all foods.,

which add up.....

2) dairy products ARE animal-origin ingredients, but are acceptable

to most vegetarians (unless they have food sensitivities) since

it's not directly a dead animal. Vegans on the other hand would not

find dairy products acceptable.

Like others have pointed out, it's not that hard to have to

leave out animal products from one's diet as there are

myriad ways to omit or substitute. It's a matter of habit.....

HTH

Milagai

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Thank you for the clarification and explanation Milagai.... I meant animal protein/meat, but I completely agree with you that I should have been been more specific.

I would treat the anise the same way as the fennel. Let me know how it turns out!

[Milagai]

Clarification: a vegetarian does not eat animals, dead or alive

Milagai

[Pontormo]

Hathor - question - is fennel same as anise?  I saw

anise in the grocery today, and wanted to make your

braised fennel for TG....

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"Anise" is to "fennel" what "yam" is to "sweet potato."

Just to be utterly clear:

Since many supermarkets apply the word "anise" to fennel bulbs in their produce department, assume that recipes calling for fennel bulbs, stalks and/or fronds can be prepared with the vegetable your local Giant/Safeway/Kroger's/Stop & Shop may be calling "anise." That's why pictures of fennel online look like the anise you picked up in the store.

The word "anise" according to Lynne Rossetto Kasper is inaccurately used to refer to fennel bulbs in grocery stores and supermarkets. Same goes with "yams," an African tubular that is not identical to the sweet potatoes that get mashed and buried under gooey marshmallows or syrupy pecans in some homes on Thanksgiving in the U.S.

GG's useful link was educational for me since I had been taught that "anise" is simply a different word for "fennel" when it comes to both the bulbs and the seeds.

As for the question regarding uses of the feathery fronds: If they're in good shape, use them as a garnish, chopping them a bit or at least shredding them so they resemble dill. Pretty sprinkled over dishes. They add flavor the same way a fresh herb does.

If you're shaving fennel for a salad, you usually cut off the stalks and the root end, leaving the core intact (just be sure to cover cut surfaces in lemon juice quickly to thwart discoloration). When braising fennel, often recipes instruct you to remove the core. In any case, reserve the parts of the fennel you're not using. Wash, chop and freeze. Especially when you have lots of leek greens, etc. around the house, you can pull them out of the freezer and use them to make a vegetarian stock.

Edited November 21, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[dockhl]

Today's lunch, pecorino risotto and sauteed spinach. Oh, can somebody tell me, is it safe to eat spinach in the States again?? I sure hope so.......

←

Yeah, at this point spinach is officially back to whatever level of safety it had before the E. coli scare.

As I've previously mentioned elsewhere on eGullet, I'm not a full-fledged vegetarian, but limit my animal protein intake, eat a lot of meatless meals, and am always on the lookout for more meatless dish ideas.

The other night I made a lovely Japanese-style stew of cubed tofu, onions, carrots, and shiitake mushrooms, simmered in a dashi broth spiked with soy sauce and slices of ginger root. The flavor was mild and mellow but definitely yummy. Great warming dish to help my bod fight off a cold.

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mizd~

have you tried Trader Joe's soy-ginger broth yet? Like it?

K

[eje]

Some Spice Pages links re: Anise/Fennel.

As far as I know the only one of these which is ever sold as a vegetable is Fennel. So, most likely, if you are buying it at a market, in the produce section, it is Fennel.

Anise (Pimpinella anisum)

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)

Star Anise (Illicium verum)

[Curlz]

So happy to have found this thread...I have a group of friends who are vegetarians (actually, vegequariums--they eat fish and seafood ), and I've been cooking more vegetarian food in the last 3-4 months than I ever have, despite my love of most vegetables.

My Rosh Hashana dinner included brisket, but also a Turkish Chick Pea soup, a wonderful recipe for muhammarah (a roasted red pepper spread), roasted root vegetables, and a few other things I'm sure I'm forgetting.

I also recently created a butternut/acorn squash and sweet potato soup with leeks, garlic, and vegetable broth. Very simple, but very hearty, as I don't puree the soup---just use the potato masher in the pot once everything is tender. I've been throwing wheat berries in to the bottom of the bowl, and it's just great, if I do say so myself!

Hope to get some other good ideas from this crew...

[Carrot Top]

Fennel bulb is finocchio and anise sometimes is the word for fennel bulb, depending on where one has learned the words attached to the thing.

Whatever it's called, it is very good. My only complaint is that I wish the bulbs were about three times the size they usually grow to. Foolish dream for a spoiled consumer.

[Nina C.]

I was a vegetarian for many many years, and still frequently cook vegetarian. Since many of my friends are vegetarian or don't eat non-kosher meat or meat & dairy together, much of my entertaining is vegetarian as well.

Last night was a meal for one - I sauteed shitake and chanterelle mushrooms in butter and rosemary, and quickly wilted some arugula. Meanwhile, I toasted some rosemary bread, then spread goat cheese on top and added bunches of the arugula and the mushrooms. So good and so easy. I wish I had chopped the arugula a little more first, at least no one was watching!

[mizducky]

mizd~

have you tried Trader Joe's soy-ginger broth yet? Like it?

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No, as a matter of fact, I haven't! It's been awhile since my last TJ's run--next time I drop by there, I'll keep an eye peeled for the stuff.

Though it's so darn easy to just fling some ginger root and soy sauce into whatever other broth I've got working ... and returning to the topic of vegetarian cooking, one of my favorite ingredients is Better Than Bouillon's vegetable base. As with other pre-packaged soup bases, you have to watch out for the saltiness factor ... but their veg-base is so darned tasty that, once when I made a big batch of lentils with it, I wound up gorging on the whole batch in a 24-hour period. Turns out that the Better Than Bouillon folks have a whole line of these products, both with meat and meatless, including a couple of vegan varieties (don't be put off by their trumpeting "meat" all over that page I linked to--the veg bases are indeed meatless). I really need to try their mushroom base next--sounds incredibly yummy.

And then of course there's the traditional broth-flavoring standby, miso. Though if you really want miso's full nutritional benefit you need to add it just at the end, sometimes I put some in earlier so its flavor cooks into the food.

[markemorse]

Tonight was rather cheese-centric:

+++

--brown bread crostini with chevre, perenstroop, and hazelnuts. perenstroop is, well..."pear syrup": pears reduced until they're dark brown, very thick, and sticky. Think apple butter reduced until it's twice as concentrated. Chufi can probably explain this better.

--bibb lettuce + red onions with 12-year balsamic + EVOO.

--ravioli with ricotta, lemon zest, and white truffle in butter with parmigiano-reggiano.

+++

we were craving some "wine-drinking" food. not as heavy as it sounds, portions were petite.

in other news...someone's asked me to make something vegetarian, substantial, and Mexican for Thanksgiving. I was going to do an enchilada version of the black bean/squash/goat cheese concept used above (because i still have all of the ingredients including frozen cooked squash). but thought i'd ask here: does anyone have any great vegetarian enchilada ideas?

thx

mark

Edited November 21, 2006 by markemorse (log)

[mrbigjas]

in diana kennedy's book there's a recipe where you basically sautee squash in a sofrito of onion garlic tomato pepper that you've cooked down, and for some reason that i can't quite figure out, it totally transcends its ingredients and turns into this fantastic substantial filling for tacos or enchiladas. especially if you put queso blanco on it.

you'll notice i didn't specify summer or winter squash. that's because i can't remember right now. i think i've done it with both at various times, which is why my poor addled brain can't remember which the original recipe is for... i'll look it up and post tonight if i have a moment.

[eje]

One of my pet peeves is bad vegetarian food.

For a while one of my best friends decided to be a vegetarian along with his then girlfriend.

They were coming over during the summer and I wanted to grill. I had the idea to do a version of the typical midwestern summer meal.

grilled corn = grilled corn (woo!)

grilled steak = grilled portobello mushroom

steak sauce = roasted red pepper puree

baked beans = baked beans (mirepoix and extra garlic, no bacon)

ice cream = home made ice cream

I think there were a couple other things. It was fun and goofy. But, my the point is, none of these dishes is intrinsically less tasty than their meat including counterpart. If they are well made and seasoned, there's a pretty good chance they will be more tasty!

Somehow a lot of Americans have got it into their heads that by skipping meat they are skipping flavor. That is just not the case.