Be Excellent To Each Other

So me and the missus have been veggies for a few weeks now, and it's going OK.

Loads of pasta, loads of chips, plenty of salads, homemade pizzas, beans on toast, generally eating OK but it is starting to get a bit samey. (Certainly my stomach acid is massively better and my, ahem, 'internals' seem to be working more efficiently too.)

I was out with a few mates on Friday night which finished off with a curry, and had my first real hankering for meat as they all chowed down on some seriously tasty looking dishes whilst I made do with onion bhajis and a vegetable samber - towards the end I was tempted to reach over to grab a chum's bowl of chicken pathia and funnel it straight down my neck. (Potatoes and mushrooms, unsurprisingly, do not replace meat well in a curry.)

We're both determined to make a go of this, but I think we need to start to branch out a bit and eat more interesting things.

I'm pretty competent in the kitchen and have access to all the usual supermarket stuff as well as decent local farmers markets and suchlike, and I don't mind putting the effort in to make a really tasty dish.

Recipe me up please!

What's wrong with eating meat?

Veggie's are usually liberal wishy-washy types.

Eating out is an absolute doddle if you adore Indian cuisine like me and the missus. Anything on the menu can be veggie-ised if you ask nicely.

Beans and pulses are your friend for bulking out stuff you'd usually use mince in. Our lasagnesessii are wonderful with chickpeas and red kidney beans with grated carrot to give it a firmer consistency.

As a meat-nutter I rarely eat veggie stuff, but one of my favourite things is grilled portobello mushroom caps. Marinate them for a bit in minced garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper (add any other herbs and spices you fancy - paprika works well, or you can do Italian herbs), then throw them under the grill until done. Yummy stuff, and they're a great appetiser or side for a main dish.

[Edit] Ooh, or breaded mushrooms are always yummy! Grab a bunch of button mushrooms, cut out the stalks completely, stuff the cavity with cheese and then coat them thoroughly in seasoned breadcrumbs (a double coating usually works). Either deep fry or drizzle with olive oil and bake. Lovely stuff!

Good tip. Mushrooms are awesome for filling that meaty texture gap.

Definitely, I'm down with mushrooms already, they always go in the pasta sauces I make and on top of pizzas too.

I was pleased to see mushrooms in my curry on Friday but it turned out they were too insubstantial and squishy to be any sort of passable meat-substitute.

Mushrooms are illegal.

Instead of hamburgers simply grill up a portabello and put some garlic on it. Nice slice of cheese and man, fuck the meat.

The ex-wife is veggie, she made some great stuff..

Mushrooms were good, but I used viggie mince in chillis etc

Google eggplant parmigiana. Fucking best meal you can have as a veghead.

You basically slice up an eggplant long ways, breadcrumb it, fry it and then put mozzarella over it. Then you pour a good sauce (bolog) over the top and serve over spaghetti.

Amazing stuff. Oh, and Eggplant = Aubergine.

Also, read up on the salting the Eggplant to make it less bitter.

'ere you go mate, from the mockney CUNT himself.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/past ... -aubergine

Mrs K has gone veggie again, and as an opening gambit sneakily substituted veggie mince in our lasagnas and stuff and I didn't notice. There are also these great chicken substitute chunks which are made from mushroom, which are tops.

I'd also second the portobello mushrooms - very good stuffed with chilies, peppers, bits and bobs and topped with mozzarella/breadcrumbs/crushed pinenuts.

BTW

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3704&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=cook+coffey



Just remove the mince and add quorn mince and you will never know you're not eating meat.

No one calls this red-blooded socialist a "liberal".

Personally I'm not vegetarian, but more omnivorous. Too much red meat sets off my insides in a bad way, and I prefer the options with less saturated fat an' all. So some nice vegetarian recipes would be nicely appreciated.

You might well find your "local curry house" veg curries a bit disappointing since you're just getting sauce with a handful of the same vegetables in each dish.

However, decent Indian food (which is mainly vegetarian originally I believe) is my favorite food and can be excellent - a good restaurant or good few recipes I think will change your mind on this.

Frankly, I'm not sure I'd want un-identifiable, un-tastable lumps of generic meat lurking in a spicy curry anyway, even if I wasn't a veggie.

Well this is what disappointed me, since the curry house in question is really bloody good (we've been there many times in the past, but this is the first time I went with no meat on the agenda), so I had very high hopes for their veggie curries.

However, the menu is massively geared towards meat (there isn't a single chef's recommendation or house dish that isn't meat or fish), and veggie options are only offered for a small percentage of the dishes on the overall menu.

One of my chums did warn me it'd just be the sauce with whatever random veggies they could get their hands on (irrespective of whether or not they really worked in the dish in question), and he was quite right.

It has however made me resolute in my determination to make a really good veggie curry at home though, which I will need to investigate as I've never made a veggie curry in my life.

I'll try to remember to dig out some recipies. There was a good one in the weekend guardian (in the magazine foody bit) a couple of weeks ago, which was quite nice. They have a veggie recipe every weekend actually, but they're usually a bit nouveau cuisine for me.

Vege chilli is always good.
Quorn mince is passable, load it with cumin & chilli, and have it with crispy taco shells, lettuce, cheese, salsa and sour cream... MMMMMmmmmmm
(as you pile on the salad & cream & cheese & stuff, you can make the chilli really craaaazy spicy so you cuts through the rest nicely - should make up for spicy food cravings too)

Spicy food cravings?

A personal fave veggie curry dish of mine is peanut butter and chickpea Korma. Pretty much make it as you would imagine. I'm a big fan of coconut cream as a korma sauce with relevant spices, onions, garlic etc, then throw in a big fat dollop of peanut butter and then chick peas and I go for brocolli, or if you want it "meatier" chuck in some diced tofu or TVP (textured vegetable protein, if you don't know what that is) or even big chunks of mushroom - whatever you like.

Yummy and sweat!

This is a crackin vegan/veggie cook book which I love - dead simple and cheap recipes and it's only a few quid to buy via amazon too:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Please-Dont-Fee ... =8-2-spell

Good luck with this, I heartily endorse an animal free diet

I'm not sure where you live, but check http://www.happycow.net/ for a list of local veggie specialist eateries. I've used this website to find excellent places to eat while in deepest darkest, carnivorous Spain before too, for example.

You don't even eat fish? Fuck sake !

You're going to end up with little pussy sores like in that ep of South Park Fun with veal.

On a serious note make sure you take vitamins. Ex wife ended up with sores all over her body and a lovely kidney stone from all the dairy she was eating.

Most Indian / Pakistani / Bangladesh take aways will also do vegan dishes if asked nicely.

No, don't take vitamins or supplements. There is little evidence to suggest that they do you any good unless your doctor specifically prescribes them (i.e., you're pregnant, which I'm guessing, you're not). Read up on the correct way to combine foods to get all of the necessary things your body needs, and eat/cook accordingly. It's not difficult at all. Things like Soya products and Engevita (check it out from the health food shops) are fortified with the odd little vitamins which are harder to get when veggie/vegan, i.e. B12.

Negative effects from eating too much dairy isn't rectified by taking vitamins, it's rectified by eating LESS dairy. I'm not saying go vegan (though, I can recommend it, but it's not for everyone, of course) but understand dairy isn't particularly good for you, so eat it in moderation.

This is effing brilliant!

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/play/snake-oil-supplements/

But....but....cheese!

I'll repost my roast vega pita breads thing in more detail.

pita breads
feta cheese
houmous/tzatziki/whatever things of this description you like
eggplant (aubergine?)
zucchini (courgette?)
peppers
mushrooms
olives
tomatoes

Chop up and start roasting the peppers. After about 10-15 minutes, added the sliced eggplant and zucchini. After another 10 minutes, add the chopped mushrooms.

Chop the tomatoes up into wedges or slices, and the feta into cubes. When the roast things are done, you're ready.

Eat however you like, our method is to cut the pitas in half. Scoop some houmous inside, and then cram in as much roast veg, olives, tomatoes and feta in as you can. Eat. Repeat. Be surprised at how nice AND filling this is.

kalmar: Did you manage to get a decent vegan breakfast on Sunday morning in Manchester in the end?

Marmite has B12 in it.

Got hash browns, beans, tomatoes, toast, mushrooms tomatoes and veggie sausages at the hotel so that was deemed adequate
Cheers for the tip though I'll check out the Oklahoma place next time.

Your local vegan cake shop: http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/JohnnyVeg ... QQ_armrsZ1

Result!



Oh.... my........ GOD!

Thanks for all the suggestions, I need to watch out 'cause today I ate:

Two pieces of 'fat toast' from the canteen (doorstops of bread with about a kilo of butter spread across them)
A chip bap
A chunky Kit-Kat
Two cafe lattes from the posh machine in the canteen
Bag of crisps
Tomato and basil soup with a bread roll
Chinese curry sauce from the supermarket which I chopped an onion, a chilli and half a can of sweetcorn into, with rice

Not a good day's food really, and I'm still fucking hungry.

Tomorrow, porridge for breakfast!

Christ, would you like some lard with that?

I had:
Toast with marmots and peanut butter (that's marmite, silly iPhone)
Veg curry with rice from the canteen, and an apple.
A bit of cake
Shephards pie (with tvp mince in it)

I might have another bit of cake now though.

Cake.

that's excellent, much better than the "Reading" thing. I was wondering if there was some sort of vegan loophole which allowed you to eat unusual animals but not common ones.

Road kill is legit...