Vegan Store Cupboard Challenge

[Deleted User]

Sorry just realised you said you were using meat-free recipes!
I really like the flavours of Bosh! and Rachel Ama recipes. I find a lot of recipes on BBC good food very bland too. 

cod3

carolinerunner said:

I realise this may not be relevant, but there's clearly a lot of vegan know-how here, I'm struggling as a new vegan/veggie to make meat-free versions of (eg) cottage pie, bolognese sauce, chilli as tasty as the meat ones - I'm using Quorn mince and following well-reviewed meat-free recipes eg from BBC Good Food. I'm using flavourings like stock, sometimes also marmite/miso paste/plenty of seasoning, spices, herbs as per the recipes, but they all seem to taste bland. Where am I going wrong?

Hi Caroline
If you are looking to try something really tasty, I would recommend making Bosh! Serious Shepherd's Pie.  The recipe contains sun-dried tomatoes and lemon which really boost the flavour.
I don't think Quorn mince is vegan due to egg, but I could be wrong.  Tesco do a good vegan mince which is on offer at the moment.  Have to tried adding a little nutritional yeast/nooch to your mince for extra flavour?
Thug Kitchen do a lovely marinara sauce recipe which is online (a bit sweary!) which is good as a base for pasta sauces and pizza toppings.  The trick in this recipe is to let the sauce reduce down for half an hour to increase the intensity of the flavour.

ToastLady

I like to add mushroom ketchup or vegetarian Worcs sauce to tomato sauce based recipes. Also long cooking gives a much better flavour. Roasting the veg before making the sauce gives an even better flavour.  I'm vegetarian, not vegan, but a lot of my meals turn out to be vegan. Most Quorn products contain egg, so not suitable for vegans. I struggle buying vegetarian mince, so tend to use brown or green lentils. 

Jacs205

I also use the little tub of kelp umami salt instead of straight salt in recipes, helps with depth of flavour and agree with cod3 above, reducing down makes a big difference.  

Wednesday2000

ToastLady said:

I like to add mushroom ketchup 

I read about that on MSE the other day. I meant to look for some to try as it sounds interesting.

ToastLady

Wednesday2000 said:

I read about that on MSE the other day. I meant to look for some to try as it sounds interesting.

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/geo-watkins-mushroom-ketchup/006347-2824-2825
I once made my own when a stall holder persuaded me to take a whole crate of mushrooms for £1 in torrential rain at a market, and very good it was too. If I find the recipe I'll post it. 

Herbyme

Wow, thanks everyone! Loads of great ideas and products there, I'm certain my food will taste much better now! I've looked at the Bosh and Rachel Ama websites and am feeling excited to try their recipes. My family are slightly ambivalent veggies and I'm trying not to put them off by making bland meals. I could cope with bland myself but obvs I'd rather have tasty!

We are not vegan although we'd like to be on ethical grounds, but so far we've not managed to wean ourselves off dairy to any great extent (yes, I do realise the irony in the word 'wean' in the context of the ethics of dairy farming). We do some oat milk and vegan butter and yoghurt, so those are fine, it's milk in tea, and eggs and cheese, that we struggle to give up. I know, there is vegan cheese, but tbh I've never found one I would choose to eat rather than not bother.

btw one thing we all liked was Vivera 'bacon' pieces from Tesco, actually made a decent bacon sandwich (bacon and egg sandwich for veggies), we used to use bacon a lot for flavouring things like risottos, so I'm glad to find an acceptable (to us) substitute.

ToastLady

Mushroom Ketchup recipe is about half way down http://lostpastremembered.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-friend-of-mine-alerted-me-to-inspired.html

Wednesday2000

carolinerunner said:

We are not vegan although we'd like to be on ethical grounds, but so far we've not managed to wean ourselves off dairy to any great extent (yes, I do realise the irony in the word 'wean' in the context of the ethics of dairy farming). We do some oat milk and vegan butter and yoghurt, so those are fine, it's milk in tea, and eggs and cheese, that we struggle to give up. I know, there is vegan cheese, but tbh I've never found one I would choose to eat rather than not bother.

btw one thing we all liked was Vivera 'bacon' pieces from Tesco, actually made a decent bacon sandwich (bacon and egg sandwich for veggies), we used to use bacon a lot for flavouring things like risottos, so I'm glad to find an acceptable (to us) substitute.

I like the melted Violife cheese the best out of all the vegan cheeses.

The Quorn vegan ham slices are meant to taste very bacony if it is fried, so I have heard!

Wednesday2000

ToastLady said:

Mushroom Ketchup recipe is about half way down http://lostpastremembered.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-friend-of-mine-alerted-me-to-inspired.html

Thanks. Looks very nice. Now I fancy mushrooms! I might have to buy some today.