Need help and ideas for a vegetarian recipe

Ellie-Marie

Hello

Apologies if this is the wrong board but I need some help with a recipe for vegetarian ribs. Im not talking about the riblets but something that is vegetarian but can be eaten like ribs off the bone.

At first I was thinking using polystyrene or concrete as a substitute for the bones but I don't think these are the best ideas.... Not sure about the meat possibly soya???

My friends think they don't exist and if I make them then they will be horrible but I really want to prove them wrong so if anybody has any ideas then please can you let me know

Thank you!

SpikyHedgehog

Polystyrene would be really dangerous, please don't try that!

I've never eaten ribs or watched other people eat them, so I'm not sure what size, shape etc you want...

Thinking, thinking, thinking... So, I think you want something that will look like, & taste similar to, meat ribs? I guess I'd start with a recipe that I liked for burgers/sausages, then work on the presentation.

I think your options are going to be making the 'rib meat' & cooking then adding the 'bone', or cooking with the 'bone' in place... Cooking first would give you more options, as you wouldn't have to worry about toxins leaching into the food as it cooked.

DS1 likes to eat leftover veggie sausages off a chopstick - could you improvise using chopsticks as the 'bone'? If you immersed them in boiling water, you'd probably then be able to shape them to give more of a curve.

I'm hoping this gives you some ideas! Really, you can make most food look like something else. How appetising it is can be another matter ;-)

Ellie-Marie

I'm not a great cook and they were the first things I thought of but I won't be using them don't worry

Yeah that's a good idea maybe some thick chopsticks then? I know it sounds stupid but I would like them to taste nice..if that's possible lol

Oh and re size or shape.. Not too fussy but would like them to look like a rack of ribs

cte1111

I think vegetables and chunks of quorn on a skewer would probably be best, e.g. more veggy kebabs than veggy ribs.

Callie22

Could you perhaps make the bone out of somethig edible? I'm thinking you could make something like a veggie burger recipe and then press it round a stick of celery (maybe like a black bean burger with some five spice in it to give it a 'chinesey-ribs' type flavour). Then you could quickly fry off the 'burger' to get it hot and crispy, and then quckly pour over the sauce to make them sticky like ribs. If you don't make the 'burger' bit too thick and you use a hot, non-stick pan, then the celery wouldn't be cooked so you'd be able to hold it like a bone. Half a carrot (halved lengthways) might work too. Or maybe even a breadstick, if the 'burger' bit wasn't too wet.

Alton_Towers

I have googled it as my hubby is a veggie and there are veggie rib recipes and mixes. Might be worth a look.

I did also think of the skewer kebab thing or quorn fillets maybe trimmed and marinated to look like a rib or veggie burger or sausage mix shaped.

ladylouise62

How about some lolly sticks - they are rather bone like http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kitchen-Craft-Lolly-Sticks-Twenty-Four/dp/B000YJ97Y2

nuatha

You could look at damper breads, traditionally cooked wrapped round a peeled green wood stick over a fire. The basic dough is a soda bread, which could be flavoured with olives, cheese onions etc. You could use the same idea with a nutloaf or burger mix recipe.
HTH

pink_princess

HM bread sticks could work as the bone.

Ellie-Marie

Thanks everyone, lots of ideas to try