2023 Vegan Storecupboard Challenge

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Change on today's food - put my back out yesterday so can't stand around and cook! 🤦‍♀️ dh is getting a couple of pasties out of the freezer and we're having those with frozen fries and mushy peas - not a normal meal for me but I'm actually really looking forward to it!! 😁😂

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Dinner last night was okay - not as nice as I had hoped but filled a gap! 

I'm more mobile today so have made the black bean & aduki bean chilli with the tomato and courgette sauce from the freezer- I'll make the buckwheat pancakes tonight.

I had lots of beans and sauce so saved half of both and blitzed - added wheat gluten and am making a couple of loaves of seitan. We'll have slices of that tomorrow with broccoli, green beans and buckwheat dressed with lemon oil, coriander and flat leaf parsley. 

That should cover Thursday- I'll probably make a 'shepherd's' pie with some of the seitan on Friday and freeze the rest. 

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The chilli was really nice, the seitan steaks were marinated overnight in an 'odds and sods' sauce (dregs of several sauce bottles- tomato, chilli, brown, English mustard 3and some smoked paprika) then cooked and last night I blitzed more of the seitan and made shepherd's pie with a horseradish mash topping 😁 it was very nice and there's enough for tonight's dinner too. I'm going to mince the remaining seitan and freeze it - it means that I'll have 4 two people portions in there but it's worth it as I can use it for any mince based meal 😉 

Tomorrow we're going to have roasted cauliflower, green beans, broccoli, roasted carrots and parsnips with smoked harissa cannellini bean puree 

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I've made some lentil tofu today which will be ready to cook tomorrow- never made it before so I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like!

I've also made oatmilk this morning- absolutely lovely so I'll be saving a fortune on soya milk and saving masses of tetra packs going into the recycling 🙌

Leftover cauliflower steaks and veg for dinner - it was a big cauliflower so I still have enough to make cauliflower rice to go with the tofu tomorrow.

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The lentil 'tofu' was a total success!! 🙌 It was airfried so crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. It will be really easy to change up the flavour too so it's definitely going to feature in my menus!
Dh really liked it and the fact that it costs pennies to make means there are no downsides!

I'm trying out a Burmese tofu (chickpea tofu) recipe this weekend - I think the texture will be different to the lentil one - I'll post how it goes...

Having sweet potatoes with spicy chickpeas tonight as I have some salsa and passata in the fridge that needs using up!  

KajiKita

Was it a recipe you used for the lentil tofu or your own improv?

KK

tooldle

I’m having a stab at vegan meatballs today, using black beans. I’ve added parsley and oregano to the mix. Currently in the fridge waiting on shaping and frying. Will whizz up a tomato sauce later, planning to eat both with spaghetti. Hoping for some leftovers for the freezer.

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@KajiKita - I got the recipe from simett nutrition on YouTube: 

1 cup red lentils, washed
3 cups boiling water 
1tsp onion powder
1tsp garlic powder 

Add the boiling water to the red lentils and leave to soak for around 20 mins. Tip lentils and water into blender, add onion and garlic powders and blend until smooth. Transfer to a saucepan and cook, stirring constantly, until very thick (around 5-7 mins). Transfer to a dish and put into the fridge to set for a couple of hours or overnight. Remove from fridge, cut into cubes and airfry at 180° for around 20 minutes. Alternatively, cut into slices or cubes bake in the oven at the same temperature and time or fry in a little oil. 

We had some left over and I ate it cold today - the outside had stayed crisp but the inside had definitely firmed slightly. Personally, I prefer it!! You could add whatever flavourings you want, either at the blending or cooked on the stove phase - I'm definitely going to be experimenting over the next few batches 😉 

@Toodle - the 'meatballs' sound lovely! 😋 let us know how you get on!! 😁

Brie

variety is the spice of life and all that & I do love lentils but is there any other good reason to make lentil tofu?  I thought that tofu was at least vegetarian if not actually vegan.  Sorry if that makes me sound like I've missed the point for England!!

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Brie said:

variety is the spice of life and all that & I do love lentils but is there any other good reason to make lentil tofu?  I thought that tofu was at least vegetarian if not actually vegan.  Sorry if that makes me sound like I've missed the point for England!!

Tofu is absolutely vegan @brie! 😁 

There are several good reasons (for me) to make my own though and to make it from red lentils:

1) I have an enormous stash of red lentils and as this is a storecupboard challenge, it's another way to use up that stash;

2) it is dirt cheap as opposed to store bought tofu particularly as I only really like firm tofu and the one brand which I buy costs an arm and a leg in comparison for less than half the quantity;

3) time and resource wise it's also a saver - I can flavour the tofu as I'm making it as opposed to trying to marinate flavour into it (which isn't always as successful as I would like) which means I can use less of other ingredients and don't have to wait for hours or overnight to use it (I did let my tofu set overnight but in all honesty, it was cooled and set within 1 hour);

4) is something I discovered once we ate it - although my dh 'tolerates' shop bought tofu, he's always been a bit 'it's okay' about the cooked texture regardless of how I've prepared it - with this he was incredibly enthusiastic about it, genuinely enjoyed it and actually came up with suggestions of how I can flavour it in future!! 

Hope that answers your question! 😁