Easy, cheap Vegetarian recipes?

ceridwen

I see what you're saying - but one can have a perfectly adequate (more than adequate) veggie diet without using any of the "meat" substitutes. I dont even use quorn that much - but its fine - theres plenty of choice out there still. For protein one has milk, yogurt, kefir, cheese, beans, lentils, nuts (not that nutritionally knowledgeable - but guess grains and seeds count as well) and there are various cuisines with a noticeable number of veggie recipes - Indian comes straight to mind. I WOULD feel very restricted and limited for choice if I were on a vegan diet (with my not liking soya products - except for tofu) - but on a vegetarian diet its not a problem. All I can say is that I'm often told I'm healthy-looking and people sometimes dont believe me when I say how old I am - so I must be getting something right.

Having said that - there is a vegan range of cookbooks I have recently got. I think they might be privately published or something - but they are useful for vegetarians as well and help open up ideas - its the "A Vegan taste of....." series. Errrr.....I bought the lot I think:
- A Vegan taste of India
- A Vegan taste of France
Italy
North Africa
East Africa
the Caribbean
Eastern Europe
Central America
Mexico
Greece
Middle East
Thailand

They are all written by Linda Majzlik

Reason I was able to buy the lot - as they are very reasonably-priced at £5.99 each. They're from Jon Carpenter Publishing. I bought them variously at vegan foodstalls and sent off myself for them. Dont know if they're available from bookshops.

Linguistic_Chimp

I had a great mushroom stroganoff in a pub the other day and now I want to make a stroganoff of my own. BUT my boyfriend doesn't much like mushrooms, so they can't be the main focus of the dish.

Does anyone have a recipe for a veggie stroganoff which is not centred around mushrooms?

want2bmortgage3

Cant find any stroganoff's without mushrooms! I will post if i come across one.

I'm finding this cooking stuff difficult, I seem to constantly be searching for recipes, looking for answers from other people. I feel I need more grounding and knowledge before I can be creative.

I guess I dont necessarily need recipes, but guidelines. Like a basic technique for a pasta dish, where you can vary what veg you put in it, or same for a risotto. So far the delia how to cook book has been most useful as its more teaching techniques and reasons why rather than a recipe to follow and not understand.

Surely i'm not the only one who struggles every day with what to eat?

want2bmortgage3

Heres another recipe. I tried it last night and wasnt bad at all. However I used olive oil instead of butter and mistakenly added the 400ml water (did not add salt) to the pan instead of using it for the pasta! It didnt come out too watery though as I had it boiling quite rapidly.


[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Easy Recipes for New Vegetarians[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]All Recipes Serve 4[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Pasta with Lentil and Red Pepper Sauce[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Ingredients[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]1 onion peeled and chopped
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]1 small red pepper deseeded and chopped
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]2tbs oil
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]1 clove garlic crushed
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]400g wholewheat pasta
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]1tsp basil
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]250g can tomatoes
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]100g split red lentils
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]1tbs tomato puree
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]400ml salted water
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]15g butter
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]salt and pepper
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]1 pinch sugar [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]grated cheese to serve [/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Method[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]1. Fry the onion and pepper in oil in a large saucepan for 10 mins then put in the garlic, basil, tomatoes, lentils, tomato puree and salted water.

Bring to the boil then turn down the heat to simmer gently uncovered for 15-20 mins until the lentils are cooked.

Season with salt and pepper and a dash of sugar. [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]2. About 15 mins before the sauce is ready half fill a large saucepan with lightly salted water and bring to the boil.

Add the pasta, easing the pasta down the water as the ends soften.

Boil rapidly uncovered for about 10 mins until a piece feels tender when you bite it.
Drain then return to the pan with the butter, salt and pepper. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]3. Serve with the sauce and hand round grated cheese. [/SIZE][SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[/FONT]

ceridwen

...and personally I would add a couple of Tablespoons of pesto to the sauce for extra flavouring. Though it does add to the cost - dont know how the finances stand? Did discover t'other day when on an exploratory visit to Lidl that their pesto was 90/99p a jar - MUCH cheaper than my normal supermarket.

horseinhatman

To me - it looks like there has been a "divide" since the 1960s - with one section of the population pretty much not caring what they eat as long as its cheap and another section wanting everything as healthy as it can possibly be. There is a group of people in the middle - but I'm not sure how big it is. I have the feeling that back in the 1960s pretty much everyone was in the middle group (and many recipes were slanted accordingly) - but things have changed somewhat since then.
This is a very much a typical "middle ground" 1960s recipe and I think needs to be taken in the context that people didnt seem to drink so much alcohol or eat so much snacky junk food as they do now. People seemed to do pretty okay on a 1960s diet - the norm then was for people to be slim-normal size. The norm now is for people to be plump-fat. It is unusual now to see, say, people in the 30plus age group being slim-normal - that was NOT the case then. One rarely saw grossly obese people - but these days one sees a noticeable number every single day - so there couldnt have been that much wrong with the 60's diet.

People always ate rubbish , its just that it was not McDonalds , but Suet pudding , treacle puddle , bread and dripping, fish and chips etc etc etc

The difference is people did far more manual labour , even housework was labour intensive with gadgets. People did not have as many cars and walked more etc etc etc. Its not so much what we put in , but how we burn it off again.

want2bmortgage3

Thought I would give this thread a bump with a recipe from Cas Clarke: The Essential Student Cookbook

Potato and Tomato Curry
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 2 tbs oil
- 2 onions, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 700g potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 4 tbs medium curry powder
- 6 tomatoes cut into wedges
- 300ml vegetable stock, made with 1 stock cube and boiling water

method:
heat the oil and fry the onions and garlic until starting to brown. add the potatoes and curry powder, stir in, then add the tomatoes and stock. bring to the boil, cover tightly and simmer for 20-25 mins until the potatoes are cooked.

well i tried this and it ended up a bit watery, although the potatoes were soft enough. also i could have probably added more curry powder, i'm never sure if they mean a level tablespoon or heaped, anyone know? anyway i had this with peshwari naan bread, plus some more bread to soak up the remaining liquid. anyone who tries it let me know what you think.

ceridwen

Hmmm...when I see teaspoons I think "heaped teaspoons". When I see tablespoons I think "heaped tablespoons". Was it defo "tablespoons" in that recipe - as 4 heaped tablespoons seems a lot to use? Of course - I know one has to bear in mind that there are different "strengths" of curry powder - so I am wondering what "strength" she used...I tend to think medium strength unless told otherwise.

ceridwen

Well - I've just checked a curry recipe from another of Cas Clarke's books (ie "Curry" from "Grub on a Grant") and she says there:

1 Tablespoon curry powder (in this recipe for 4-6 people) or, alternatively:

1 teaspoon tumeric and 1 teaspoon cumin and 1 teaspoon coriander and 1 teaspoon chilli.

She also uses 1 teaspoon of ground ginger and 2 tablespoons mango chutney on top of the curry powder or the above flavourings.


I cant find the particular Cas Clarke book you mention on my bookshelves - so dont think I have that particular one - but hope this helps.

want2bmortgage3

its definitely 4 tablespoons medium curry powder.... i basically did the recipe with half the ingredients, ie for 2 people. as most recipes for one person arent big enough for me. i think i used level tablespoons and it wasnt really enough to make it hot at all. anyway hope somebody tries it out and reports back, i could quite easily post a new recipe up every few days as i have plenty to get through. as i read elsewhere if you want to learn to cook then cook the same recipe again and again, dont just follow one recipe to the book and move straight onto another.....