Easy, cheap Vegetarian recipes?

winniepooh

Evening all,

My DH is a big meat eater like most man, however i'm trying to make our meals more healthy and more variartions.

We don't really eat many vegetarian meals. Its something we would like to try (especially me cause it will cut food bills down) I've tried a few recipes in the past but they have turned out very bland so if you have any good recipes for me to try that would be fab.

Pink.

These threads might give you some inspiration:

Easy, cheap Vegetarian recipes?

Gingham's Vegetarian Meal Planner

Gingham's vegetarian meal planner - SUMMER

Gingham's vegetarian menu planner SPRING

Vegan and vegetarian food on the cheap

A vegetarian meal planner, please

Vegetarian OSers

Cooking for the freezer - vegetarian

I'll add your thread to the first link later to keep the suggestions together.


Pink

Stephen_Leak

I'm a meat eater, but I actually hate the phrase "vegetarian". There are lots of excellent dishes out there, that just don't happen to contain any meat or meat by-products.

I had a look through the culinary database and, as you said that you didn't want anything bland, this one leapt out at me ...

MUSHROOM CURRY

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

500g of closed cup mushrooms
2 cloves of garlic
2cm (1 inch) piece of fresh ginger
1 onion
4 tablespoons of oil
1 teaspoon of chilli powder
½ a tablespoon of garam masala
1 teaspoon of ground turmeric
250ml of water
142ml pot of yoghurt

METHOD

Wipe the mushrooms clean. Cut the ends off the stalks and chop them into halves or quarters depending on their size. Peel the garlic and chop it into tiny pieces. Peel the ginger and chop it into tiny pieces. Peel the onion and chop it into tiny pieces.

Put the oil into a saucepan on a medium heat. Put the onions, garlic and ginger into the pan and fry for 3 minutes until it is golden. Stir frequently to stop it sticking.

Add the chilli, garam masala and turmeric and stir. Add the mushrooms and water, and stir. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat until it is just boiling (simmering). Put the lid on and cook for 10 minutes. Check the water level from time to time and top up if it starts to dry out.

Add the yoghurt and mix thoroughly. Continue to cook for 10 minutes, stirring as the mixture boils, until the sauce has reduced.

ADDITIONS & ALTERATIONS

Use button mushrooms instead of closed cup mushrooms.

For Mushroom Dopiaza, add another onion, sliced into rings, at the same time as the mushrooms. Dopiaza means ‘two onions’ and is any curry with lots of onion, half of which are added part way through cooking. According to legend, it was created by accident, when a maharajah’s cook inadvertently put a second lot of onions into a curry. Fortunately, the maharajah liked onions, thought this ‘new’ dish was delicious and everyone lived happily ever after.

Butterfly_Brain

Fritatta is both cheap and healthy with the added bonus you can add what you like - it is not for vegans though

vitamin_joe

I swear by The Cranks recipe book. Cranks was a famous veggie restaurant in London, which closed down, but their recipe book lives on. I first started using it about 20 years ago, and still use some of their recipes today. Their tomato soup recipe is to die for- their carrot cake too!

you can get a second hand copy from Amazon for 1 English pence (plus P+P) , here

nanokitten

Toad in the hole made with quorn sausages, sweet potato mash and onion gravy always went down well in my house.

Fitzio

I think vegetable curries work well for people who like meat as they are normally flavoursome and you can adapt them to include whatever variety of veg you like. I made this the other night and it was really nice:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2027/onepot-mushroom-and-potato-curry?pager.offset=80&countView=false

kunekune

Some really quick ideas we've done recently:

spaghetti carbonara with vegetables (cooked in the spaghetti water) rather than bacon
a quick burger made by mashing kidney beans with some onion, add breadcrumbs and a beaten egg, dip in flour and fry
corn fritters with a tomato salsa

I'm at work and don't have the proper recipes, but I also have a very fast nut roast recipe. If you want I'll post them later - veg meals have to be quick and easily scaleable for one person in our house as only one person is vegetarian (or rather pescetarian).

AbFab

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

I'm a meat eater, but I actually hate the phrase "vegetarian". There are lots of excellent dishes out there, that just don't happen to contain any meat or meat by-products.

What term would you have people use instead? Referring to a meal as 'vegetarian' is a lot easier than saying it 'doesn't happen to contain any meat or meat by-products'. Besides, that implies it's a chance thing, whereas stating it's vegetarian infers it's a conscious effort for it to be meat-free! To me, anyway!

In answer to the OP, why not just add extra herbs and spices to the vegetarian meals you are cooking? Sure, if you are just boiling plain old boring garden veg, it's not going to be very exciting, but lightly fry things in olive oil, throw in some garlic, and herbs and spices, and they jazz up most dinners.

Experiment loads, and you will get there. Stir fry, curry - Thai, Indian, Chinese - all sorts!, roast veg, pizza, casserole - all these can be veg*n and tasty. You can get loads of different spicy nut cutlets/veggie sausages to have with buns/ciabatta rolls - add onion relish, lots of sauces, spicy curly fries!

My other advice would be to buy meat-substitutes, just to add bulk, variety and texture, and hopefully help your husband cut back on the real meat.

This is one of my favourite meals, and it's pretty spicy:


Cous Cous with Spicy Baked Aubergine (EggPlant) & Chickpea Stew

This makes up a large batch, so customize according to need. This is aimed at feeding about a dozen people, but for how delicious it is, I think four would polish it off quite easily, certainly with big healthy sporty appetites.

Ingredients
Fruity nutty Cous Cous
1.4 ltr/2.5 pints vegetable stock
675g/1 lb 8oz cous cous
2 lemons grated rind only
120ml/8tbsp olive oil
100g/4oz flaked almonds, lightly toasted
175g/6oz soaked apricots, chopped
90ml/6tbsp sultanas (I miss these out as I don’t like them!)
90ml/6tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
to taste salt and freshly ground black pepper

Spicy Baked Aubergine (aka Eggplant)
2 large aubergines cut into 2.5cm/1” cubes
2 bunches fresh mint, finely chopped
4 lemons juice only
6 large cloves garlic, finely chopped. I personally would use a whole bulb between this and the chickpea stew.
60ml/4tbsp ground coriander
20ml/4tsp paprika
20ml/4tsp ground cumin
20ml/4tsp ground black pepper
10ml/2tsp cayenne pepper
10ml/2tsp harissa paste (hard to find in supermarkets, can be found in some larger ones, or nice little ethnic shops)
5ml/1tsp salt
120ml/8tbsp olive oil

Chickpea Stew:
4 onions, sliced (use red for variety, or leeks for a change!)
60ml/4tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
10ml/2tsp paprika
good pinch cayenne
1 x 800g/1¾lb can chopped tomatoes
300ml/½pt vegetable stock
90ml/6tbsp tomato puree
2 x 400g/14oz can chickpeas, drained
2 bay leaf
pinch salt as required
60ml/4tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas mark 5.

Recipe:
Spicy baked aubergine/eggplant extravaganza.
Mix all the ingredients together in a measuring jug, except for the eggplant. I am going to call it aubergine from now on though! Chop the aubergine into chunks, not too small or it will go mushy, not too big or it will take ages to cook and won’t be as covered in flavour! Spread out evenly into a shallow-proof dish. After your earlier marinating efforts have been well mixed, drizzle over the aubergine, making sure all the aubergine has been drizzled, cover the dish and leave to marinate for at least half an hour, the longer the better (I leave mine overnight sometimes!).
When ready, bake in oven (with lid removed) for at least half an hour, testing until tender. (depends on size of your cubes!)

Cous cous concoction.
Stir the stock into a large saucepan of boiling water. Pour in the cous cous and throw in the lemon rind. Remove from the heat, cover and leave to stand for 15 minutes. Fluff the cous cous up with a fork so that most of the liquid is absorbed. Drizzle the olive oil into the mix and fold in the almonds, apricots, sultanas (or not!) and parsley. Season to taste. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and fluff up the grains again. Keep warm until needed.

Chickpea creation.
Fry the onions in the oil until soft and sizzling. Add the garlic and spices and fry for a couple more minutes. Add the tomatoes and stock and simmer gently until well cooked and starting to thicken. Stir in the tomato puree, chickpeas and bay leaf. Simmer for 5 minutes more. Season to taste and stir in the chopped parsley.

Serve!

Suggest placing the cous cous on the plate first, spread out, make a little hole in the middle and put on a ladle of the chickpea stew and then top with the baked aubergine dish.
Or … put in separate thirds on the plate. The mixture of flavours complement each other perfectly.

Enjoy.

Is great as leftovers as all the flavours have even more time to merge.

voiceofreason

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

Fritatta is both cheap and healthy with the added bonus you can add what you like - it is not for vegans though

It is if you take the eggs out and make sure to use vegetable-based oil for cooking - job done :T