There are many reasons why someone would want vegan alternatives. For me, I’m lactose intolerant so I can’t consume dairy but I do still want to enjoy my favourite foods. Every now again, I’ll come to this thread and share one of my vegan secrets.
Please be respectful. Don’t bash anyone for their dietary choices. If you have any recepies too, feel free to share them on this thread.
I’ll start with a vegan lasagne. I made it the other day and it tasted smashing. This recepie is for four servings. Feel free to adjust accordingly to your desired servings.
Ingredients:
Lasagne Pasta
Three gloves of garlic (crushed in a mortar)
One onion
Dairy free milk (soy is perfect but you can choose your preference)
Flour (about a quarter cup)
Vegetables (you can use fresh or frozen. Both taste smashing and you can choose what vegetables you want)
Vegan mince (you can buy it from any supermarket. Quorn do a really good one. Also the Linda McCartney brand is amazing too).
Vegan butter
Tomato sauce (fresh or canned. Doesn’t matter)
Vegan cheese
Fresh dill/parsley
Please bare in mind that this is how I make it. Everyone will have different methods so feel free to share your alternatives.
How to make the bechmel sauce
Melt the butter in a pan
Add the flour and stir on medium heat for about five - ten minutes.
Then slowly add milk while mixing. Keep on adding milk until you get the bechamel at your desired thickness. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, stir then leave to cool.
Make the vegan mince.
Melt the butter.
Add the onions and cook until the onions are half caramelised.
Add the garlic and stir
A good tip. If you find that your garlic and onions are beginning to stick, just add water instead of more butter.
Then add in your vegetables and Vegan mince. Cook them until they’re half cooked (for frozen vegetables, defrost them in boiling water first then drain them).
Then add in your tomato sauce. Season with salt, pepper, dill, parsley. Then leave to simmer on low heat for about 10 - 20 minutes.
Once all your sauce is done, butter up a lasagne tray and put your lasagne layers in.
So start with lasagne sheets at the bottom. Sauce, then bachemel, lasagne sheets and so on. Think of a lasagne sandwich in layers. 3 or four layers should be perfect.
Then sprinkle the vegan cheese on top.
Place in the oven at about 180 degrees for about 20 - 30 minutes. Cooking time will vary according to your servings so check every ten minutes or so.
Ok so we made a main. I’ll share with you how to make a vegan butter frosting. Please bare in mind once you make it, you need to refrigerate it for only 4-5 days. Once I’ve perfected my vegan cake recepie, I’ll share it but I’m still not quite there.
You choose your portion.
Ingredients:
Vegan Butter
Vanilla Extract
Icing sugar
Optional: A spirit (if you’re over 18, you can add a teaspoon of any spirit. It works well with a sweet spirit like Casis or Ameretto but you can add your preference. Whisky, Bourbon, Brandy are good too.)
An electric whisk. (You can use a hand whisk but the electric will give it a more creamy consistency). You can also replace the spirit with a teaspoon of coffee if you’re any a coffee flavoured frosting. (Go crazy, add whatever)
Make sure when you weight the butter, the sugar is half the butter you weigh. You don’t want it to be too sweet (icing sugar tends to be much sweeter than caster/brown sugar)
Method:
Mix the icing sugar and butter until you get a creamy consistency
Add the vanilla (and spirit of you choose to put one) and mix again.
You can do whatever you like. If you don’t like Mayo, you can use vegan cream instead. Tartar sauce is usually Mayo, gerkins and onions. Not sure how it will work with olive oil.
Another alternative is to make vegan gravy.
Fry some onions.
Add a tablespoon of flour than fry for about 3 - five minutes
Add a teaspoon of soy sauce
Then add water until you get the thickness you want. Make sure you add water slowly as you whisk
Season with salt/pepper and enjoy. Makes a good dipping sauce for fries
If you’re lactose intolerant or don’t consume dairy in general and want to still enjoy your fav dishes, feel free to comment and I’ll show you how to substitute x
Here are some plant based products I like to cook with. Asda’s vegan mince is nice!
Currently trying to make vegan burgers using black beans and I’ll post the recipe after I’ve perfected it. It accompanies really well with some vegan gravy.
Who says vegan food can’t be good. Personally if everyone ate a vegan meal at least once a week, we’d be helping the environment by a lot. No pressure though!
I’m gonna share with you a nice Mediterranean dish my mum used to make. In the original recipe, you put red meat in the sauce. I’ve changed things around a bit to make it vegan friendly. This serves about 4-5 people but feel free to modify the portions.
What you need:
Two cups of podded peas (still in its shell)
A can of chopped tomato (if you wish you can use a cup fresh tomato but add a teaspoon of cornstarch to thicken it a bit)
Teaspoon of salt
Half a teaspoon of pepper
Tablespoon of dill
Tablespoon of parsley
A whole of bell pepper (chopped)
Two cloves of garlic (Peeled and minced).
One onion
Vegan butter (tablespoon)
A cup of rice (One cup of rice means you add two cups of boiling water)
Half a cup of Vegan mince (optional)
You wanna work on medium heat for the first part.
Melt the vegan butter in a saucepan (make sure it had a lid)
Add the onions and gently stirr until they are almost caramelised (if you find the onion keeps sticking, add in a bit if water. Stops it from sticking)
Put in two cloves of garlic (minced) and stirr for about 2 minutes (make sure it only gently browns. Add water if you find it’s sticking)
Add in the bell pepper and stirr until it’s soft.
Add vegan mince, salt and pepper and cook for about 3-5 minutes. (Optional step. This is where you add the vegan mince)
Add in the podded peas and fry for about 2 minutes
Turn down the heat and add the tomato. Now add in salt, pepper, dill and parsley. Top tip. If you have garlic powder, put a teaspoon of that in the sauce and it enhances all the flavours.
Put on the lid and leave to simmer for about 20-30 minutes occasionally stirring so it doesn’t stick.
Now for the rice
You need:
Cup of rice (washed)
Two cups of water (boiled and ready. You can use cold water but it’ll take longer)
Table spoon of vegan butter
Two cloves of garlic
Two spring onions (peeled and chopped)
Teaspoon of salt
Teaspoon of pepper
A tablespoon of dried parsley
Add a tablespoon of vegan butter and leave to melt
Add the garlic and the spring onions and cook for about three minutes. Add a teaspoon of water to stop it from sticking.
Add the rice and cook with the garlic and onion. The rice will stick so turn down the heat when it does and stir to losen up the stick rice.
With the heat down, add in the water.
Add salt, pepper and dried parsley.
Stirr it to get the flavours distributed and put the lid on. Leave it to simmer on the lowest heat setting. Should take about 5-10 minutes to cook or until all the water has evaporated and the rice is fluffy.
Once the rice has cooked, leave for about 2 minutes to rest before serving.
And enjoy. Of course feel free to change up anything to suit your tastes. This is just a guide.
A Mediterranean dish with a vegan twist x
Hey guys!! If you’re lactose intolerant or can’t consume dairy for other reasons, make sure you check out the alternatives:
Coconut milk (This is good for baking cakes)
Oat Milk and Soy Milk (you can froth them up and make a cappuccino or anything you like)
Almond Milk (doesn’t froth up but perfect for lattes and cakes too)
