Your favorite vegetarian dish

Discussion in 'Fitness, Health & Nutrition' started by 1Trismegistus1, Jun 19, 2010.

  1. I recently decided not to eat meat anymore, and for me it wasn't all that hard cuz I ate chicken and beef everyday for about 5 years.

    So, what are some of your guys favorite vegetarian dishes, I need some different ideas, I just been eating strait fruit and vegetables lol. I want to spice it up a bit with some "meals" and not just seperate foods.
     
  2. #2 Carl Weathers, Jun 20, 2010
    Last edited: Jun 20, 2010
    I made a pretty decent curry last night, if you like eggplant then give it a try:

    Hyderabad Style Bagara Baingan Recipe - Step by Step ~ Edible Garden

    That site has a tonne of other vegetarian Indian dishes.

    Um, another really easy vegetarian option with a big payoff is falafel kebabs. Just need to drop a pile of salad onto flat turkish bread and break a few balls of falafel over it, drizzle it with chilli sauce and yoghurt & garlic sauce, then wrap it up in foil and cook it for 5 mins in the oven or heat it in a press.

    If you make a whole lot of falafel mix you can also fry some patties and make vegetarian burgers, they're pretty good usually.

    You can also make vegetarian sushi I highly recommend implementing avocado with some carrot and cucumber etc.

    Options are endless.
     
  3. You need to get protein. Beans and soy products are a good source.
     
  4. #4 ooTRAV1Soo, Jun 20, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 20, 2010
    Black bean burritos, potato burgers, brown rice and vegetables, chili, egg rolls, whole grain cereals, mixed nuts with chocolate chips.

    In reference to the poster above: whole wheat/grain breads, cereals, brown rice, whole wheat or corn tortillas, nuts, and seeds all have "good" amounts of protein. I get about 50-60 from grains and legumes per day and around 15-30 from the variety of vegetables and fruit. You can use a website like sparkpeople DOT com to track your calorie/carbs/PROTEIN/fat intake. If you eat the right variety of foods you'll be surprised how easy it is to get a lot of protein on a meatless diet.
     
  5. Spicy tofu... is amazing.

    I've tried meatless meatballs, which are disgusting in my opinion.
    Haven't tried the other fake meats tho, not sure if I want to.
     
  6. #6 Carl Weathers, Jun 26, 2010
    Last edited: Jun 26, 2010
    I made chilli sin carne the other day, it was brilliant - actually better than chilli con carne. I don't usually get too proud of my cooking but this thing was seriously good, I don't know if it was a fluke or if the recipe is a winner.

    I'll edit with a recipe later on, I actually should try finish work so I can go home lol.

    Edit: I'll stay true to my word and come up with a recipe, since I promised it. The other night I had only random shit in the pantry/freezer, so I decided to scratch this up for dinner and it was really good... Hopefully I can remember it all, I was just throwing whatever into the pot and hoping for the best. It's not completely healthy, lacking in the greens department.. but good for a Friday night to have with a beer or something.

    Chilli sin carne
    [with potato wedges]
    to serve 2


    • 1 tin kidney beans in brine (wash thoroughly)

    • 1 tin chopped tomatoes (get some variety that comes with herbs already if you want)

    • 1 large or 2 small onions (diced/cut however you want)

    • 1 capsicum/bell pepper (as above)

    • as many chilli as you can handle :devious: (cayenne, habanero, whatever floats your boat.. I actually have some crushed up chilli in a jar so i was scooping that out to equal roughly 2 chillis)
    • about half a dozen baby tomatoes (halved)

    • ~1/4 cup of cooking oil (I used rice bran oil - and recommend an oil of this calibre. You could put more oil in... I'm a bit scared and don't ever go liberal so 1/4 cup was as far as I wanted to push it - but I am aware that a good chilli needs lots of oil)
    • 1 tablespoon of ground cumin (yes, tablespoon!)
    • 1 or 2 teaspoons paprika
    • 1 teaspoon chilli powder/peri peri (I love peri peri)
    • 3/4 teaspoon cocoa powder (you have to trust me on that one)
    • 1 or 2 teaspoons of sugar (depending on how much you wanna cheat and how sweet you wanna be)
    • If you wanna try it out, you could substitute cocoa and sugar with actual dark chocolate.. Bit of a mystery ingredient.
    • Plus, anything else you feel you wanna throw into your pot. I put a shot of Drambuie in there, red wine, beer or whiskey would work as they are used traditionally.
    • Mozarella (to garnish)
    • Potato wedges for 2 (oven bake kind, i get this type called "Banditos" they are spicy and really good. You could just cut up some potato if you wanted, or use fries)
    So yeah that is quite a lot of shit, it's fairly open to creativity and personal taste but the above combination worked really well for me... I just hope I remembered it all. Here's roughly the procedure I went with. I'm no cooking genius, I just went with what I felt was right and it worked out so I'll put down what I did:

    - Heat up the oil in a large pot or deep wok (it is a lot of oil, so I recommend using something quality like rice bran oil or maybe avocado oil. I'm not sure olive oil would work but I'd use that before I reached for cheaper oils) get it to a medium heat.. just hot enough to saute vegetables.
    - Dump the ground cumin into the oil and keep it stirring, it will stick and maybe burn so you have to keep it moving till its nice and fragrant.
    - Throw in the onion, and cook it in the oil till it has softened and then add the capsicum or bell pepper whatever, and the chilli (just make sure it's cut finely, up to you if you rock the seeds or not I think it's good but I'm quite fond of very hot food).
    - Add extra spices, i went with peri peri (just by eye, probably about half a teaspoon) and that's it. Because as far as I was concerned there was plenty going on already. I also decided to throw in a bit of garlic, I'm not sure it really goes with the dish but I'm a garlic addict.
    - Cook in spices with good stirring. Shouldn't be any problems with sticking with all that oil. Then add the baby tomatoes, and let them fry to a moderate degree.
    - Empty the tin of chopped tomatoes into the mixture and stir it about, and let the pot come to a simmer. I hope that this doesn't confuse.. but the chopped tomatoes I mean are the kind that come in a watery sauce/juice and theres usually a variety like "Moroccan style" "Indian style" "Mexican style". Mexican would be perfect, but it's not too important as long as it's not completely inappropriate for the chilli. Just plain chopped tomatos would be fine.
    - Once the mix is cooking again, add the cocoa + sugar and stir it in. Also add any extra flavouring like whiskey, or 100mL or less of beer or wine.
    - Add the kidney beans (make sure they're completely washed of the icky brine) and then cover the pot or whatever you're cooking in, and turn the hot plate down to a low setting so it can simmer lightly over the next 2 hours. Make sure you check it often and stir it every time, and let the condensed steam run back into the pot so you don't lose too much volume.
    - The idea is to let the kidney beans soften completely, but not let them turn into mush. So a gentle simmer that keeps everything cooking quietly is the way to go. Over 2 hours the mix goes through a progression to a thick, rich chilli and I recommend taste testing over the period and adjusting, or ordering pizza if my recipe has failed you :p
    - If it's looking good, then its up to you to boil off volume till it reaches your desired consistency - obviously this simply involves uncovering the pot and maybe heating it higher. When there's about 20 or so minutes to go, oven bake your potato wedges. This isn't a crucial step but in my opinion there's nothing better than this combination.
    - Serve the chilli over potato, and sprinkle/cover in mozarrella :smoke:
     
  7. Eggplant lasagna!

    Sounds disgusting, tastes amazing.

    If you're vegetarian (not vegan), you can put some cheese on it. If you're vegan, it's good anyways :D

    Here's a vegetarian one:

    [​IMG]


    If you want some more recipes, go to Vegan Yum Yum. They're vegan, but they're still amazing and the only difference is the dairy and byproducts.

    Good stuff.



    Enthusiast
    keepin' it healthy
     
  8. Eggplant Parmesan was my favorite dish when I was a vegetarian (5 years). Also, lots of indian/chinese.
     
  9. Pad Thai w/ tofu. That spicy peanut sauce is amazing.
     

  10. This one really looks delicious. Makes me really hungry.
     
  11. Potato or cheese (or combined) Pierogies.

    [​IMG]

    if you don't make em yourself you gotta find some old polish ladies... they know whats up.
     

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