But What Do Vegans Eat?

Easy and tasty home cooked meals!

[notjustlentils]

Vegan Sushi Platter

2 cups sushi rice

1 sachet of powdered sushi vinegar (or sushi vinegar)

3 sheets of seaweed

8 inari pockets

1/2 block of tofu, thinly sliced

3/4 tbsp sesame oil

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 tbsp brown sugar

2 cloves garlic, crushed and sliced

1 inch grated ginger

1 tbsp water

1/2 capsicum, sliced 

1/2 medium cucumber, sliced into sticks

1/2 large carrot, sliced into sticks

1/2 avocado, sliced into thin sticks

Soy sauce, to serve

Wasabi, to serve

Pickled ginger, to serve

Preheat oven to 190°C

Rice

1. Combine rice with 3 cups boiling water and cook covered on medium high heat, until rice is soft, add more water if necessary.

2. Once rice is cooked, remove from heat and leave covered to cool.

Tofu

1. Mix garlic, ginger, sesame oil, brown sugar and soy sauce. 

2. Place tofu in a non-stick over tray and cover with sauce, leaving some to serve.

3. Cook in oven, until edges are browned, remove and cut into sticks.

Sushi

(Wetting your hands for this helps!)

1. Cover a sheet of seaweed with a thin layer of rice, right out to the edges, leaving only one edge not covered, about a centimetre free. 

2. Place a line of capsicum, avocado, tofu, carrot and cucumber, running the same way as the seaweed without rice, but place it in the middle of the seaweed/rice sheet.

3. Tightly roll seaweed, pushing the vegetables inwards, until rolled to the part of the seaweed without rice, seal with water if it will not stick together.

4. Slice the sushi into thin rolls.

Inari

1. Gently open the inari pouches and stuff with spare rice, take care to not rip the pouches and also make sure to get rice right down to the bottom.

Serve everything with remaining tofu sauce, soy sauce, ginger and wasabi. This makes enough for 2 people and lunch the next day!

[notjustlentils]

Vegan Bruschetta

2 tomatoes, chopped into small pieces ( I take the insides out, but you don’t have to)

1/4 large red onion, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely diced

Handful of basil, finely chopped

1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

2 ciabatta buns (or french stick, or any other bread you want)

1/2 an avocado (optional)

1. Toast the ciabatta buns, once toasted, top with smashed avocado.

2. Mix the tomato, red onion, garlic, basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper together.

3. Serve on top of ciabatta!

[notjustlentils]

Vegan Omelette (using Follow Your Heart Vegan Egg)

6 tbsp Vegan Egg

1 1/2 cups ice cold water

1 tsp vegan cheese mix (optional)

1 large mushroom

2 sun dried tomatoes

1/2 cup thinly cut spinach

1/4 red onion

1 tbsp vegan bacon bits

1/2 tsp thinly sliced basil (and more to garnish)

Salt and pepper to taste

Omelette

1. Combine vegan egg, water and vegan cheese mix until no lumps remain.

2. Place in a lightly oiled frying pan and wait until bottom is browned and the middle starts cooking, then gently flip and cook the other side.

3. Once cooked through, place on a plate, put filling in the middle and garnish with fresh basil, salt and pepper and vegan parmesan.

Filling

1. Place all filling ingredients in a frying pan, with a small amount of olive oil and cook until onions are translucent.

[notjustlentils]

Vegan Lentil Shepherds Pie w/ Creamy Kumara Mash

1 1/2 cups dried lentils (or tinned)

1 1/2 vege stock cubes

1/2 large kumara

1/4 onion, finely diced

2 medium sized potatoes

1 tin of tomatoes

1 1/2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 tsp vegan parmesan (optional, you can just add more nutritional yeast instead)

1 tsp vegan cheese powder mix ( I use Angel Foods tasty cheese mix, but as above you can just used the nutritional yeast instead)

1/2 tsp dried or fresh parsley

1/4 cup plant based milk

1 tbsp vegan margarine

2 tbsp vegan bacon bits (optional)

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 onion sliced

4 sun dried tomatoes, thinly sliced

3 large mushrooms, finely sliced

1 cup of spinach

1 courgette, cut into small chunks

1/2 carrot, cut into small chunks

2 cloves of finely sliced garlic

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp mixed herbs

1 tbsp tomato paste

Sprinkling of dried thyme, basil and oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 200°C.

Filling

1. Cook lentils in boiling water with one vegetable stock cube, until lentils are soft. ( Skip this if you are using tinned lentils, just drain them)

2. Add onion, mushroom, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, carrot and courgette to a frying pan, with olive and sesame oil and fry until onions are soft and translucent.

3. Add tomato paste, tinned tomatoes, herbs and salt and pepper to the vegetables and combine well.

4. Add drained cooked lentils and spinach and combine until well mixed.

5. Put into an oven safe casserole dish.

Topping

1. Peel kumara and potatoes and add into boiling water, also adding the onion, cook until soft.

2. Drain water and then combine nutritional yeast and cheese substitutes, bacon bits, parsley, milk, margarine, salt and pepper, mash until smooth.

3. Place mix on the top of filling and spread across to evenly cover all of the filling.

Place casserole dish in the oven for around 20 minutes, or until top is browned, then serve with whatever you want!

[notjustlentils]

Chickpea and Kale Curry

1/2 onion

1 clove garlic

1 tin chickpeas

1 tin tomatoes

2 cups of kale, cut into small strips

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp ground chilli

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp ground coriander

Olive oil

Brown rice

Curry

1. Brown onion in olive oil and then add garlic and kale.

2. Once kale has slightly cooked, add tomatoes and chickpeas along with cumin, paprika, chilli, turmeric and coriander and combine well.

3. Simmer for around 15 minutes and then add garam masala, simmer for a further 10 minutes.

4. Serve over brown rice!

[notjustlentils]

Homemade Vegan Lentil Burgers w/ Homemade Aioli

Ciabatta buns

Lettuce

Tomato

Avocado

Red Onion

Hummus (homemade is best!)

Patties

1 can of lentils, drained

2 slices of wholegrain brown bread

3/4 cup of ground oats

1/2 onion finely diced

1/2 large carrot finely diced

1 tsp mixed herbs

2 tablespoons ground chia, mixed with 4 tbsp water

1 tbsp soy sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp olive oil

Aioli

1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked and drained

2 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp wholegrain mustard

1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Pinch of salt

1/4 small onion, finely diced

1/4 cup water

Patties

1. Break apart bread into smaller pieces in a blender and blend until small, almost resembling bread crumbs.

2. Fry onion and carrot in olive oil until soft.

3. Combine all ingredients into blender and blend until mixture is combined, but there is still some whole lentil and carrot pieces.

4. Roll mixture into slightly larger than golfball sized balls and fry in a small amount of olive oil, pushing them down with a spatula into patties. 

5. Continue frying until both sides are golden brown.

Aioli

1. Combine all ingredients in a high powered blender (e.g. NutriBullet) until combined in an aioli like consistency, add a small amount more water if necessary.

Once both aioli and patties are done, put the burgers together and serve with whatever you want!

P.S this makes around 6 patties and they freeze well, and the aioli will keep covered in the fridge for a week or so.

[notjustlentils]

Vegan Savoury Muffins

1.5 cups of wholemeal flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp ground chia or flax seeds, mixed with 2 tbsp water til thickened

1 tsp salt

1 cup plant based milk

1/2 cup grated vegan cheese

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 cup loosely packed vegetables e.g grated carrot, zucchini, red onion, capsicum, sun dried tomato etc

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup of soy bacon bits (optional)

Muffins

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees.

2. Mix all ingredients, then spoon into muffin tray. Cook for 20 minutes or until starting to brown on top.

[notjustlentils]

Sesame Tofu with Sriracha Stir Fry

1 block of tofu

2 cloves of garlic, crushed and finely diced

1 inch pice of ginger, grated or finely diced

1/4 cup of soy sauce

1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar (raw sugar or maple syrup works too)

1/4 cup of water

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp olive oil

2 packs of noodles (udon, hokkien etc.)

Healthy dollop of sriracha

1/2 a red onion

Stir fry vegetables (e.g mushrooms, capsicum, bok choy, kale, courgettes, beans... pretty much anything will do!)

Tofu

1. Place garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, water and sesame seeds in a bowl, then place and cover tofu with the marinade. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

2. Once tofu has been marinated, cut into cubes and fry in olive oil until each side is brown, spoon a little of the marinade over once tofu is nicely browned, keeping the rest of the marinade aside.

Stir Fry

1. Fry onion in olive oil until it is translucent, then add the other vegetables, cooking over medium/high heat until vegetables are nearly cooked, then add the remaining marinade to the pan as well as a healthy dollop of Sriracha Sauce.

2. Once vegetables are done, add the noodles into the pan, making sure everything is well combined. 

3. Serve with tofu on top of vegetables, then add extra sesame seeds.

[notjustlentils]

Mexican inspired baked potatoes with cashew sour cream!

Baked Potato

4 potatoes 

1tbsp olive oil

1 tin of black beans, drained

1/2 an onion (red or brown is fine, I prefer red)

1/2 grated carrot

1/2 finely diced capsicum

3 finely chopped mushrooms

1 clove crushed and diced garlic

1 tbsp tomato paste

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp paprika

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp chill powder

Vegan cheese (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Guacamole

1 avocado

1/2 tomato, finely diced

1/4 red onion, finely diced

Juice of half a lemon 

Salt and pepper to taste

Cashew Sour Cream

1/2 cup of soaked and drained raw cashews

Juice of half a lemon

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Pinch of salt

1 tbsp of water 

Potatoes/Filling

1. Bake the potatoes in either the oven or the microwave and when done scoop out the middle to make a hole for your filling.

2. Fry the onion, garlic and mushrooms together until the onion is soft and then add in your spices, tomato paste, capsicum and carrot.

3. Once the vegetables and spices are combined and the capsicum is cooked, add in the beans and simmer over a low-medium heat for 10 minutes.

4. Once everything is cooked through and combined, fill the baked potatoes with the mixture and place on an oven tray. Grate the cheese over it if you are using it.

5. Using an oven preheated to 200 degrees, place the potatoes in until the cheese is melted/ mixture is slightly browned.

Guacamole

1. Mash the avocado in a bowl, then add tomato, red onion, lemon juice and salt & pepper. Add more or less of ingredients to taste.

Cashew Sour Cream

1. Blend all ingredients together in a high powered blender until they are a soft, sour cream like consistency. You might not need to use the water, so be careful not to make it too runny if you are.

 Load all the ingredients together and top with spring onion and vegan parmesan!