Delicious vegan dishes are easier than you think

From thenationalnews.com

By Priyanka Naik 

The one thing I get asked consistently is: “Priyanka, how can I cook vegan dishes regularly at home?”

Initially, this question would frustrate me because I’d think: “Why does everyone find it so difficult to cook vegan? I mean, what’s so difficult about eating vegetables?”

But as I grew older, wiser and more patient, I realised that upbringing, environment and culture play a huge role when it comes to one’s perspective on food. For instance, I was born and raised in New York City, but as a first-generation Indian-American, my perspective on food is heavily influenced by my Indian roots and the fact that I’ve travelled to about 40 countries.

I leverage my culture and life experiences to create a widened perspective on food and to develop original vegan recipes. So to everyone who asks me now, I say eating vegetables is a lot easier (and tastier) than you might imagine.

                            Priyanka Naik is a self-taught vegan chef. Photo: W Maldives

As a self-taught vegan and sustainable chef, here are my top hacks to make your kitchen vegan, eco-friendly and tasty.

Spice up your life

If I had a megaphone, this would be the first thing I’d yell: use whole dried spices in your food — it’s the easiest way to make literally anything taste amazing. You can cook with whole cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, mustard seeds, chillies … the list goes on.

Whole dried spices are packed with natural oils, flavours and texture, so adding your favourite veggies to a skillet with hot oil, whole spices, salt and a bit of garlic will make the perfect stir-fry. Many spices also have natural medical properties, notably fennel, turmeric and mustard seeds.

Don’t always try to mimic meat

Imitation meat has flooded the vegan market in recent years. While I wholeheartedly support these products and efforts, which are created from the lens of sustainability, I don’t think you need to constantly use faux meat to make a wholesome meal. Having grown up as a pure vegetarian, I can tell you the possibilities for vegan cooking are endless. If you need something “meaty” to bite into, consider a whole blistered aubergine in a miso glaze; a turmeric-marinated cauliflower steak; or a falafel pita if you’re in the mood for a hearty sandwich.

Use leafy greens in sauces

Some of my favourite pasta sauces are made with vegetables, including one of my most popular recipes — spinach jalapeno pesto. Sauces are a great way to cook and eat leafy greens, which are high in fibre, iron and other essential nutrients. The key is to blanch your greens for two to three minutes first, drop in an ice bath and blend with your favourite aromatics, such as garlic, onion, chilli and lemon.

Texture is key

                                             Double-textured spicy blistered aubergine in peanut sauce.

Monotone dishes are boring and will not satiate complex palates. Texture is a huge reason why people will not miss meat, so ensure your dishes come in varying styles. For example, if you’re making a dish that is on the softer or mushier side, consider garnishing it with fresh chopped herbs such as coriander or sprinkle pomegranate for some crunch.

Shop local

Shopping local means you’re supporting the community and getting produce that’s in season. This is better both for the environment and our bodies, as seasonal produce tends to be higher in nutrients and is tastier too. Shopping at farmers’ markets can also help inspire recipe ideas and dishes, as it provides an opportunity to talk to local producers who know best how to use their delicious goods.

Get creative with leftovers

I am that person who packs food at restaurants, even the leftovers from the bread basket. Why? Because the majority of wasted food ends up in landfill, producing harmful methane gasses.

Packing leftovers can help alleviate this and even a slight effort makes a difference. Best of all, leftovers can be transformed into tasty options — pulse leftover white rice in a food processor with some beans, spices and potato to make a wholesome burger, or turn leftover pasta into a pizza frittata in a hot non-stick skillet.

Packing leftovers can help alleviate this and even a slight effort makes a difference. Best of all, leftovers can be transformed into tasty options — pulse leftover white rice in a food processor with some beans, spices and potato to make a wholesome burger, or turn leftover pasta into a pizza frittata in a hot non-stick skillet.

Incorporate superfoods

Superfoods are incredibly powerful, not just for your body, but in recipes too. Cashews, for instance, when soaked, will soften and can be blended into a creamy, dreamy sauce. The same applies for a variety of nuts and seeds (sunflower seed butter, anyone?). Blueberries are high in antioxidants and when frozen, can be blended with frozen bananas to create a soft and tasty cream. So go ahead and make yours a creative vegan kitchen.

Priyanka Naik is a self-taught Indian vegan chef, Food Network champion, Quibi Dishmantled winner, TV personality and author of The Modern Tiffin. She’s put together a customised vegan and sustainable menu for W Maldives, which will be available until October 2023

https://www.thenationalnews.com/lifestyle/food/2022/10/31/delicious-vegan-dishes-are-easier-than-you-think/

Recipe: Savoury Vegan Lentil and Sweet Potato Meatloaf

From vegnews.com

This loaf brings traditional savoury flavours together with a hint of sweetness from sweet potatoes

SERVES: 6

This nutrient-packed comforting meal from the Dreena’s Kind Kitchen cookbook offers plenty of Italian-style herbs and an infusion of flavors from balsamic vinegar, tahini, and tamari sauce. Serve with fluffy mashed potatoes and garlicky green beans for a complete meal.

What you need:

2 cups cooked brown lentils, divided 
1 cup cooked sweet potato flesh, cooled 
½ cup cooked red or Yukon Gold potato flesh, cooled 
1 clove garlic, peeled 
¼ cup tomato paste 
3 tablespoons tamari 
3 tablespoons dried onion flakes 
2 tablespoons flax meal 
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 
1 tablespoon tahini 
1 teaspoon dried oregano 
½ teaspoon dried thyme 
½ teaspoon celery seed 
¼ teaspoon black pepper 
2 cups rolled oats 
¼ cup pumpkin seeds 
4 tablespoons ketchup or barbecue sauce, for topping

Dreena Burton

What you do:

1. 1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a loaf pan and line with parchment paper, letting paper overhang sides of dish.
2. 2.  In a food processor, combine 1 cup of lentils, potatoes, garlic, tomato paste, tamari, onion flakes, flax meal, balsamic, tahini, oregano, thyme, celery seed, and black pepper. Pulse until well combined but not blended. Add remaining 1 cup lentils, oats, and pumpkin seeds and pulse a couple of times, scraping down bowl as needed, until mixture is fairly well combined but still has texture—take care not to overprocess. Remove blade and use a silicone spatula to mix once more by hand.
3. 3.  Transfer mixture to prepared loaf pan. Smooth out with a spatula to evenly distribute in dish. Using the same spatula, spread ketchup or barbecue sauce on top. 
4. 4.  Cover with aluminium foil. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove foil and bake for another 6 to 7 minutes, until topping is set. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Lift loaf out of dish using parchment. Slice and serve.

https://vegnews.com/2022/10/savory-vegan-lentil-and-sweet-potato-meatloaf

15 Must-Try Vegan Fall Recipes to Make This Week

From vegnews.com 

Grab an apron, and head to your kitchen to make these mouth-watering recipes perfect for a chilly fall day

When the leaves are falling and the air is crisp enough for not one but two blankets, comfort food is on our minds. That’s why we’re embracing the autumnal shift with a roundup of 15 recipes that are delightfully dairy-free and spectacularly scrumptious.

Whether you’re preparing for a fall-themed dinner party or a cosy day watching movies, these recipes are the perfect motivation to get you up from your warm bed covers and into the kitchen for some autumnal cooking (and then back under the covers, of course).

Seasonal fall produce

Autumn marks the beginning of pumpkin season, but it’s not just pumpkins that are in bloom. Pears, sweet potatoes and yams, Brussels sprouts, winter squash, apples, and cranberries are among the season’s bounty. Other foods that are in season in the fall include:

• Beets
• Bell peppers
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Collard Greens
• Cauliflower
• Ginger
• Garlic
• Green Beans
• Parsnips

Incorporating these fruits and vegetables into your cooking infuses your food with cosy fall flavours. While eating whole fruits and vegetables is always encouraged, opting for seasonal produce comes with a number of benefits. 

Canva

Note: what’s in season isn’t just dependent on the time of year. Your geographic location can also affect what’s in season. A quick internet search can help you determine the foods that are in season in your area. Alternatively, a trip to your local farmers’ market can also help, as vendors and local farmers often grow with the seasons.  

What is seasonal eating?

Seasonal eating simply means opting for fruits and vegetables that are in season. For example, instead of eating watermelon in the fall, count on pears or apples for your fruit fix. 

Eating with the seasons comes with a number of health and environmental benefits. When you eat seasonal produce, you’re fuelling your body with a variety of fruits and vegetables. Sticking to your off-season favourites can often limit the vitamins and minerals your body obtains. Varying your diet with seasonal items can help increase your intake of essential nutrients. 

Kim Daniels

Additionally, growing with the seasons is better for the environment. Growing fruits and vegetables outside of their typical growing season is resource extensive, as growers are tasked with re-creating “normal” growing conditions. 

Load up your cart with seasonal produce during your next grocery store run. 

15 vegan fall recipes

Try these 15 vegan, fall-ready recipes the next time hunger calls.

Hot for Food

1Vegan Pumpkin Ravioli

Impress guests at your next dinner party with these homemade raviolis filled with tangy pumpkin-cashew cheese that are even more stunning when paired with a sophisticated white wine-sage butter sauce.
GET THE RECIPE HERE

Minimalist Baker

2 Vegan Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

There’s no better way to combine fall flavours and our favourite meal of the week than with a scrumptious stack of these pumpkin-spice pancakes.
GET THE RECIPE HERE

Oh She Glows

3Vegan Broccoli and Cheese Soup

This luscious homemade vegan soup is loaded with wholesome ingredients such as carrots, potatoes, and broccoli—and we’re doubling the amount of nutritional yeast for extra cheesy goodness.
GET THE RECIPE HERE

Blissful Basil

4 Cardamom Pear Smoothie

Begin your fall days with an energizing and healthy smoothie using seasonal pears and fragrant cardamom.
GET THE RECIPE HERE

Keepin’ It Kind

5 Carrot Cake Waffles with Cinnamon Maple Cream Cheese Spread

Cakey, fluffy waffles made with three different flours and maple-infused vegan cream cheese make for an indulgent sit-down breakfast for the whole family.
GET THE RECIPE HERE

Jessica In the Kitchen

6 Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese with Crispy Sage

Sweet, seasonal butternut squash shines in this concoction complemented by earthy sage leaves and hearty elbow pasta.
GET THE RECIPE HERE

Full of Plants

7 Fall Forest Salad

A fresh salad tossed with chestnuts, dried cranberries, and green lentils is a wholesome meal we’ll be prepping for lunch all week.
GET THE RECIPE HERE

Sweet Potato Soul

8Apple Cider Cupcakes

Craving something sweet but don’t want to spend hours around the oven? These melt-in-your-mouth apple-cider cupcakes take only 30 minutes to prepare!
GET THE RECIPE HERE

A Virtual Vegan

9Vegan Potato Soup

This fresh potato soup does everything you could ask from an autumnal dish—it’s thick, creamy, and extra hearty. Loaded with crispy potato squares and crunchy tempeh bacon bits, it’s the ultimate bowl of cosy comfort. 
GET THE RECIPE HERE

Healthy Happy Life

10 Simple Vegan Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

Need some practice making pumpkin pie? If so, prepare this seasonally inspired cheesecake as a way to perfect your pie-making skills (and palate) before the holidays.
GET THE RECIPE HERE

Emilie Eats

11 Fall Brussels Sprouts Quinoa Salad

Vibrant pomegranate and zesty orange serve as refreshing additions to this vegetable-loaded salad’s exemplary balance of savoury and sweet.
GET THE RECIPE HERE

Elephantastic Vegan

12Vegan Carrot Ginger Soup

Support your tastebuds and your immune system this flu season with a flavorful and nutritious soup that uses fresh ginger and heart-healthy pumpkin-seed oil.
GET THE RECIPE HERE

Minimalist Baker

13Sweet Potato Cauliflower Curry 

This 30-minute curry is easy to make and features red curry paste and sweet potatoes. Plus, it’s the perfect accompaniment for those breezy nights when you’re indoors watching movies.
GET THE RECIPE HERE

Vegan Richa

14Marbled Turmeric Pumpkin Chocolate Bread

With four layers of pumpkin turmeric and classic chocolate, this marbled sweet bread will add some excitement to your daily routines.
GET THE RECIPE HERE

Sweet Simple Vegan

15Autumn Apple Cider Moscow Mules

The secret to the divine Moscow Mule we’re sipping on all season? A touch of apple cider, ginger, and pumpkin-pie spice—don’t forget the candied ginger garnish!
GET THE RECIPE HERE

https://vegnews.com/2022/10/vegan-fall-recipes

Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for Malaysian dal curry

From theguardian.com

A dal made fragrant with lemongrass and star anise, rounded out with coconut milk and lightly soured with tangy tamarind 

I might have told you about the Sodha family cookbook before. It’s where we write down all the recipes that Hugh, my husband, and I both cook, love and want to make again. The plan is to pass it on to our daughters one day. This dal made the cut. It’s based on a Malaysian dal curry we ate gallons of on a trip to Singapore. It’s more fragrant than Indian dal, it has more aromatics such as lemongrass and star anise, and it’s as soothing to cook (all in one pot) as it is to eat, because the coconut milk softens the edges somewhat.

Malaysian dal curry

This could and should be a cheap meal, especially if you buy the ingredients from an Asian supermarket (or one online). If you buy more curry leaves and lemongrass than you need, keep them wrapped up in the freezer for next time. Serve with paratha (you can buy these from the freezer section of many Asian supermarkets) or steamed rice.

Prep 5 min
Cook 35 min
Serves 4

3 tbsp rapeseed oil
10 fresh (or frozen) curry leaves
1 stick lemongrass, bruised
2 star anise
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground turmeric
1½ tsp kashmiri chilli
1½ tbsp tomato puree
300g red lentils
1¼ tsp fine sea salt
2 medium carrots (150g), peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
1 x 400ml tin coconut milk
1½ tbsp tamarind paste
Crispy chilli oil, to serve – the Laoganma brand, which is widely available at large supermarkets, south-east Asian food stores and online, is far and away my favourite

Put the oil in a large saucepan on a medium heat and, once hot, add the curry leaves, lemongrass and star anise and cook until the leaves crackle. Stir in the onion, cook for about six minutes, until soft and translucent, then add the garlic, cook for two minutes more.

Add the coriander, cumin, turmeric and chilli powder, stir to mix, then add the tomato puree, lentils and salt, and cook for two minutes.

Add the carrots and coconut milk, then fill up the empty coconut milk tin twice with tap water and add that to the pan, too. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 20-25 minutes, until the dal is nice and thick and the carrots tender. Stir through the tamarind paste, then taste and adjust the salt, chilli or tamarind as you see fit and serve topped with a spoonful of crispy chilli oil.

Meera Sodha’s Malaysian dal curry. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Kristine Jakobsson.
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/oct/29/vegan-malaysian-dal-curry-recipe-meera-sodha

Vegan cheese brand Sheese launches two exciting new products – here’s where you can buy them

From veganfoodandliving.com

Vegan cheese brand Sheese is launching two new products into a major UK retailer.

The plant-based brand has also made its debut in South Africa – and now exports to 24 countries.

Starting off on a ‘kitchen table’ on the Isle of Bute in 1988, Sheese is now available throughout Europe, North America, Australia and the Middle East too.

New Sheese products – how to find them

From November 21, supermarket giant Asda will start stocking Sheese’s Mighty Melter slices – a Red Leicester-style plant-based cheese – as well as The Italiano, a mix of plant-based mozzarella and Cheddar-style dairy alternatives.

The new products are priced at £2.25 and £2.50 respectively.

Continued growth

In a statement sent to Vegan Food & Living, Nigel White of Bute Island Foods said: “With nearly 40 different varieties, including the new Mighty Melter and Italiano… We offer consumers a vast amount of choice when it comes to vegan cheese.

“Sheese’s growth continues to gather momentum and while some plant-based brands have struggled to stay alive, our products can now be found in ASDA, Tesco, Sainsburys, Waitrose, Ocado and good health stores in the UK.”

White added: “We put this sustained growth down to the heritage of the brand, its reputation, quality and our dedication to developing new products for both vegans and non-vegans, as they seek non-dairy alternatives for their plates.”

In the mood for more cheese? Here are 10 vegan cheese alternatives you can find in supermarkets

https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/news/vegan-cheese-brand-sheese-launches-two-new-products/

 

Domino’s Just Launched An Entire Range Of Impossible Beef Pizzas In Australia

From plantbasednews.org

Domino’s Australia has teamed up with plant-based meat brand Impossible Foods to offer a new range of (mostly) vegetarian pizzas.

The pizzas, which include the Impossible Supreme, the Impossible Godfather, and the Impossible Firebreather, all feature meat-free Impossible Beef.

While the meat itself is totally plant-based, the pizzas, which are topped with dairy cheese, are not suitable for vegans. Some (the Impossible Hamburger and the Impossible Cheeseburger) are not suitable for vegetarians either. This is due to the inclusion of American burger cheese.

According to Domino’s chief marketing officer Adam Ballesty, the Impossible pizza range was created for flexitarians (aka people looking to reduce their meat consumption some of the time).

Flexitarianism is reportedly taking off in Australia. Sales of vegan food in supermarkets has risen by 50 percent in the last few years. Most of that growth is attributed to meat-reducers, instead of vegans. 

According to research conducted by Woolworths, 62 percent of its customers purchase animal-free products sometimes.

Domino's partnered with Impossible Foods following a surge in demand for meat-free options - Media Credit: Domino's Australia

Pizza for environmentally conscious flexitarians

The flexitarian shift is also reflected in the fast food industry. Just recently, McDonald’s started trialling the McPlant. The burger features a plant-based patty, but the menu option isn’t vegan (due to the mayonnaise and cheese).

“We know that people are actively seeking more sustainable food options,” said Ballesty in a statement.

He later added that whether customers were looking to “reduce” meat consumption or “mix up the menu with flexitarian choices,” the new pizzas “provide a meaningful option without compromising on taste.”

Most people reduce their meat intake for the planet. And according to Impossible Foods, its plant-based beef offers a sustainable alternative to its animal-derived counterpart, as its production emits 88 percent fewer greenhouse gasses.

Domino’s is also working with global media agency Wavemaker to reduce the carbon footprint of its campaign for the Impossible pizza range. 

Ballesty noted that the move was “a small step in a larger sustainability journey.”

Check out the new range of Domino’s Impossible pizzas here.

https://plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/food/dominos-impossible-beef-pizzas-australia/