3 Delicious And Easy Vegan Recipes To Try Yourself
Veganuary is coming to an end with the first month of the year inching towards its last day. For those not in the know, Veganuary is a month-long challenge for those who want to try out a vegan lifestyle. It was started back in 2014 by a UK-based non-profit to promote the benefits of veganism.
Going vegan is a lifestyle change that people adopt to protect the environment, prevent animal suffering, and for their overall health. It’s not a diet fad and means making some serious changes to the way you live, including what you wear and what products you put on your body.
If you missed the boat to join the challenge this January, you can try and see how it works out for you by slowly adopting a vegan lifestyle over the next few weeks. The best way to do it is by trying out vegan dishes by yourself to dispel the misconceptions that they’re expensive to make or not delicious enough.
We got three chefs to part with their best vegan recipes so that you can continue the Veganuary challenge and see for yourself…
Green Goddess Smoothie Bowl
Green Goddess Smoothie Bowl by Chef Saveen Shetty (Kind Cafe)
The consultant chef at Kind Cafe is done with people believing that veganism is expensive and would cause a deficiency in nutrients if you adopt it as a diet. This is why he is sharing his recipe for a vegan smoothie bowl that, in his own words, will help you sustain this lifestyle in a healthy way. Aside from this recipe, he also shared a few tips to keep in mind if you’re thinking about going vegan.
“Turning vegan is a lifestyle change and takes a while to get used to. It cannot be a one size fits all experience and you have to decide which approach works best for you.” He advises taking it slow and substituting regular ingredients with their vegan counterparts one by one to get your body used to them, for instance switching to almond or oat milk in place of regular milk. Try Chef Shetty’s vegan smoothie bowl recipe now…
Ingredients
2 cups Coconut milk
1 cup Almond milk
1/4 cup Boiled Spinach
Half an Avocado
1 tablespoon Date syrup
1 Banana
Toppings:
2 tablespoon soaked chia seeds
2 Sliced apricots
2 tablespoon healthy granola
1/2 sliced kiwi Coconut crisps
Method
1. Using a mixer, blend coconut milk, almond milk, boiled Spinach, avocado, date syrup and banana into a smooth paste.
2. Pour the smoothie into a bowl and top it with soaked chia seeds, apricots, healthy granola, sliced kiwi and coconut crisps.
3. Enjoy your delicious green smoothie bowl.
Coffee Glazed Roots
Vegan Glazed Roots by Chef Dhriti Mankame (KMC*)
Chef Mankame loves working with vegan ingredients as it gives her the challenge to come up with new and exciting dishes. “It helps us push ourselves and our creativity while applying new techniques and using a variety of ingredients.” According to her, including vegan options in your day-to-day diet is beneficial, even if you don’t opt for going for complete veganism.
“When you restrict yourself from eating a certain type of food/ingredient, you’re naturally drawn towards looking for its nutritional and taste alternative. With the hospitality industry moving towards ingredient-based food; lesser-known/region-specific food has also been made available to the layman.” A good way to do this is to try her recipe, “It’s a simple, easy and comforting dish. It fills you up while providing a nutritional meal. There’s a lot of scope for innovating and making combinations from this recipe.”
Ingredients
For the vegan labneh:
100g Dairy free Curd
5g Cumin
1 Green chilli
Salt- To taste
¼ tsp Caster Sugar
25 g Confit garlic paste
For the root vegetables:
10g Carrot
10g Beetroot
10 g Purple yam
5g Bhavnagri chilli
4g Thyme
3g Rosemary
5g Garlic
15 ml Oil
For the marinated grapes:
100g Grapes
5g Sesame oil
10g Sugar Salt Pepper
For the glaze:
3g Mustard
6g Sugar
2g Sesame oil
10g Soy sauce
2g Coffee powder
70ml Water
3g Corn Starch
For the garnish:
Flavoured oils- Chilli, Herb, Smokey,
Nut Pea shoot or other microgreens
Method
1. To make the labneh, remove excess water from the curd. Chop green chillies finely. Whisk all ingredients together.
2. To prepare the root vegetables, boil the yam after peeling in salt water till its cooked perfectly. Chop garlic. Put beetroot, carrots, thyme, rosemary, garlic drizzled with oil on a baking tray, cover it with aluminium foil and bake at 180c for 20-25 mins or till cooked. Char the bhavnagri chillies.
3. To marinate the grapes, slice them into half and mix it with all the ingredients. Let it marinate for a couple of hours.
4. To make the glaze, make a slurry with cornstarch and water. Add the remaining ingredients in a pan and bring to a boil. Add the slurry and cook for another five mins or till it reaches a coating consistency
5. Cut the vegetables and bhavnagri chillies into thick slices. In a nonstick pan, add the vegetables and coat them generously with the glaze.
6. Spread 2 spoons full of labneh on a plate. Arrange the vegetables and bhavnagri chillies on them. Put a few pieces of marinated grapes. Drizzle your choice of flavored oils and microgreens.
Vegan Pasta
Penne Pasta in Marinara Salsa by Chef Larry (British Brewing Company)
Chef Larry feels that going for vegan food is a way to restore balance to the environment and practice sustainability in a holistic manner. “The thought of helping in climate change in today’s time itself is a challenge and being a vegan helps in deforestation and all that is associated with it,” he said.
He also adds that there’s a misconception that vegan food lacks protein and its ingredients are expensive. On the contrary, it can be rich in nutrients and the ingredients are available all around us. Trying out his recipe is a good way to introduce vegan options to your daily diet. He says it’s easy to make, it’s filling, and could be paired with a variety of side dishes.
Ingredients
500 gms Penne pasta
For Marinara sauce:
1 kg 250 gms Fresh tomato or 1 kg canned tomato pelati
2 large Onions (Chopped finely)
8 nos Garlic (minced)
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup chopped fresh basil
2 tsp dried oregano
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
Method
1. Pre-cook the pasta as per instruction on the penne packet and keep it aside.
2. For the sauce add olive oil to a pan. Once heated, add in the chopped onion.
3. Once the onions are tender, add in the chopped garlic. Once it’s golden brown, add in the tomatoes, and cook. Mix it regularly and break the lumps of the tomatoes using a wooden spoon.
4. Once it starts to simmer add in the fresh basil and oregano and mix well. Add the pre-cooked pasta to the salsa, once it’s cooked, and mix well.
5. Add in the salt and pepper as per taste.
6. Plate the pasta on a dish and garnish it with a whole leaf of basil.
