The virtuous way to plan, cook and eat in vegan style
In the old days people were more interested in who is sleeping with whom, but in our food-obsessed modern world, the matter of whether you are paleo, vegan or raw-foodist seems much more interesting than bisexuality or gay marriage.
Such is life when you post pictures of your meals on Instagram for all to see. I’ve always been going on about meat, but recent health issues have led me down the path of no meat, at least for a time.
My ‘Vegan January’ is something I’m doing as an experiment — eating well in a vegan way requires effort, planning and prep. Eating well in any way requires planning and prep.
You could survive on toast and marmite or pasta and a jar of sauce but that’s just silly. It’s better to spend a few stints in the week making a ton of stuff to keep you well fed for every meal, and there’s more to life than beans too, so branch out and get yourself a food processor.
Good food needs to have flavour, texture and if you love to cook, variety too. From Indian to Italian and South American, there are lots of indigenous areas that always made the most of their veg and pulses.
How you fare and how you feel, depends on what kind of food you eat, the great news is that not everyone is gluten intolerant so sourdough is on the menu here and I’d happily swap steak for good bread any day. Batch cook so you have food for a few days and always vary your veg.
Veggie food keeps for longer as there is no meat or dairy to go off and you can make big batches of salads and soups. Fermented foods play a big part too, so get on the sauerkraut and meaty (but meatless) miso.
As a devout eggs-for-breakfast-woman, I’ve now switched to a fruity and nutty smoothie, some hummus or pesto on sourdough toast with some veggie bits like sliced peppers, a few olives and a coffee.
My son fries up a few of the Happy Pear vegan sausages (see last week’s column) and has them with a slaw full of seeds and olive oil. You need an arsenal of handy recipes so you don’t get hungry and eat stuff you don’t want to eat.
Fats are key for brain health and energy. Sour foods will help with digestion and you’ll be amazed at how your taste buds change and even things like milk taste sickly sweet after a couple of weeks.
A major advantage of eating vegan is the easy clean up, no manky pots and burnt roasting dishes. Just wipe and rinse your ware, though your floor will be covered in shredded veg. When you fall off the wagon, a Tayto sandwich still counts as vegan snack.
Many people claim to feel ‘better’ when they eat vegan style, but that might be to do with just eating more veg.
Here are two recipes from the nicest book I was given as a gift over Christmas from someone I met only once, Cooking Lessons by Daisy Garnet. It’s more of a memoir with recipes than a cookbook, and is just a lovely read.
I make the puttanesca when I want something full of flavour, the classic version has anchovies, so you can add them if you aren’t bothered by the fish ingredient. The author didn’t write it out as a recipe but as more of a description of her mother, Polly Devlin’s, fall-back dish, so I’ve written it out here in a step by step way.
Pasta Puttanesca, (Neapolitan Brothel Sauce)
If you are low-gluten you can have this with brown rice pasta, Dove’s farm do a lovely one and you can get it in Dunne’s.
2 cloves garlic, peeled
Olive oil, a light one
1 red chilli, chopped finely
Basil, two hands full
Black olives, the ones with the stones in taste better
Anchovies, if using
8 Capers or a tablespoon
2 tins chopped tomatoes
Tomato puree
Black pepper
In a heavy bottomed pot, heat the oil gently and fry the whole garlic until it’s lightly brown and then discard the cloves. You just want a hint of flavour in the oil, add the chillies and cook for a minute.
Throw in handful of torn basil leaves, just remove the stalks and let it sizzle lightly.
Stone the olives by pressing down on them with the side of a large knife and squashing them, then slide out the stones. Chop them roughly and add them to the pot.
Now put in the anchovies in, if you’re using them, and the capers, give it a stir and pour in the tomatoes and a good squeeze of tomato puree.
Add the rest of the basil and a couple of twists of black pepper, you won’t need salt.
Let everything bubble gently for about 20 minutes.
The flavour of this sauce develops nicely over a few days in the fridge so it’s a good idea to make up a big batch. You don’t need cheese on it either, as there is plenty of oomph.
No Mayo Slaw
We make this all the time now, as a go-to salad that keeps or a few days so you always have something crunchy and raw. I have only just bought a food processor so I don’t know myself with the easy shredding of stuff. This recipe makes a ton, so reduce it if you want.
1/4 head of red cabbage, shredded
1/4 head white cabbage, shredded
3-4 carrots, grated
1 red onion, finely diced
1 handful each of sunflower and pumpkin seeds
Olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt and black pepper
Get a large frying pan and lightly toast the seeds for about five minutes. The difference this makes to their flavour is huge, so toast extra and keep them in a jar.
In a big mixing bowl, combine the veggies with the toasted seeds and then squeeze over the juice of a lemon and enough olive oil to combine everything.
Season with salt and pepper and tuck in.
