I’ve become a vegetarian recently, originally gave up meat for Advent then decided to carry on with it. Do you know that all the world’s cows produce as much greenhouse gas as all the world’s cars! Anyway, as for recipes:
Foul Moudamas - a middle-eastern bean stew, it’s even suitable for people keeping Lent according to the Eastern traditions (no animal products or oil):
1 tin kidney beans
1 tin butter beans
1 tin tomatoes
1 aubergine
1 bulb (yes, bulb) garlic
2 cardamom pods
1 tsp caraway seeds (or you can use black peppercorns)
Put the garlic and caraway seeds in a medium oven for 20 mins until the garlic skin goes dark brown, the cloves will be soft and will just pop out of their skins. Crush the roasted caraway seeds.
Chop the aubergine, add a little water to the bottom of a high-sided pan, mash the aubergine, roasted garlic cloves and caraway seeds together in the bottom of the pan, add the other ingredients and a little more water and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve with rice or pitta breads.
Stir-fry vegetables (1):
A Chinese-style stir-fry, works with any vegetables, make sure you finely chop or julienne the vegetables.
In a wok or frying pan, heat 1 tbsp of sunflower oil, add 1tsp Chinese 5 spice, 1 chopped chilli, some grated ginger, 2 cloves of garlic, and then add the vegetables. Cook for 1-3 minutes until vegetables are golden. You can also add tofu or noodles. Dip tofu in flour then in egg to get a crispy batter around it. Add soy sauce to taste.
Stir-fry vegetables (2):
A Thai-style stir-fry. As above except instead of the spices, add:
1tsp creamed coconut or 2tbsp coconut milk
1 chopped chilli
1 stick of lemongrass
1 tsp corriander
2 lime leaves or juice of 1 lime
Thai fish sauce (optional).
Another dish, this one can be a main meal or an acompaniment to a roast. It’s pretty simple really, but has a really strong flavour.
1 kilo (2lb) potatoes or yams, peeled and cut into quarters
3 red onions, peeled and cut into quarters
black pepper
1 bulb (yes, again, the whole bulb) garlic
3-4 bay leaves
100ml (1quart) balsamic vinegar
butter
Boil the potatoes or yams for 5 minutes, melt the butter on a high-sided baking tray in a hot oven. Drain the potatoes, mix potatoes and onions on baking tray and toss in the melted butter. Tear the garlic bulb into 2 or 3 pieces add this and the bay leaves, and garnish with lots of crushed black pepper. Pour the balsamic vinegar over (this does NOT work with malt vinegar) and bake for 40-45 mins. When the balsamic vinegar has reduced down to a sticky red goo that sticks to the potatoes and onion, it’s ready. Remove bay leaves and garlic bulb before serving.