The Subsim Vegetarian Thread

[NeonSamurai]

Well, some members thought this would be a good idea where people could talk about it and share recipes. So I figured I would get the ball rolling.

Some opening rules. This is not a place to preach or try to convert in either direction. Nor is this the place for insulting others because of their dietary choices. Lets try to keep it respectful and civil, k? Also as for recipes, try to keep them vegetarian (fish, seafood, and chicken are not vegetables).


Anyhow I'll get things started. I am a vegetarian, I have been for most of my life (roughly 35 years in total) and was raised one. I am also a trained chef though that is not my current career. My choice to be one is not so much for health reasons, but ethical/moral issues I have with the food industry.

[NeonSamurai]

Here are a couple of my favorites. If anyone doesn't understand terms like sauté or al dente, let me know


Bean Tacos
10-12 piece taco kit (tacos, salsa & seasoning)
2 medium tins red kidney beans or similar (try to get low sodium ones)
1/2c olive oil
1/2c water
taco toppings (lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, salsa, etc)

Partly drain the kidney beans (don’t rinse and leave a little of the liquid). Put the beans, water, oil and seasoning pouch into a large fry pan, add some chili powder if desired. DO NOT ADD ANY SALT. Heat the beans till the liquid boils and let it reduce a bit, stirring so it doesn’t scorch. After 10-20 minutes when the liquid is thick enough, roughly mash the beans using a potato masher or fork (you want some semi whole pieces) and mix thoroughly. Serve as you would normally serve tacos. Makes 10-12 tacos (2 medium tins of kidney beans will fill 12 tacos to about 1/3rd)



Greek Pasta Salad
2c vinaigrette recipe above using lemon
2c feta, crumbled or cubed
1 900g pkg macaroni, radiator, or similar pasta
1c firm kalamata olives
2 green pepper, diced
1 english cucumber, diced
4 small tomatoes, diced
1 medium red onion finely chopped

Cook the pasta till al dente, drain, rinse with cold water until pasta is cold, drain and let sit. Make the dressing, chop the veggies and in a large bowl mix everything together. Let refrigerate overnight. Serves 6 for a meal, 12-20 for a side dish.
Don’t forget to warn people about the olives having pits if you used unpitted olives.



Eggplant Spaghetti Sauce
2 medium eggplant
4 large green pepper
1 large jar capers (roughly 1 cup or so)
3 cups black or kalamata olives, pitted & halved
2 large tins tomato paste
2 tins diced tomatoes
8 cloves garlic
1 c olive oil
2-3 tbl basil (dry or fresh)
1 tbl tabasco
2c red wine
1 tbl hot red pepper flakes
salt & pepper

grated parmesan, Reggiano or Grana Padano
1-2 pkg spaghetti (preferably a good thick and hearty kind)

Cut the eggplant into 1/2-3/4” cubes, same with the green pepper. Crush and chop the garlic cloves, add salt to the garlic to help absorb the oil. Scrape off the garlic on the cutting board into a very large pot with 1/2c of olive oil and sauté for 1 minute, then add the vegetables and mix around and sauté for another minute, then add the capers (with the juice they were packed in) and the wine. Bring the wine to a boil and cook off the alcohol, then add the tomato paste, diced tomatoes, olives, garlic, basil, salt and pepper, cook slowly on medium low heat (not boiling) until all the vegetables are cooked and the sauce is thick enough (stir often). Add the remaining olive oil and serve on top of a good brand of spaghetti (preferably thick kind like No. 4), grated parmesan cheese, and red pepper flakes on the side.



Simple Ratatouille
1 yellow onion
1 tsp hot red pepper flakes
1 smallish eggplant
6 tbs. olive oil
3 medium zucchini
water
2 small tin tomato paste
2-3 cloves garlic crushed
1 tin tomatoes (diced)
2 tbs vinegar
1 tbl dried basil
salt & pepper

Cube all the eggplant and zucchini, chop the onion, Sauté the onion in 4 tbs oil a minute or two, then add the vegetables and sauté another minute or two. Add the tin of tomatoes, and enough water to cover the vegetables, then add the tomato paste, vinegar and red pepper flakes. Cook gently for about an hour, add the basil in half an hour and the salt and pepper to taste. When cooked mix in the remaining oil. Serve over rice with grated parmesan cheese.

[FIREWALL]

All I have to say is.... WHERE'S THE BEEF.

To each their own tho.

[CCIP]

Oh, I'm all in favour of delicious vegetables. And I may well have to try that spaghetti sauce

I'm not really a vegetarian, but on a day-to-day basis I eat so little meat that I might as well be. Meat as such is almost never on my grocery list, although that doesn't prevent me from enjoying a burger or steak every now and then. It's purely gone to "special occasion food" for me though. I just can't stand it as a constant or primary part of my diet - give me my veggies any day.

[FIREWALL]

I like vegs too. But I eat a balanced diet.

[tater]

I'm gonna make those first two for sure (I'm not a huge eggplant fan).

I have some nice side dishes with no meat, it's the entrees that are hard.

ObRecipe (sorry, it's a side, but I love it):

Carrot Salad with Cumin and Garlic (moroccan dish from Arabesque by Claudia Roden). This cookbook is great (lots of meatless stuff, too, actually, least for salads, etc). Buy it.

Serves 4-6

5 large carrots (~1.25 lbs)
4 T EVOO
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 t ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
juice of 1.2 lemon

Peel, wash, or scrape the carrots, and trim off the tops and tails. Cut them into quarters lengthwise, the cut those in half to make sticks. Boil in slated water for 10-15 minutes, until tender but not too soft, then drain.

In a large skillet, heat the oil and put in carrots, garlic, cumin, and some salt and pepper. Sauté on a medium high heat, stirring and turning the carrots over, until the garlic just begins to color.

Sprinkle with lemon juice, and serve cold.

I make this a lot when I do moroccan dinners. Everyone likes it.

[STEED]

America is the land of the carnivore, big beef eaters.

Veggies in America...WOW!

Hey I don't mind trying something different from the usual run of the mill.

[nikimcbee]

Something is wrong, there is no bacon in this thread.

Okay Martha Stewart, I'll leave the thread now. I smell bacon in the other thread.

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by STEED

America is the land of the carnivore, big beef eaters.

Veggies in America...WOW!

See Kanada

[tater]

My veggie friends won't be offended by meat on the table, but I want something nice for them to eat too.

BTW, neon, when you do eggplant and squash do you salt it and let it sit for a while then rinse and dry it before cooking? I tried that and it made a HUGE difference in texture. Squash was crispy, not squishy.

PS—on the egg[plant spaghetti, 1 large JAR of capers? my daughter loves capers, and my large jar is maybe 16 ounces

Or do you mean a tiny jar of the large capers?

PPS—read the damn OP. Whine about meat elsewhere. Ask a question, or post a recipe. Back before I was married, every 3d chick or so was a veggie, knowing how to cook them a tasty meal can't hurt your chances. Besides, when you have people over, it's only polite to have something they can eat on the table. That said I won't go as far as vegan crap. You get too persnickety and you're on your own, but a "I don't eat meat" guest deserves to enjoy dinner. (I do most cooking at our house, and I have a few buddies who used to be prep or line cooks. My friend scott can look you in the eye while talking to you making tiny dices for pico de gallo (FAST) and still have all his fingers. Blows my mind.

[Skybird]

CHINESE FRIED SPINACH

Many people do not like spinach. But chances are that they will like it if prepared this way (telling by experience). It's one of my favourite recipes - since 25 years. Occassionaly I kill for it.

Prepare a hugh quantity if it should be the full meal, smaller quantity if it is just part of something bigger. Serve on unsalted Basmati rice.

Use froozen spinach, it is easier to handle than fresh one, and does not make a difference.

Use a Wok or an iron pan (uncoated), heat it up to the maximum you stove can handle. KEEP IT there during all cooking.


400 gr froozen spinach (full leaves, non-cut!), thawed out
2 onions, cut up
2 cloves of garlic, thin sliced and small cut, or smashed
3-4 slices of fresh ginger, or 1/2 - 1 teaspoons of ginger powder
4-6 table spoons of oil
2 table spoons of Chinese dark soya sauce (no Japanese or Indonesian!)
4-6 table spoons chicken broth
1-2 table spoons Sherry, medium dry

Put oil into the heated pan or Wok. Add ginger, garlic and onions. Constantly stir, else...! Once onions start to show brown edges after 2 minutes, add spinach. CONSTANTLY STIR!!! 2 Minutes (precise timing!). Add soya sauce, chicken broth, stir another 1 - 1.5 minutes. Add Sherry, stir 30 seconds, immediately serve/eat with rice. When taking it out of the pan, there should not be much loose liquid left (else you took too much sauce or too little spinach, or the pan was not hot enough).

The process is quick, like often is the case with Chinese cuisine, but it is important to keep the heat up and to constantly stir, else the mass burns into the iron immediately. The spinach should not become dry and black, but covered with oil and the green should have become of a clearly darker colour. Take the time precisely, do not do it longer, else it becomes greasy. In case of doubt or the spinach turning dark earlier, skip the rest of the time, but not much. From the moment you put the onions into the pan, the whole cooking process until you serve it should not last longer than 4.5-5 minutes maximum. Beside that, it is very easy and quick to prepare.

Watch out for the soya sauce. Japanese, Chinese and Indonesian are all very different in taste. For dedicated recipes demanding it, Chinese is best (but only if hesating it up very much, cold I do not like it), for all other purposes, I prefer Indonesian, which I consume in large quantities. For Japanese soya sauce - well, I do not like it neither hot nor cold. And no, I also do not like Sushi.

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by FIREWALL

All I have to say is.... WHERE'S THE BEEF.

[Penguin]

Great, something useful derived from the muslim bacon thread!
I do have major lack of words in terms of cooking – seriously, is there a good website with cooking vocabulary? I hope y'all understand it anyway:
As we are mostly men on this site, I will provide some easy recipes .


quick to make: Spaghetti with letil sauce

• 2 big cans of lentils (400 grams each) or 200 grams fresh letils soaked in water for at least 45 mins - I prefer the brown ones but green or red are also fine, keep some of the water

• 2 onions, cut in sclices
• 1 or 2 garlic cloves, hacked
• 100 grams of carrots, in slices or dices
• 2 tablespoons (tbs) tomato puree/paste
• 2 tbs fresh and hacked parsley
• oil, salt, pepper

fry the onion slices in 2 tblsps of oil for 5 min till they become slightly brown, then add garlic and carrots
put a lid on the pan and keep it on low heat untill the veggies are soft (about 15 mins)
stir in lentils, tomato paste, parsley. Add salt'n'peppa as you like it. You may want to add some lentil water to keep it liquid, however the sauce should remain thick, let it cook for some more minutes
Cook spaghetti (you all know how to do this)
add sauce to pasta, top it with some parmesan or another hard cheese & eat!


fake texmex dish: Tortilla chip casserole:

• 2 onions, hacked
• 6 fresh tomatos, hacked or corresponding amount of tomato pulp

• 2 cloves of garlic, hacked
• 1 pepper (red > green), hacked
• 375 gram corn from a tin
• 125 gr tortilla chips (Uk: crisps ), any flavour you like, natural taste works fine
• 150 gr cheddar, grated (as a cheese nazi I put in more)
• 250 gr sour cream
• 1 tbs vinegar (red> white)
• 1 tbs sugar
• ½ tbs chili powder
• 2 tbs oil
• casserole dish (obviously)

heat oil in a pan, add onions and garlic, stir fry at medium heat for about 3 mins (till the onions are „glasy“ → add tomatos, pepper, vinegar, sugar, chili powder
cook without lid for 6-7 minutes untill the liquid boils away
add corn, let cook for 3 more minutes
now stack chips, sauce and cheese in layers in the casserole, the last layer should be cheese
coat it with sour cream
preheat oven to 160° C – or if you calculate in ancient measurements 325° F, insert casserole and bake it for about 15 minutes
add some hacked chives before serving
eat and enjoy – goes great with cold beer


a party classic, good before drinking: cheese-leek-soup

as this is an each-to-his-own dish the amounts of the ingredients can be varied very widely

• 1 spanish onion or 2 normal onios
• 2 or 3 leek (if you don't know what this is, watch this: http://www.leekspin.com)
• about a pound soft cheese, (cream & herb flavour work best)
• 2 cans of white mushrooms, or the corresponding amount of fresh ones
• 1.5 litres (1/3 of am. gallon) of vegetable stock
• (some people like chopped meat in this, so you may want to add a
  pound of ground beef to it – or ground meat surrogate – I think it's fine without)
• nutmeg, salt, pepper

commit a chopping massacre on the onions, leek and mushrooms. Fry the onion first. If you like add the ground (soy-) meat at this point. Add the leek and fill 'er up with the stock. Let it cook untill the leek is soft, then add the cheese and the mushrooms. Stir well so the cheese won't stick to your (cooking-) pot. Add nutmeg, salt, pepper till it tastes good.
Eat!


Enjoy them, as I am typing this I prepare the chili from hell for me to kill my cold with heat.

[TheBrauerHour]

I only get 30 minutes for lunch at my job, and on the days that I don't feel like a heavy meat-laden TV-dinner, I usually fix a bowl of this excellent Lentil soup.

Amy's Organic Lentil Soup
http://www.amys.com/products/product_view.php?id=502

I have found this particular lentil soup to be VERY good.

[Schroeder]

Since I'm pretty disgusted with our food industry I've decided to give the vegetarian way of life a try. Let's see for how long I'll be able to stay on it....I hate most vegetables....