About 5 years ago many of my friends and family made the big leap to veganism. Which would have been fabulous if it wasn’t for the fanfare ; ) Veganism can be as easy as just eating scrumptiously cooked vegetables with fresh herbs and spices. So this post is on Veganuary without the hype.
However I do want to highlight some specially made products that have made being vegan easier and more exciting. Especially if you like cheesy pasta. And let’s face it, who doesn’t? One thing I want to highlight is the ease of cooking really tasty vegan based meals. This makes curry and obvious place to start.
Vegetables & Spice Make All things Nice
Did you know India has one of the lowest consumption of meat per person in the world? So if anyone knows how to make vegetables taste amazing…
The Geo Range has an extremely tasty ready made curry range that includes Bombay Potatoes, Chickpea & Lentil Dahl and Tasty Tadka Dahl. This could be a quick mid-week meal or an addition to a main curry made with Geo’s starter curry pastes. They have a Balti, a Madras and a Korma, all work well with Tofu. The Geo range is also organic, much of it is low fat and high protein. Hmm, when ticking so many health boxes, it is actually quite hard not to brag ; )
Geo also have a Thai curry range of starter pastes. Initially vegan Thai can seem a little trickier as the saltiness of this dish relies heavily on Fish Sauce. However Thai Taste have created a fantastic substitute using seaweed. A superfood I do believe! Coconut milk is the ‘creamy’ ingredient in Thai Curry. It is naturally vegan and also a good source of several vitamins and minerals. I choose Suma Organic Coconut Milk. An ethical company we jump to support at any chance.
If you are using tofu in Asian dishes, here are some easy tips on boosting the flavour. Start by marinating tofu in a mixture of “fish” sauce, garlic, ginger and soy sauce. Lee Kum Soy Sauce do a great vegan-friendly version. This is the method for the vegan dish I mentioned in the Turkey Detox post, Vietnamese Tofu “Phø”. For Indian dishes and any dish using spices from scratch, add the tofu when you brown the spices. These tofu tips infused the protein with flavour. See, no hype just good straight forward veganism.
“Cheesy” Vegan Pasta
Reasons to celebrate have been light recently, so please indulge my joy in the words “cheesy’” and “vegan” being in the same sentence. However I’m not trying to pull the stringy (vegan) cheese over your eyes here. The best versions of vegan cheese are still not a patch on the real deal. But if you plan to heat cheese in any way, then all the brands in the picture below are a great options for anyone avoiding dairy.
Try Sheese from Bute Island Vegan creamery melted directly into soya cream for a speedy vegan mac and cheese. And for a faultless vegan pasta I’d happily serve to any guest, check out Mr Organic Tortellini and Raveloni.
Stuffed pastas usually use egg to make the pasta stretch so these products are really quite special. The Tortellini comes in 2 varieties; vegetable and porcini mushroom. And the Ravioli combines vegan Formaggio and leek. The all work superbly with my favourite Italian sauce of all time (which happens to be vegan). Mr Organic Dairy free parmigiana sauce. Add fresh basil, black pepper and grated Aria Lacto Free Mature Cheese and BOOM! You have a vegan cheese, semi organic explosion. Oops, did I say Veganuary Without The Hype?
Please check out our fantastic Veganuary display in store (near the veggies). There are many more vegan meal ideas and treats including scrumptious cakes, biscuits and chocolate. Starting your year with a vegan health kick in this day and age, certainly does not mean Veganuary Blues.
