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Do you really need a recipe?
Substitution Tips
Do you really need a recipe?
modified by Anne Green from The Convenient Vegetarian
It’s fun to find a new recipe and add it to your regular favorites. Most of the time, though, you’re too busy to cook with a recipe. You whip up dishes that are familiar and easy to prepare. What can you make that doesn’t require any reading or measuring, but is tasty and nutritious?
Here are a few ideas:
- Veggie burgers or dogs, mashed or baked potatoes, and steamed veggies
- Pasta with prepared sauce, salad, and bread
- Canned beans, rice, steamed veggies, and salad
- Canned soup, salad, and whole grain bread or rolls
- Burritos with canned refried beans, shredded soy cheese, chopped tomatoes, and lettuce
We use the “meat, potatoes, & vegetable” approach to a meal, and sauce it up! Simply pick one or more of each:
- Carbohydrate source: bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, tortillas, more “exotic” grains (quinoa, amaranth)
- Veggies: Countless options
- Sauce: There are so many canned or bottled sauces available at most supermarkets, from the mundane (such as basic tomato or BBQ sauce) to the exotic (such as Thai sesame-lime marinade or exotic chili salsas).
You can marinate and cook (bake or fry) your protein in sauce, or cover your carbohydrate source and veggies (including salad) in sauce. Many sauces can be made even more nutritious with the addition of nuts, seeds, and/or oils—especially flaxseed oil, which works best in cold sauces or dressings with an already strong flavor.
With the variety of sauces available (for example, see Pangea’s list; also, The Saucy Vegetarian if you want to make your own) and the number of combinations of foods, one can easily try innumerable new “recipes” without ever cracking a cookbook!
Finally, there are nearly innumerable guides to veg cooking and the like online (see our page of links).
Substitution Tips
Recipes are often presented as fixed and final. It might seem that if you don’t have tempeh, or green shallots, or vegetable broth, for example, you are out of luck. But very rarely is something so vital to a recipe that you can’t substitute for it—or even ignore it (such as the eggs called for in boxed pancake mixes). Don’t be afraid to experiment—try TVP instead of seitan, onions instead of scallions, peas instead of carrots, tomato sauce or even ketchup instead of tomato purée, soy sauce instead of tamari, pasta instead of rice, etc.
Indeed, most traditional recipes can be made vegan with some imagination. The more you experiment, the better you’ll be able to revitalize old favorites and create new ones! Read on for some ideas to get you started.
Baking without Eggs
Most baked goods that don’t require much leavening and only call for one egg can easily be made without the egg—just add two or three additional tablespoons of liquid to the batter. To lighten baked goods, try Ener-G Egg Replacer or one of the following (equivalent to one egg):
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1/4 C applesauce or mashed banana
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3 T silken tofu blended with the recipe’s liquid ingredients
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2 T cornstarch mixed with 2 T water
Tofu as a Meat Replacer
Select firm or extra-firm regular tofu.
Pressing
When used in place of meat, tofu should first be pressed: cut the block lengthwise and squeeze out the excess water. The more liquid removed, the firmer and more flavor absorbent the tofu becomes.
Freezing
For a chewier texture, use frozen and thawed tofu. Frozen tofu not only lasts longer but, once thawed and pressed, more readily soaks up sauces and marinades. Be sure to use regular tofu and, for best results, freeze for a minimum of 48 hours.
Let the tofu thaw in the refrigerator for about 24 hours. Once fully defrosted, press thoroughly; then slice or tear into bite-size pieces, as desired.
Vegan Tacos and Chili
Any number of meals can be centered around Lightlife Gimme Lean (available in beef and sausage styles)—a product loved by vegetarians and nonvegetarians alike. For vegan taco meat, fry up one tube of Gimme Lean in canola oil and then add a package of Ortega taco seasoning and Campbell’s V8 juice (the spicy version if you like more heat).
 Of course, there are many alternatives to this. Several meat substitutes will work: other brands of faux ground meat, TVP, or even crumbled veggie burgers, tofu, or tempeh. You can skip the V8 and just use water. Use another brand of seasoning, or try salsa or your own combination of spices (cumin, chili powder, garlic, etc.) instead.
From a base of fried Gimme Lean (or other faux meat), you can do just about anything: add a can of drained black beans or chickpeas; or stir in a can of diced tomatoes, including those with spicy jalapeños or green chilies. Short on time? Look for ready-made, vegan taco fillings, such as Lightlife Smart Tex Mex or Yves Meatless Taco Stuffers.
Taco meat or chili can be served in just about any fashion: in flour or corn tortillas or taco shells, over baked potatoes or rice, with chips or hot bread, etc. Shredded vegan cheese and tofu-based sour cream are good compliments. You can also eat chili Cincinnati style—that is, over spaghetti with chopped raw onions and oyster crackers.
Chili seems to be a significant staple for many vegetarians. Just about every veg-related site has a recipe for it—including ours—and there’s even an entire cookbook about it!
On-the-Fly Stir-Fries
You can make a stir-fry to meet any taste, using whatever you have on hand: tofu or tempeh, onions, garlic, mushrooms, carrots, peas, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, etc. Cut up whatever you want to use beforehand.
For an easy tofu dish, heat a tablespoon each of sesame oil and canola oil in a nonstick frying pan or wok. Once the oil is medium hot, drop in bite-size pieces of tofu (one 16-ounce package, frozen and thawed; see above).
After a few minutes, start to add other ingredients, generally in the order of those that need to cook the longest (carrots) or will impart the most flavor to the tofu (onions and/or garlic).
Once the tofu has browned enough (sometimes, more oil must be added), pour in a bottle of Iron Chef General Tso’s sauce or another sauce from the Asian food section of your grocery—or any other type of sauce that sounds good! Add a bit of water to the empty bottle, shake, and add to the pan. Stir thoroughly, cover, and simmer for 10 to 20 minutes. Serve over rice or pasta.
Creamy Nondairy Dips
Creamy dips can be based on any variety of beans, such as chickpeas for hummus, or prepared using vegan sour cream or silken tofu.
Starting with 12 ounces of Mori-Nu extra-firm silken tofu in a food processor, add 1/2 cup of rice milk and 1/8–1/4 cup of canola oil. Of course, you can use soymilk, a different oil (or none), soy sauce (to taste), water, etc. If you use soft silken tofu instead of extra firm, you won’t need as much liquid, if any.
Next, add whatever type of seasoning mix you’re in the mood for; then blend at a high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides. A half package each of Hidden Valley fat-free ranch dip and Lipton onion soup mix is an interesting combination. For a new dip, add part of a bottle of a favorite salad dressing.
Meat-Free Cooking Stocks
There are many vegan broths on the market, including chicken and beef styles. Available in liquid form as well as powdered mixes and bouillon cubes, they’re great to have on hand for making soups, stews, gravies, or any recipe that calls for meat stock.
Below are some of the vegan broth products sold at supermarkets, health food stores, and online stores such as Pangea and Vegan Essentials.
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