Creamy Vegan Lentil Sauce for Pasta

Beans and vegetables are all very well, but sometimes you have a craving for creamy smooth sauces that melt in the mouth. Unfortunately, many creamy pasta sauce recipes use non-vegan ingredients like milk or cream. This is where a hand blender and some slow-cooked red lentils can come in handy for a vegan cook. Smother your pasta with this thick and creamy lentil pasta sauce, which is delicious hot or cold.

Smooth lentil sauce with fusili pasta

Pasta Sauce Ingredients

1 cup dried red lentils

1 cup tomato juice (gives a smoother sauce than canned or fresh tomatoes)

1 clove crushed garlic

dried or fresh basil

Vegan Pasta with Creamy Sauce Recipe

1. Boil red lentils for about 30 minutes until they are soft and mushy.

2. When most of the water has boiled away, add tomato juice and simmer for a further 10 minutes.

3. Flavor with basil, garlic and salt (for an even tastier sauce, replace the salt with vegan miso*).

4. Blend sauce using a hand blender until it is smooth.

5. Serve with pasta, sauteed mushrooms, and green beans.

*Miso powder/paste makes almost any dish richer, but be careful: miso that you buy from your local Asian store will likely contain fish extracts. Mishima Vegetarian Miso makes a great base for soups and sauces.

Barbecue Tofu with Marinade

It's barbecue season! That means it's time to find the best vegan barbecue recipes - and this marinade for tofu is one of the most delicious. Let the tofu soak overnight in the marinade for the best grilled tofu.

Barbecuing tofu

Ginger and Sesame Marinade for Tofu


Mix 3 tbsp of soy sauce, 1 tsp of sesame oil, 1 tbsp maple syrup, 1 tbsp grated ginger and 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic.

Preparing Tofu for Marinade


Use firm or extra-firm tofu - soft tofu falls apart on the grill. If you have time, freeze the tofu overnight and then defrost it. Freeze-thawing tofu changes the texture, making it spongy so that it takes up the marinade better. Leave the tofu in the marinade for as long as possible - the longer the tofu marinades, the better it will taste.

How to Barbecue Tofu


Barbecuing tofu requires a gentle touch. Turn it gently using a flat metal spatula that you can slide underneath to flip the tofu over. Once the barbecue is hot, the tofu will cook in a few minutes. It's ready once the tofu is slightly crunchy on the outside. The inside will be beautifully soft and intensely flavored.

Serve with grilled veggies, fresh green salad, barbecued sweet potatoes, and sunshine!

Healthy Vegan Chocolate Truffles

Can chocolate be healthy? If ever there was a healthy chocolate dessert, this vegan chocolate truffle recipe is probably it. Based on almond butter, which is rich in calcium and healthy fats, and sweetened with agave syrup, which has a much lower glycemic index than sugar, these vegan chocolate truffles can be enjoyed without guilt. Most importantly, they are absolutely delicious!

Orange and pistachio nut vegan chocolate truffles

Ingredients

150 grams (1/2 cup) almond butter

40 grams (1/4 cup) cocoa powder

1 tbsp agave syrup

1 orange

10 well-crushed green cardamom pods (or 1 tsp ground cardamon)

crushed pistachio nuts, for rolling

Recipe

1. Place the cardamom pods and pistachio nuts in plastic bags and crush them using a rolling pin.

2. Mix almond butter, cocoa powder, and agave syrup in a large bowl.

3. Hold the orange over the bowl and use a zester to release the juice from the outside of the orange skin into the mixture. Mix in well.

4. Scoop out roughly teaspoon-sized amounts of mixture and shape them into balls.

5. Roll the chocolate truffles in the crushed pistachio nuts.

These cardamom-spiced vegan truffles don't need cooking. They are best kept refrigerated to keep them from going soft - that's if you can avoid eating them all at once!

New Feature! Buy all the store cupboard ingredients for cardamom and pistachio nut truffles with one click:

Easy Vegan Pasta

A simple vegan pasta dish tonight: asparagus, tenderstem broccoli, avocado and lemon juice with spaghetti.

Asparagus and Lemon Pasta Ingredients (for 2 people)

150 g spaghetti

3 stalks tenderstem broccoli, cut into short pieces

4 stalks asaparagus, cut into short pieces

1 ripe avocado

1 lemon

ground black pepper

Asparagus and Lemon Pasta Recipe (ready in 15 minutes)

1. Cook the pasta in boiling water for 10 minutes.

2. Steam the broccoli and asparagus for 5-10 minutes, or until the stems are tender.

3. Cut the avocado into small pieces and mash some of the pieces with a fork.

4. Drain the pasta, mix in the mashed avocado, chunks of avocado, asparagus and broccoli.

5. Squeeze the lemon over the pasta and season with the black pepper.

6. Serve with a side salad.

***

This vegan lemon pasta recipe is quick and easy to make, perfect for busy weekday evenings. I love to cook this dish to mark the start of asparagus season. The sharp lemony flavor combines with asparagus, pasta, and avocado in a light and fresh dish that is the perfect way to welcome in summer.

Birthday Sushi

Yesterday I turned 25. My boyfriend made my favorite food: vegan sushi.

That's avocado maki, cucumber maki, sweet potato maki, and garden maki
(and 25 candles).

And that's tofu, tenderstem broccoli with ginger and garlic, and jasmine tea.

Best birthday ever!

I created an article for GoodVeg, How to Make Vegan Sushi, which gives instructions for rolling maki.

Morrocan Chickpea Tagine

This vegan tagine recipe is based on the root vegetable tagine recipe from The Gate Vegetarian Cookbook by Adrian and Michael Daniel. I added chickpeas as a vegan source of protein and served the tagine with almond couscous.

Tagine (also spelled tajine) is a Moroccan dish which is named after the clay cooking pot that it is cooked in. 

The funnel-shaped lid of the tagine is at a cooler temperature than the rest of the pot, so the steam condenses and runs back down into the stew, keeping it moist.

Beautiful Tagines

You can buy beautiful tagines online, or you can cook this chickpea and squash tagine recipe in a large saucepan - although you might have to add some extra liquid and remember to keep stirring to distribute the heat.







Moroccan Squash and Chickpea Tagine Recipe

Ingredients (Serves 4-6)

Ingredients for tagine

2 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp cloves
3 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp ground turmeric
1 large onion, finely chopped
100g grated fresh ginger
1 hot red chili
6 garlic cloves
2 x 400g cans of chopped tomatoes
100g dried dates
1 butternut squash, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 x 400g can of chickpeas
100g fresh spinach, pureed
handful of fresh coriander

Ingredients for couscous


200g (dry weight) couscous
1/2 liter hot vegetable stock
1 tbsp olive oil
50g flaked almonds
small amount fresh coriander


How to make Chickpea Tagine


1. Start by toasting the coriander seeds and cinnamon sticks in the tagine (or saucepan) over a low heat. Once they have started to give off their delicious aroma, take them off the heat and grind using a pestle and mortar (or a coffee grinder).
2. Fry the onion, garlic, ginger, chili, ground spices and turmeric in 1 tbsp of olive oil.
3. Use a food processor to puree the spinach and the dates.
4. When the onions have browned, add the squash, chickpeas, tomatoes, spinach and dates to the tagine (or saucepan). Add enough liquid to make sure that all the squash is covered. Make sure the heat is turned down low, put on the lid, and simmer for 40 minutes.
5. While you're waiting for the tagine to cook, make the couscous by adding dry couscous to hot vegetable stock and covering for 5 minutes. Once the couscous is soft, separate out the grains with a fork to make it fluffy, and stir in the flaked almonds, olive oil and coriander.
6. Once the squash is cooked and tender, add the coriander and then serve the tagine with almond couscous that you prepared in step 5.

This is a deliciously sweet and spicy tagine recipe. Enjoy!

Vegan Goulash Recipe

Goulash is a Hungarian dish that is traditionally made with meat. You can make vegan goulash with beans such as kidney beans, cannellini beans, or haricot beans - or a mixture. Goulash is strongly spiced with paprika, and you can add extra flavor by using garlic and fresh coriander.

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

1 can (400g) kidney beans

1 can (400g) cannellini beans

2 cans (800g) chopped tomatoes

3-4 medium-sized potatoes, diced

100g fresh spinach

1 large onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

4 tbsp paprika

1 liter vegetable stock

handful of fresh coriander

Vegan Goulash Recipe

1. Fry the onion and garlic in a large saucepan until they start to brown. Add the potatoes and fry for a few minutes longer.

2. Add the tomatoes, beans, paprika, and most of the vegetable stock.

3. Leave the vegan goulash to cook for 30-40 minutes, until the potatoes are soft. Add the rest of the stock as needed to stop the goulash from drying out. The consistency should be that of a thick stew.

4. Add the spinach and stir it into the goulash. It will look like a lot of spinach at first but it reduces dramatically in size as it cooks.

5. Add the fresh coriander and serve immediately.

Vegan goulash is filling enough to eat on its own, or you can enjoy it with crusty bread.