What's the best vegan recipe you know of?

What is casually referred to as “Lawnmower Pilaf” is mandatory to any vegan diet due to its high mineral content. We vegans are at risk for nutritional deficiencies unless eggs and seafood were taken from time to time. Hospital bills detract from the health of the vegan who does not permit eggs and seafood.

You talking desserts or actual meals? I know some pretty fabulous desserts…!

well ya know’ i’m just in love with all of Coleen Patrick Goudrea of the compassionate cooks podcast, at her website www.compassionatecooks.com she has a bunch of free recipes and i pretty much love them all, i know i sound like an advertisment, but she is awesome!

desserts, meals, whatever!

broccoli casserole with rice and cheese. decadent.

can’t eat cheese.
vegan=no milk products or eggs (cheese is a milk product)

I would recommend this series of cookbooks for your new vegan diet. I have this exact book that I’m linking and it’s quite fun and fabulous. Great cookie recipes :P yumm

Brown rice or barley, black beans, corn and lots of salsa. I use a little mozarella but you could skip that.

@All: When does a joke die from being flogged or prematurely aged?

@gailcalled, your commentary drove up my blood pressure.

@psyla: Try eating more fruits and veggies.

@gailcalled…I’m pretty sure it was Henny Youngman that said, “Take my meat and meat related products…please!”

@Blondesjon: If he didn’t, he should have. Voit kiittää minua myöhemmin.

sigh.
mods can delete this whenever, didn’t realize asking this would be absolutely fucking pointless.

@timeand_distance: I gave you my lifesaver formula. ^^ As did a few others. Sorry about whatever is in the water tonight. Or is there a full moon?

@gailcalled true ‘nuff.

It’s almost a full moon, I’m feeling absolutely insane tonight. Most other current Fluther answers are similarly swiftly degrading into untold lunacy. Bet it’s another national DARPA test again.

@timeand_distance I think I’m going on a vegan diet in a couple weeks. If not vegan, then vegetarian with a strong vegan influence. I’m a carnivore, and I always will be, but I’m trying a 40-day program at one of my yoga studios. I’m unsure of the details, but I know that hardcore yogis are encouraged to go vegan. The program will wrap up at the end of May, so I can let you know what I’ve discovered sometime before that.

Guacamole!

@timeand_distance: Don’t despair—the mods must be on a break.

Good luck with your diet. I’ve been trying to transition. No dairy at home, but sometimes out. 19 years vegetarian.

Take a look at Post Punk Kitchen. Lots of great food ideas with a great attitude.

@Blondesjon actually isn’t wrong. I mean, he’s obviously trying to be obnoxious, but isn’t wrong. Aside from the crepe thing.

I prefer couscous with a hint of tree bark of my preference (cinnamon, naturally) with raisins and sometimes almond slivers. I wouldn’t do a cinnamon and berry terrine, but I would certainly do a cinnamon and berry dessert with a bit of brown sugar and soy-whipped cream. Whatever the stuff we got not that long ago was (brand wise) it was great—almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

Meal wise, one of my favorite meals is completely vegan, cheap as sin, and easily convertible for the non-vegans in your life who need more. Boil some lentils until soft. Season with cumin and other spices. Make some rice. Sautee some onions in olive oil. Combine lentils, rice, and onion. Top with apple cider vinegar. For non-vegans, cook some crumbled sausage on the side that they can add if they wish. Some people will absolutely insist it’s no good without meat.

Miso soup is another thing to really look at. Traditional miso soups use dashi which contains fish. Unnecessary. Use 7 tablespoons of shiro miso (white miso) and 6 cups of water. Combine miso and water in a large container and heat until just simmering. Cut mushrooms and add to water. Do not let boil. Shred 2 inches of ginger on a towel and squeeze the ginger juice into the soup. Add a dash of vegan soy sauce. Cut some green onions for topping. Eat and enjoy! The best mushrooms are, of course, shiitake, but making it on the cheap, any old will do. You can also add kale or tofu if you like.

Learn to love rice cakes. Check the ingredients, but they are usually vegan and delicious.

I’m also a huge fan of homemade hummus and tabbouleh. I find people’s taste differ hugely on hummus—in the end, you basically find a recipe and add spices and change amounts as you will until it’s the way you like it. Not an awesome strategy, but what seems to work best. Tabbouleh wise, I tend to prefer a mostly parsley dish, with everything else accenting which is apparently the opposite of what most people do so I’ll spare you that recipe as well.

My go to meal at any point is generally pasta, veggies and meat, sour cream and pesto. You could easily make my meal using vegan pasta (it’s gotta be out there), veggies, olive oil, and pesto. Put the water on to boil. Chop the veggies. Sautee in the olive oil. Boil the pasta. Add the pesto sauce. Drain the pasta and mix it all together. Simple, basic, good.

I’d also recommend poking around gluten free blogs. A lot of people who go gluten free are either very sensitive to foods and have cut out a lot of non-essentials like meat, are weird health nuts and accordingly vegan, or on exclusion diets and accordingly can barely eat anything. Regardless of the reason, you should be able to sift through for some great vegan recipes.

Finally, take the time and money to invest in good, high quality spices. This doesn’t mean expensive necessarily. There is a spice shop near my house that has amazing quality and doesn’t cost a ton. You aren’t spending money on meat or dairy, so spend it on spices. And high quality produce. That will increase the deliciousness of your food a lot.

Now that is a brilliant answer. Thanks @EmpressPixie

@EmpressPixie…i prefer roguishly charming over obnoxious :)

There are countless delicious vegan recipes. The types of cuisine that are easiest to make vegan are Asian cuisines – Thai, Chinese, Indian – because they revolve around strong and aromatic flavour bases which work well with any ingredient, including vegetables and/or tofu.

The Faux Eggs Benedict here is spectacular! Finding the vegan English muffins was definitely the hardest part. There are a bunch of other good recipes there too.

I also love this coconut milk curry pasta.

As someone mentioned earlier, the “How It All Vegan” series is great and they have the best recipe for chocolate peanut butter cups!

My favorite go-to vegan recipes are: coconut curry and tofu scramble.

For the curry you just stir-fry up whatever veggies sounds good and at the end dump in a can of coconut milk and either curry powder or thai kitchen curry paste. Obviously it can get a lot more complicated (and authentic) than this but sometimes I just like to keep it quick and easy! For added decadence you can fry tofu on the stove in a separate pan and then add it in – yum!

Tofu scramble is one of my favorite breakfasts. I put in big chunks of broccoli and onion with a little garlic. Stir-fry that up and then grab the tofu and squish and squeeze it between your hands as it falls into the pan. I like to add curry powder but you can season it anyway you like! Then heat up a couple corn tortillas, throw on some salsa and avocado and that is breakfast!

Oh also check out www.101cookbooks.com. Heidi, the author, has lots of really invoative vegan recipes.

I had just said on another vegan related post to check out Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I’m not vegan [or vegetarian for that matter] but I love basically everything I’ve made or a friend has made from the book. She has more cookbooks out than just this one, and I plan on buying more. I got my book in Barnes and Noble and I’m pretty certain it’s an easy enough find in most bookstores. It’s a great resource. Enjoy!