A lot of people think that being vegetarian, or vegan, means that you have to give up on the most delicious plates. Yes, of course that are some “sacrifices”, it depends on your point of view, but we thought of a list with five super easy recipes to show you that yes, you can have a veggie diet without a big effort.
- Chickpea nuggets with tahini sauce
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Ingredients (for the chickpea nuggets)
1 cup of chickpeas
2 garlic cloves
½ a chopped onion
1 spoon of cumin
1 cup of fresh chopped parsley
½ teaspoon of black pepper
1 spoon of lemon juice
4 spoons of olive oil
2 spoons of wheat flour
Ingredients (for the sauce)
¼ a cup of mint leaf
3 spoons of olive oil
½ a lemon
A dash of salt
¾ cup of tahini
How to prepare
For the nuggets, soak the chickpeas overnight, for about 8 hours at room temperature. Drain the water. Mix the chickpea with salt in the food processor to accentuate the flavour and, after that, add the rest of the ingredients. In order for the scones not to fall apart, add wheat flour – if you are roasting them, you can skip this part. Mould them and put them in the oil to fry. For the sauce, mix all the ingredients in the food processor and add a bit of water to gain consistency.
- Pea and Pesto Risotto
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Ingredients
1 spoon of olive oil
1 diced onion
375g arboreal rice
1 ½ liter of hot vegetable broth
100g of peas
4 spoons of pesto
Basil leaves
Grated parmesan cheese
How to prepare
Heat the olive oil in a large pan and fry the onions until they are cooked, but without gold. Add the rice and stir. Gradually add the hot broth, one cup at the time, until it is absorbed – but don’t stop stirring. Add the peas just before the rice is cooked and warm it well. Before serving, combine the pesto, the parmesan cheese and some of the basil leaves for decoration.
- Broccoli and chestnut pasta
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Ingredients
½ kg of semolina pasta
A whole broccoli
4 garlic cloves
Olive oil
A dash of salt
1 cup of cashew nut
Water
How to prepare
Wash the broccoli and leave just the flower head. Put them in a pan with plenty of water and a dash of salt or steam them – but keep an eye on it, the cooking time is really short, about 5 minutes. On another pan, boil the water, add a bit of salt and then the pasta. When the broccoli is cooked, put them in a bowl of water and ice in order to be crispy. In the meanwhile, chop the garlic and put them in a frying pan with a bit of olive oil and salt until they gold. To finish, in that same pan add the pasta, the broccoli and the cashew nuts.
- Chocolate cake
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Ingredients (for the topping)
2 cups of cooked yam
2 cups of water
1 vegan chocolate bar/1 cup of cocoa or chocolate powder
1 cup of sugar
Ingredients (for the batter)
3 cups of wheat flour
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of cocoa/chocolate powder
1 ½ cup of water
⅓ cup of oil
1 teaspoon of baking powder
How to prepare
Let’s start with the baking. Turn the oven at 250ºC to preheat and grease the cake tin with butter and flour. In a bowl, mix the ingredients in the following order: water, sugar, oil, wheat flour, cocoa/chocolate powder and the baking powder, until it’s homogeneous. Pour the cake batter into the greased tin and take it to the oven. Leave it on high for 10 minutes and then lower to 180ºC to finish baking. Open the oven after 40 minutes to check if it’s baked – but it should take about an hour and 20 minutes to be finished.
While the cake is in the oven, put the cooked and peeled yam in a blender with water and mix it until the mixture is homogeneous – as if it were a thick milk. Transfer it to a pan and add the cocoa/chocolate powder – if you choose to use the vegan chocolate, melt it in the microwave, checking every 30 seconds. Add the sugar and turn on low heat and stir occasionally. Let it reduce and thicken for about 20 minutes.
Once the cake is baked, wait for it to cool to remove from the tin. If you like, split the cake in the middle with the help of a dental floss and put some of the filling. To finish, pour the yam brigadeiro on the cake.
- Beijinho de aipim – Brazilian cassava’s recipe
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Ingredients
250g of cooked cassava
1 cup of coconut milk
1 cup of fresh grated coconut
⅓ cup of sugar
How to prepare
Start by kneading the cooked cassava until you have a very homogeneous mixture. Put it in a pan with the grated coconut, sugar and coconut milk. Mix it well and turn the heat on low. Don’t stop stirring – it should take about 20 minutes or until you can see the bottom of the pam. Let it cool on a bowl or plate, wherever you like, and mold them, covering with grated coconut or sugar (or both).
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The article above was edited by Helena Leite.
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