Category: Plant Based Recipies

Easy Peasy Vegan Pad Thai

By popular demand here is my vegan pad thai recipe!  I won’t lie, this recipe is an amalgamation of a couple of pad thai recipe’s I found but didn’t quite have the exact ingredients for.  One thing I have learnt with cooking is that you can experiment and swap things around most of the time without affecting the end result.  So if you don’t have every single vegetable or spice, use something else.  Don’t let that shit get in your way of culinary Nirvana!

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INGREDIENTS

  • 200 g / 7 oz wide rice noodles
  • 2 tbsp peanut oil (or other high smoke point oil)
  • 2 spring onions, sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
  • 1 hot red chilli, finely sliced
  • 2 carrots, shaved into ribbons with a speed peeler
  • a large handful of green beans, cut diagonally
  • ½ small broccoli, divided into florets
  • 1 red pepper, finely sliced
  • ¼ cup roasted & unsalted peanuts, pounded in a pestle & mortar
  • fresh coriander and wedge of lime, to garnish

For the sauce…

  • 3 vegan tamari sauce (or more soy sauce)
  • 3 tablespoons coconut sugar (or another sweetener, not white sugar)
  • 3 tablespoons chicken or vegetable broth
  • 2 tablespoons white vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon seracha sauce

METHOD

  • Prepare rice noodles according to the instructions on the packet, don’t cook them fully as you’ll give them another minute or two in the wok at the end.  When done, rinse the noodles under cold water and set aside.
TOP TIP… Your noodles will clump together as they cool, do not fear. When you mix them into the sauce at the end they’ll be grand.
 
  • Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl.
  • Heat up a wok or a large frying pan. Pour 1 tbsp of oil and heat it up until almost smoking. Add spring onions, garlic and chilli.  Stir-fry (stirring constantly) until spring onions soften and garlic becomes fragrant, try not to let it burn!  Transfer to a separate plate, leaving as much oil in the wok as you can.
  • Heat up another tablespoon of oil in the same wok – no need to wash it. Start adding prepared veggies in the following order (leaving a couple of minutes between each addition): broccoli, peas, red pepper and carrot ribbons. Stir-fry until cooked yet crunchy.
  • Transfer all vegetables to a big plate and pour the sauce back into the wok, add in noodles when the sauce begins to heat up.
  • Add spring onions, chilli, garlic and stir-fried veg back to the wok. Mix everything well and let it warm up, stirring the whole time, for a minute or two.
And done!  Just like that!  You’d swear I was trained in this stuff…  If you’re feeling super fancy sprinkle the coriander and crushed peanuts on top and serve with a wedge of lime on the side.
I’d love to see your creations so tag me or use the hashtag #lyndseystripped so I can feel like a proud Mother Hen.
Peace.

Easiest Roasted Squash with Harissa

Seriously your dog could make this…

Well maybe not but honestly this is one very easy way to ramp up your plant-based cooking repatoire and make eating vegetables a little bit more exciting. I’ve made this a few times now and it’s tasty as well as nourishing.  Simples.

So I kinda made this up myself after eating something very similar at The Refuge in Manchester back in the summer. Would highly recommend paying those guys a visit, you won’t be disappointed.  Before then I’d never really paid a lot of attention to butternut squash.  It’s not that I had anything against it, I just didn’t really know what to do with it.  And let’s be honest it is one of the more intimidating looking vegetables, those thing are hea-vy.

The flesh is sweet and buttery like a sweet potato but not as starchy, and the skin goes all crispy when you roast it.  Plus they’re the most amazing orange colour inside!

 

Packed full of complex carbs, vitamins A and C plus, squash is a good source of calcium so great if you’re dairy free or vegan.

Harissa is a hot, aromatic paste made from chillies and lots of other herbs and spices.  It has just the right amount of heat to off set the sweetness of the squash.  I think this is a perfect autumn dish especially since September is prime squash season, which means a low-carbon footprint – another win for the sustainability squad!

To be honest I’m a bit of a lazy chef especially when I’m cooking just for me, so I usually have this on its own instead of a jacket potato but I think it makes a great meat alternative paired with some olive oil roasted potatoes and some seasonal greens on the side.

This recipe is for one roasted squash. That’s more than enough for two people.

Ingredients:

  • One butternut squash
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp harissa paste
  • Steamed seasonal greens to serve

Method:

  • Pre-heat your oven to 200C (gas mark 6) and grease an oven proof roasting tin with half the olive oil
  • Cut squash in half lengthways (it’s prettier this way and cooks quicker) and scoop out the seeds
  • Place skin side up on tray and brush with olive oil
  • Bake in centre of the oven for 30-35 minutes or until flesh is semi softened
  • Remove from the oven, turn the squash halves so they are skin side down and coat both sides with the harissa paste. You want a good covering but bear in mind this stuff is quite spicy so don’t over do it.
  • Return to the oven for another 35-40 mins or until the flesh is completely soft like a baked potato
  • Serve on its own or with your seasonal greens

You can speed up the cooking time slightly if you nuke the squash halves in the microwave for 6 mins either side (you’ll have to vary this according to the strength of your microwave).

Voila! That is literally it.  Hope you like.  I’d love some more vegetarian/plant-based recipies that include this wonderful vegetable, please share yours in the comments below!

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This is my dog.  Not making my roasted butternut squash.