Please give me your lunch ideas for a large group including vegans

[SuzieBishop]

So we’re going away next month with a large group of friends which includes 3 vegans, 2 vegetarians and a pescatarian- I’m on lunch duty on the Sunday and have no clue! What would you make to keep everyone happy?!

Some sort of veg curry and rice? Not sure if you can make vegan Naans tho’

I’ve just made Jamie’s vegan cottage pie which was very nice. The recipe served 8 but you could double up or adjust it.

Big old veggie chilli with rice. Vegans can avoid cheese, and sour cream

salad, fancy couscous thing for everyone, and then add in something to go on top to suit. .....griddle salmon, halloumi and tofu??

lots of bread and wafer thin ham? small joke with the ham btw.

Baked potatoes with a choice of fillings.

I’d probably go for vegan chilli too - lots of topping options, rice, tortilla wraps or chips if you fancy.

Or a big pasta dish. Easy to make vegan pesto at home, griddle courgettes, broccoli, green beans and add pea shoots, spinach etc. Serve with garlic bread, easy to make vegan garlic bread or you can buy at the super market. Side salad too (mozzarella on the side for the non-vegans).

Do you need a proper meal or light lunch type thing? Off the top of my head:

• Barbecue with both meat and vegan burgers, grilled halloumi, vegetable kebabs, potato salad, nice bread etc

• Fajitas with different fillings to help yourself to eg chicken, tofu, chickpeas, vegetables, salad, and grated cheese.

• If you’re after something light then maybe a vegan-friendly soup (at this time of year maybe spicy parsnip, or butternut squash or something)

Whatever you do (especially if you do several dishes) make sure there is plenty of the veggie option, as everyone tends to want to try it and then there isn’t enough left for the vegetarians!

Dhal and pakoras.

Sweet potato and chickpea casserole.

Thai red curry butternut squash soup (made with coconut milk) and bread rolls. So easy yet interesting and tasty.

For vegan friends I did tortillas with a big pot of help yourself spicy bean filling. Non vegans could add other things like cheese or/and sour cream. Salad stuff as well on the side.
For pud I did a fresh fruit salad with Aldi's mango or raspberry sorbet, which is delicious.(I expect others are just as nice, but I have only tried Aldi's one.)

This is lush and the roasted veg could be made before you go so just a quick assembly job. Serve with crusty bread

www.gousto.co.uk/cookbook/vegan-recipes/chunky-roast-vegetables-with-jewelled-couscous

Anna Jones's recipes are great for this type of thing. I cooked a delish vegan/veggie feast from her book for a Sunday lunch recently. She has a yummy lentil and sweet potato cottage pie type thing - from her A Modern Way to Eat books. Her recipes always taste more complicated than they are to make

I would just cater for the vegans which makes it simpler.

I might do falafels/houmous/French bread/ maybe soup/salad/olives.

Oh I may have misread the details. Are there meat eaters too? In which case just ignore me!

This vegan dish is always a winner in our meat-eating house. It’s very tasty and easy to make so it’s my go to recipe if we have guests, I adjust the ingredient quantities a bit though.

www.hemsleyandhemsley.com/recipe/squash-red-lentil-coconut-curry/

Some good ideas here. I would go with either the veg and pulse curries, rice, naans (vegan if you don't put butter/yogurt on/in it or use vegan alternative, I don't know if ready made naans are vegan) and salad, or hummus, falafel, tabouleu, salad, pittas, or chilli, rice, plus toppings etc.

Make about two thirds of the food vegan, maybe some cheese component and either leave it at that, or add a token fish or meat option, but probably only if your meat eaters out number the others, otherwise I wouldn't bother. I'd probably get normal yogurt/cream and cheese and then ask the vegans which brand they prefer of vegan alternatives because some are not good.

If you're doing a chilli type thing Oatly Creme Fraiche is an acceptable vegan alternative to soured cream... If pudding is a thing Oatly also do custard and cream equivalents too.

You can buy vegan naans in Morrisons and asda (possibly other supermarkets too). They’re the huge ones. Usually they have a little vegan logo on them but you can check the ingredients.

groceries.asda.com/product/asian-chilled/riyas-garlic-coriander-naan-breads/910002731859

Oh me such ace ideas!! Yep there are meat eaters too! But there’s definitely ace ideas in here - thanks very much everyone!

Happy pear Dahl or their vegan lasagna

If you fancy dessert ideas I can send you a vegan chocolate cake recipe.

I'm not a vegan but this is my go to chocolate cake.

I’d make a large portion of spinach and mushroom risotto (veg stock). It’s vegan and meat eaters tend to enjoy it too.

*if no cheese and butter added. You could provide a bowl of grated cheese for non-vegans to sprinkle on their portion.

Make a bit more than you think you need to as meat eaters tend to eat the vegan dishes as well as the meat dishes.

Rice with veg cooked in coconut milk with a few spices.

I put salmon in the rice cooker too, but the vegans might not be happy, even if you wrapit in foil.

Serve a salad and salmon and chicken cooked in foil with herbs.

Slices of aubergine in passatta.