To hate vegans!!!

[TheUnexpectedPickle]

Hi vegans!

Now I have your attention, can you please tell me what you would love to be seved at a dinner party for your starter main and dessert? DPs best friend's girlfriend is vegan and I don't want to palm her off with yet another stuffed pepper/mushroom risotto combo. She must be sick of it!

Bonus points for a crowd pleaser that'll do for everyone!

Indian food. Chickpea curry, Dhal, butternut squash. Some popadoms and chutneys. Indian food is yummy as vegan food if everyone else likes Indian.

Alternatively deliciously Ella has a scrummy vegan shepherds pie with lentils and sweet potato mash. It's seriously delicious with a salad and some chunky bread! I'm not even vegan.

You'll get extra points if you make sure there's a decent amount of protein in there somewhere along the way too. Nuts, pulses, tofu, whatever.

So many 'vegan friendly' dishes, however delicious they are, are basically carbs and veg. A meal with a good ratio of protein (ie not just a sprinkling of lentils) is much more filling and satisfying - just like a good chunk of protein is for meat eaters.

Having said all of that, I'll obviously happily and gratefully eat vegan anything that someone else has gone to the trouble of thinking about and making for me.

Loads of good suggestions here. I'd vote for curry too. Or a stir fry with cashew nuts is simple, pretty and protein-y...
Kudos to you for being so thoughtful and considerate

This mushroom dish is remarkable (the first recipe). Use butterbeans cooked in glass jars not tinned.

www.theguardian.com/food/2020/jan/18/yotam-ottolenghi-slow-cooking-recipes-mushrooms-parsnips-and-brussels-sprouts

It sounds, OP, that you would like as big part of the menu as possible vegan for everyone. As a omnivore, I don't see any issue with it. I don't need meat in every meal, but would advocate for "naturally" vegan food - vegetable, legumes, nuts, mushroom (Portobello). Fake meat, soya and so on aren't automatically ok for everyone, either due to allergies or just not finding it a pleasant meal.

Ideas like salad with beetroot, rice&lentil curry (cocoanut milk is more generally ok than soya one) and fruit or sorbet sounds lovely.

Spare her the boring old sorbet or fruit salad. Try these vegan meringues. So easy and miraculous. No one would guess they are made with chick pea water instead of egg white. Use the chick peas themselves for one of the suggestions upthread.

Something Greek maybe.

Goats cheese parcels with honey and Greek salad. Or something Indian.

Goats cheese parcels with honey and Greek salad.

Did you miss vegan?

Vegan/vegetarian. It's all the same. 🤷‍♀️

@EightWheelGirl

Vegan/vegetarian. It's all the same. 🤷‍♀️

Except it isn’t

Slip a cheeky sausage in there.

I'd find out whether she likes any of the fake meat options before diving in. Not all veggies/vegans like it.

@TrickyD

Spare her the boring old sorbet or fruit salad. Try these vegan meringues. So easy and miraculous. No one would guess they are made with chick pea water instead of egg white. Use the chick peas themselves for one of the suggestions upthread.

I agree, or, make a cake/sponge/brownie thing for dessert. Easy peasy to veganise such things-dairy free marg and apple sauce instead of eggs, dark chocolate-job done.

Courgette and coriander soup with a swirl or crème fraiche for the non vegans.

Tomato and aubergine casserole.

Ask her to bring pudding.

Or a Chinese style feast (similar tot he tapas idea) lots of dishes served at the same time.

Rice.
Asian Broth with veg or serve some steamed green veg served. separately.
Fried tofu.
Vegan spring rolls (actually you could have 2 types).
Potstickers / dumplings / bau.
Lettice leaves.
stir fried mixed veg.
Various dipping sauces.

You could add in the odd meat dish, maybe fishcakes or spicy meat balls.

Pudding - rice pudding made with cocoanut milk
Rhubarb and custard (Byrd's custard is vegan)
Jam rolly polly - use vegan suet

Getting an Indian take away seems like a good idea. Mind you I can’t cook.

I made a tofu and toasted cashew curry last night.
Block of tofu
Couple of handfuls cashews
Onion, garlic, fresh chillis, salt
Turmeric, cumin, coriander, asofatoeda
Sweet potato
Coconut milk one can
Fresh lime
Coriander

Marinade tofu in dry spices
2 medium sweet potatos in oven until soft
Fry onions till almost caremalised. Add garlic and chilli.
Add tofu and fry
Add sweet potato and coconut cream
Add lime and coriander
Serve with rice and breads

Toast the cashews in oven for about 6 minutes careful not to burn as they turn quickly

@zoeFromCity Presumably if someone has a serious allergy to soya, they will have notified the host? As with other allergies.

As someone who actually is allergic to soya in several forms (long story - yes, I know it sounds weird, but it's all confirmed by real testing), I can tell you it's present in many, many products that are not obviously 'vegan'. A major soya allergy would impose restrictions totally unrelated to whether the meal happened to be vegan or not.

Thank you everyone, there are some amazing ideas here and some that I will be trying myself too.

I'm intrigued by the vegan meringues! I'm currently in covid isolation so I'm going to make some today to pass the time.

Aldi have wonderful dairy free ice cream. Salted caramel, choc brownie and peanut butter... Yum.

If you decide to go with the curry idea (and there are some excellent curry recipes on this thread!) I’m fairly sure the Tesco frozen samosas and onion Bhajis are vegan. They say so on the box- may save you some time to Chuck some frozen bits in and focus on your main? Enjoy your meal!

I made this last weekend. Oh my God, it is delicious - everyone loved it.
thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/ottolenghis-portobello-steaks-and-butter-bean-mash/

[quote Innocenta]@zoeFromCity Presumably if someone has a serious allergy to soya, they will have notified the host? As with other allergies.

As someone who actually is allergic to soya in several forms (long story - yes, I know it sounds weird, but it's all confirmed by real testing), I can tell you it's present in many, many products that are not obviously 'vegan'. A major soya allergy would impose restrictions totally unrelated to whether the meal happened to be vegan or not. [/quote]
Actually, lots of people (me included) are intolerant to soya rather than allergic to it. In the real world, what this means is that I can happily eat things with a trace of soya in it without adverse reaction, but if I was served a dish where the meat had been replaced by a soya mince, for example, then I would suffer unpleasant gastro symptoms. The same goes for quorn - it causes me tummy upsets.

As a meat eater, going to a meat eaters house for dinner, it wouldn't occur to me to tell them that I couldn't eat vegan meat substitutes, because I wouldn't expect them to be served. I wouldn't eat any meat substitute, but apart from that it doesn't impact on my diet at all, and I eat normally.

Lols

Just serve them cabbage soup. 😂

Do you think you’re impressing anyone @EightWheelGirl
You’ve really misjudged the tone of the thread.