I want to learn some Vegetarian staple meals

[Wex]

I think I'm a fairly good cook, I enjoy cooking and usually cook from scratch most of the time. I don't mind the odd ready meal especially if it's something I can't do myself.
DC are both at uni now and DS2 has decided to be vegetarian. I'm happy to support him in this but the rest of the family are big meat eaters.
I will cook meat free a couple of times a week - nut curries and veg fajitas are already favourites.
What I'm struggling with is serving a veggie option alongside a meat dish. When we have pulled pork or ham a piece of tasteless quorn is uninspiring.
I taught both DC to cook before uni and while DS1 is a keen and enthusiastic cook, DS2, the veggie is not. He seems to exist on quorn ready meals and pasta. Those ready meals seem awfully processed to me and I want to make proper food and encourage him to do the same.

We love the Merchant Gourmet puy lentils. They are great in salads. I have a lovely recipe for puy lentils with feta cheese that has been baked with reed onions and thyme and then served with flatbread.

I've been pescatarian since I was 8 and like your son can sometimes be funny with fish. Unless you cook from scratch or spend a fortune - it can be very unhealthy with lots of pasta and sauce type meals

If you enjoy cooking I highly recommend investing in an ottolenghi cookbook. You can also find some of his recipes online. His recipes tend to use lots of ingredients and spices and may be time consuming to make but are seriously well worth it and you can often keep them in the fridge if you make a large amount and have them over the next few days. He does a wonderful put lentil and tahini dish that you can find on his website which is a firm favourite in this house.

For a quick and easy dish in the Jamie Oliver website there's a good brunch dish with beans, eggs and fennel seeds which only takes about 10 minutes max. I often have it for a quick dinner

When you have pulled pork make veggie bbq'd beans www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/slow-cooked_brixton_70221, serve with homemade coleslaw and baked potatoes.
Homemade pizza - potato, rosemary and caramelised onion - no tomato, or roasted BNS with sage and feta are two of my absolute favourites.
Mutter paneer curry

I find tinned lentils really good - my kids prefer them to home cooked Puy lentils as they taste less" lentily." They like the Mr Organic ones which are great for mixing with fried onion, celery, carrots, mushrroms and Lea&Perrins (anchovies in though)or soy sauce and some tom ketchup and flour and water to make the base for Cottage Pie. They also eat Cottage pie made with tinned black beans or aduki beans.

Mine like spinach and mushroom- so I mix with some feta and egg to make a filling for filo parcels or puff pastry tarts

My kids find Tofu is much tastier (but calorific) if egg and breadcrumbed. It can then be used for Katsu curry (if DH and others are having chicken katsu) and is good for frying or baking and using in wraps like you would chicken gougons. You can also breadcrum Halloumi and use as "fish" in fish and chips.

I also make a lot of vegetable bakes such as Briam, indian veg and tians that can be served as a side to a piece of grilled meat but can be used as the main for the veggies.

GurneyGob Quorn do fishless "fish" fingers and they are really good.

We love the Merchant Gourmet Puy lentils and use them a lot.

Henderson's relish is a veggie version of Worcester sauce. It is made just down the road from us in Sheffield and is available in all the supermarkets round here.

This is a bit more faff than some of the rexipes above, but really worth it:

Tofu satay is delicious. Use regular tofu,, not the silken one.

TOFU SATAY

500g tofu
1/2 tablespoons cornflour.

For the sauce:

3 tbsp crunchy peanut butter - try to use a good one, with no added sugar.
1 tbsp chilli bean paste - I use Lee Kum Kee Chilli Bean sauce - widely available. (I got mine in Waitrose, ).
1 or 2 cloves finely grated/minced garlic
2 tsp peanut oil
2tbsp cider vinegar
2tbsp soy sauce
freshly ground pepper
2tbsp sugar syrup - dissolve 2 tsp sugar in 2 tbsp hot water.

Mix all these up - and add extra of any according to taste. You may want to add more warm water to thin it out. Taste as you go - you may want to add less chilli, specially if it's a new jar!

For the tofu - you want firm tofu - freeze it. Get it out the night before you want to use it. Open the tofu over the sink - squeeze out as much liquid as possible with your hands. On a chopping board squeeze out more water using kitchen towel as a blotter.

Cut the tofu into bite sized pieces. Gently mix these with 1 or 2 tbsp corn flour till all the pieces are coated.

In a frying pan, heat some oil ( not olive, peanut or sunflower best as they are tasteless)- fry the tofu until most sides are golden and crisp, put into a bowl and cover with about a third of the sauce (reserve some of the sauce for serving). Let it sit for at least 1 hour.

Then put tofu and sauce (not the reserved stuff) into a frying pan - cook for 5-10 mins until crispy - serve!

The sauce quantities are for 500g of tofu.

Serves 3/4.

That sounds absolutely delicious. Sadly DD hates peanut butter.

Iamastonished My DH loathes peanut butter with a passion but loves this dish . (He does like peanuts, however).

GurneyGob Those filo tarts sound good - a bit like Spinakopita.

I'm not bothered about calories or low fat food just want to show DS how to rely less on processed ready meals.
magimedi That sate sounds good. I do a very similar recipe for pork sate which is a family favourite.
I think I once tried tofu many years ago but I have never bought or cooked it. I guess I can get it from supermarkets?

My mum does a yummy lentil pie. Think it's green lentils, onions and a bit of tomato purée then in a pastry pie (lining and topping). Serve with mango chutney, banana slices and Greek yogurt and basmati rice. Also nice with mash potato topping but I think add tinned tomatoes to it.

Just bumping this up, and getting it on my Threads I'm On... as DD has just announced she wants to go vegetarian, and there are some amazing ideas on here! Thank you all contributers

We are a family of omnivores, and eat plenty of meat, but despite that two of my favourite cook books are vegetarian - Fresh India, by Meera Sodha and River Cottage Veg Every Day by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Both contain many lovely meat free meals.

So many great ideas on here!

I like to make kebabs with paneer cut into cubes, mango, red pepper and courgette. Just skewer them, brush with oil and seasonings and roast in the oven.

Aubergine parmagiana is good, just lots of layers of fried or grilled aubergine slices in a tomato sauce with cheese on top

Mushroom Wellington, marinade some portobello mushrooms in some wine/garlic/olive oil (whatever you like really just to make them juicy and have flavour!) and wrap them in puff pastry with some bread crumbs in it too to soak up any excess liquid.

Sam Stern has a veggie cookbook which has very straightforward recipes in and might be good for non-cooking ds.

As a veggie student, I made lots of:
soup - a pan made on a Sunday can feed you for several days, taken in a flask to uni, frozen etc

Pitta bread pizzas - spread pittas with red pesto, top with sliced onion, pepper, mushroom then with cheese and bake. Eat with salad, or salad and a baked potato if feeling greedy.

Baked potatoes - scoop out the filling, mix with cheese and chopped onion, or with sauteed leeks and cheese, then put back into the skins and bake until golden. Or normal baked potatoes with a bowl of Greek salad, or with cheese and coleslaw or whatever.

Rice and stir fry (if cooking for just one, I'd use the microwave rice sachets rather than cooking rice from scratch)

Omelettes with various fillings

Curry - make a big pan to last for a couple of days. Can have it with rice, with chips, with a baked potato, wrapped into a chapati, blitzed into soup etc

Battered haloumi is gorgeous, but I find deep fat frying messy and stressful, so I don't do it very often.

Black pepper tofu is easy and delicious - serve with some broccoli or pak choi for vitamins

Banh mi type thing - roast slices of tofu which you've dipped in soy, a bit of oil and some five spice. Toast baguettes. Split baguettes and fill with some chilli sauce, mayo if wished, the tofu slices plus shredded spring onions, lettuce, cucumber and carrot that you've squired a load of lime juice over and a bit of salt.

@BiddyPop bookmarking your post for future reference.

I’ve been pescatarian since June, (though always ate meat free a lot anyway) now trying to reduce the amount of fish I eat. I’m also over relying on cheese/dairy which I want to address but it’s one step at a time at the moment. DP still eats meat but his dad is veggie so he’s used to lots of veggie food and happy with that.

I really haven’t missed meat much at all, though I will probably miss the glazed ham and turkey etc at Christmas.

Recipes I love:

Pasta with roast veg and feta - chop up veg to roughly equal sizes, I use sweet potato, butternut squash, pepper, red onion and courgette. Spray over a little olive oil, add garlic and some dried herbs if you like, plus a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Roast the veg, throwing in cherry tomatoes for the last 5-10 mins. Meanwhile cook the pasta, chop a block of feta into small chunks. Stir the veg and feta into cooked pasta, season and add veggie Parmesan if you like. One of my all time faves and have made it for friends who now use it a lot too (non veggies).

Veggie lasagne - I do this www.waitrose.com/content/waitrose/en/home/recipes/recipe_directory/c/chicken_lasagne_with_pesto__spinach_and_ricotta.html leaving out the chicken, and not necessarily using the expensive fresh sauces. Sometimes I’ll use ready made tomato sauce if I’m feeling lazy, other times I’ll make my own. As I’m leaving out the chicken I often chuck in some courgettes/peppers etc.

Veggie fajitas/enchiladas etc - I’ve tried with the quorn pieces which were ok, but I also really like them with just a can of kidney or mixed beans in chilli sauce. For the fajitas I also do a homemade guacamole.

Home made spicy bean burgers (or sometimes the Tesco frozen ones if feeling lazy they’re actually really nice) - www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1243642/spicy-bean-burgers
I do them with sweet potato fries, a salsa type salad made with finely diced tomatoes, red pepper, cucumber and either red or spring onion, coriander, lime juice and tinned sweet corn. Also with guacamole or just sliced avocado on the burgers.

Veggie curry always good, I like spinach and chickpeas.

I do veggie chilli a lot too - chop up butternut squash, sweet potato, garlic, chillies, peppers, whatever veg you happen to have. Soften, add tinned tomatoes, extra chilli if you like, cook for at least 20 mins, then add in tinned kidney beans, corriander. I often chuck some frozen peas in too just because I love peas! Can serve with rice, I quite like it on its own too.

This is lovely - www.deliaonline.com/recipes/main-ingredient/tomatoes/courgettes-and-tomatoes-au-gratin

I also love a Spanish omelette / frittata - lots of variations possible, filling and can be eaten hot or cold.

On the ready meal front I like Linda McCartneys cheese and leek slices, I have one of those with veg and roasties if I want to feel I’m having Sunday dinner. Or I’ll just do a broccoli and cauliflower cheese, and have that with veg, roasties and veggie gravy.

Anna Jones modern way to eat is ace for ideas. A lot of her recipes are free on her blog or the guardian. Her dahl is amazing, we eat it at least once a week. Also like the chili (need to adapt quantity of chilli powder to taste) and the beans on toast thing. They're not complex re loads of ingredients and the layering of flavours is amazing.

Goldilocks - Thanks for the Anna Jones beans heads-up. I've been looking for a homemade beans recipe that doesn't include tinned tomatoes/passata and that one looks really good.

Whilst we're at it, if anybody has a wonderful veggie chilli recipe that doesn't use Quorn, tinned tomatoes or passata I would be v grateful!

Following with interest.

At this time of year I like buying small squashes and baking them individually in the oven, one per person.

Slice of the top, scoop out the sheets and innards, put the lids back on and bake for 45 mins. Then drizzle in some olive oil and put some garlic and feta into each one. Maybe also pine nuts or chopped walnuts. Continue baking for about 15mins.

You end up with a lovely garlicky, cheesy, soft, baked squash. Serve with salad.

Ooh like the sound of that @Esker

Just had dinner at MIL’s and she made this, thought of this thread and wanted to share as it was lovely, meant to be a side dish but think it would work as a main with some other veg/salad/crusty bread: www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/b/butternut-squashstiltonandkalegratin.html

We are omnivores but try to eat meat free a couple of times a week. Have homemade pizza, puff pastry tarts, quiche, curry, chilli already mentioned.

Also eat this middle eastern thing (Jamie Oliver) pretty often. Fry onion, add garlic, tomatoes and chickpeas. Mug of water. Add seasoning, teaspoon of sugar, cumin, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon allspice. Roast cubes of aubergine in olive oil in the oven. Bung it all together. Serve with flatbread, crumbled feta or a fried egg.

Also like huevos rancheros; in frying pan, fry sliced onion and peppers. Add garlic, chilli and paprika. Add tin of tomatoes and tin of borlotti beans including water. Chuck in some spinach. When mixture is thick enough to hold its shape, make wells and crack eggs in. Cover until cooked. Good with simple cheese nachos.

Esker - I'm definitely going to try that.