Dinner party ideas - 2 vegan, 2 non

[bungletru]

Some dinner party food ideas. Nothing too fancy necessary but I would like to do some cooking

2 vegans and 2 non- vegans. Although the vegans have now started to eat a little bit of cheese now and then..

post your fave recipes/meals/ideas please!

Tesco food have a fabulous vegan aubergine and red pepper lasagna recipe, I make this a lot and if always go down a storm. It’s utterly delicious and I’ve never had a complaint. Serve with a big salad, some fresh tendersten broccoli, garlic new potatoes and garlic bread. We like the Tesco or coop ciabatta garlic bread which is also vegan.

I would probably go Indian as it’s so great for veggies/vegans. Perhaps a daal with some marinated grilled paneer and chicken/lamb. Then some rice/bread on the side. Fairly low effort if you buy the breads (frozen parathas are great), do the same marinade for the paneer/meat and do plain rice. If you wanted to go a bit fancier you could make some naans/chapatis and/or jazz up the rice!

Stuffed butternut https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/stuffed_butternut_squash_42990

Roast cauliflower tagine https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/roasted-cauliflower-tagine.html 

Jamie’s vegan lasagne https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/tasty-vegan-lasagne/ with side salad and garlic bread

I'm vegan and one of my children is very much not - he gets enraged if fed anything vegan 🙄 therefore, here are some easy options for feeding both if needed. We just separate the meaty and non meaty options in the oven (vegan options up higher so they don't get meat fat on them).

Sausages and mash (vegan sausages for the vegans and meaty ones for the others - gravy up to you but I give everyone the same Bisto Onion option)

Pie, chips and peas (same principle)

Burgers (Aldi vegan burgers are AMAZING) and sides

Jacket potatoes with a range of things to put in them (eg beans, mushrooms fried with some curry paste, chili)

Spaghetti and 'meatballs' (Spaghetti and sauce are vegan, meatballs can vary)

If I'm doing a meal for both vegan and non vegan I do something like fajitas or tacos - chicken and steak for the meat eaters and veggies with lentils or chick peas (or meat replacements, but I know a lot of people won't eat these) for the vegans. I'm sure there's lots of recipes if you Google "vegan tacos" 🙂 Condiments like salsa, guacamole, sour cream etc. grated cheese (vegan and non). Put it all in the middle and people help themselves.
Sides:
Sweet potato fries
Salad
Spicy rice
Corn

Etc

I would do all vegan rather than faff around doing two separate menus.

Rukmini Iyer's butter bean mash with roasted carrots is a good one as a side or a main.

Vegan chilli and chilli con carne can be done in parallel and will look the same on the plates. Maybe not sufficiently fancy for a fancy dinner party? Or a stroganoff.

A butternut squash and chickpea tagine is super tasty, serve with sausages cooked separately, the Linda McCartney chorizo style ones are good for vegans, meat ones for the meat eaters.

For starters stick to vegan ones like homemade humous, flat bread, aubergine dip maybe etc.

Any Thai recipes ? I am thinking a red Thai curry y but not sure how to bulk it up?

www.ambitiouskitchen.com/thai-peanut-coconut-cauliflower-chickpea-curry/

This is lovely (as are all her recipes I've tried!)

Maybe a vegetable thai red curry (potato, aubergine, peppers, baby corn etc etc) served with something like this, it's so delicious! You can leave out the fish sauce etc.

So much easier to do all round vegan than faff about, but you could always do some chicken skewers separately.

Pineapple Fried Rice (Thai) - RecipeTin Eats

Butternut squash and lentils

As a meat eater, I'd be disappointed to be served vegan food at a dinner party.
Obviously, you know your friends best, but I'd be inclined to go for two versions (one vegan and one not) of a dish or a multi dish spread.

Curries would certainly be good, so you could serve one or two large vegan options, plus one or two meat options - vegans have a larger portion of the vegan curries, omnivores could have a bit of whatever they fancy. This is generally how curries are served (multi dishes) and as an advantage they tend to freeze really well if there are leftovers.

This is a Summer vegetable Thai red curry it would be vegan if you switched the Worcestershire sauce for Henderson's relish, just check that if you buy a curry paste that it's vegan.
Serve with either noodles or rice of your choice.
If you want an option for meet eaters these Thai chicken skewers would work well along side the curry.
And the Thai crackers (like prawn crackers but Thai) in Tesco are vegan.

Thanks @mrsm43s yes I think you have a point! Those that aren’t vegan won’t be particularly happy so I am doing a chicken version too :)

I never understand this, do you eat meat for absolutely every meal?

In answer to the OP, Indian food works well, lots of it is naturally vegan and its easy to do vegan and non vegan dishes with the same base and make the sides vegan. You can also then avoid fake meat, which seems to be divisive - I don't like it myself.

Also find it really weird that people can't go a single meal without meat.

I don't eat meat at every meal, far from it. Probably about 50% of our evening meals are meat and fish free (and almost all breakfasts and lunches).

But generally the meals that don't have meat in have cheese or cream or butter or eggs etc

When throwing a dinner party, I like to put on the best, the special foods etc, and vegan food doesn't cut it for me, especially not as a treat. It doesn't help that I'm allergic to a few popular vegan substitutes to be fair.

Generally when I go to a dinner party I'm looking forward to something special. A plate of spiced veg doesn't really do it for me. Don't get me wrong, I'd politely eat it and say all the right things (because after all someone has cooked for me), but inside I'd be very disappointed.

I hear you but it’s more than just meat.. it’s excluding dairy.. and all foods derived from animals.. it isn’t just as easy as cutting out meat

we have plenty of veggie meals but cutting out butter, milk, cheese etc is quite hard

If we have a vegan guest for dinner we tend to cook chickpea curry then some salmon or chicken on the side. Or I get some harissa paste and do a Moroccan vegan casserole with a side of meat or fish.

Or if you just want to cook one meal get vegan chicken.

I find dessert harder as vegan desserts have lots of fancy ingredients which you don't want to fork out for just for one dinner. I just buy plant based butter and make an apple tartin or apple and berry crumble with vegan ice cream (surprisingly tasty!)