Hearty winter veggie/vegan casserole and curry ideas please

[CaminoPlanner]

DH and I usually eat a lot of veggie food, but as it turns to winter we end up eating way more meat as we prefer casseroles, goulash etc in this weather.

Does anyone have any really lovely hearty veg casserole recipes that are easy enough for weeknights?

Veggie curries and chilli’s are easy and a big pot can last two days

one can have a coconut milk sauce and the other tomato. Onions , celery, turnips carrots sweet potatoes, spinach from freezer, chick peas for the curry and kidney beans for the chilli ( and a tin of baked beans I find helps ) . Cumin and chilli and garlic for the chilli, your favorite curry paste for the currry ( or cumin corriander turmeric ginger and I like cardamom )

i quite like cobblers to - turnip onion and split peas boiled up ( can be done the night before) finished in the oven with a savory scone topping

We often have really hearty soups like a ribollita, minestrone, harira, daal.

This is one of my family’s favourite winter dishes https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chipotle-sweet-potato-black-bean-stew-cheddar-dumplings

Tuscan bean stew https://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/vegan/tuscan-bean-and-barley-stew/ - perfect with ciabatta

Joining as we want to eat more vegetarian food but I also need it to be hearty to meet the demands of DH and DS who are both very very active and always hungry.

Inspired by a recipe I saw online recently, this week I'm trying roasted vegetable quesadillas which I'm quite excited about as I love roasted veg but DS isn't usually a big fan, but I think I can work around that doing it this way!

We've also been doing creamy beans mixed with tomatoes with jacket potatoes or (for the boys) on rice/couscous, with a bit of feta cheese.

I was supposed to try a spiced lentil and squash soup last week but didn't get to it.

We all love mushrooms and DS and DH love Gnocchi so I might think about some sort of mushroom goulash type thing with gnocchi?

Mushroom stroganoff is hearty. Lots of easy recipes around. Taming Twins is my go-to for hearty food.

Butternut squash goulash.
I make it in the same way I would make a beef goulash, cut the BNS into bite size cubes and don’t overlook as they will go into a mush. Also add a tin of beans for protein, anything you like, I like mixed beans if I can get them but borlotti, black eye, cannelini etc are fine. Serve with spicy braised red cabbage (I love Delias recipe and usually batch cook and freeze into portions as also great with sausages and pork dishes).
a large BNS will probably make enough for 6-8 and I freeze some for a really quick defrosted meal with a braised red cabbage.

Root vegetable stew with cheese and herb suet dumplings
Made this by mistake when I had chopped some cooked meat to add to the stew and forgot to put it in!
Use whatever veg you like but here’s my go to:
Sauté chopped onions in oven proof pot on the hob.
Add sliced celery and stir in.
Chop veggies into bite size pieces (like you would with meat)
carrots, swede, parsnips and add to pot. Add chunks of potatoes (quartered depends on size)
Add sliced leeks and peppers.
Add app 75g of pearl barley or lentils.
Add fresh or dried herbs (fresh sprigs of thyme if you have them), S&P, Add a tin of chopped tomatoes and stock to just cover and bring up to simmer.
Transfer pot to oven about 170 degrees and cook until veg are cooked (45 mins?)
Make dumplings:
4oz SR flour, 2oz vegetable suet, 2oz strong grated cheddar, chopped fresh parsley or dried mixed herbs, S&P. Mix dry ingredients and add water to bind together into a stiff dough.
Remove pot from oven and turn oven to about 220 degrees.
Form dumpling into small balls and drop into the pot. Return to oven and cook on high for about 20m until top of dumplings are golden and crispy.

Sweet Potato Chilli
Use your favourite chilli recipe and replace meat with bite size cubes of sweet potato and don’t overcook as it will turn into mash. Add a tin of beans like black eyed, borlotti for protein.
serve with rice.

Placemarking so I can come back later (watch doesn't always work). My mouth is watering already 😂

Loads of lovely hearty vegetarian meals.

A minestrone soup - doing one this week and adding some fresh tortellini (the sort you find in the fresh pasta section of any supermarket) to bulk it out, or you could have with baguette and butter

Mushroom and chestnut casserole

This creamy lentil soup is also a firm favourite - it was DD’s favourite meal from about 2.

https://thefirstmess.com/2016/01/13/creamy-french-lentils-with-mushrooms-and-kale-recipe/

Btw, her blog is great and she has lots of other excellent options.

This looks amazing. Although I did laugh at "only 10 ingredients". 10 ingredients, in my book, moves any recipe into - slightly more effort category! .

I might give it a go. I should probably do my lentil and squash one first seeing a I have had that on my list for a while too/

No need for faff - just use your meat-based recipes, but use Puy lentils and/or thickly-sliced brown mushrooms in place of the meat.

Veg stock is ok, if needed, or a dollop of Miso paste.

This is so easy and so delicious

https://www.budgetbytes.com/african-peanut-stew-vegan/

This is such a good thread

Oh wow, so many of these look fabulous. Thank you all so much. This is exactly the sort of inspiration I was hoping for.

I am going to try all of them over the next few weeks. My mouth is watering now!

I do a really easy Caribbean curry.

I use baby potatoes, carrots, butter beans, red onions and spinach. No exact quantities, just however much you'll need. I brown all the veg in a pan with a little olive oil then add enough water to cover and boil till the potatoes and carrots are tender. You'll then want to remove most of the water but not all and then add a tin of coconut milk, a couple of vegetable stock cubes and some Caribbean curry powder - again no exact measurements but don't add too much as it can be quite spicy, taste and add more if needed. I got a huge bag of curry powder from Amazon. Then add the butter beans and spinach. Heat everything through again. It is quite a thin curry but if it's far too watery I'll add a slurry of corn starch. I serve it with tilda coconut rice but any rice works.

I haven't got round to making this yet but it's on my list. Butterbean stew. Sounds fairly simple but good. https://www.heraldscotland.com/lifestyle/24924949.make-stew-scare-away-winter-chills/

Another link I've saved - pretty sure this came from a similar thread here. I think it's from a restaurant that several posters remembered very fondly. 8thday.coop/recipes/caribbean-stew/

I've just made a curried gyoza laksa from Alfie Steiner, it was incredible! I've tried several recipes from his soup series lots of his pastas and loved them all. I would list them but I've tried loads 😅. All his recipes are plant based. I would link but annoyingly Tiktok and Instagram link your user when you share links but easily found on Google.

SOme of my hearty favourites - veggie chilli https://cookieandkate.com/vegetarian-chili-recipe/ don't miss the step about blending some at the end it makes a huge difference.

Spicy mushroom lasagne - is absolutely delicious but better made with shredded mozzarella rather than cottage cheese. https://www.thedoctorskitchen.com/recipes/spicy-mushroom-and-lentil-lasagna/

Veggie goulash - using big meaty beans rather than mixed ones make a difference to the texture. https://www.therealmealdeal.com/simple-spicy-hungarian-mixed-bean-goulash/

Greek gigantes done in the slow cooker - freeze any left over to use as a jacket potato filling another day. https://thewanderlustkitchen.com/greek-gigantes/#wprm-recipe-container-13316

Soya chunks are really cheap and a great high-protein meat alternative.
I roughly follow this recipe, but you can also just whack them in to lots of other dishes.
Vegan Beef Stew - Holy Cow Vegan https://share.google/IovEaB8xPWkdboAr9

Not a casserole but we’ve just had the most delicious minestrone, loads of veg, cannelloni beans and pasta. I also made some croutons using some stale bread.

We are veggie, I make a lot of winging-it stews depending on what we have in. Common ingredients include : tomatoes, spinach, tinned beans (pretty much any time but the ones we use most are chickpeas, black beans and butter beans), bell pepper, onion. Often put veggie sausages in them too. Eat with some kind of bread, or rice, or couscous, or bulgur wheat.

Curries again often wing them really, protein sources we usually tinned beans as above, or Quorn pieces, or paneer. Again we eat with rice, or naan bread.

A tinned bean chilli is also really easy to wing and eat with rice or on jacket potatoes.

I know you said specifically about stews etc but also we eat a lot of hearty pasta dishes and stir fries.

Gardeners pie is one of my faves too but don't make it much as find it takes ages.

Veggie shepherd’s pie - fry onion, garlic, carrots, celery, peppers till softish. Add a tin of tomatoes, tin of green lentils and some bisto / other herbs. Simmer while you make mashed potato. Top with mash and cheese and bake till melted and crispy on top.

Gnocchi bake - roast peppers, red onions, aubergine etc. Make a simple tomato sauce - i use tinned tomatoes, onion, butter. Cook gnocchi, add to sauce with roast veg. Top with slices of mozzarella & grill till melted and golden.