Need help! Suggestions and question from non veg cooking for veg!
Hi all -
I am personally not vegetarian but I highly respect everyone else's choices. That being said - my husband has been assigned a co-worker who has just arrived for 2 weeks from India as his "shadow" at work. He will be here sometime around the middle of July. He is a STRICT vegetarian. I told my husband to invite him to join us for dinner one night but now I am totally at a loss as to what to fix! There are few issues here. First - I am VERY unfamiliar with a vegetarian diet other than "no meat". Is cheese considered a meat??!! I am seeing recipes with "cheese" but its not really "cheese" being used. I want to make sure I respect his vegetarian diet with whatever I make. Second - I have 3 VERY VERY VEERRYYYY picky children who don't even like vegetables. I need some recipes that my children would possibly like also because I don't want him to feel uncomfortable by fixing a dinner that only HE will eat. You know what I mean?? I was thinking possibly a spaghetti type of dinner BUT are eggs a no-no?? Arent' there eggs in most spaghetti noodles?? Then I thought pizza- but again - isn't cheese something strict vegetarians can't eat?? I would LOVE any and all help/suggestions/recipes anyone can offer me! Feel free to email me too at: eval(unescape('%64%6f%63%75%6d%65%6e%74%2e%77%72%69%74%65%28%27%3c%61%20%68%72%65%66%3d%22%6d%61%69%6c%74%6f%3a%63%72%79%73%74%61%6c%6c%69%6e%61%40%61%64%65%6c%70%68%69%61%2e%6e%65%74%22%3e%63%72%79%73%74%61%6c%6c%69%6e%61%40%61%64%65%6c%70%68%69%61%2e%6e%65%74%3c%2f%61%3e%27%29%3b')) I appreciate your help!
Find out if he is vegan, meaning no meat, no dairy, no eggs. If he is not vegan, you can probably use real cheese and eggs, although there are tons of delicious recipes that do not use them at all (all on this site).
Some very popular ones on this site are
General Tso's Tofu
Cheesy Bean Enchiladas
best mac and cheese in the world
lots of others but im at a loss!
If you have never worked with tofu before, you might want to get some pointers first. It can be tricky if you don't know what you are doing.
Great for you wanting to respect his diet! You might end up loving veg food too! :)
By "strict vegetarian", does he mean vegan? Some people mean different things--he could just mean that he's very strict about not eating meat but will eat eggs and cheese. However, to be on the safe side, you probably will want to assume that he's vegan (meaning he doesn't eat dairy products (cheese, milk, yogurt, sour cream, etc.) or eggs or any sort of animal-flavored thing, such as chicken/beef broths).
In regards to spaghetti noodles having egg in them, I'm pretty sure that most of them don't (unless they are specified as egg noodles). I always buy whole wheat pasta and it doesn't have egg in it. I think you'd be safe with a pasta-type of dish. I don't know if you would make your own sauce or buy store-bought, but be sure that if you do store-bought that it doesn't contain beef flavorings (for some reason, some tomato sauces are flavored with beef broth...go figure).
Other options are Asian stir-fry types of things, which are usually "accidentally" strict vegetarian (although your kids might not like it because of the veggies, but are there some veggies they like? You could maybe just do those). Also, you could do fajitas or tacos--you can use some sort of bean (I like to use a combo of black and Garbanzo beans) and then flavor it with taco seasonings (make sure to read the label if you buy pre-packaged because many of the mixes contain milk and/or meat flavorings). You can serve the tacos with salsa, guacamole (be sure to check for dairy products if you buy pre-made), lettuce, tomatoes, black olives--whatever you would like! You could even have some shredded cheese available if your family wants.
I would stay away from fake meats and cheeses--they likely don't eat many of these in India and you and your family will probably be expecting the taste of real meat and cheese and be disappointed. Also, your kids probably will be weirded out by tofu (maybe not--they could love it), so I would stick to a more "normal" food--also, not sure if they eat tofu in India? Your guest might not like it either.
Hmmm...I'll try to come up with more ideas. I think it's great that you're making him feel so welcome--speaking from experience, he will greatly appreciate it.
On the dairy and eggs - it depends. Is he a vegetarian or a vegan? Vegans don't eat any animal products - which includes eggs, dairy. Vegetarians just avoid eating meat.
So, if he's just a vegetarian ... you could pretty much make anything. Cheese lasagna, pizza, ravioli in a nice sauce, etc.
If he's vegan, then you're going to have to avoid dairy. You can find pasta without eggs. Just read the ingredients. Spinach ravioli are yummy. A veggie, cheeseless pizza is also good. A veggie lasagna also works. Pasta with a pesto sauce is good too. You can try a foray into baked tofu, or a stir fry dish. My favorite side dish is extra firm tofu, diced. Then put into a heated pan of olive oil and garlic. Shake that around for a while. Add 3 heaping tablespoons of nutritional yeast, shake it around some more. Total time for cooking will be 30 minutes. Then you can use that as topping for a lot of things. I especially like my veggies topped with this. Or pasta with a yummy sauce topped with this tofu. It's quite good.
There are tons of recipes here for vegan meals - most of them reviewed so you can't go wrong!
K, another idea:
You could do a vegetarian chili with cinnamon rolls or cornbread. Chili is totally easy to make vegetarian--just leave out the beef! You could even have some shredded cheese available to top it with if your family want it (or if it turns out that your guest eats cheese).
This chili looks yummy:
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=14729.0
The nutritional yeast mentioned in here is something you'd have to find at a health food store--it is not normal yeast (that would be nasty). It's yellow flakes of deactivated yeast that have a cheesy flavor (lots of vitamins in this stuff). You could see how the chili tasted without it if you didn't want to make a special trip--my guess would be that it would taste just fine without it.
Here's a cinnamon roll recipe and a cornbread recipe to check out, too, if you decide to go that route:
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=12025.0
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=5729.0
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I think it's great that you're asking. A note of caution is that in India, according to my Indian supervisor, vegans also don't eat root vegetables, which means garlic, onion, and potatoes might be out for the meal.
In summary: I am vegan. If I went to an omni's house for dinner I would be nervous about eating anything that wasn't a whole food, because I wouldn't know whether they inadvertently added animal. (Like using the wrong margarine.) I think whole foods are the best way to go. A loaded salad (think taco salad) with beans or legumes (http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=4917.15) instead of meat and avocado instead of cheese. If you serve bread, French bread is iffy. I've seen whey powder as an ingredient in some French breads. Sourdough is okay.
One of my favorite desserts is cubed honeydew melon with slivered fresh mint leaves. It doesn't sound like much, but the flavor combination is awesome.
Edit: Of couse the recipe link I included is only good if roots are okay, because of the garlic and onion. Otherwise, black and kidney beans are tasty and do well on their own.
Edit dos: If your kids eat taco salad, you could have cheese and meat on the side for them to doctor it up a bit. Most vegans understand that other people choose to eat meat. If you made hamburger for your kids, it's cold on a taco salad - so the table wouldn't smell meaty.
I'm seeing a lot of great suggestions from everybody here. I really like the taco salad idea. Yum. But let me just point out that when your husband invites his coworker to dinner, he could just ask him what items are off- limits. Personally, I would much rather be asked pointblank than know (or even suspect) that I was causing a host so much anxiety.
And I'm not being mean. I understand about picky kids. Mine don't really like spinach, squash, eggplant, sometimes tofu. It depends. So I don't change what I make to fit their preferences. I keep serving a variety of foods, and they are expected to try it every time it is served. They don't have to eat a lot. They don't have to like it. But they do have to try it, and I think that is best for them. I have known far too many people that REFUSE to try new things because well-meaning parents only prepared the 4-5 meals that they knew would be eaten. I find that sad. And incredibly irritating. I understand you'd want to avoid those battles while having a guest over, but it's something to think about while just feeding your immediate family.
Ziti with a red pepper sauce with garlic knots or breadsticks
shishkabob (with vegetables ) and sweet potato french fries
broccoli and white rice with garlic sauce but also top it off with a stirfry of onions, chopped
red peppers, sliced mushrooms and fried (very important) tofu cubes
I think the best thing would be to take an ordinary meal and just remove the meat, dairy or eggs. When cooking for fussy omni's, I don't serve them any 'wierd' vegan food. I serve food they know, that is just a wee bit different.
Roast veges with a wide variety of vegetables (All 3 types of Sweet Potato, Yams, Potato, Carrot, Onion, Garlic, Pumpkin and even Cauliflower). A yummy fresh salad (fancy red lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red onion, red capsicum and balsamic vinaigrette.) Buy some vegan 'beef' stock - and make gravy. Root vegetables don't look like the classic dreaded 'vegetable' so your kids might be more likely to eat them. Smother the veges in yummy gravy and the kids won't even notice there's veges underneath.
Roast the vegetables in olive oil, rosemary and salt and pepper. Get the marinade all over everything. It tastes much better than dry baked veges. Perhaps serve bread rolls on the side. Just make sure the margarine has no animal fats or dairy.
When I visit someone's home in a foreign country, I like it best if they have a traditional dish from their country that I can try (not some "American" food).
Perhaps your guest will feel the same way.
I like the suggestion of chili - it is very American, and it is a simple matter to omit the meat and add more beans to the dish. (you will have to check out the root veggies thing). You can serve it with (veganized as someone suggested) cornbread muffins and a salad, and you can also have an option of chili-spaghetti (spaghetti, chili, chopped onions, cheese for your kids). Generally, Indians are accustomed to spicy food.
Indian vegetarians are usually vegetarian for Religious reasons - and most commonly will eat dairy (milk, cheese, butter) but not eggs, meat, fish, or poultry. This type of vegetarian, from what I've read, will eat root veggies.
The strict vegans are a much smaller sect, and nearly always avoid the root veggies in addition to dairy and eggs. As has been suggested here, I would just ask your guest.
I read this article a while back and found it very informative about the various diets in India - you might find it helpful, too
http://www.vegan.com/issues/1999/oct99/india.htm
Hope you have a wonderful dinner! It's great that you are offering such hospitality to your guest 8)
After my last post, I had another thought. When entertaining, Indians usually have many little dishes on the table. Pickles, dips, nuts, etc.
And, having been a guest of many people in the past year, I must say that it's a great custom! It has the advantage of making a "humble" meal like chili seem festive and sometimes even opulent. It also has the advantage that if your guest doesn't eat, or doesn't like something that you cooked, they still don't go away hungry. And, most of the extras are quick fix or can be bought ready made, so it's not a lot of extra work. And, if your kids fill up on some extras, it won't be so painfully obvious if they don't eat much of the main course.
If you choose to serve chili, some nice extras would be Jalapenos from a jar, pickled veggies (cauliflower, dill pickles, whatever), nuts, a vegan party mix (like chex mix, but a vegan variation as chex mix has anchovies), crackers, fresh fruit, some dessert of course - well, you get the idea.