ON MY MENU: NATIONAL VEGETARIAN WEEK STARTS ON MONDAY, SO HERE ARE OUR RECIPES AND TIPS
Silvia Nacamulli has created a delicious and colourful menu smart enough for Shabbat
LARA Smallman, director of the Jewish Vegetarian Society, was brought up pescatarian — eating fish but no meat. “I’ve never eaten a burger, a sausage, steak or shwarma in my life. I stopped eating fish about 11 years ago and the day after I started at the JVS in October 2013, I went vegan.”
Her overnight decision was the result of reading around the subject before starting her new role, and coincided with meeting her now fiancé. “It was the next step as I had a strong ideological belief. The JVS advise people to look into veganism and change gradually, so they can incorporate all the food groups. But it was the right time for me.”
She says eating vegan is easier than ever. “Years ago it was tricky, but it’s increasingly simple to bake a vegan cake for example — there are several egg substitutes and dairy alternatives. Most supermarkets sell vegan cheese and in the US they are even growing meat substitutes. It won’t be long before it comes here.”
If you want to mark next week’s National Vegetarian Week by giving a vegetarian or vegan diet a try, here are Lara’s tips:
Give yourself time to cook,
Serves 4 Preparation: 5 mins Cooking: 10 mins
INGREDIENTS
500g asparagus
2-3 tbsp toasted sesame oil 1 tbsp sesame seeds Sea salt crystals
METHOD
Rinse the asparagus and trim off the hard part of the stem. Blanch them in salted boiling water for 2 minutes, then drain and cool them under cold running water to stop them cooking and retain the lovely green colour. Pat them dry with kitchen towel.
Dress the asparagus with toasted sesame oil and sesame seeds.
Heat a non-stick griddle or non-stick frying pan and griddle the asparagus for 2-3 minutes over high heat, leaving them until you can see the black lines from searing and then turning once.
Sprinkle with a few sea salt crystals and serve.
www.cookingforthesoul.com especially at the beginning. Making vegetables centre stage will require planning at first.
Start with cuisines that naturally lend themselves to vegan cooking — Indian, Japanese, Mexican, Israeli.
Stock up on whole grains, beans, spice, fresh herbs, seasonal fruit and vegetables.
Give meat substitutes a go, Fry’s do a fantastic range of burgers, sausages, shnitzels. There are also great options from Linda McCartney and Quorn.
Invest in a great all-round vegan cookbook or download a selection of recipes — the JVS has a range at www.jvs.org.uk including a Shabbatfriendly braised cauliflower and puy lentil tabbouleh and aubergine and mango salad with spicy roasted chickpeas.