Ease Your Meat Cravings with These Hearty ‘Meaty’ Vegetables

Ease Your Meat Cravings with These Hearty ‘Meaty’ Vegetables

During the period of Lent, many Christian denominations refrain from consuming meat for a period of 40 days. When it comes to giving up meat, there are many vegetables that can step up to the plate as a satisfying meat alternatives for your favourite meals. Stop thinking of vegetables as sides and make them the star of your dish. This list gives four hearty ‘meaty’ vegetables that will help you not miss the meat.

Mushrooms

Mushroom is a versatile ingredient in cooking that boosts the richness of your dish with its meaty texture and savory flavour. Try out mushrooms as a meat alternative for your favourite meals, they are already entrenched vegetarian and vegan diets as the perfect base for classic dishes. When mushrooms are cooked, they release a lot of water resulting in a unique flavour called ‘umami’ that your dish tastes rich and satisfying. One of our favourite ways to use mushrooms is simply pan-seared with onions, garlic, salt, black pepper and a tip of olive oil, a delicious side dish or an incredible topping for your burger or pizza.

Cauliflower

A full-bodied cauliflower is on trend as being the ultimate recipe for typical ingredients like flour, potatoes and now meat! Cauliflower has a mild taste giving you tonnes of room to play with flavour profiles. Try steaming a head of cauliflower and minced finely, you end up with a grainy texture that resembles minced meat which particularly great for dishes like tacos. You can also use cauliflower as fun ‘meat’ dishes like buffalo wings and cauliflower steaks.

Lentils

Lentils have never let us down in preparing delicious hearty meals that even meat-lovers can’t get enough of. Thanks to their hearty texture, lentils naturally mimic beef in the way it is cooked and can easily absorb any flavours you add to it. Add lentils to your stews, soups, burger patties, tacos, the list can go on and on.  Some more reasons why lentils are must-have in your pantry for Lent is that a great source of protein especially if you are not consuming meat in your diet and cook quicker than other legumes. Lentils have a long shelf-life and will fit in and they are super affordable when bought dried. 

Eggplant

A cult classic in many cuisines around the world, eggplant is one of the most popular vegetables because of its versatility in the way it is seasoned and prepared. Roasted, fried, baked, sautéed, curried; eggplant has no limits. Commonly referred to as ‘baigan’ in Trinidad and Tobago, many local use this ingredient in the indian dish, “baigan choka where the eggplant is roasted which cooks the inner flesh to a soft consistency that is finished off with some hot oil, salt, onion, cumin (or geera), garlic and hot pepper. If you are not used to eggplant or it’s taste, try it out in an innovative way like a vegetarian lasagna using eggplant slices as the replacement for lasagna noodles and no one will ever know the difference.