Vegetables
1337 recipes found
Zucchini Scampi
While scampi is a type of crustacean (also known as langoustines), the word has also come to refer to the garlicky lemon-butter sauce that drapes shrimp at Italian American restaurants. But what if you lost the shellfish altogether? When zucchini, or any kind of summer squash, is sliced and cooked only part way, they have a juicy snap similar to shrimp, no mushiness. This rendition also maintains the lively flavors of garlic and lemon, which are only slightly mellowed by the residual heat of the sauce. Eat with pasta or crusty bread, or as a side dish to any summery meal.
Pasta With Garlicky Spinach and Buttered Pistachios
If you want to get the timing just right on this one — no wasted time! — start the sauce a few minutes after you’ve dropped the pasta into the boiling water. Your spinach should be wilted right around the time the pasta is al dente. If that feels too stressful, or the spinach wilts before the pasta is ready, simply turn the heat under the skillet all the way down to low and keep it warm while the pasta finishes. Don’t count this recipe out if you’re not fond of capers. They add a hint of salty brininess without being in-your-face caper-y. A pound of pasta is a lot to toss around, especially with 2 bunches of spinach in the mix, so save that extra quarter-box for your next pot of pasta e fagioli.
Green Bean and Tofu Salad With Peanut Dressing
Inspired by the combination of peanut sauce with vegetables in southeast Asia, found in dishes such as gado gado in Indonesia and summer rolls in Vietnam, this streamlined salad would work just as well as a vegetarian main dish to eat with rice or noodles. The green beans are cooked for only a short while so that they stay crunchy. If you prefer floppy beans, you can cook them longer. And if you want something more refreshing and don’t want to turn on the stove, you can skip the beans altogether and use cut-up cucumbers and tomatoes instead.
Miso-Butter Roasted Broccoli
Deeply flavorful and easy, this simple roasted broccoli dish gets a finishing of miso butter and a hit of acidity from lime juice. It makes a great accompaniment to roasted salmon or chicken, and adds depth to grain bowls or quickly cooked leftovers. Although the recipe calls for room temperature butter, the butter only needs to be soft enough so that you can mash it together with the miso, as it will start to melt upon contact with the sheet pan. You can swap in ghee for the butter, or some lemon in place of the lime. Finish the dish with grated Parmesan for some extra flavor, if desired.
Rice Cakes With Peanut Sauce and Hoisin
This vegan dish is reminiscent of the classic Cantonese dim sum of fried cheung fun, or steamed rice noodle rolls, which is served with two contrasting sauces: a caramelly hoisin sauce and a nutty sesame sauce. In this recipe, tenaciously chewy rice cakes are stir-fried until crispy, then smothered in a sweet and earthy peanut sauce and finished with syrupy hoisin. Rice cakes deserve to be a pantry staple for many reasons: They can be used as a filling substitute for short pasta, added to stews or quickly pan-fried with your favorite sauce. Sold in Chinese or Korean markets, they come in tubes (like those used in tteokbokki) or sliced disks, and are packaged in vacuum-sealed packs or frozen, so they keep for ages. If you’re looking for a suitable substitute, you could use fresh rice noodle rolls, or even gnocchi. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.
Silken Tofu With Spicy Soy Dressing
This recipe is inspired by the many cold silken tofu dishes from East Asia, like Japanese hiyayakko and Chinese liangban tofu. This no-cook dish is a handy one to have up your sleeve, especially for warm evenings when the desire to cook is nonexistent. Silky soft tofu is draped in a punchy soy dressing, creating a lively dish with little effort. The tofu is ideally served cold, but 10 minutes at room temperature can take the edge off. Make it your own with other fresh herbs such as Thai basil, mint or shiso leaves, or add crunch with fried shallots or roasted peanuts. A salty, fermented element like kimchi, pickled radish or ja choi, also known as zha cai, a Sichuan pickled mustard root, would work well, too. One block of silken tofu is usually enough to feed two people, but for a more substantial meal, serve it with hot rice or noodles to create a pleasing contrast of temperatures. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter .
Gilgeori Toast (Korean Street Toast With Cabbage and Egg)
Gilgeori toast, which literally means “street toast” in Korean, is a popular salty-sweet egg sandwich sold by many street-food vendors in Korea. For many who grew up there, it's a nostalgic snack, reminiscent of childhood. Eaten for breakfast or lunch, it’s quick, easy and adaptable. If you don’t have cabbage on hand, toss in any vegetables you have that would add crunch and flavor, such as sliced scallions or julienned zucchini. For a modern twist, try substituting the sugar with different flavors of jam, or dress the sandwich up with your favorite condiments and sandwich fixings.
Mapo Potato
Let’s be clear: Nothing surpasses the hearty deliciousness of a traditional mapo tofu. But for those days when you find yourself without soft tofu in the fridge, or when you are craving something vegetarian, this mapo potato will hit the mark. Potatoes step in for tofu and pork, providing a perfect vessel that eagerly soaks up all of the deep fermented flavors. (If you want a hit of protein, you can add some soft tofu just before you add the cornstarch slurry in Step 3.) Doubanjiang, a fermented bean paste that is a staple in Chinese cuisine, provides mapo dishes with its signature spicy umami richness; each brand will vary in heat so adjust according to your personal preference. If you don’t have doubanjiang, you could substitute with fermented black soybeans, which are less spicy but will give you similar salty funkiness.
Glazed Shiitakes With Bok Choy
Gorgeous glazed shiitake mushrooms and tender green bok choy sparked with ginger, sesame and hot pepper work beautifully against more staid flavors, so consider serving them next to a traditional roast chicken or turkey. They also are delicious draped over a pile of rice.
Green Curry Glazed Tofu
To make crispy, flavorful tofu without having to press it first, use this smart method from Andrea Nguyen, the author of “Asian Tofu” (Ten Speed Press, 2012) and other cookbooks: Warm the tofu in a pan with a small amount of flavorful sauce. As it cooks, it will dry out and absorb the flavors of the sauce. Next, you add oil to the pan, which crisps the tofu. In Ms. Nguyen’s recipe, soy sauce is used, but here, the aromatics in Thai green curry paste and the sugars in coconut milk toast and caramelize on the tofu. Once the tofu has a deep-brown crust, remove it, sear a quick-cooking vegetable in the same pan, then reduce the remaining curry-coconut mixture into a fragrant, sweet-and-spicy glaze.
Kale and Quinoa Salad With Tofu and Miso
A hearty base of kale, quinoa and crisp tofu give this easy salad enough bite to serve as a meal. Curly kale provides heft and holds up nicely to the sweet, sour and spicy dressing. Use your hands to massage the vinaigrette into the kale, and let it marinate for at least 10 minutes to tenderize the sturdy greens. Finish the dish with a drizzle of sriracha and honey, but use a light touch: The point is to balance the heat and sweetness levels without overwhelming the delicate miso vinaigrette. If you like, double the dressing and refrigerate it for future use; it makes a fantastic dip for grilled chicken or pork, or a glaze to brush on salmon before broiling.
Three-Cup Vegetables
This vegan dish is inspired by three-cup chicken, a deeply savory Taiwanese specialty that can be traced back to the 13th century, to the execution of Wen Tianxiang, a scholar-general of the Song dynasty who resisted Kublai Khan’s invasion. The night before Wen’s death, a guard is said to have made him the surprisingly pungent chicken dish with the prison’s limited resources. It has many variations, but usually calls for braising chicken in rice wine, soy sauce and sesame oil with plenty of ginger, garlic and basil. Here, root vegetables like carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes and turnips take the place of the chicken, but feel free to also add tofu and quick-cooking vegetables like broccoli or snap peas with the roots. Serve over rice or ramen noodles to soak up sauce.
Tofu and Bok Choy With Ginger-Tahini Sauce
This simple dish showcases the uniquely silky texture of soft tofu. The tofu is steamed on top of a layer of bok choy, eliminating the need for a formal steamer and making this meal a cinch to prepare. (Napa or savoy cabbage leaves would also make a nice bed for the tofu.) Once steamed, the warm, mild tofu soaks in all of the bright flavors of a tangy and creamy tahini sauce that’s spiked with aromatic ginger and fragrant herbs. For a heftier meal, either double the tofu or serve with a side of rice. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.
Sook Mei Faan (Cantonese Creamed Corn With Tofu and Rice)
Creamed corn over rice is a quintessential Cantonese dish often served at cha chaan tengs, casual diners that are ubiquitous in Hong Kong. There are many variations of sook mei faan, or corn rice. Some include chunks of pork or chicken, while another rendition has the creamy corn ladled over fried fish fillets. While this dish is traditionally made with canned creamed corn, this vegan version uses fresh corn, which offers a well-rounded sweetness that still feels bright, and is served over cold silken tofu, offering a pleasing contrast in texture and temperature.
Crispy Bean Cakes With Harissa, Lemon and Herbs
This recipe embraces any beans you’ve got in your pantry. Canned beans are easiest, but fresh shelled beans can be ready to go with a quick blanching, and dried beans can be used, too, if they’ve been soaked and cooked in advance. Toss the well-drained beans with harissa (or any red chile paste), scallions, herbs, lemon zest, cornstarch and a lightly whipped egg white. (The egg white and cornstarch give these bean cakes their crispness.) Shape them into patties for frying, and slice some lemon wedges for serving. Eat the patties as a vegetarian main dish, a side to roast chicken or fish, or as a snack with a dash of harissa.
Jackfruit Sabzi
This recipe for a simple jackfruit sabzi comes from the British chef Romy Gill, who adapted much of her Punjabi family’s vegetarian home cooking for her book “Zaika: Vegan Recipe from India.” In Burnpur, where Ms. Gill grew up, jackfruit grew wild on the trees around her home, and her mother worked with an oiled knife to take apart the heavy, unwieldy fruit. But in England, where she lives now, Ms. Gill reaches for canned jackfruit. Make sure to pick vegetal, unripe jackfruit in brine — rather than sweet, ripe jackfruit in syrup — then drain the pieces, breaking up any large ones until bite-size, and add them to the pan. Serve the sabzi with rice, roti, or, as Ms. Gill often does for her daughters, rolled up in a big, tender wrap.
Mixed Sabzi
Some English words have become part of Urdu names for dishes, as with this one, which is called mixed sabzi. Sabzi is the Urdu word for vegetables and the recipe calls for a mix of vegetables stir-fried and simply spiced for a quick weeknight main, or hefty side. Whatever’s in season tends to taste best. In Pakistan, it is most often made with cauliflower, potatoes, peas and carrots. But, it is great with any vegetables really: eggplant, green beans, bell peppers, bitter gourd or pumpkin, too. For convenience, you can even use mixed frozen vegetables. Roti or cooked rice are ideal for serving alongside.
Mushroom Stroganoff
The first recipe for beef stroganoff dates back to the 1800s and is rumored to have Russian aristocratic origins. This version is a bold, modern vegetarian reimagination that is rich and decadent, thanks to the magic of mushrooms, which deliver walloping umami. A variety of mushrooms adds a nice mix of textures, but a similarly intense dish can be created with just one type. Achieve even deeper layers of flavor by soaking a handful of dried porcini mushrooms in one cup of hot water for 10 to 15 minutes, then adding the mushrooms and soaking liquid, which can replace the vegetable stock, to the dish. Crème fraîche is naturally thick and imparts a velvety tang to the dish, but use sour cream if you prefer. (Vegans can use cashew or coconut cream). To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.
Kimchi Bibim Guksu
Bibim guksu, which means “mixed noodles” in Korean, is an adaptable, spicy cold noodle dish that's perfect for a quick summer meal. For many Korean families, bibim guksu and samgyupsal, or grilled pork belly, is a go-to meal after long afternoons spent in the sun. Traditionally, bibim guksu does not include kimchi, but here it imparts a robust flavor with spicy and sour elements. Somyeon (thin wheat flour noodles) or soba noodles are traditionally used, but angel hair pasta would work as well. You can double the sauce and use it for bibimbap in another meal.
Sauerkraut Jeon (Korean Pancakes)
Jeon are savory Korean vegetable, meat or seafood pancakes bound with the most basic batter: flour, cornstarch and water. Because the mixture is completely unleavened (no baking powder, yeast or even eggs), they run the risk of turning dense and gummy if you overwork the batter. This is good news for the lazy: The less work you put in, the better they come out. They can be made with virtually any meat or vegetable odds and ends, but they’re especially great with that crunchy sauerkraut languishing in the back of your fridge from that cookout you had last year.
Indian-Spiced Eggs With Spinach and Turmeric Yogurt
In this quick meal, sautéed spinach flecked with ginger, chile and garam masala are paired with eggs and used to top toasted pitas spread with turmeric yogurt. The pitas were chosen for their uniform size, but naan or flatbread would work equally well; you want something sturdy to stand up to the moisture of the yogurt and spinach. An olive oil-fried egg tops this dish, but if you prefer poached have at it — that runny yolk is a key element.
Stir-Fried Lettuce With Crispy Garlic and Fried Eggs
In Chinese culture, cooked lettuce is a symbol of good luck and is often eaten during Lunar New Year feasts. In Cantonese, the word for lettuce is sang choy, and in Mandarin, it’s sheng cai, which sounds like the words for “growing wealth” in each language. Stir-fried lettuce is commonly served as a bed for braised mushrooms or simply as a green side dish. Here, stir-fried lettuce, fried eggs and crispy garlic chips perch on a bed of rice, a simple meal with comforting flavors and textures. The joy of this preparation is that the lettuce retains a fresh crunch even after cooking; iceberg is preferred, but romaine will give you similar results. Vegetarian stir-fry sauce is a product sold in Asian grocery stores, but you can also use oyster sauce. For a shortcut, skip the fried garlic and top with store-bought crispy fried onions or shallots.
Mushroom Veggie Patties
These flavor-packed veggie patties are shaped and served like kotlet, Iranian-style meat patties, and prepared like kookoo, an Iranian dish similar to a frittata. But unlike a frittata, kookoo is more about the vegetable- or herb-based filling than the eggs, of which there are just enough to bind the mixture. This recipe uses finely minced mushrooms that are gently spiced with a touch of turmeric, oregano and fresh parsley. You can serve these patties hot off the stove or at room temperature, with flatbread and accompaniments. For the perfect bite, wrap a patty in a piece of bread with something tangy, like pickled onions and peppers, and something fresh, like lettuce leaves or fresh herbs. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.
Beans and Greens Alla Vodka
Pasta alla vodka is a classic because each ingredient works together beautifully: the heat of the red-pepper flakes and vodka, the sweetness of the tomato and the richness of the cream. And that combination works equally well with beans and greens. Use chickpeas or white beans, and kale or any other dark leafy green, like Swiss chard or broccoli rabe. The finished dish keeps for up to three days in the fridge. Eat it on its own, with crusty bread for dunking, or over pasta.