Vegetarian
6931 recipes found
Pasta With Asparagus, Arugula and Ricotta
This recipe works best if you use thin asparagus and peppery wild arugula, available at some farmers’ markets.
Tsaramaso Malagasy (White Bean Tomato Stew)
Jeanne Razanamaria, a cook from Madagascar, transforms three ingredients with some oil and salt into a rich dish that tastes like it has secret seasonings hidden in its depths. Her simple technique of collapsing tomatoes with sautéed red onion then simmering both with beans and their cooking liquid concentrates them into a tangy, earthy stew. She shared this recipe with Hawa Hassan for the book “In Bibi’s Kitchen,” written with Julia Turshen. It works with any dried white bean, large or small, and tastes great on its own or with steamed rice.
Wok-Fried Asparagus With Walnuts
Not all asparagus dishes are delicate and subtle. Try this stir-fry to see how well the sweetness of asparagus and spicy bold flavors go together.
Linguine With Asparagus Pesto
Asparagus dresses this spring pasta in pastel green. Use the stems to make a finely ground pestolike mixture with garlic, olive oil and cheese; reserve the tips for quickly cooking and then tossing into the skillet with the linguine and sauce just before serving.
Grilled Cabbage With Paprika-Lime Butter
The ideal grilled cabbage is smoky and sweet, with crackly leaves and a core that yields to a knife and fork. To make that a reality and ensure it isn’t dry, tough or bland, soak the cabbage wedges in water and salt while the grill heats. The wet brine will soften and season every bit of the hardy vegetable (like in kimchi and sauerkraut). Once the cabbage is drained and over the grill’s flame, the water trapped in the crevices will steam the inner leaves, while the cabbage’s surfaces will crisp and brown. A smoky-citrusy butter melts into the wedges, adding richness and luxury, but a creamy dressing or a bright sauce would be great, too.
Folami’s BBQ Tofu
Kwanzaa gatherings continue to go strong in community centers and at home in dining rooms, as they have since 1966. The seven-day holiday of self-reflection, often an extension of Christmas or the winter solstice, culminates with the karamu, or feast. The spread leans heavily vegetarian. In Atlanta, Folami Prescott-Adams dries, seasons, fries and broils pounds of tofu. Store-bought, tomato-based barbecue sauce provides the comfort factor. She is a 40-year veteran of Kwanzaa and maintains a spreadsheet of potluck logistics for her family and guests. Alongside this vegetarian barbecue, Dr. Prescott-Adams’s buffet feeds more than 100 people, and the greatest hits include macaroni and cheese, red punch and black-eyed peas.
Pickled Green Tomatoes
This recipe is an adaptation of a recipe in Fred Dubose’s wonderful cookbook from a bygone era, “Four Great Southern Cooks.” It is sort of a cross between a pickle and a relish. Do not worry about the salt; most of it will go out when the tomatoes are drained.
Tofu and Herb Salad With Sesame
Tender sweet herbs are the foundation of this lovely, delicate salad that’s dressed with a creamy yogurt sauce flavored with sesame, lime juice, ginger and green chile for kick. Feel free to use any combination of the herbs mentioned in the recipe, though you could also incorporate large leaves of butter lettuce. Topped with cool cubes of soft tofu, this dish is a very flavorful and refreshing first course or light lunch.
Tofu Makhani (Indian Butter Tofu)
This recipe is a vegetarian riff on butter chicken, or murgh makhani, a classic Indian dish in which chicken simmers in a rich, dairy-laden tomato sauce that’s seasoned with heady spices like turmeric, cumin, garam masala and cardamom. This weeknight-friendly version has a toned-down ingredient list, and the tofu doesn’t require hours of marinating, which means you can get everything on the table in under an hour if you start the rice as the tomatoes are cooking down. Heavy cream gives this dish a rich finish, but full-fat coconut milk makes a fine substitute. Whatever you do, don’t substitute anything for the butter or ghee (sorry, vegans) — it’s the signature ingredient.
Herb-Marinated Seared Tofu
Pan-seared tofu, torn into chunks then soaked in a bright, herby sauce, makes a great addition to many meals: Pile it on top of grains, salad greens, noodles or yogurt; tuck it into a pita; or toss it with chunks of roasted squash. The herbs and seasonings used in this sauce can shift, depending on what you have on hand and what sounds good. Add capers, anchovies or olives for brininess; or harissa, fresh chile or ginger for spice. You can even use wilted herbs and hearty greens. For additional texture, add nuts and seeds, or tomatoes, thinly sliced celery or avocado. Eat it right away or refrigerate for another day. It’s a practical yet vibrant dish that you’ll make on repeat.
Charred Asparagus With Green Garlic Chimichurri
Chimichurri is the South American green herb sauce that goes with just about everything. Easy to put together, it tastes best freshly prepared. When green garlic is in season in spring and early summer, use that; or substitute 2 or 3 regular garlic cloves at other times of the year. To keep it green and fresh tasting, add the vinegar just before serving. Char the asparagus in a hot cast-iron skillet or griddle, over hot coals, or under the broiler. Pencil-thin asparagus cooks quite quickly this way, but medium-size spears may be substituted.
Saag Tofu (Tofu With Spinach, Ginger, Coriander and Turmeric)
Raghavan Iyer, author of “660 Curries,” describes the Indian cheese paneer as “fresh, firm and chewy” and “not unlike a block of extra-firm tofu,” which you could substitute for paneer in a pinch. Tofu takes the place of paneer in this lighter version of saag paneer, a classic Indian dish made with fresh spinach sautéed in plenty of ginger, cumin, fennel seeds, chiles, coriander and turmeric. Here, seared tofu and yogurt are stirred in at the end, making it a creamy, satisfying, almost-vegan meal that's wonderful served with naan or over rice.
FOOD’s Amazing Cilantro Tofu Sandwich
My friend Judy Ornstein has a popular neighborhood cafe on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles called FOOD. I love all of the meals I’ve had there, but my absolute favorite signature dish that they make is a cilantro tofu sandwich. The tofu is dipped in a delicious cilantro-spiked marinade, briefly baked, then topped with a to-die-for roasted corn relish. Alayne Berman, FOOD’s chef, shared the recipe with me. I’ve scaled the recipe down from 10 pounds of tofu to 1 pound, which will make four sandwiches. They are hearty, and I usually make a meal of half a sandwich, but the nutritional information is for a whole one.
Green Tomato Salad
Green tomatoes are either nearly impossible to find or in such abundance that farmers at the greenmarket almost give them away. This recipe was inspired by Rachael Ray, who gets green tomatoes from a wholesaler when they’re scarce or has a favorite farmer at the Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan set some aside during the late spring and early summer when they’re abundant. You can adjust the amount of peppers to control the heat. And red tomatoes work fine if you can’t find green ones.
Simple Tomato Sauce
This simple, savory sauce is rich with tomato flavor. A few basil stems — or whatever herbs you’ve got on hand — add a welcome aromatic note, and a little zip with a blender or food mill leave it with a smooth, silky texture. Use in lasagna, pasta, pizza, or anywhere else you’d use a jar of store-bought marinara.
Sweet-and-Spicy Roasted Tofu and Squash
This is a meal with complex flavors and a variety of textures: velvety from the honey-roasted squash, tender and juicy from the tofu, with the occasional crunch from the sesame-seed garnish and a slight chew from the squash peel. I like to serve this dish with more hot sauce on the side, preferably over brown rice or lightly dressed baby spinach, though it’s also good served all alone. As long as the squash and the tofu have each other, that’s all they really need.
Rqaq w Adas (Lentils With Pasta)
In Arabic, adas are lentils, and rqaq is a flatbread as thin and nearly as sheer as paper. The two come together in this stew, which was traditionally a way to use dough left over from baking bread, as the Palestinian artist and chef Mirna Bamieh explains. The lentils are simmered with cumin, bringing its stealthy warmth, along with bronzed onions, tamarind and sweet-sour pomegranate molasses. Meanwhile, scraps of dough are rolled out, then up into cylinders and slashed into long, skinny strands that look like tagliatelle. But you don’t have to wait for baking day: Instead, just knead together the quick dough below or swap in dried pasta. The noodles are dropped right in the pot, to cook among the lentils, leaching starch and making the stew even richer.
Warm Tofu and Fresh Soybeans Cooked in Salted French Butter and Celery-Seed Gastrique
There are three pretty joyful projects here that reward not only the pleasure-driven eater but the scientifically curious mind as well. Making soy milk, making soft tofu, and making a savory caramel sauce (not sweet like the one you're probably accustomed to, but vinegary and spicy) are all as easy as those beginner science projects we remember from grade school (growing marigolds or sprouting avocado pits) and equally as wondrous. As always, ingredients matter. The better the soy, the richer the milk, the richer the milk, the more compelling the tofu. The better the butter, the more expert the finished dish. Each component is quite easy but requires your full attention. Over-soaking the beans can give the curd a pitted texture; over-stirring the coagulant can break up the quickly setting curd and give you cottage cheese texture. And adding the vinegar to the burning sugar can be little hazardous – that step maybe closer resembles tenth grade chemistry than 1st grade marigold planting, I admit!
Tacos With Spicy Tofu, Tomatoes and Chard
In these tacos, tofu stands in for meat in a vegan picadillo, cooked in a modified salsa ranchera. I’ve never been one for meat “substitutes,” and I normally don’t advocate using tofu in anything other than Asian dishes. But I find this pretty irresistible, a sort of vegan picadillo. You can make it spicier by adding more chiles, milder by using less. The tofu is cooked in a modified salsa ranchera; being tofu, it absorbs the sweet and spicy flavors of the tomatoes and chiles. I used firm tofu and mashed it with the back of my spoon. Silken tofu is also a good choice, though then you will have something more akin to Mexican scrambled eggs.
Green Tomato Frittata
This is an adaptation of a recipe I came across in “The Savory Way,” by Deborah Madison. The acidic green tomatoes are nicely balanced by the neutral flavor of the eggs.
Sesame Tofu With Coconut-Lime Dressing and Spinach
Coated in panko and sesame seeds, tofu takes on a splendid crunchiness that contrasts with sautéed spinach in this 30-minute dish. It comes together under a fragrant coconut-lime dressing — which you can double, then toss with salad. Swap out the spinach to your taste: Try this with mustard greens or chopped collard greens, adjusting the cooking time accordingly. Be careful when handling the uncooked tofu once it is breaded, as the breading is delicate. Using a pair of kitchen tongs or two forks to grab the tofu from the sides will help prevent its crumbling or falling apart. Serve this satisfying main by itself, or alongside a bowl of rice.
Confit Leeks With Lentils, Lemon and Cream
Leeks slow-cooked in olive oil star in this hearty vegetarian main of lentils, lemon and herbs. These confit leeks are roasted and softened without browning, slowly releasing their flavor into the oil. The mixture could be spooned over baked potatoes or roasted chicken, but the lentils give the dish heft and bite, and the leek cream makes it extra special. If you can’t find French lentils, you can easily substitute other green or beluga lentils, or pearl barley or other grains. Serve this dish warm or at room temperature, and eat alongside some roasted potatoes for a complete meal, if you like.
Green Tomato Chowchow
Here is a chunky relish of cabbage and bell pepper commonly served in the South with salty cold cuts and meats. It couldn’t be simpler: simmer chopped vegetables for 15 minutes in a spiced brine — we use judicious amounts of clove, allspice, cinnamon and toasted coriander — and pack into jars. We tip the balance more toward green tomato than cabbage when green tomatoes are available because we love the tomatillo-like flavor of a green tomato — a near-apple flavor, but without the sweetness. It’s a delicious substitute for any relish you would spread over a hot dog or a burger, but we take it in other directions, too. Mixed one-to-one with good mayonnaise, green tomato chowchow makes the perfect dressing for coleslaw. Sometimes we’ll strain out the brine before we add the mayonnaise to make a killer tartar sauce. Or if we’re feeling indulgent, we’ll drain the chowchow, toss it with squid or small bay scallops and flood it with a fruity extra virgin olive oil for easy mock-ceviche.
Spring Tofu Soup
This versatile (coincidentally vegan) soup can be customized with most quick-cooking vegetables — thinly sliced asparagus could easily be thinly sliced turnips or radishes — and whatever tofu you have access to. If tofu isn’t your thing, this soup would also be a great place to add any leftover chicken to warm through or shrimp to cook in the broth. The lemon at the end will breathe a lot of much-needed life into this broth built mostly from pantry staples, but a splash of rice wine vinegar would also do the trick.