“And so, the end is near…” – Meat Free Challenge, week 4

Four weeks in, and I’m getting very near to the finish line – at the other side of which, a sizzling hamburger can already be glimpsed like a mirage promising meaty times ahead.

Or maybe not. You see, I’m really not that desperate to return to the old carnivore ways. Granted, I’ll be glad to have the choice to munch on meat or fish again if I so wish. But I think I’ll be doing a lot less of that in the future. The veggie month has widened my food horizons and challenged many previously steadfastly held assumptions, most prominently the notion that to classify as a "proper" meal, a plateful of food needs to have something that was recently breathing as its centrepiece.

Here are a few other things I’ve learnt during the last four weeks…

1)   Meat doesn’t make a meal. It can be difficult to think of veggies as the star attraction of a robust meal. How exactly are you going to replace, say, a steak or a pork chop with a carrot? But with a bit of imagination and experimentation (of which more later), it’s easy to come up with purely veggie alternatives that taste just as good – if not better.

2)   Non-meat diet suits a greedy person. A vegetable diet allows you to stuff your face in a more comprehensive fashion than a diet rich in meat products – which is a bit of a dream come true for someone as irreparably greedy as I am. Take a recent trip to the excellent Corner Café in Leeds (which really should be visited by anyone even vaguely interested in Indian food). I indulged in a feast that, under normal circumstances, would have resulted in such a robust bout of belly-fullness I would have had to roll out the restaurant’s door. By erasing meat from the plate, I wound up full to the brim, but comfortably so.

3)   Veggies are a tight person’s dream. Due to a wide variety of the misery and trouble life can chuck in your path, things have been a bit tough recently on the money-front. Even so, I’m reluctant to start scaling down on quality food, even when my bank balance is yelling for an energetic shopping bout at the nearest branch of any frozen foods retailer. As such, figuring out that replacing meat and fish with veggie purchases results in – roughly speaking – a 25% decrease in the shopping bill has been greeted with considerable whoops of joy.

4)   Veggie diet inspires experimentation and innovation. I’d like to think I’ve picked up basic cooking skills during the time I’ve been interested in slaving in the kitchen. Even so, I can’t handle a bit of meat without some vague worries of poisoning myself or, even worse, anyone else partaking with poorly cooked bits of once-living matter. Here’s the thing: you’d have to really put yourself out to make people ill with vegetables: if they’re not crawling with maggots, they’re good to eat. As such, I’ve been able to throw cookbooks to the side and figure things out for myself for the first time during the last few weeks. Apart from a few midweek staples, nothing has been cooked the same way twice. A few things have even been completely made up. This is new territory for me - and I'm enjoying it.

Root Vegetable Curry

Here's a - if I may say so myself - delicious practical example of figuring things out for myself and experimenting in the kitchen. I'd spotted a recipe for a Thai-style curry starring root vegetables in a magazine. However, I didn't much fancy the recipes selection of veggies, cooking methods or some of the flavours. Normally, that's where my interest in the recipe would have ended. With the increased confidence offered by vegetarian cooking (remember, you have to work VERY hard to poison anyone with veggie cooking), I picked the few bits I liked and made up the rest. The outcome, although definitely not the prettiest of dishes I've ever whipped up, proved the wisdom of an open-minded approach.

Ingredients (enough for a meal for two)

For the curry paste

• 1 small onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 - 2 red chillies (to taste)
• 2- 3 tbs of soy sauce (to taste)
• 1 tbs of toasted sesame oil
• 2 sticks of lemongrass (or 3 tsp of lemongrass paste)
• A thumb-size piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• A small bunch of fresh coriander, stalks included

For the curry

• 1 large or 2 small sweet potatoes
• 1 small butternut squash
• 1 tin (400ml) coconut milk
• A bunch of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• Salt, black pepper (to taste)

Start by making your curry paste. Put all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until you have a smooth paste. It might look a bit disgusting - but the flavour will be anything but!

Set the paste aside. Peel your veggies and cut into bite-size chunks. Wash and set aside.

Heat a few tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large pan. Once the oil is hot, spoon in the curry paste. Cook on moderate heat for approximate five minutes, stirring frequently and making sure the paste doesn't stick to the bottom.

Tip your peeled and chopped vegetables into the pan. Cook for a few minutes whilst stirring, until the vegetables and paste are mixed fully. Pour in a tin of coconut milk and bring to the boil. Simmer on low heat until the vegetables are cooked through - this will take approximately 20 minutes. Just before the curry is ready, stir in half of your fresh coriander. Season to taste, and serve with the remaining coriander sprinkled on top with boiled basmati rice.

Meat-free Month: week three

Three weeks into the meat-free month, and not eating meat has stopped being a challenge. In many ways, sticking to vegetables has become the done thing at ours; no longer an oddity or a departure from the norm but an accepted part of the normal routine.

Not that the week has been entirely free of challenges. When nipping out for a pizza before meeting a friend, I noticed a combination of my favourite toppings on the menu; a bit of a rarity in a take-away joint. The temptation to plunge for the full salt-feast of anchovy, capers and olives (instead of a sweet tooth, I guess I was born with a savoury tooth) was considerable. I mean, eating a few anchovies isn't exactly like tucking into a sizzling side of beef, is it? But I gathered my resolve and ordered the pizza without the fishy bits - although I suspect my request to leave out the anchovies was delivered in a barely audible sigh loaded with longing for a bit of heavily salted sea life. At a work event, I was faced with a heaving no-cost buffet table starring delicacies from all corners of the world. Most of the many items on the table contained meat or fish, so I had no choice but to drag myself away from the heavily loaded tables and venture back to the office to munch on my distinctly unexciting packed lunch - veggie pasta leftovers. Earlier in the week I found out - much to my surprise - that beers aren't entirely vegetarian-proof due to the presence of an animal-derived ingredient which is most definitely not listed on those labels that boast of the brew comprising of nothing but pure water, hops and barley. But since I'm much less a devoted vegetarian than a tourist opting for a month-long break in the meatless country, I'm not going to let this little problem deprive me of my workout routine at what's referred to as the half-a-kilo (or pint glass) gym back home in Finland. There have been signs that I could well be cut out for more extended bouts of meat-free existence. Although I still have to keep well away of the fish counter when doing the food shop, less I give in to the temptation to sample the tastiest specimens that seas, rivers and lakes can boast of, I don't crave meat at all. In fact, I had a dream the other night where I was presented with a juicy chicken kebab, but couldn't stomach it due to the treat's unpleasant texture. Now, if only they'd been able to offer me a tasty vegetarian option...

Falafels

The real challenge this far into the meat-free month has been to find fresh, tasty new vegetarian dishes to try out. After all, that's the whole point (well, one of the points, at least) of the challenge: to keep well away from the tried and tested, the routine and the humdrum. But with work becoming increasingly hectic and things at home getting more and more complicated, it's been impossible not to resort to sticking to a few meal time staples during the week: not that inspired or exciting, but necessary when energy and time are limited. That's what makes rolling out some more spectacular items during the weekend all the more important. I'd tried this recipe for what I like to call chick pea kebabs once before, but the addition of extra spices and herbs made this take on the Middle Eastern classic truly brilliant (if I may say so myself).

Ingredients

Falafels (enough for a large meal for two)

• 200g dried chick peas, soaked overnight in cold water
• Small bunch of fresh coriander
• Small bunch of fresh parsley
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp sumac (optional)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Salt, black pepper

Pickle salad

• 1/2 red cabbage, finely sliced
• 1 large carrot, grated
• Handful of gherkins, finely sliced
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Good glug of olive oil
• Salt, black pepper

Harissa dressing

• A small tub of natural yogurt
• 1 - 2 tsp (to taste) harissa paste
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Sprinkling of ground cumin

To serve

• Warm flatbreads of pittas
• Lemon wedges
• Sliced pickled chillies

How to make

Soak the chick peas overnight in a roomy bowl, making sure they are fully covered in cold water, with enough room for the peas to expand and still remain fully covered in water.

Place the drained, uncooked chick peas in a food processor and blend together with the onion and garlic until you have a rough paste. Add other falafel ingredients and blend until you have a relatively smooth paste. Place in a fridge and allow the flavours to develop for at least an hour.

Whilst the falafel dough is in the fridge, make your pickle salad by blending all the ingredients in a bowl. Make the dressing by mixing the ingredients together thoroughly in a small bowl.

To make falafel, take the dough out of a fridge. Heat the oven to 200c/gas mark 6. Rub a little bit of oil on your hands and shape the dough into balls the size of meat balls. Place on a baking tray covered with lightly oiled grease proof paper, making sure there's room between the falafels, as they will expand in the oven. Place in the oven and cook for 20 - 25 minutes, until golden brown on the outside.

Serve with pitta or flatbreads, pickle salad, yogurt dressing and, if you're looking for a really substantial meal, home-made potatoes wedges (hint: cook these in sunflower oil for extra tastiness). You won't miss meat...not one bit.