Any vegans out there?

[rabbit]

I love ginger too LL. In the Chinese supermarket you can buy pickled ginger - thin slices of ginger looking slightly pink, in a glass jar. They're so convenient for lobbing into stirfries. You can also buy jars of "Ginger nuts" - in syrup - they are fantastic

We do this. And I always chuck some cashews or peanuts on too. I also put frozen ginger on, that I bought fresh and put in the freezer, I then grate it over things like stir-fry.

The chinese supermarket is also a brilliant place to buy fresh tofu, it's so cheap there and they have in fresh loads daily, it's the most soft fresh tofu imaginable and it's so versatile.

[veggiechicken]

Have you ever made tofu, rabbit? I've done it several times - you end up with so much "stuff" from a bag of soya beans - tofu, milk, and the bean pulp (okara). Seemed to go on all week using it up.

[kathycam]

Oooh how do you make tofu?

[veggiechicken]

This looks like the method I used. How to Make Tofu I used lemon juice to curdle the milk - maybe Epsom Salts would make it firmer. Its not difficult but takes a lot of time.

[taff]

Not a vegan recipe but I don't doubt stuff can be substituted - Celeriac and Blue cheese loaf

175g grated celeriac
175g SR flour
50g yoghurt and 50g milk or 100g milk
75g blue cheese crumbled
1 egg
Black pepper [ salt if you're not using a salty cheese]


whisk egg and milk together, add to everything else, mix into a wet-ish but firm dough, cook for 40 mins [less if fan] at 180 degrees.

Slice and eat. Yummy scrummy.
I had it with pumpkin and harissa soup, slurpy.

[Two_Sheds]

There are always things you can eat - Chinese is a good one

Not true, and takeaways are the worst! They just have big vats of stuff out the back, and they don't have separate utensils for serving, so "a big of this" often ends up in something else.

Chinese put fish/.oyster sauce in everything, and/or lumps of chicken in their "vegetable" dishes. I had a vegetable tofu that had chicken in it along with the tofu.

When I was in Singapore it was similar: things were labelled as "vegetable" but had "hidden extras" ... I ended up having to say "no meat no fish" every time I ordered. In countries where vegetarianism is an obscure concept (eg the UK), they just think popping a few vegetables in is OK. My old nan used to put ham in my omelettes (it's only a little bit, pick it out).

How many people on here are surprised to find that most wines, beers and biscuits are NOT vegetarian?

[Two_Sheds]

it's the most soft fresh tofu imaginable and it's so versatile.

Bleugh! I can't stand tofu, it's like eating polystyrene packaging.

I don't mind tempeh, but it's hard to find.

[KittyColdNose]

Oh my... I have just made another choccie cake for OITC to take to work tomorrow. There have been a few tweaks and of course the cooks perk is licking the bowl (Insert Homer Simpson drooling type sound here).

It may not make it to work!

[rabbit]

Have you ever made tofu, rabbit? I've done it several times - you end up with so much "stuff" from a bag of soya beans - tofu, milk, and the bean pulp (okara). Seemed to go on all week using it up.

What? No! Really, never!

Bleugh! I can't stand tofu, it's like eating polystyrene packaging.

I don't mind tempeh, but it's hard to find.

Now I am of the exact opposite opinion. Not a tempeh fan, fresh tofu cooked well is divine to me.

[veggiechicken]

Try it rabbit. All you have to lose is a bag of soya beans and a couple of hours!
I like firm tofu, marinated in soy sauce and dunked in sesame seeds, then shallow fried........Mmmmmmmmm!

[Alison]

Not true, and takeaways are the worst! They just have big vats of stuff out the back, and they don't have separate utensils for serving, so "a big of this" often ends up in something else.

Chinese put fish/.oyster sauce in everything, and/or lumps of chicken in their "vegetable" dishes. I had a vegetable tofu that had chicken in it along with the tofu.

When I was in Singapore it was similar: things were labelled as "vegetable" but had "hidden extras" ... I ended up having to say "no meat no fish" every time I ordered. In countries where vegetarianism is an obscure concept (eg the UK), they just think popping a few vegetables in is OK. My old nan used to put ham in my omelettes (it's only a little bit, pick it out).

How many people on here are surprised to find that most wines, beers and biscuits are NOT vegetarian?

Think I might have posted this before but when I was travelling in China a few years ago with some vegetarians, they found it VERY difficult. It might be different in the big cities but in the rural areas where we were staying, the chefs were very confused as to why as "rich" Westerners some people didn't want to eat meat. Whilst there is a large Buddhist community there, they don't tend to eat out and it is the general feeling that if you can afford it then you would eat meat. The concept of animal rights doesn't really exist so what you eat tends to be more financial. As a result meat products were crow barred into meals all over the place, on one occasion they stuffed some bean curd with minced meat which must have been quite hard work. Goodness only knows how vegans cope as they couldn't even to the basics. On the other side of the coin, India was joy, I ate vegetarian throughout as it tended to be nicer and vegan was easy to get hold of too so long as you made it clear you didn't what any ghee which was often added - they fully got it though so no problems.

Bleugh! I can't stand tofu, it's like eating polystyrene packaging.

I don't mind tempeh, but it's hard to find.

I don't really like the silken ones but there are some lovely bean curds out there. I like the more solid varieties (honestly the Asian supermarkets are fab for this, bought some lovely smoked stuff last time I was there) and am really glad I tried some different ones after trying the supermarkets ones and avoiding for years.

[roitelet]

If you can get yourself a copy of Gail Duffs Vegetarian Cookbook ISBN 0 333 22053 6. Lots of really good recipies and no meat substitutes. Still use although no longer vegetarian.

[kathycam]

I found being veggie in Beijing was fairly easy, they had a buddist restaurant which was amazing. They did a crispy duck but with tofu, so was nice to try a local speciality! All served on bamboo leaves with flowers as deco.

Will give the tofu recipe a go!

[veggiechicken]

If you can get yourself a copy of Gail Duffs Vegetarian Cookbook ISBN 0 333 22053 6. Lots of really good recipies and no meat substitutes. Still use although no longer vegetarian.

I have that one too - very dog-eared now! The good thing about the older Veggie cook books is the absence of Quorn and TVP in the recipes. Just good honest basic foods. Ethnic cookbooks are another good source for inspiration.

[rabbit]

Chinese put fish/.oyster sauce in everything, and/or lumps of chicken in their "vegetable" dishes. I had a vegetable tofu that had chicken in it along with the tofu.

When I was in Singapore it was similar: things were labelled as "vegetable" but had "hidden extras" ... I ended up having to say "no meat no fish" every time I ordered. In countries where vegetarianism is an obscure concept (eg the UK), they just think popping a few vegetables in is OK. My old nan used to put ham in my omelettes (it's only a little bit, pick it out).

How many people on here are surprised to find that most wines, beers and biscuits are NOT vegetarian?

Think I might have posted this before but when I was travelling in China a few years ago with some vegetarians, they found it VERY difficult. It might be different in the big cities but in the rural areas where we were staying, the chefs were very confused as to why as "rich" Westerners some people didn't want to eat meat. Whilst there is a large Buddhist community there, they don't tend to eat out and it is the general feeling that if you can afford it then you would eat meat. The concept of animal rights doesn't really exist so what you eat tends to be more financial. As a result meat products were crow barred into meals all over the place, on one occasion they stuffed some bean curd with minced meat which must have been quite hard work. Goodness only knows how vegans cope as they couldn't even to the basics. On the other side of the coin, India was joy, I ate vegetarian throughout as it tended to be nicer and vegan was easy to get hold of too so long as you made it clear you didn't what any ghee which was often added - they fully got it though so no problems.

Meat stuffed tofu and tofu and meat dishes are legitimate chinese dishes though, not b@astardised veggie versions! You have to be specific when you order. Japan, I thought would be fab but there is fish stock or dried fish flakes in almost everything. I had a couple of cards made by a Japanese friend explaining that I would like to eat something with no animal or fish products including stock. It worked very well although some restaurants we were just turned away from. I ate some fabulous food there.

Two sheds, you can actually buy vegetarian oyster sauce and a very similar mushroom sauce in the chinese supermarket, so you can make your own or just ask nicely if they use a vegetarian version. I worked in an off licence (we had to learn about our products) and when I was first vegetarian read a LOT about it, so not I am not at all surprised about beer and wine production, or some biscuits. Also the biscuit situation is far better than it used to be two decades ago, V labbelling is very widespread. Not that I'm a big biccy eater.