My Favourite Vegan Recipes to Cook at Home
Over the last year, cooking at home as transformed from a chore to a joyful, peaceful practice. This is in part due to the fact that we’ve moved houses and now have a proper full kitchen that I love to be in and also recognizing that my perception of cooking needed a change.
I used to see cooking as a chore that I needed to do in order to eat and get on with life. With the practice of mindfulness, this “chore” has become a regular activity of nourishing my joy and peace. With cooking, I become very present. I get creative and try new things. Sometimes I even sing or chant to myself. Cooking has become a time of day I very much look forward to.
I’ve been sharing some of my meals through Instagram and have had people ask for the recipes so, I’ve gathered all of my favourite plant based, vegan recipes in one blog post to share. As some ingredients are not readily available here in Vietnam, or I simply forgot to buy them, I’ve noted below each recipe the way in which I adapted and substituted some steps or ingredients.
For many of the recipes that require oil for sautéing, I opted to use water instead.
Do you enjoy cooking at home? What are some of your favourite plant based recipes? I’d love to try them! Please share them in the comments below.
Protein Rich Main Meals
Lentil Loaf adapted from The Simple Veganista
A hardy, protein rich meal that often also carries over into multiple meal opportunities! I love pairing this with a salad, asparagus, roasted sweet potato or mashed potatoes. Another enjoyable part of making this meal is seeing all the incredible, vibrant, nourishing colours come together!
For this recipe, instead of flaxseed meal, I use chia seeds and for the glaze I use ketchup mixed with apple cider vinegar.
Vegan Chickpea (meat)balls adpted from The Minimalist Baker
Just made these the other evening and we are obsessed! Crispy on the outside but soft and gooey on the inside (probably because I made the chickpea balls quite big compared to the recipe!). Great with pasta or even as a snack. For the flax egg, I used chia seeds instead and also substituted the seasonings with what I had in my pantry: cajun spice, paprika and thyme.
Chickpea Vegan ‘Tuna’ adapted from The Simple Veganista
I opted to make them as wraps and added it to our salads for a light lunch. Instead of layering chickpeas on chickpeas, I made this with white bean hummus with sesame for a nutty flavour and added in the optional chia seeds for Omega 3 & 6. I also add a tablespoon of yellow mustard to the mix :)
Photo: Chickpea Tuna Wraps with White Bean Hummus and no-oil baked Sweet Potato Fries
Photo: Stuffed Peppers
Spanish Rice Stuffed Peppers adapted from The Minimalist Baker
The original recipe is with quinoa but we use regular white jasmine rice. Especially handy recipe when you can’t find tortillas around town!
Vegan Jerk “Chicken” aka Cauliflower with Rice and Peas
A sweet and spicy, filling meal. Find my own recipe and instructions on my blog here.
Asian Inspired Tofu Dishes
Photo: Eggplant, Mushroom and Tofu with Garlic Sticky Sauce
No Oil Tofu Pad Thai
I love eating pad thai, and have just started making it at home. A lot easier than you’d think! Enjoy my recipe for this here.
General Tso Tofu adapted from Simple Vegan Blog
Sticky, sweet, sour and spicy (optional). A delicious mix of flavour and texture!
I’ve tried this recipe in two ways: exactly how it is noted in the recipe and as of late, I’ve changed how I cook this dish as I experiment cooking with less oil. In the no-oil variation, I bake the tofu without any batter until it is crispy and add it into the sticky sauce as it is heating and thickening over the stove.
Eggplant, Mushroom and Tofu with Garlic Sticky Sauce adapted from The Minimalist Vegan
I adapted this recipe by adding in tofu and instead of powdered kozu, I used 1 tsbp cornstarch to make it sticky. Pair this with rice and some steamed vegetables :)
Asian Garlic Tofu adapted from Spicy Southern Kitchen
Simple, easy and delicious. I use a vegan oyster sauce instead of hoisin and cook the tofu in water instead of oil. Any green vegetable are great pairs for this tofu dish!
Veggie Tofu Stir-Fry adapted from The Minimalist Baker
I throw in whatever vegetables I have in the fridge; that’s the beauty of stir-frys, right? I also sub any oils in this recipe for water.
By the way, you’ll probably see Minimalist Baker’s recipes appear a few times in this list as their website has a wealth of resources and yummy recipes.
Photo: General Tso Tofu
Photo: Asian Garlic Tofu
Baked Goodies
My adventures into baking are limited and rare, depending on my cravings. Here are the two recipes I’ve baked and thoroughly enjoyed.
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies adapted from The Minimalist Baker
Perfect balance of sweet and salty. Although the original recipe is also gluten free, the ones I made are not.
I chose to substitute almond flour and gluten free flour for all purpose flour (the others kinds are hard to find and very expensive in Vietnam). Instead of making aquafaba for the vegan egg, I used the trusty chia-egg substituted (1 tbsp chia seeds, 2 tbsp water).
As for chocolate chips, which is also difficult to find here, I bought a bar of dark vegan chocolate and chopped it into pieces.
Flourless Chocolate Vegan Muffins adapted from Playitsvegan
Super simple and only three ingredients!