Five things to help put veg at the centre of your plate

I’m not a vegan, though with each week I take steps further and further in that direction.  Just the word “vegan” a few years ago used to be enough for people to look at me with head tilted sideways, like I’d lost it.

My brother and sister are both vegan and I have been cooking vegan food for them for the last 10 years, so to me it’s just part of how my family lives and I try to make as many recipes vegan or adaptable. I wrote a bit more about this in my Guardian column here. 

I do like to vary the dairy, I eat milk and cheese but I make sure it comes from good sources and is always organic, (as I don’t buy meat and fish I have an extra bit of cash to spend on organic dairy and veg). But I also make and drink almond milk and oat milk, make dips and mayo from cashew nuts. For me eating well is all about variety and the more plants I can get into my diet each week, the better.

We have, it seems, about 12 years to halt the climate breakdown and it’s been widely reported that the one of the most impactful things we can do to help is eat a plant based diet. You may be fully vegan, you may have just finished Veganuary, you may not be full time vegan or even full time vegetarian but every meal that we choose to fill our plates with plants, will help this planet heal a little. So here are 5 ways you can fill your plate with plants no matter what month of the year.

Think about textures

These are often forgotten in cooking but to me they are just as key to a good plate of food as flavour, particularly in vegetarian food. I think about how children respond to food – we are tuned into texture just as much as flavour. Toasted seeds tossed into a salad; charred, oil-drizzled bread next to a bowl of soup; the crunch of some peppery radishes inside a soft taco. It’s texture, just as much as flavour, that hits the taste buds and tells your brain that this is delicious and helps you to feel satisfied.

Eat with your eyes

For the last ten years in my day job as a food stylist I have been making food jump off the plate and getting you to want to eat what is on the page at that exact moment: the slick of chocolate drooling out of a chocolate fondant; the drops of water on a freshly washed leaf of the freshest, crispest salad; the melting cheese and crumble of perfect flaky pastry around the edge of a tart. I know that when I cook for friends the simplest salad put on a plate with a bit of thought, or an easy bowl of pasta topped with some bright herbs and a flash of red chilli, means we start eating before we’ve even got a fork in our hands, Take an extra minute to make the most of your plate of food as an offering to yourself and whoever you are feeding.

Balance flavour

For me is about making the most of the ingredient I am cooking. Sometimes that means a little scatter of Anglesey sea salt and nothing else. Other times it means balancing herbs, spices, sweet and sour, backing up the natural character of a deep dense caramelly piece of roasted squash with warming spices or spiking a tomato sauce with a hit of vinegar. Think about, salt, sweet, sour, spicy and umami flavour, you want them to all balance out and make the most of your precious ingredients.

Look at the dish as a whole

If I had a pound for every time someone asked me where I get my protein as a vegetarian I would be a very rich lady, and while it does feel a bit like I am listening to a broken record at times it is a consideration. I’m not a nutritionist but I do know that as long as I make sure eat day I eat pulses, quinoa, a little tofu, some nuts or seeds as part of the bigger picture of what I am eating I feel full and happy. Nuts and seeds make great dressing blitzed up with some herbs, try tossing tofu in a little soy and maple syrup and frying in a little oil. Tinned pulses are a cheap and easy fix to add to a soup, stew or salad.

Be brave with your veg

Veg centred cooking is often associated with light flavours and steamed veg but it needn’t be. Lot of vegetables are much better when hit with some serious flavour or put on the grill as you might a steak. Try charring your broccoli on a griddle then dressing it in honey, lemon, soy and chilli or cutting through a head of cauliflower to make steaks, brush with mustard and griddle unitl soft through.

COVER IMAGE: Rachel Vere