Vegetarian Stir fry

Chicken #16

Chicken #16

Chicken #16

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Hi,

I'd planned to cook a stir fry for sister on Saturday and have most of the ingredients but she's dropped the bombshell that she has gone vegetarian for a month :rolleyes:

Now I had a little look and was thinking quorn but I had it once and can't remember it being very nice. Then I googled and found something called seitan (anything with Satan in can't be too bad). Unfortunately Sainsbury's doesn't stock it (they suggest self tan instead and I'm guessing that's for all the pasty veggies).

So, what I want to know is:

Is quorn style beef acceptable?
Would Seitan be a more interesting option and is there somewhere someone knows that stocks it in London

any other veggie options?
I can't stand mushrooms or seafood. Also, cooking it with a nice sliced steak and asking her to pick the bits of meat out of hers isn't really going to work, or do anything for my life expectancy.
 
I find quorn to be a bit like a sponge so as long as you put lots of flavour in to it then it should be fine.

Also, seafood isn't veggie :p
 
Stay away from quorn anything...and faux-meat anything. Bleaurgh.

Buy some firm (*not* silken) tofu and cut it into chunks. Sprinkle it with a mixture of spices/sauces that suit the meal you're cooking (salt, pepper and garlic work well enough if you can't think of anything) and then fry it off at a moderate-to-high temperature just before you fry your vegetables. Once it is a little browned on the outside transfer it to a bowl and set aside until 2 minutes before the end of your cooking process. Now simple add it back to the wok to heat through.

Be careful when you're stirring it as you don't want to break it up. Firm tofu has a much nicer texture than the silken stuff and is actually quite tasty even to people that enjoy meat.

If you're desperately wanting beef I'd do the opposite of what you suggested at the end btw - cook a steak separately and then add it to your dish at the end.
 
Plenty of peppers, bean shoots, onion, ginger, garlic etc.
Doesn't need any meat or meat substitute in it at all!
 
Andre said:
Plenty of peppers, bean shoots, onion, ginger, garlic etc.
Doesn't need any meat or meat substitute in it at all!
Click to expand...

Not absolutely required but it's good to have a bit of protein in there and something a little more chewy as compared to crunchy vegetables.
 
Vegetarian food can and is extremely good, when its not meat dishes made with a substitute. Many countries in the world are predominately vegetarian and they know exactly how to cook such dishes.
So try and find recipes that just don't include meat, rather than trying to replace meat.

Not much help with the stirfry bit, but could be eye opening for the rest of the month.
 
Quorn beef is rubbish but I don't mind sticking a bit of quorn chicken chunks in to a stir fry. It's no substitute for chicken but it's half the price and really doesn't bother me, stir fries are all about the flavours for me.
 
ok quorn is out.

I'm not overly fussed about including meat but I do want something more than a bowl of stirfried veg. My problem with tofu is the texture (same reason I hate mushrooms) as it's quite spongey. I might try it again though.
 
If you slice the tofu fairly thinly (6-7mm) then it should crisp up nicely when you fry it.
marinate it first in terriyaki or something like that - win
 
Chicken #16 said:
ok quorn is out.

I'm not overly fussed about including meat but I do want something more than a bowl of stirfried veg. My problem with tofu is the texture (same reason I hate mushrooms) as it's quite spongey. I might try it again though.
Click to expand...

Firm tofu isn't that spongy to be honest. If it is though, there's really no harm in you having some meat for yourself and at the same time cooking another thing for your sister. Just separately fry up some mushrooms in soy, garlic and sesame oil.
 
Tofu is one of the only foods I don't enjoy - although they cook it brilliantly in Malaysia, and the sauces/flavours were nice, tofu still does nothing for me at all. Don't enjoy it.
 
Firm tofu is a good shout. I don't really like 'normal' tofu, and I hate the texture/taste of mushrooms, but firm tofu done right has really nice flavour/bite to it.
 
Cows are vegetarian, so I add some veggie beef to my vegetarian stir-fries


On a serious note, never try to replace meat with some imitation substitute - it will undoubtedly be pap. If you want something like meat, eat meat. Otherwise if you want to be vegetarian look at proper vegetarian recipes. A lot of Indian food is actually vegetarian.
 
D.P. said:
Cows are vegetarian, so I add some veggie beef to my vegetarian stir-fries


On a serious note, never try to replace meat with some imitation substitute - it will undoubtedly be pap. If you want something like meat, eat meat. Otherwise if you want to be vegetarian look at proper vegetarian recipes. A lot of Indian food is actually vegetarian.
Click to expand...


yes I did think the quorn would be a bad idea but the seitan stuff sounded ok. I was tempted to try and make some myself but you need Gluten flour which didn't seem easy to find.
 
You can use quorn chicken pieces, quorn beef, or firm tofu.

A trick I found to making good tofu was to mix up some egg and soya sauce in a bowl and then 'batter' or coat the tofu with it before frying to give it a nice crispy / chewy outside texture.

Or just omit the meat substitutes. It is a vegetable stir fry after all, use some interesting veggies, mushrooms and a few eggs (fry as an omelette then chop it up so you have crispy eggy chunks throughout)

Toasted cashews sounds like a really nice idea aswell, will be stealing that one Dav3evans
 
I find Quorn chicken pieces go really well in stir fries.
Have a look at some of the wagamama recipes, I thought they looked very erm "empty" but as simple as they are taste dam good :)

Tofu is one thing I've tried a couple of times and just can't get away with it, which is odd considering I normally eat whatevers put in front of me :p
 
How can tofu be disgusting when it tastes of nothing? :p

I tried a tofu stir fry for the first time the other day. After a quick Google on what to buy and how to cook it, I got some super-firm (6/6 on the firmness scale :p) from an asian supermarket. As instructed, fried it up first on it's own; being very careful not to break it. Basically sealed it to make a hard crust on each side.

Removed that, then added my ginger/garlic/spring onions, then other veg. I think it was pepper and blanched broccoli. Added a few cashew nuts (which I'd dry-roasted in the pan first), a few chilli flakes, then 3 tablespoons soy sauce to 1 tablespoon shaoxing rice wine. Mixed the tofu back in and that was it. Very easy.
 
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