When I hear good advice, especially, when it comes to cooking, I listen.
The advice – Cooking for non-vegan? Season the food well.
“When making vegan food for non-vegans make sure you season the food well. Meat dishes can be quite strong tasting and when trying vegan food for the first time, they may find it bland, so add a little extra seasoning.” Stina Spiegelberg
I have never eaten meat and so this would not have been obvious to me. But come to think of it, someone close to me who used to eat meat in the past, likes her tomato sauce cooked well, thicker, stronger tasting, while I like mine lighter, thinner. Humm.
Lentil ‘meatless’ balls in a fresh tomato sauce on malfadine pasta
This advice can from Stina Spiegelberg, a TV chef, author, food and lifestyle coach from Germany. She was giving a vegan food demo at the international organic food fair, Biofach, last february. The organization, Proveg International were hosting vegan food demonstrations. I made sure to attend them, I like to cook and I do demonstrations of my own, so I was there to learn…and sample!
Maybe that is the reason my Lentil ‘ meatless’ balls taste better when I put plenty of seasoning in them …
Ran into a friend of mine, Eleanor, who is really trying to go vegan, for all the right reasons. Of course we spent the next 20 minutes talking about it, I can never miss an opportunity to talk about food and especially vegan food.
She said she was finding it hard to do but was determined … so this post is for her.
One thing we both agreed on when it comes to cooking is seasoning. She said, ” plenty of garlic”, I said,” and chilli”,and in unison we both said ” YES!”
Lentil ‘ Meat’ Balls
All my life I have heard about the dish ‘spaghetti and meat balls’. I never tasted it of course being vegetarian. It was just another one those dishes on the menu that I could not eat, same with bolognese or lasagne.
But one day I came across this recipe, Italian Lentil ‘meat’ balls. I think is was from www.connoisseurusveg.com, they have interesting dishes, look them up. I made it with the ingredients I had on hand, made it my own :), and it was a huge hit with everyone in the family.
I made it a second time. It was good, but not as good. I went back to the original recipe and realized I had left out certain spices and herbs.
I needed to add more oregano & thyme, more tomato paste and the vinegar was key – it gives food a stronger, slightly bitter taste, maybe more like actual meatballs … but this I will never know.
Why not try making them. If you would like to try a vegan recipe, this is a real good one, easy to make and added to a nice tomato sauce they are very tasty and filling.
Click here to have the recipe – Lentil ‘meatless’ balls for tomato sauce over spaghetti
