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Oat-Stuffed Bell Peppers with Carrot Umami Sauce

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It’s a vegan classic, the stuffed pepper. Here, we’ve served it with a sauce that’s so good that you’ll lick the serving spoon!

To make the sauce: 

Ingredients: 
2 carrots, trimmed and sliced
1 potato, scrubbed and chopped
1 garlic clove
1/2-1 cup water
1 tbsp miso paste
salt, to taste

Directions: 
1. Add carrots and potato to a pan. Cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, simmer, and cook until fork-tender. 
2. Drain and add to a blender with the rest of the ingredients. Season to taste. 

To make the stuffed pepper: 
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup oats
2 tbsp hummus
1/2 cup Carrot Umami sauce
2 bell peppers, deseeded (if you’re following the plan, yours will each have a slice removed that we used for previous meals) 
Small handful spinach

Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 180C. Fry the onion until lightly caramelised. Add the garlic until just fragrant. 
2. Mash the beans in a bowl. Add in the oats, onion and garlic, hummus, and carrot umami sauce. Season to taste. 
3. Stuff the peppers with the oat mix, pressing in well with your hands. 
4. Place the peppers on a silicone- or parchment-lined baking tray, and bake 25 minutes, or until the pepper has cooked. 

To serve: 
Suitable-for-vegans tortilla chips
Suitable-for-vegans salsa

Serve the dish with a large handful of tortilla chips, more Carrot Umami sauce, and some of the salsa.

Chickpea Salad Sandwich

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Want an easy sandwich filling? Try this Chickpea Salad Sandwich with Date and Mustard Dressing quick and cheap dish.

Ingredients:
1 can chickpeas
2 tbsp sweetcorn
8 cherry tomatoes, quartered
Suitable-for-vegans bread

For the Dressing: 
1/2 cup soy yoghurt (I used sweetened; if you have plain, you can use that too)
1 tbsp suitable-for-vegans Dijon mustard
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp miso paste
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion granules
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions: 
1. Lightly mash the chickpeas. Mix with the sweetcorn and tomatoes. 
2. Mix all of the dressing ingredients. 
3. Mix about 2/3 of the dressing, or more if you desire, into the chickpea mix. Season to taste. Serve.

Gochujang and Miso Tofu

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The mix for this simple and tasty dish has a wonderful flavour balance, and the slight acidity and the sweetness create a beautiful scaffold for the Gochujang. This is cooked in the air fryer, but if you prefer you can use the oven–adjust temperatures and times accordingly.

Ingredients: 
1 block tofu (approx. 350g), cubed, but not pressed

For the tofu coating: 
2 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

For the glaze: 
1 tbsp yellow miso paste
1 tbsp Gochujang paste
1 tsp date paste
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp lime juice
2 tbsp water

1. If using the air fryer, preheat the air fryer to 180C. Mix all of the ingredients for the tofu coating. Toss the tofu in it. Bake the tofu for 8-10 minutes until lightly crispy, shaking occasionally. 
2. Mix the glaze ingredients. When the tofu is cooked, toss in the glaze. Return to the air fryer at 80C for 3 minutes.
3. Serve with green onions and sesame seeds.

Ginger-Miso Cabbage Salad

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Perfect for packed lunches or picnics, this is even easier to put together if you can use the shredding attachment on a food processor.

Salad:
200g red cabbage, shredded
150g white cabbage, shredded
1/2 red onion, finely sliced
1 large carrot, shredded
2 tbsp golden raisins or cranberries
2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted in a frying pan until golden

Dressing:
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
pinch dried ginger
1 heaped tsp yellow miso

Directions:
1. Mix all of the salad ingredients.
2. Mix all of the dressing ingredients.
3. Mix the dressing into the salad.

Celeriac and Chickpea Soup with Spinach-Miso Purée

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This extremely thick, yet very creamy, soup  makes for a filling and delicious lunch.

Ingredients:

For the soup

1 onion, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 celeriac, peeled and diced roughly
1 can chickpeas
300g white cabbage, chopped roughly
1 can coconut milk
500ml vegetable broth
Pinch white pepper
2 tsp onion salt
2 tsp dried basil

For the purée

50g spinach
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp soy (or other all-plant) milk
1 tbsp white or yellow miso

To garnish

Suitable-for-vegans crispy salad onions, if desired

Directions:

1. Sauté the onion in a large soup pan over a medium-low heat until it starts to soften, but don’t let it take on much colour. Reduce the heat to low and add the garlic for about a minute.
2. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, bring to the boil, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes or until the celeriac is tender.
3. Meanwhile, make the spinach purée by blending all ingredients in a high-speed blender.
4. Rinse the blender, blend the soup in it, return to the pan, and season to taste.
5. Serve the soup topped with some of the spinach-miso purée, and garnish with crispy onions, if desired.

Creamy Butternut, Cauliflower, and Lentil Soup

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This is an easy budget soup, making four main-meal-sized portions. Don’t let the inclusion of the notoriously difficult to peel squash put you off; there are two options below to make your job much, much easier. As always, use this recipe as a roadmap: try it with the addition of coconut milk and either Thai or Indian spices; add a can of tomato sauce and some Italian herbs. A good base soup can be varied in so many different ways.

Ingredients:

1 red onion, medium dice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 butternut squash
200g split red lentils
1 small cauliflower, in florets (approx. 500g)
1.5 litres vegetable stock
Pinch chilli flakes
1 tbsp fresh sage leaves, minced (or 1 tsp, dried, rubbed between fingers)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 heaped tbsp yellow miso

Directions:
1. Carefully make several slits in skin of the squash with a small sharp knife, and microwave for about 3-5 minutes to loosen the peel from the flesh slightly. Alternatively, slit and then boil the squash whole in a large stock pot for about 5 minutes, until softened. Wait until it’s cool enough to handle, and then peel, deseed, and chop into bite-sized dice.
2. In a stock pot over a very low heat, sweat the onion and garlic, stirring frequently until softened, about 5 minutes. Don’t allow them to take on any colour; if they start to stick, the heat is too high. Lower it, and add a little broth to loosen.
3. Add the cauliflower, stock, butternut squash, chilli flakes, and sage leaves. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
4. While the soup is cooking, rinse and drain the lentils, picking them over to ensure there are no small stones or pieces of grit among them. Add them to a saucepan with about 400g water, bring to the boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until softened. Drain and rinse.
5. Add the lentils back to the pot with the butternut squash (cooking them separately ensures that the lentils don’t add any foam to your soup), and mix well to combine. Spoon between a third and half of the soup into a blender jug with the miso paste and blend until creamy. Alternatively, remove the same quantity of soup and use an immersion blender to blend it to smooth.
6. Stir the blended soup back to the pot, warm, and serve in warmed bowls with some parsley, additional chilli flakes, and nutritional yeast if desired.

Miso-Carrot Dipping Sauce

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A simple, budget recipe that’s great fun for children, and very versatile. It can be used as a spread, or even a sauce for pasta or vegetables. This recipe makes a large batch, but it keeps in the fridge for up to a week in a sealed container.

Ingredients

2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 heaped tbsp yellow miso
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1-2 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp yellow or Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic

Directions

1. Boil the potatoes and carrots together until the potatoes are tender. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid.
2. Place all of the ingredients into a blender with 3/4-1 cup of the cooking liquid until you achieve the desired consistency.

Miso-Ginger Salad Dressing

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You may not have tried miso before, but its flavour is delicious, it’s incredibly rich, and it adds beautiful umami notes (with a hint of sweetness) to dishes. Because it’s fermented, it’s supportive of a healthy gut. You can find miso in the Japanese section of your supermarket, in your local Asian market, or in a health food store.

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic, minced
3cm piece ginger, minced
1 shallot or 2 tsp red onion, minced
2 tbsp lime juice
2 cups cooked white beans, or one can, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp white miso paste
3 tbsp maple syrup or other suitable-for-vegan liquid sweetener
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2-1 cup water, or amount needed to thin to desired consistency

Method

Purée everything in in a blender or food processor. Cool in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.

Spicy Stir-Fry Vegetable Soup

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This spicy loaded soup is ready in 15 minutes and serves 8, so feel free to halve the recipe. If you don’t like spice, reduce the amount of chili or omit altogether. Feel free to use the recipe as a roadmap: no ingredient is essential, so experiment with the vegetables and see which flavours appeal to you.

Ingredients

1 red onion, sliced
3 bell peppers, sliced
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 inch piece of ginger, quartered and thinly sliced
150g button mushrooms, quartered
2 bok choy, the white ends sliced and the green tops left whole
2 red chilis (optional), sliced
1/2 block tofu (approx 150g), cubed
2 litres vegetable stock
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp yellow miso paste

Method

1. Sauté the onions in a large soup pot over a medium-low heat. When they start to colour, add the peppers, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, bok choy whites, and chilis.
2. When the vegetables have started to soften, add the tofu, stock, and soy sauce.
3. Don’t bring the soup to a boil; instead, allow it to simmer over a low heat for about 5 minutes.
4. Add the bok choy and the miso, and stir. Simmer for two minutes more.

Parsnip, ginger and miso soup

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A rich and filling soup for winter, garnished with smokey bourbon and brown sugar coconut, spinach chiffonade and black pepper.

Ingredients

For the soup
2T cooking oil
1/4t coarse sea salt
1T fresh garlic, minced
2T fresh ginger, minced
3 cups parsnip, 1/2″ dice (about 4-5 cored parsnips)
1T lemon juice
2 cups unsweetened soy milk
2 cups vegetable stock
1T white miso
2T nutritional yeast
1T tapioca starch dissolved in 2T cold water
1/2 cup baby spinach
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

For the coconut
3T coconut flakes
1T bourbon (1)
1/2T tamari
1/2t brown sugar (2)
A dash liquid smoke
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Directions

First, core and dice the parnship.
Bring the oil to heat with 1/4t sea salt in a large pan with a lid on medium high.
Add the garlic and ginger and fry for 2 minutes until they’re aromatic.
Add the parsnip, and fry for 4-6 minutes, until the pan is starting to brown lightly.
Add the lemon juice to the pan and deglaze.
Add the soy milk, stock and miso.
Return to a simmer, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.
While the soup simmer, make the coconut.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Toss the coconut in the other ingredients until well-coated.
Arrange the coconut in a a small glass or ceramic baking dish in an even layer.
Bake on the middle rack until brown, about 10-12 minutes, stirring here and there. Ovens vary; use the
color and dryness as a guide and be careful not to overcook.
When ready, remove the coconut from the oven and set aside.
When the soup is ready, remove it from heat.
Add the nutritional yeast.
Puree the ingredients.
Return to a light simmer.
Stirring continuously, add the tapioca solution to the pan, stirring until thick.
Remove from heat, and let stand 10 minutes to cool.
Season to taste, and ladle into bowls.
Garnish with a few grinds of fresh black pepper, 2-3 whole spinach leaves, 2-3T spinach chiffonade and
coconut.

  1. It’s rare that bourbon is manufactured with animal
    products, but some are.
  2. An increasing amount of cane sugar is made without animal bone charcoal. Organic cane sugar, beet sugar, and otherwise unrefined sugars are typically fine.