Easy Vegan Recipes: Oat Cookies, Fried Capsicums with Tomato Sauce, and Stewed Leeks, Carrots and Kidney Beans

This week I'm focussing on easy vegan recipes. First we have something sweet, and then two recipes for quick lunches or dinners.

Looking for something to snack on? The recipe for these great oat cookies originally comes from Food Not Bombs and is available through the Vegan Cuisine Cookbook on Wikibooks. This is the simplest cookie recipe I've ever made, but the results are delicious. I don't like my cookies very sweet, so I halved the sugar.

This Turkish side of fried capsicums with tomato sauce from Twins in Kitchen is extremely easy. It's done in 15 minutes and goes well with any Mediterranean dinner. I also like to eat at as a quick snack with some bread.

Last but not least, we have this dish of stewed leeks, carrots and kidney beans in tahini sauce. It makes a good pairing for the capsicums, but can also stand alone. It's simple to prepare but complexly flavoured and delicious.

What are your favourite quick and easy vegan recipes? What do you make when you feel uninspired but want something good to eat?

Leeks, Carrots and Kidney Beans in Tahini Sauce

This combination of leeks, carrots and kidney beans looks unassuming, but has a deep rich flavour from the tahini. It makes a lovely Turkish meal when combined with another easy side, like capsicums in tomato sauce.

 

Leeks, Carrots and Kidney Beans in Tahini Sauce

Serves 2 as a side
Closely based on this recipe

Ingredients

2 carrots
1 leek
1 tbsp tomato paste
250 ml water
1 (400 g) can kidney beans
3 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp lemon juice

Method

1. Chop the carrots and leek. Heat an oiled pot over medium heat. Fry the carrots for a few minutes. Add the leeks, tomato paste and water and stir well. Put the lid on and simmer until the vegetables are tender. Drain and rinse the beans and mix them in.

2. Salt well. Mix together the tahini and lemon juice. Spoon over the top of the vegetables. Close the lid and let rest for a few minutes before serving.

Best Dinner Recipes

I really enjoy trying out recipes from other blogs, so I thought I'd write a best-of. These are the best dinners I've cooked and managed to take a photo of in the last few weeks. First up: Better-than-Tuna salad on The Fig Tree, originally from The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. This salad is great on sandwiches, in pitas or on its own. It's also a great way to get your veggies - it's full of celery, capsicum and carrots.

I also recently made this Sambar from Hungry Desi, a food blog full of delicious-looking and mostly vegan recipes. You can put nearly any vegetable you like in your sambar. I used onions this time and it was very good.

And because the recipes on Hungry Desi are just that appealing, I made another one, Kadai Tofu. It was wonderfully spicy and flavourful. I replaced the milk with soy milk. I expect a little coconut milk would also work great.

That's all for this week, hope you enjoyed the recipes! Let me know if you try any of them out.

German Pea, Carrot and Sausage Stew

This is an easy vegan Eintopf (one-pot, the German word for stew). It's simple but tasty and satisfying. Highly recommended for chilly days with some toast on the side to soak up the juices.

German Pea, Carrot and Sausage Stew

Serves 2
Adapted lightly from this recipe, in German

Ingredients

120 ml whole dried peas
1 onion
2 carrots
2 potatoes
500 ml vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
salt, pepper and cider vinegar
a few vegan sausages (optional)

Method

1. Soak the peas overnight. Cook until done (how long this takes will vary with the dryness of your peas). Drain and set aside.

2. Dice the onion, carrots and potato. Heat oil in a pan and fry the onion and carrots over medium heat until the onion is soft.

3. Add the potatoes, stock and bay leaf. Bring to the boil and simmer until the potatoes are done, about 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and season with salt, pepper and a glug of vinegar.

4. Chop up the sausages, add them to the pot, and cook for a few minutes to warm.

Delicious Kimchi Recipes: Part 1

So you made some vegan kimchi last week. Now what should you use it for? Well, you could eat it straight, or you could make one of these great recipes. Kimchi-based recipes taste complex, but are usually quick and easy. So if you find yourself wanting to get dinner on the table fast, it helps if you have some kimchi in the fridge.

Firstly, if you haven't had kimchi before, this kimchi fried rice (with the bacon and egg omitted) is a great introduction. It's tasty and comes together very fast if you have leftover rice.

Or, if you're in more of a mac and cheese mood, you could cook up a creamy pan of kimchi mac & shews, by replacing the sauerkraut with kimchi. Add some more chili flakes if you want this to have a kick - the kimchi doesn't make it very spicy. Warning: this recipe, although wonderful, does take some time to make.

If you're feeling the cold and want a bowl of spicy stew, this kimchi jjigae along with some rice might hit the spot. It's my favourite winter meal, and, best of all, it comes together in less than half an hour, since we don't have to cook the meat. You'll end up with more than you see in my picture - this is the pot minus one serving, and I was a bit short on kimchi.

Looking for more Korean recipes?

Jjajangmyun (Korean-Chinese Black Bean Noodles)

Easy Vegan Kimchi (Mak Kimchi)