Green dining room organized its first vegan cooking course also for the general public.
Although this project is primarily focused on university cafeterias, which we train or otherwise help them in including plant-based foods in their menu, on Sunday, December 11, 2022 we are in the Foodie culinary studio, in Hotel Senec they also taught me how to cook home cooks.
Lately we have been noticing increased interest people around us for inclusion more plant-based foods into their diet. The reasons are varied, from health, to ecological, to ethical. This trend is also followed by increased supply various herbal alternatives on the market and their availability in regular stores. And since people often they don't know, what plant-based dishes they could cook, we decided to give them a helping hand and to teach cook the following 4 dishes:
- Non-curing soup
- Carrot tofu meatballs
- Diabolical sautéed in a potato pancake
- Chocolate mousse from chickpea water (aquafaba)
Could those with conventional diets also come?
Although the course focused on vegan diet, was not intended only for vegans. On the contrary, our goal was to welcome everyonewho wants to do something for themselves health, for our planet and for animalsAnd so a group gathered for the course diverse peoplewho ate conventionally, but also vegetarian or vegan. Thanks to the mutual respect we created together friendly atmosphere and we spent together have a nice day.
Chicken-flavored broth
Although we were the first to prepare dessert – chocolate mousse made from chickpea aquafaba, the first meal we ate together was non-chicken soup. Of course, we had cooked the soup together or in pairs beforehand. And why did we want to imitate chicken taste? Because when switching to a plant-based diet, or when including more plant-based foods in our diet, it is good to start with good familiar flavors, but where animal meat we will replace it with a vegetable one component. It is recommended to replace for example one or two fleshy meals per week for net vegetable meals. And then gradually add. The probability that a person will remain with a widespread amount of plant-based food, it is much bigger.
If you are interested in how we achieved chicken flavor, so it was a combination herbs (thyme, rosemary, marjoram and sage), delicatessen yeast, turmeric and last but not least we added Goody Foody vegan balls.
The secret to juicy meatballs
We all know meatballs well and so do... simply can also be prepared from vegetable raw materials. During the course we learned together to prepare tofu carrot meatballs, where we used as the principal component Lunter smoked tofuWe grated the tofu and carrots on a coarse grater and used egg instead of the classic egg as a binder. oatmeal and ground flax seeds soaked in water. We seasoned the mixture and then formed the meatballs. Some participants decided to to fry in a pan and others baked them in the oven. And the juiciness was due to the flaxseed. When mixed with water, a slime was created that not only moistened the oatmeal, but also united the whole mass.
Learn more about tofu and its health benefits can be read in our article With tofu for health and longevity.
Forget about spongy soy meat
As the last recipe we cooked on the course deviled saute in a potato pancake. It was the most challenging dish because we had to prepare soy meat separately, devil's sauce separately and of course potato pancakes. Despite demands each serving succeeded and course participants enjoyed.
Soy meat However, there was no disgusting sponge in this recipe, as you may know it from the school cafeteria. Quite the opposite. In the course we used Racionella soy noodleswhich we first cooked in flavored water, then marinated and then they baked in the oven. Crispy We then mixed the soy noodles with deviled sauce and filled the potato pancakes.
More about soy meat and how to prepare it you will find out also in our article.
Course evaluation and what next?
We completed the entire course. a joint photo and they assessed that although it was challenging course and we cooked a lot of food, we were on our own proudwhat are we all they managed.
The vegan course was a very nice experience for me. It was a meeting of people who care about what they eat. We shared practical advice from vegan cuisine, e.g. vegans don't just eat potatoes with ketchup. I also learned about various vegan products that I had no idea about. I recommend this course to people who care about what they consume and it doesn't have to be just vegans. With our more moderate approach to eating, we can all contribute to the restoration of our planet.
Laura – vegan cooking course participant
We look forward to next course, which will take place at the end of January 2023, again in Hotel SenecOf course, with new delicious purely plant-based dishes.
Photo gallery from the entire course can be found here.
Acknowledgements
Thank you the main partner of the event, companies ALPHA VARIETY, producer of plant-based alternatives to the brand Goody Foody and Racionella and event partner, companies ALPHA BIO, producer of tofu and tofu spreads of the brand Lunt, for financial support of vegan cooking courses.
Author of the text: Lucy Trefná – coordinator of the Green Dining Room project
People photos by Adam Balogh
Author of the eating photos: Lucy Trefná
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