By Kathryn McLean
Are you trying to eat a vegetarian meal each week? Or cut back on the amount of meat you have in your diet? Maybe you have a friend or relative who is vegetarian and you’re not sure what to cook for them.
Vegetarian main courses are simpler and more common than you might think. Sure, you can Google vegetarian recipes and look through cookbooks and magazines for ideas. But you probably already know a bunch of vegetarian meals.
Let’s start with pasta. Pasta with tomato sauce. And vodka sauce, pesto or creamy Alfredo sauce. Even standard macaroni and cheese is vegetarian. If you want to make the dish more filling, try any of those simple sauces with cheese-filled ravioli or tortellini.
You can also add cooked vegetables to many pasta dishes. Try sautéed mushrooms with a cream sauce, or roasted peppers with your tomato sauce. Add a salad and/or plate of cheese and crackers and olives as sides.
And how about egg dishes? Scrambled eggs and fried egg sandwiches are simple and filling. Add potatoes and salad to fill out your meal. Omelets, quiche and frittata can also be vegetarian entrees. Again, serve with veggie or grain salad.
Pizza has endless vegetarian possibilities. Soups, veggie fried rice, Indian curries, falafel, and noodle dishes (aside from pasta) are all vegetarian.
You can easily make many dishes vegetarian by simply leaving out the meat, or trying vegetarian versions. Tacos can be made with seasoned beans. Burgers can be made with meatless patties from the supermarket, homemade veggie patties with nuts or lentils, or large portobello mushrooms.
How about a chickpea and sweet potato stew with raisins and warm spices? Serve it with rice, couscous, quinoa, mashed potatoes, crusty bread, or even a small pasta. Include a fresh salad, too, if you like.
Here’s the guideline for it. This should make 4-6 servings as a main entree.
Chickpea and Sweet Potato Stew
Ingredients:
1-2 tablespoons olive oil (or similar)
1 onion
1-2 celery stalks
1-2 carrots
1 sweet potato (medium-large)
1 large potato (white or yellow fleshed), optional
1 can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
½ cup raisins (or other dried fruits like currants or cranberries; if using apricots, prunes or dried apples, chop them small into raisin-sized pieces)
1 tsp each cumin and cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
Salt and pepper
Fresh cilantro (optional)
Directions:
Finely chop the onion and celery
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot over low heat and add the onion and celery; sprinkle with a pinch of salt and stir to coat the vegetables in the oil and salt.
While the onion and celery cook, peel and chop the sweet potato and potato (if using) into 1-inch cubes; add to the pot and stir to coat.
As the vegetables cook, drain and rinse the chickpeas.
Add the chickpeas to the pot, along with the raisins and spices.
If the ingredients seem too dry, add another spoonful of oil.
Stir everything together, and add 3 cups of cold water.
Bring to a boil, then reduce and cover; cook the stew at a simmer for 20 minutes.
The potatoes should be easy to pierce with a fork; if they are too hard, continue cooking, checking every 5 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.
If you like fresh cilantro, stir ¼ cup chopped cilantro (leaves and stems) into the stew, and serve with additional chopped herbs on each dish.