Recipes: Sides and Sauces

It's always nice and adds colour and variety to have side dishes and sauces. Some mains just wouldn't be the same without them. So here are some ideas. Some of these would double well as part of starters too.

Sides

tasty leaves

You will not believe how more-ish lettuce is with this dressing.

  • ingredients: washed salad leaves, 1 cup of yeast flakes, lots of avocado/olive oil, generous sprinkling of tamari (or soya sauce if have to)
  • mix all together and serve.

vegan Yorkshire pudding

great with a roast or patties (e.g. lentil or TVP), gravy and roast veg. Would also work filled with roast veg and vegan mayo or gravy as a starter. Recipe from Diane on WVD website.

  • ingredients: 4oz Self Raising Flour, pinch of salt, 1 tsp lemon juice (fresh or bottle), 1/4 pt Plain Soya Yoghurt, 1/4 pt Unsweetened Soya Milk
  • Sieve the flour and whisk in the lemon juice, yoghurt and milk, add a drop of extra soya milk to make the mix slightly runny if necessary, and bake it in a muffin tray, which makes about 7 Yorkshires.

mashed potato

  • mash cooked potatoes with a selection of: olive oil, marg, soya cream/milk, seasoning
  • for a special touch, mix in plenty of coarsely chopped watercress just before serving.

guacamole

  • ingredients:soft avocados, lemon juice, seasoning, optional coriander leaves
  • blend together
  • serve as starter, or with veggie chilli

Sauces

satay sauce

  • ingredients:jar of peanut butter, apple/pineapple juice, olive/sunflower oil, 3-4 tablespoons tomato ketchup or BBQ sauce, ginger grated or powder, finely chopped fresh garlic, mixed spices, chilli/pepper
  • heat and blend. Add more juice and maybe water to thin as necessary
  • serve with any savoury where it makes sense, such as tofu and vegetable kebabs or salad (gado gado)

cheezy gravy

Another one from the IVU website. You could alternatively just use vegetable stock and thicken it with flour (e.g. corn flour). Some regular gravy mixes are vegan anyway. If you are a chef and don't want to ski today, you might enjoy making your own out of real vegetables.

  • ingredients: 1/2 cup Nutritional yeast, 1/3 c Flour, 1/4 c Oil, 1 1/2 c Water, 1 TB Tamari, 1/2 its Garlic powder (or some crushed garlic), 1/4 its Paprika, 1/4 its Basil, 1/4 its Oregano
  • In a medium pot, combine yeast & flour. Place over low heat & stir till lightly toasted.
  • Add oil, stirring to make a thick batter.
  • Slowly add the water, stirring constantly until desired consistency is reached. You could use as little as 1 c or as much as 2 c.
  • Add remaining ingredients & stir well.

dairy-free creamy savoury sauces

There are several ways to make these, soI'm listing the main ones here, they vary in heaviness and richness, but all work well.

version 1 (Tony's)

  • ingredients: 1 cup warm (not boiled) sweetened soya milk, 1 cup sunflower oil, juice of 1/2 lemon
  • Blend together thoroughly with a hand blender (not a liquidiser)
  • Use on anything
  • experimental tip: for a soya-free version try using oat milk or rice milk.

version 2 (quick)

  • version 2 ingredients: soya cream, lemon juice and seasoning
  • Mix and pour generously over any dish that needs a creamy sauce.

version 3 (roux)

  • ingredients: olive oil, flour, soya milk
  • Make a roux by heating oil in a pan, mixing in enough flour to completely absorb the oil
  • Slowly add soya milk, stirring/whisking continuously over low heat.
  • The relative amounts of flour and soya milk will determine the thickness of the sauce.

seriously convincing egg-free mayo

version 1: Nigel's:

  • ingredients: sweetened soya milk, lemon juice, mild mustard, light vegetable oil. A good electric hand blender is also necessary.
  • Put 150 ml of soya milk, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of mild mustard (garlic optional) into an electric blender and whizz thoroughly.
  • Then with the motor running, steadily pour in a light vegetable oil. You should need about 225 ml. As soon as the mayo forms turn off the blender. If you keep it running you can break down the mayo.
  • The recipe may not work if the blender is old and the motor is weak.

version 1: Tony's:

  • ingredients: version 1 creamy sauce plus mustard and seasoning to taste
  • Blend

Use your mayo on salad or as company for any dish where mayonnaise would be nice, such as with curry powder (= tikka sauce) or tomato ketchup (= thousand island dressing).

dairy-free cheezy sauce

Use anywhere, e.g.. on pizza, lasagna, moussaka. Version 1 is the most cheesy.

version 1 (Tony's)

Might as well make a load of this at the beginning of the week, as you'll use it so much.

  • version 1 ingredients: creamy sauce version 1 (Tony's) above, 3-4 tablespoons yeast flakes, 2-3 tablespoons tomato ketchup, mustard to taste, 2 teaspoons yeast extract (e.g. Marmite or Meridian), 1 cooked potato or 1-2 tablespoons of potato flour / oatmeal
  • blend together
  • this is the best recipe for pizza cheezy sauce

version 2 (quick)

  • ingredients: carton of soya cream, 1 packet/jar plain tofu, juice of 1/2 lemon, 3-4 tablespoons yeast flakes, mustard to taste
  • blend/liquidise together

version 3 (cheesy roux)

  • version 3 ingredients: creamy sauce version 3 (roux) as above, yeast flakes & mustard to taste
  • Make a roux. Add remaining ingredients to taste.

Recipe Listings

Recipes are listed under breakfast ideas, starters, mains, sides and sauces, desserts and cakes. However, ideas can be mixed around between courses. More recipes will be added to each section as time goes on.