Meat alternative - and not tofu!

[anything4sushi]

I have a lot of vegan/vegetarian friends who can't eat my best dishes, the ones with meat. They also share an unusual distaste for tofu.

The only satisfactory substitute I know is Veat, but it's only sold at certain Whole Foods. Are there any other ways to help a meatless plate?

 

[Dave Hutchins]

Try a barley risotto stuffed Portable mushrooms with curried spinach or seasoned cabbage with caraway in a Filo dough pastry, A spinach and cauliflower strudel made with cream cheese. Ratatouille Thicken up with a touch of corn starch or tapioca flour.

 

[miniman]

It depends on the dish that you are making. You could use lentils for things like cottage pie etc. We also have a product over here called Quorn that you can get in a variety of shapes to sub into recipes.

 

[Barbara L]

We had some grilled portabellos at kitchenelf's house and they felt and tasted almost like we were eating tender steak. I have also seen pizza recipes where you use the portabello cap as the base of the pizza. They just put sauce, cheese, etc. on it and then broiled them.

Barbara

 

[vyapti]

I'm not sure if it's regional or not, but try to find Field Roast Wheat Meat. I tend not to like the processed meat analogues, but Field Roast makes some very good food out of seitan (vital wheat gluten). You can also get seitan for stir frys or fajitas. It's ok, but not great IMO. Field Roast (and probably other seitan) are also 100% vegan. Most products like Quorn or Morningstar are usually not.

Another option would be ethnic foods that are not reliant on meat, such as Indian, Thai, or, in many cases, Mediterranean.

 

[GotGarlic]

You can also fix portobellos like you would chicken marsala - brown in oil, then make a marsala sauce with the fond. Serve with eggless noodles on the side. HTH.

 

[Jeekinz]

Eggplant Parm

 

[Claire]

Already been said, but I agree with those saying portobellos. If you're looking for a substitute in bean, lentil or split pea soups or chili, grill eggplant, zuchini (aubergine & courgette for some of our friends), onions, mushrooms, etc, over a charcoal grill. When you make your soup/chili/stew you will have that nice smokey flavor you usually expect from ham or bacon.