Indian food is a long-time favorite in our house. The whole family is in love with the smell these wonderful spices spread through the house while cooking. It’s really healthy food for your body and soul. Also the variety of vegan recipes is huge, and many others can easily be adapted to be vegan. For the following recipe, I used organic red lentils and fresh curcuma root, but you can also use curcuma powder if you can’t find the fresh one. Lentils are known for their great nutritional value and high content of protein, which is not only valuable for vegetarians and vegans, but important for any healthy diet. Those tiny round legumes in combination with curcuma and ginger will nourish your body at its best.
This vegan side dish is full of flavors and contains powerful ingredients such as red quinoa, herbs, and eggplant, which will help your body to stay healthy and energized. Eggplant, my husband’s favorite vegetable, belongs to the nightshade family like tomatoes and bell peppers and is well known for its unique taste and texture. Every time I prepare this dark purple vegetable, my husband will smell it right away and walk by with a huge smile. It not only brings happiness to people who love eggplant, it also contains health-improving components such as fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants.
Have you ever heard of salicornia? Salicornia is a nutritious sea vegetable, also called sea beans or sea asparagus. It is a plant that grows in salty soil in shallow water along the shore. Its taste is crisp and crunchy with an intensely salty flavor. It’s high in protein and also a good source of vitamin A, calcium, and iron. You can eat it raw in a salad, steamed, or stir fried, like in my recipe. Make sure to not add extra salt when cooking with salicornia as it’s salty enough. Here I used coconut aminos instead of soy sauce to avoid making it too salty.
Potatoes or sweet potatoes are always a delicious gluten-free side dish. You can serve them in many ways, for example, baked, pureed, fried, or boiled. In this recipe, I spiraled the potatoes and baked them with the skin in the oven. This makes the outside edges very crispy and taste almost like potato chips, while the inside has a delicious soft and almost creamy texture. I created this recipe as a side dish for my Easter recipe Herb Crusted Lamb with Carrots and Broccolini.
There are many ways to prepare cauliflower, but have you ever tried preparing a whole roasted cauliflower? This is a vegan side dish which is not only an amazing eye catcher, it’s also prepared with a lot of healthy ingredients. When it’s ready to serve, just slice it at the table like a cake.
