Something for Vegetarians

Last Friday, I explored the wonders of $3 mince and how to stretch it over 4 delicious meals. This week, I'm going totally vegetarian to show you the yummy alternatives to meat dishes.

Vegetarian meals are often given a bad reputation for being bland and/or complicated. To be sure, I stayed well away from veggie recipes early in my student days because they all looked awfully boring or involved quinoa (which I still don't know how to pronounce properly). So here's some proper tasty veggie meals that will make you wonder why you still need meat. 

The following recipe is delicious hot or cold, capable of feeding a family but perfect for leftover-lunches.

Roast Vegetable Frittata

Feeds: Myself and Hungry Boyfriend with leftovers for lunch.

Cooking Time: 1 hour

Total Cost: $4.35

Ingredients:
- 1 large potato (40c)
- 1/2 sweet potato (70c)
- 1/2 red capsicum (25c)
- 1 zucchini (70c)
- 4 eggs ($1.20)
- 1 cup milk (25c - $1/L)
- 1/2 cup cottage cheese (75c - $3/500g tub)*
- Handful of chopped sage and mint (free)
- Salt and pepper, to taste (less than 5c)
- Splash of oil (less than 5c)


Method:
1. Chop vegetable into small, bite-sized chunks.
2. Toss chunks in a mixing bowl with a splash of oil and sprinkle in salt and pepper. Lay veggies out on a baking tray and bake at 200 degrees C for 20 minutes or until just cooked.
3. Beat the eggs, milk, herbs and cheese together and pour into a greased baking tin (preferably a loaf tin or smallish cake tin) with the cooked veggies.
4. Bake at 180 degrees C for 30 - 40 minutes or until set.

*Note: Ricotta or cream cheese is nicer, but cottage cheese works well for less. 

The next one is a dish I stole modified from 'My Kitchen Rules'. The original was made by Jenna and Joanna with white wine and fancy Parmesan crisps. Unfortunately, I drank all my wine whilst cooking and couldn't manage cheesy crisps from my powdered Parmesan, so here's the result!

Pumpkin, Pea and Corn Risotto

Feeds: Myself and Hungry Boyfriend lunch for about 3 days. 

Cooking Time: 30 - 40 minutes

Total Cost: $4.65

Ingredients:
- 400g pumpkin ($1.70)
- 1/2 brown onion (35c)
- 2 cloves garlic (15c)
- 1 cup aborio (risotto) rice (75c - $3/kg)
- 4 cups (1L) chicken or vegetable stock ($1.20)
- 6 sage leaves (free from my pot plant)
- 1 cup frozen peas and corn (30c)
- 2 tablespoons butter (less than 10c)
- A few shakes of powdered Parmesan (less than 10c)

Method:
1. Chop pumpkin into small, bite-sized chunks. Finely chop onion, garlic and sage leaves.
2. Melt butter in a large saucepan and gently cook onion, garlic and pumpkin until onion is soft.

3. Add chicken stock, rice and sage leaves. Simmer for 10 - 15 minutes.
4. When rice has almost absorbed all the stock, stir in the frozen peas and corn. Simmer for 5 - 10 more minutes.
5. When rice has completed absorbed all the stock (you should be feeling the rice catch on the bottom of the saucepan when it's completely done), stir in Parmesan and serve.

And finally, a meal that's not only vegetarian, but vegan too! It's also the cheapest recipe here, earning extra brownie points. Unfortunately, this amazing concoction is not my own, but taken from 'A Girl Called Jack' cooking blog. It's pure genius and I highly recommend everyone check it out on  http://agirlcalledjack.com/. In my own version, I've substituted apricots for sultanas (my all-time favourite study snack) and coriander for mint. As I mentioned in my earlier post, the reason for this is that coriander is extremely difficult to grow whereas mint is stupidly easy. Enjoy!

Vegan Chickpea Curry

Feeds: Myself and Hungry Boyfriend two helpings each (it's pretty darn tasty!)

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Total Cost: $2.30

Ingredients:
- 400g tin chickpeas (80c)
- 1/2 brown onion (35c)
- 2 cloves garlic (15c)
- 2 chillies (free from my pot plant)
- 400g tin diced tomatoes (80c)
- Small handful sultanas (less than 5c - $3.80/kg)
- Sprinkle cumin (less than 5c)
- Sprinkle vegetable stock powder or a dash liquid stock (less than 5c)
- Handful chopped mint leaves (free from my pot plant)

- 1 cup rice, cooked with 2 cups boiling water in the microwave for 10 minutes ($2.60/kg - you can figure it out!)

Method:
1. Chop onion, garlic and chillies. Heat oil in a saucepan and fry gently until onion is soft.
2. Add cumin and sultanas.
3. Add tomatoes and chickpeas to the pan.
4. Stir in mint leaves and vegetable stock.
5. Bring to the boil and simmer until the sauce is a desirable consistency (not too watery, you want to be able to see the chickpeas poking out of the top).
6. Serve over cooked rice.

Stay tuned for more yummy recipes, I'm trying out all my winter warmers this week so they should be up sometime next week!

Lots of Love,
(broke) Masterchef Mel