Eating vegan is easier in Asia
Food really does taste better in Thailand
Halfway up a mountain in Austria I found myself moaning in ecstasy. It was 10 am and I was digging into my first mouthful of salad in a week and, despite the ridiculous lake of dressing pooling beneath the lettuce, the experience was still heavenly. After a week of dense, meaty stews and the impossibility of avoiding cheese, my gums were sore, my guts were in knots and my mind lost in a fuzzy grey fog. Much as I adore the alpine lifestyle, I really struggle with the alpine diet.
The calorie-dense mountain fare ubiquitous across northern Europe makes sense of the historical harshness of the climate. You need to look towards the balmy tropics where fragrance and flavour are more important than packing in the calories.
Adopting a low meat diet has been made so much easier since I’ve adapted my meal plans towards Asian dishes. The greatest discovery my wife and I made was that chicken, pork or beef does nothing to add flavour to our favourite Thai and Chinese dishes. Here are a few dishes I have discovered that are even more delicious when you take the meat out:
Chinese style noodles: it’s all in the sauce
My wife has been making these noodles for years because the sauce is so good and was first to observe that the dish was never improved with the addition of meat.
“Chicken tastes like an unnecessary distraction, honey.”
This is impressive coming from a woman who views vegan food with suspicion and tofu like a poisonous substrate.
Creating the sauce from scratch is super simple. Grate garlic, chilli and ginger into a pool of soy sauce, honey and rice wine vinegar. This mixture smells amazing… but then you rack it up several notches by adding chunky peanut butter. Divine.
From this base, add noodles, top with a twist of lime and throw in some sesame seeds for crunch. Including vegetables will elevate this meal beyond a simple carb load but the important takeaway is that adding pork, chicken or beef does nothing to improve this meal. This is carby comfort food at its best.
Thai curry: aromatic flavours and rich coconut milk
This is the queen of all dinners.
Rich, silky coconut milk, mysterious Thai paste (I say this as I get it out of a jar) and a leafy green (like spinach or bok choy) make the base from which you can experiment. Tofu, sweet potato, fresh chillis, peppers, beans sprouts or any other vegetable can be added to keep this dish continually new.
The secret to the success of this dish is, again, the flavours. Adding a fresh wedge of lime to complete the dish.
Korean broth: the spice of life
This little product has changed my lunch breaks. Add a spoonful to a pan of water, chuck in handfuls of any veg you can find in the fridge (spinach, carrot and field mushrooms being my favourite go-to’s) and finish with a slab of noodles from the cupboard. An insanely tasty hot lunch bowl in under ten minutes. Tasty, filling, full of vitamins and only a few hundred calories.
These recipes all come down to a single observation: that if you get the sauce and flavours right, then adding flesh doesn’t add anything to the meal.
Side notes
- All of the above recipes include noodles of one form or another. The sauces, however, can be adapted for rice or just a heck load of veg on their own.
- Another growing favourite of mine is an adapted rice and peas recipe with an Asian twist: replace kidney beans with edamame beans and flavour with ketjap manis.
