Welcome to the vegan corner.
Is it possible to prepare food in advance that
is cheap, alarmingly good,
and healthy at the same time?
Well, that’s exactly what we are going to do, so stay
glued to the screen and keep your eyes peeled!
In this episode we are going to prepare beetroot-flavoured
(and coloured) bulgur wheat,
a luscious sriracha vegetable stir-fry,
a squash and red lentil curry,
and some crystallised nuts that I’m
sure you will absolutely love.
Let’s get things done!
We picked bulgur wheat as a
grain for this meal prep,
and you can cook it as instructed on the packet.
What we like to do is to use the absorption method
and replace half of the cooking
liquid with beetroot juice:
it adds extra nutrition, flavour, and loads of
colour to the grains, which never hurts!
Can’t find bulgur wheat? No worries!
Pick another grain, and substitute half
of the water of the recipe with beetroot,
carrot or any other brightly coloured juice. If you
use grains that need to be boiled,
you can still use this technique; reserve the
cooking water after draining the grains,
and use it for the next recipe in line, which
is the squash and lentil curry.
How is that for a tip?
To begin with the curry, place a saucepan over a
medium heat, tip in the oil and the garlic,
and gently fry it until slightly golden in
colour. Now, add in the onions, stir,
and cook them until just translucent. Next,
add in the paprika and the curry powder,
and stir them in.
Once the spices have been mixed in,
add the lentils to the pan, stir,
and then tip in the diced squash. We used a
mixture of squashes and pumpkins here,
just to prove that they all work beautifully.
Now, pour in the water, add the tomato paste,
and stir once again to complete the
“adding and stirring process”.
At this point, bring the liquid to the boil,
turn the heat down to the minimum,
cover the pan with the lid, and cook the ingredients
for 20 minutes to complete the recipe.
There is no need to stir during the cooking time,
but if you are really that curious,
you are allowed to lift the lid for a few
seconds at any point in time,
to check if the ingredients are happy.
They generally are anyway!
Once the cooking time has elapsed, turn off the heat, add
in the garam masala and the chopped coriander, and stir.
Leave the flavours to get to know each
other for about 15 minutes off the heat,
and after that you’ll find yourself in
front of one of the easiest
and most rewarding pumpkin curries
you’ve ever tasted – I promise!
For the vegetable stir-fry, place a pan over a medium heat,
tip in oil, and gently fry the cumin until fragrant.
Next, add in the ginger and cook it
until it starts to change colour,
which should take 1 or 2 minutes.
Next, add in the carrots, the peppers,
the broccoli, and the water,
and sauté the ingredients for roughly
6 or 7 minutes, stirring regularly.
Make sure to keep some extra water to hand,
just in case the amount used evaporates faster than
expected, as water can be temperamental at times.
Once the vegetables are almost ready, add in the spring
onions and the sriracha sauce and stir them in.
We like to add the onions toward the end, so that
they retain more of their natural crunch.
Now, we are going to continue with the
cooking process for another 2 minutes,
and that is all there is to it. The use of
sriracha and cumin together,
creates a very interesting flavour combination that
really marries well with the vegetables we used.
And now, let’s get to the crystallised nuts.
For the crystallised nuts, start by adding the
sugar into a saucepan, followed by water.
Next, turn on the heat to medium, and stir the ingredients
until a syrup is formed and it starts boiling.
You want to bring the syrup to 135°C
before adding in the nuts.
However, if you don’t have a food thermometer,
simply wait for the syrup to start to change colour.
As soon as you perceive a slight change in hue,
throw in the nuts and start stirring.
You will see that within seconds, the sugar will begin to
crystallise around the nuts, coating them to perfection.
These nuggets of flavour make
a fantastic quick sugar fix,
and also the sense of achievement that comes
from making them is simply unparalleled.
During the preparation we added
no extra salt whatsoever,
apart from the one in the sriracha, so make sure to
taste the dishes, and to tune them to your taste buds.
Alternatively, simply pack some salt with you,
and sprinkle it over the food before eating it.
If you follow these recipes, you will obtain
four meals of 600kcal each,
but if you feel that this is not
enough for you, or too much,
make sure to scale the recipe to
meet your personal needs.
We hope you enjoyed this video,
which was just the first of a series of authentic
meal prep videos we will share this year.
We are also about to publish a mini-series
on meal prep tips and guidelines,
which will change the way you look at
preparing food in advance forever.
And If you are still glued to the screen, you
can now go back to your normal life,
and thank you very much for watching.
