Like any other food, the quality of the food and the cook determine how good it is for the most part. Vegan is over the top for me, but I’ve had some great vegetarian dishes.
The above example of chole/chana masala is a great example of a vegan dish that knocks it out of the park, and you don’t miss at all that there are no eggs or dairy in it (ovo-lacto vegetarian.) Similarly, Turkish red lentil soup on vegetable broth is vegan and yummy as all get-out, or at least is to me. (Though that one is better on chicken stock, I must admit.) Vegan would be tough for me to do for an extended period of time, but I could last a while.
That reminds me of another style of largely vegan ethnic cuisine I could happily eat on a regular basis if I was to become vegan-- Ethiopian. We have a couple Ethiopian restaurants in the area that my wife and I love. It consists of a number of vegetable and meat sides, eaten with a type of bread called injera. The meat sides are very much a minor player to the vegetable sides. My favorite Ethiopian side dish, which is really easy to make at home, is Misir Wat:
The injera, unfortunately, is not too easy to make at home, but you could substitute pita bread.
ETA: that recipe is traditionally made with niter kibbeh, which is clarified butter, so lacto-vegetarian rather than vegan. But you could probably substitute olive oil or similar.
That, and the pragmatic reason that at this point in my life I have trouble chewing most meats. I like the flavors, I like to get the protein, but too often it means chewing bites till I’ve extracted as much as I can and then discarding what I can’t further process. For example, the Morningstar riblets weren’t as enjoyable as real short ribs, but were easier to chew thoroughly enough to swallow all of each bite.
Sucks to get old, but here I am.
ETA: Can’t eat Indian food. Something in it hates me and doesn’t want to stay eaten.
Some regions in India are very much vegetarian. Others not so much. Certainly there is no shortage of vegetarian dishes to be had from India that are delicious.
Yes, of course. But the point is that there’s a lot of Indian meals that are not meat centric, so someone attempting to go vegetarian doesn’t have to eat something ersatz like tofurkey.
I’m not sure that’s actually vegan, given the presence of brown sugar, but it is vegetarian.
Doesn’t really matter to me how you define it, since I’m not going wholly in either direction. I just want to expand my choices of prepared foods (I don’t cook, remember?) into that area.
And folks, please, it doesn’t matter how good Indian food is, I. Can’t. Eat. It. Chinese, Thai, no problem, but not Indian. I live where Italian and Chinese/Thai restaurants (where I can get takeout) are about as exotic as it gets, and any other ethnic options I’d have to forage from a supermarket.
Okay but the information about Indian food may help others.
Vegan here and agree about not thinking of foods as substitutes; I recently had imitation scrambled eggs* and thought it was awful until I just thought of it as a yellow condiment – then it went down fine.
OTOH I disagree with the standard memes about the silliness of vegan burgers and sausages – it’s not a desire to eat meat, it’s a desire to buy something that will fit in a burger bun and go well with salad and ketchup.
* …by mistake. I ordered a vegan breakfast, and didn’t notice that there was egg in the picture or register that that entailed egg substitute.
Some Chinese restaurants have vegan options now but sounds like such a restaurant would be difficult to find where you are.
At least Chinese and Thai tend to use meat and poultry as just one ingredient in most dishes, rather than the bulk of them.
Right, Just for kicks i went Vegetarian for a few months- and as long as I got cheese, I was fine. Pasta with marinara sauces. Grilled cheese sandwiches. Eggs. Cheese based lasagna. I didnt do any meat substitutes. Only thing I “cheated on” was sushi, which I only had like once every two weeks anyway, so maybe you’d call it pescatarian.
That’s interesting that you can’t do Indian food but Thai is no problem. So, it must not be capsaicin spice that disagrees with you. I wonder if you’re allergic to (or just can’t stand the flavor of) one of the spices typically found in Indian food but not so much in Thai or Chinese, like cumin or turmeric. Otherwise, Indian, Thai and Chinese share a lot of the same ingredients: alliums, bell and chili peppers, ginger, etc.
Maybe tomatoes could be a culprit too, since you see them in Indian food a lot but not really Thai or Chinese. But tomatoes are common enough that if you had an issue with them you’d probably already be aware of it.
Whatever the ingredient that bothers me so badly is, it’s in curry. I had curry in an Indian restaurant and actually had to vomit a couple hours later. Sometime well after that, I had a meal in a high-end fusion restaurant that included one item with a very mild amount of curry, and felt queasy afterwards though not outright right out. I’ve avoided curry ever since, including in Thai food or any other cuisine. Anything that says it’s curried, I do not eat.
Tomatoes? No way, I love Italian!
OK, for vegetarian and super tasty, but not Indian, look to Eastern Mediterranean - which round these parts (UK) means primarily Greek, Turkish, Lebanese. (An opinion - work your way round from Greece to Lebanon and for many dishes the major change is just the name). There’s a long tradition of no-meat dishes - these days I can’t eat red meat and Mrs T doesn’t like it, so this cuisine is one of our staples.
I suggest, as you don’t want to cook, check out ready meal suppliers to see who carries these and give them a go - work your way thru the vegetarian options and see what you like. Same for restaurants. There are some things I can find in restaurants that I’ve never seen in a ready meal - eg Imam Bayildi (eggplant), Menemen (eggs), Gözleme (stuffed flatbread), Zeytinyağlı Bamya (stewed okra) to name a few - but you do see them in restaurants, so it’s worth looking out for them (these happen to be the Turkish names).
Just googling turkish vegetarian dishes returned this as hit number one.
Try googling a few of the names. I would hazard that there’s someone near you who would be happy to take your order.
Is this the one that is basically lentils and a carrot? I made that (pressured into it by my niece, who lives in Turkey) - it sounds utterly bland but I couldn’t believe the flavors. Who would have thought?
j
Kind of, but there’s more in it. There’s also a potato in it for extra body and spices like cumin and coriander. Some tomato paste (not required.) Oh, and Aleppo pepper. Finish with lemon and a little mint when serving. That final touch really does it for me.
Aside from the potato, that’s the one!
j
Yeah, I’m sure there’s dozens of variations. The potato is certainly not crucial. Looking online, I see plenty of versions without potato. That just happens to be the recipe I use.
India is a giant country with a very very diverse set of cuisines. It’s not all “curries”.