#vegan recipes

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Ingredients

• Pastry (If you’re in NZ and need gluten free, pavillion does one, you can get it from countdown. New Way does a non gluten free puff pastry that’s awesome, available from countdown and Pak n Save)
• A block of firm tofu (2 if you don’t want to use vegetables) You could swap out the tofu entirely for vegetables but it will change the flavour.
• 1 can of plain chopped tomatoes or puree (can be substituted for tomato paste, but use half as much)
• A good splash of soy sauce
• ¼ cup brewers yeast
• Sundried tomatoes (pams is the best brand). You can do without these but I really think they make the flavour.
• Kalamata olives (delmaine is good) You can do without these but I really think they make the flavour.
• Flour (can be gluten free)

Optional

• Whatever vegetables you have spare. I like eggplant, zucchini, spinach, and kale. Be aware that carrot will likely change the taste so use sparingly until you know what you like.
• Vegetable stock - this is ideal if you want a ‘meatier’ tasting filling (massel does a FODMAP friendly veggie stock)
• Dairy free cheese (zenzo chedder is good, if you want something creamier and milder the dairy free mozarellas are good). Plain hummus or one of my cheese sauce recipes will also do fine.
• Cumin seeds
• Ground coriander
• Herbs, fresh is ideal but dried is fine. I like basil, coriander, oregano, and chives (chives are good if you want a more onion/garlic flavour)
• White or apple cider vinegar
• Hot sauce - I like chipotle, it’s not too hot and it adds a smokey flavour.
• Another can of tinned tomatoes
• Chunky vegetables (pies, carrot, corn etc)

1. Method
2. Chop up the tofu and/or vegetables, and the olives and sundried tomatoes. It’s a good idea to either press or freeze/squeeze the tofu so it can soak up the flavours of the broth (see my earlier post about freezing tofu to make pressing super easy). If you feel like it, just run the tofu and vegetables through the food processor till they have a vaguely mince like texture. Don’t mince up any vegetables you want to keep whole (like peas and corn etc).
3. Throw the 'mince’, any other vegetables, and the cumin seeds (if you’re using them) in a frying pan or wok. You can use regular oil but I like to use some of the spare oil from the sundried tomatoes. Stirfry everything for ten minutes or so.
4. Add a good splash of soy sauce (more if you want a meaty flavour, less if you don’t) and the brewers yeast and stir them in really well.  Now is also a good time to add the ground coriander if you’re using it. Stirfry for another ten minutes. If the mixture starts to stick or clump up, add a splash of white or apple cider vinegar, it’ll deglaze the pan and add a bit of bite to the mixture.
5. Now add the tomatoes, if you want a strong tomato flavour add two cans. If you’re using it, add the made up stock. This will add quite a bit of moisture to the mix.
6. Let the mixture simmer for about ten minutes, then taste test. If the flavour is a bit too mild, add a quarter cup of the brine from the kalamata olives and test again. If you want more flavour, add hot sauce slowly until the taste is about right.
7. Add the chopped herbs and stir them in. Let the mixture simmer for ten minutes. If it gets too dry, add a bit of water, what you’re looking for is the pieces of tomato to be getting soft and mushy.
8. When you’re sick of waiting, or the tomato chunks are mushy, add a few tablespoons of flour (and more water if needed) and stir in well to make a thick gravy around the 'mince’.
9. While the mixture is simmering, preheat the oven to 180C and roll out or cut your pastry, then line a pie dish (use oil if it isn’t non stick) with it (you can also cheat and use muffin trays for small pies but it’s a bit fiddly). If you want to, brush the inside of the pastry with oil to keep it from getting soggy (I don’t usually bother). When the mixture is ready, spoon it into the pastry, then add slices of dairy free cheese on top or your preferred “cheese” mix. Dab a bit of water around the edges, and put the pastry lid on, smooshing the pastry together as you go.
10. Brush the top with oil, stab a few holes in it. Bake at 180C until the top turns golden brown. It’s nice hot or cold, but when it’s hot the cheese melts through the mince.

Base:

Cheating - buy a box of gluten free chocolate brownie mix

Or -

• 1 cup of gluten free flour (you can use wheat flour if you want)
• 2 tablespoons of ground linseed/flaxeseed
• 3 tablespoons of oil
• ¼ cup of almond or soy milk (others are fine too)
• ¼ cup cocoa powder (you can also leave this out and have a vanilla flavoured base)
• ¼ cup soft brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• A pinch of salt

Optional

• Cinnamon
• Dessicated coconut
• Ground almonds, walnuts etc

Mousse

• x2 Silken tofu (this stuff: https://www.morinu.com/)
• 1 block of whittakers plain dark chocolate (50% or higher is fine). You can use baking chocolate but it isn’t as good. If you can’t get whittakers, aim for a good quality block of 50% or higher chocolate that’s around 400 grams (or 14 ounces)
• ¼ cup almond or soy milk (others might work too depending on your tastes)
• A pinch of salt
• ¼ cup of soft brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence (natural is better but not essential)

Optional

• Cinnamon and nutmeg
• Strawberries or other fruit
• Maple syrup
• 1 ripe avocado
• Coconut oil
• Agar Agar
• Guar Gum
• Cocoa powder
• Chilli
• Coconut flakes
• Nuts

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F)
2. Get a round spring form pan, it makes everything so much easier. Grease it if needed
3. Mix up all your base ingredients in one go, you’re looking for a fairly thick mixture. Add almond milk and oil by the tablespoon if it’s too dry. Press the mix into the pan and make it as even as you can.
4. Put it in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Either use the guide on the baking mix box, or if you’re not cheating, look for the surface of the base to gently spring back when you press on it a little. Worst comes to worst it’s not gonna matter if it isn’t super well cooked. Under cooked is better than overcooked.
5. Leave the base to cool. If you’re in a hurry, put it in the freezer. I usually leave it in the freezer for an hour at least.
6. Now you have to “press” the tofu. Get a bowl, put a seive over the top, and line the seive with a clean tea towel or cheese cloth. Put the tofu in the cheese cloth, and squeeze it, I find twisting the corners around helps. Water will come out, after a while, leave it in the seive to keep draining.
7. Half fill a pot with water, now find a metal bowl that will fit in the pot. Break up the chocolate and put it in the metal bowl, and then float the bowl in the pot. It helps if they’re close in size, so just the bottom of the bowl is in the water. Bring the water to the boil and slowly melt the chocolate.
8. Put the tofu in a blender, add the melted chocolate, and blend until smooth. Add the sugar, salt and vanilla and blend again. Over time it will get thicker. Taste test, add sugar if needed, or if it’s too intense, add a tablespoon of almond milk. Blend and test until it’s how you want it. Bear in mind that the flavours will smooth out in the fridge. I usually add cinnamon, maple syrup, and other stuff during this stage.
9. If you want to use avocado, you’ll likely need extra cocoa powder. If it’s too runny, add some melted coconut oil, or a little agar or guar gum. Remember it will get a bit firmer after being in the fridge.
10. Pull the base out of the freezer. If you want strawberries round the edges, now is the time to put them there. Then use a spatula to scrape the mousse into the pan. Spread it out as evenly as you can and add strawberries/other fruit, nuts, coconut etc on top.
11. Chill in the fridge for at least a few hours. you should notice a change in how firm it is. When you want to take off the sides, run a knife around the edge first to loosen it.

Disclaimer: This recipe might no accessible for everyone, depending on what things cost where you are, or how easily things grow, but hopefully it can spread far and wide.

Uses: I put it on toast, pita bread, tortilla chips, crackers, I use it as a pasta sauce, put it on pizzas instead of cheese, add a dollop to minestrone, it also goes nicely with salads and other antipasto type snacks.

Ingredients(for a batch that makes about four half litre jars full)

• A truly colossal amount of fresh basil. To give you an idea. I usually fill up four ten litre containers with basil from the garden.
• Kale or Spinach (optional) - this will dilute the flavour, but it can be a good filler to make more pesto overall.
• Garlic (preferably fresh) - You can use minced garlic but I find it has a different flavour. You want about half a bulb for a big batch, possibly more if you like garlic or the variety you have is milder.
• Brewers yeast, Savoury yeast, or Nutritional yeast - About a cup for a big batch. You could also try vegan parmesan if you want.
• Vegetable oil - About two cups, but you can adjust to get the consistency you want.
• Cashew nuts - Pinenuts, Pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and similar are all good substitutes.
• Cumin seeds - About a teaspoon (optional but tasty)
• Celery seeds - A pinch (optional but tasty)
• Salt - About a tablespoon
• A cube of veggie stock (optional)

1. Method
2. Strip the leaves off the stalks. Thin and soft stalks are fine to go in the mix but the thicker harder stalks don’t add to the flavour and they ruin the texture. Any leaves that have gone gross should be thrown in the compost.
3. Rinse the leaves in water, drain them in a sieve, gently pat them dry with paper towels or a tea towel and put them through the blender in batches with a bit of oil each time. You’re unlikely to be able to fit everything in the blender at once so transfer batches to a big bowl. Ideally you want everything to be blended down to very very small pieces.
4. Add the salt, half the brewers yeast, half the garlic, the nuts/seeds, and the spices to the blender. Run them through the blender with a batch of basil, and transfer to the big bowl. When it’s all been blended, mix everything together with a spoon. Taste test and run more garlic and brewers yeast through the blender and add according to your tastes.
5. Store in clean jars (I boil the jars and lids in a pot of water). Try to fill the jars up as high as you can and pour a little oil over the top before sealing. The top few millimetres in each jar will likely oxidise and turn dark once it’s been opened again, this shouldn’t affect the taste but you can just scrape that bit off before using.

For the Base: You can use mini pita pockets, split english muffins, bought pizza bases, sliced baguette rounds, or make your own bases (which is less lazy than I’m usually feeling)

• Toppings:You can put whatever you like on these but this is the combination I like best
• Tomato paste (the cheap canned stuff is fine)
• Kalamata olives
• Sundried tomatoes
• Cherry tomatoes
• Onions
• Kale and/or spinach
• Fresh basil
• Garlic
• Oregano
• Dairy free cheese (plain hummus will also work nicely)

Method

1. Spread tomato paste as thick or thin as you like on the bases. 
2. Slice/chop up everything except the cheese/hummus and sprinkle it over the bases. I like to really pile my pizzas up but do what works for you.
3. Slice/grate the cheese and put it on top, or add a couple of good dollops of hummus.
4. Cook in the oven at 180C (350F) until the cheese is melted and just starting to brown (or the hummus is just starting to brown)
5. Eat

• Two cups pasta (I had wholemeal so that’s what I used but any pasta will do, gluten free, noodle, penne, spirals, whatever)
• A cup of almond milk (any non dairy milk is fine)
• Three tablespoons of flour (I used wholemeal wheat, but you could use rice, oat, or cornflour to make it gluten free)
• Half a cup of brewers yeast (nutritional or savoury yeast would work too)
• A pinch of salt
• A block of firm tofu (seitan would work too if you prefer it)
• A big handful of fresh chives (you could use dried as well, but you’ll need to simmer the sauce for longer and possibly adjust the amount)
• White or Apple Cider vinegar (could be swapped for lemon juice)
• A cube of veggie stock (optional)
• A splash of soy sauce (optional)
• A pinch of cumin seeds (optional)
• A few tablespoons of oil (I like to use the oil from sundried tomatoes but any vegetable oil is fine)
• A handful of pumpkin seeds (optional, you could swap for other nuts/seeds if you wanted)
• A handful of sunflower seeds (optional, you could swap for other nuts/seeds if you wanted)
• Olives (optional)
• Sun dried tomatoes (optional)
• Spinach, Kale, whatever vegetables you have spare would do fine, broccoli and cauliflower go surprisingly well in pasta dishes.

1. Put the pasta on to boil. Traditionally you’d add a pinch of salt and a splash of oil, but I don’t usually bother. If you’re using wholemeal pasta like I did it’ll take a little longer to cook.
2. Usually with tofu you’re supposed to press it to get the moisture out, but I’m lazy. Years ago I discovered if you freeze tofu and then thaw it (if you’re in a hurry you can defrost it in hot water), it becomes a lot more like a sponge and you can just squeeze the moisture out without any trouble. Cut or crumble the tofu into chunks however you like it, and throw them a frying pan with the cumin seeds and a splash of oil. I use a non stick frying pan but you can do without (it’ll just take more stirring).
3. Fry the tofu much the same way you would fry onions for a few minutes, then crumble the veggie stock over the top, then add around a third of the brewers yeast, and a splash of soy sauce. Keep stirring.
4. After a few minutes, or as soon as the stock and yeast start to stick or form clumps, add a splash of vinegar, this helps to deglaze the pan and adds a sharpness to the flavour. Keep stirring.
5. Now add any vegetables, seeds, olives, etc to the mix, except the chives and keep stirring till the vegetables are cooked. Chunkier vegetables will take longer.
6. Now, you can mix up the sauce in the pan with everything else or you can mix it up separately. I find it’s easier separate but it means one more container or pot to clean.
7. Mix a couple of tablespoons of oil with the flour, add a splash of soy sauce, and a splash of vinegar, and a pinch of salt. Stir into a thick paste. Slowly add the almond milk, stirring as you go. If the sauce is still thick, add some more milk.
8. Now add the chives and if you haven’t already, add the sauce to the pan, then drain the pasta (which should be done by now) and add that too. Lower the heat and let it simmer, stirring occasionally, for about ten minutes. If the sauce gets too thick in that time, add a bit more milk or even water. You’re looking for the flavour of the chives to spread out and mix with everything else. Add a bit more salt or vinegar if you think it needs it.

This mix should make enough to feed 2-4 people depending on how hungry they are. If you add a salad or bread or something it’ll stretch to six.

Ok, so let’s be clear here. I’m bad at cookies. I’ve never had the talent, before I went vegan I couldn’t make them work, after I went vegan I still couldn’t. My sister on the other hand; She’s like a cookie sorcerer. I don’t know what she puts in them, but her cookies are amazing, perfect, every time. She probably has a stock of cookie monsters on hand to sacrifice to dark powers for each batch or something.

So anyway, recently I found this recipe (which is awesome in it’s own right and you should totally try it) and I’ve basically been on a cookie binge ever since. I’ve made some healthy-ish modifications though, so I can justify eating them as much as I do. I have some weird health stuff that means I can’t eat a lot, so what I DO eat needs to have some extra nutritional punch.

Spell components

Essential

• 2 and a ¼ cups of wholemeal flour
  
• ¾ to 1 cup brown sugar (raw or white is fine too, but soft brown sugar makes them chewier)
  
• ¾ to 1 cup of vegan chocolate chips (I quite like chocolate buttons as well, or you could sub in sultanas)
  
• ½ teaspoon of salt
  
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  
• 2/3 cup of vegetable oil (or vegan friendly margaraine/butter, melted slightly)
  
• ½ cup of  non dairy milk
  
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
  

Optional

• ½ to 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, to suit your tastes
• ½ a cup of vegan friendly protein powder (I find soy, rice, and pea protein all work fine in this recipe) AND bump the oil and non dairy milk up to a cup each, AND bump up the sugar by a ¼ cup AND add 2 tablespoons of ground linseed.
• You could also sub half a cup of flour for half a cup of rolled oats too :).
  

Brewing the potion

1. Pre heat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 F). Have a baking tray away from the oven, you don’t want it getting hot.
   
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together except the sugar.
   
3. Mix all the wet ingredients together with the sugar ( you can just throw everything in a bowl, but doing it this way means fewer lumps in the sugar and less work mixing)
   
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir. The dough will be oily and seem a bit hard to work with, I find just mixing it with my hands is easiest at the last stage.
   
5. Once it’s all combined, throw spoonfuls on the ungreased baking tray (there’s enough oil in the mix already, but if you’re lazy like me baking paper makes clean up easier). You can flatten them if you want, depends on your personal preference. The cookies don’t spread out much but they do rise quite a bit.
   
6. Bake for ten minutes, then start checking them every few minutes. To check, just press the top of one lightly, if it’s just a bit softer than you like your cookies, then they’re done. They’ll harden up quite a bit once they’re cool.
   
7. Let them cool for a few minutes, then use a spatula or fish slice to take them off the baking tray and put them on a wooden board or wire rack etc. If they stay on the baking tray they’ll keep cooking and go hard on the bottom. If you’re lazy like me, just take them out of the oven a few minutes earlier than normal and let the heat of the tray finish the job. It’s not a perfect result, but who cares? They’re cookies.
   
8. Prepare to defend your cookies against marauders. 
   

Apples and Peanut butter

This is something people either seem to have known about forever, or they find the concept so weird that when you mention it they just look at you funny and back away slowly.

Slice up some apples, grab some peanut butter, and use the apple wedges to scoop up the peanut butter. There’s a bit of an art to manipulating the peanut butter, but it’s one worth mastering because omnomnomnomnom.

‘Baked’ Potatoes

Grab a potato, wash it if you need to. Stab a bunch of holes in the top or slice a cross halfway through it. Microwave on high for a few minutes then stab it with a knife to see if it’s soft inside, it’s different depending on the size of the potato and the power of the microwave. Once you know the rough time, you can just do that.

Toppings - vegan butter/marg, hummus, crushed garlic or garlic salt, cashew cream cheese, brewers/nutritional yeast, chopped fresh chives or spring onion, the list goes on

Couscous

Instant couscous like you can get in most supermarkets is super quick and easy to make. It tastes like pasta (because it’s made of the same stuff), and you can flavour it however you want.

Boil water, pour a cup of boiled water for every half cup of couscous, leave it for a couple of minutes, add a pinch of salt if you want, and fluff it up with a fork.

For flavourings (if you want them) you could just add a dab of vegan butter or margaraine, a teaspoon of mustard, or a splash of whatever stirfry, curry, or pasta sauce you have in the cupboard.

Noodles

Instant noodles are awesome. The instant noodle cups are rough on the environment, so I try to avoid the ones with the styrofoam cups at least, or use noodles you can cook on the stove or in the microwave instead.

Sometimes finding your preferred noodles that don’t use animal unfriendly oil can be a bit of a challenge, but they’re out there! And there’s a whole range of noodles to choose from that cook almost as quickly as the instant variety (my favourite are these awesome ones made from sweet potato starch that are so springy you could use them for slingshots if you weren’t busy nomming them because they’re AMAZING with peanut sauce).

The flavour options can vary too. I’ve come across a fair few ‘chicken’ noodle packets that were accidentally vegan. If you just got plain noodles, or you’re mixing it up a little, here’s some of the easy sauces I like to use.

Sweet chilli sauce - make sure you drain the noodles for this one

Soy sauce - combined with sweet chilli sauce it’s really frickin’ good. You can drain the noodles or keep the water, either’s good.

Veggie stock - one cube to a cup of noodles (with water)

Barbecue sauce - just a little bit sweetens the noodles up nicely. Drain the noodles.

Peanut butter and soy sauce - A tablespoon of peanut butter, a splash of soy sauce, heat in the microwave (to melt the peanut butter) or stir straight through hot drained noodles, nommy. Add a bit of chilli if you like it spicy.

Optional extras

Frozen mixed veggies will also cook in roughly the same time as the noodles so long as they’re small, if they’re bigger, just put them in a few minutes earlier and then add the noodles to the boiling water.

You might find you like nuts and seeds in noodles, I prefer them in noodle dishes with thicker, more complex sauces, but that’s a personal preference.

Small TVP chunks will cook in roughly the same time as the noodles, and they flavour easily.

Sandwich type constructions

The humble sandwich. Cultures all around the world have developed technology to wrap some kind of delicious bread type scaffolding around other types of deliciousness. Pita pockets, Tortillas, Bagels, Burgers, Subs, the list goes on.

Some easy things to stuff in your bread type scaffolding:

• Fresh tomato slices, fresh Basil (optional), and hummus. It’s super simple and it’s delicious. Also great toasted.
• Banana sandwiches. I don’t know if this is a New Zealand thing only or what, but seriously, dry bread, or margaraine, or whatever, and banana slices. That’s all. It’s divine.
• Avocado and tomato. With a sprinkle of salt and a splash of lemon juice if you’ve got it. Also fabulous toasted.
• Tabbouleh. If you can get it easily ready made from the supermarket, this goes great on any kind of bread related construct. Also goes fabulously with hummus.
• Falafel. Microwave a few spoonfuls for a minute or two, add to bread, add tomato sauce, barbecue sauce, mustard, hummus, whatever. Devour.

Cracker type things

There’s all kinds of crunchy crispy nommy things out there - rice or corn cakes, rice crackers, water crackers, the list goes on.

Stuff to put on them or dip them in

• Peanut butter - surprisingly nommy on corn/rice cakes
• Hummus - unsurprisingly nommy on everything
• Fresh tomato (awesome with fresh basil)
  
• Avocado
• Olives - There’s two kinds of people in this world. The ones who love olives, and the unlucky ones who don’t have the joy of olives in their lives.
• Sliced banana - especially good on rice/corn cakes

Sticks, chips and dips

Stuff to dip with -

• Carrot sticks
• Celery sticks
• Corn chips
• Tortilla chips
• Toasted pita bread
• Mini spring rolls (raw or cooked)
  

Stuff to dip in -

• Hummus - it comes in a million flavours
  
• Pesto (just need to find a vegan one, or make your own :) )
• Mustard
  
• Salsa - home made or store bought
• Sweet chilli sauce
  

Toast

Much like the humble sandwich, perhaps even pre dating it, we like to put stuff on bread, all kinds of bread.

• Peanut butter - seriously. Just go buy some peanut butter and eat it
• Bananas - yep, sliced bananas on toast is amazing.
• Fresh tomato - Add salt, pepper (if you like it), and it’s divine
• Avocado - mashed on toast with a fork, a pinch of salt, and some lemon juice, it’s divine.
• Marmite - So about half the western world will know what I’m talking about. The rest will be dazed and confused. Google it. It’s awesome. Half of you will instantly hate it. Half of you will become helpless addicted to the magnificent mountain of b vitamins that is marmite. Also related to vegemite.
  
• Baked beans - Heat em up, pile em on.

Pretzels

They’re cheap, they’re crunchy (cept for the giant soft ones, which are awesome in their own right), and they’re little edible bows. what more could you want? They’re usually vegan friendly, but it’s worth checking the bag just in case.

Vegetables

Yep. Grab some veggies, I quite like cauliflower and broccoli, put them in a covered microwave safe bowl and heat on high power for a couple of minutes. Then add whatever sauces you like (there’s a whole bunch listed here)

If you don’t have a microwave or don’t want to use one, just add about two cm (just under an inch) of water to a pot, add the veggies and cover. Bring to the boil on high heat, let it boil for a couple of minutes, then drain the water and the veggies should be cooked and nicely crisp.

Like most of my recipes, this calls for a few main ingredients and the rest is adaptable to suit your budget, timeframe, tastes, and imagination. In the future I think I’ll break this down into individual recipes, but for now, I’m lazy.

Depending on where you are in the world, capsicums (bell peppers) can be cheap or expensive. I’ve found if you can find them in jars, you get a lot more for your money and they take less cooking.

Ingredients

Bell peppers (Red is best, but you can use other colours too)

Filling

There’s a bunch of possible combinations, but here’s some of the ones  that I like:

Spinach, Quinoa, Basil, Tinned tomatoes, Veggie Stock, Garlic, and Onion

Roast Pumpkin, Cashew nuts, Spinach

Cooked Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrot, Garlic and Onion with Veggie stock, soy sauce, a splash of sweet chilli, and Mashed beans (optional)

Brown rice, Kidney beans, Tinned tomatoes, Corn, Celery, Sweet chilli sauce, Garlic, and Onion

Crumbled tofu, Tinned tomatoes, Cumin seeds, Veggie stock, Capers, and sundried tomatoes

Sauce

Again, lots of options, a couple of my favourites:

Lazy dairy free cheese sauce - Hummus, Oil, Salt, Mustard, Thyme (optional) stirred together

Guacamole - Avocado (smooshed), Lemon Juice, Paprika, Salt, (optionally you can add fresh chopped tomato, grated carrot and cucumber) stirred together

Barbecue sauce

Basil pesto - Fresh basil leaves, cashews/pumpkin seeds/sunflower seeds, a sprinkling of brewers yeast, and a splash of oil, blended together

Sweet tomato sauce - Tinned tomatoes, a dollop of barbecue sauce (or a splash of vinegar and a teaspoon of brown sugar), fried onions, and raisins, simmered for a while

Madness/Method

If you’re using fresh peppers, slice them in half lengthways and remove the core and seeds. If you’re using jarred ones, just drain them and arrange them on a lined baking tray.

Gather up whatever filling you want to use. Chop up anything that needs chopping. Anything that needs pre cooking, like pumpkin, quinoa, or cauliflower, get that going.

Chop and fry garlic and onions if you’re using them, then add whatever else is going in, stir and and adjust to your tastes, then let it simmer till it’s very thick, add a little cornflour if you need to.

Now, depending on the sauce and your tastes, you might want to include the sauce in the actual peppers, drizzle it over the top, or add it after cooking. That’s up to you. I like to pair anything with beans or rice with guacamole and add the guacamole after cooking, but I like to add the hummus sauce to other fillings before cooking.

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F).

Spoon your filling into the peppers. It pays to underfill them a little bit since they tend to leak while cooking. Add sauce if you want to.

Bake them for about 20 minutes or until they go a little bit crispy on top.

Take them out of the oven, add sauce if desired, and eat.