Store Cupboard Recipes (Lockdown Meals) Vegan | JessBeautician

Hi everyone, welcome back to my channel. I hope you're all keeping safe and well. Today I wanted to share a few recipes on what we can make with what we already have in our cupboards or freezers. Now you may not have everything I mention, everyone's kitchen contents will be different so just get creative with what you've already got and I'll also give you some alternative ingredient suggestions along the way. The first recipe I have for you is for a chickpea tikka masala. For this first add a tablespoon of smoked paprika to a large dry pan on medium heat along with two teaspoons of garam masala, a teaspoon of turmeric, one teaspoon of ground cumin, a teaspoon of coriander seeds, a teaspoon of cayenne pepper and a quarter of a teaspoon of cinnamon. Mix the spices well together and toast them in the dry pan for around five minutes until they begin to smell really lovely and fragrant but don't let them catch. Transfer the toasted spices to a pestle and mortar then continue to grind them together and crush the coriander seeds. Next add a thumb of fresh grated ginger followed by a finely chopped small fresh red chilli as well as two minced garlic cloves and if you don't have these fresh ingredients I'll put some alternatives in the written recipes in the description box below. Again grind everything together well until the paste is smooth and the ginger chilli and garlic is mixed in well. Next add in a tablespoon of ground almonds then take a tablespoon of desiccated coconut, I used Coconut Merchant's organic desiccated coconut, I used Coconut Merchant's organic desiccated coconut and add that in too along with a tablespoon of tomato puree. Grind that up once again until everything is well combined and you have a smooth paste which looks like this. Add a tablespoon of oil to the pan used to toast the spices, I used Coconut Merchant's turmeric coconut oil and while that's melting finely chop a medium white onion. Add the chopped onion to the pan, turn it through the oil and sweat it off until soft. This tikka masala paste will make two curries. Add two tablespoons of the paste in the pan then place the remaining paste in a clean jar, store it in the fridge and use it within a week. Turn the paste through the onions until they're well coated and continue to fry it off for a couple of minutes. Add in a can of tomatoes, you could use chopped or peeled plum tomatoes, rinse the can and add in the juice too. If using plum tomatoes just break them up using the back of your spoon. Stir the tomatoes through the paste until everything is well combined and next pour in a can of full fat coconut milk then add in two cans of rinsed and drained chickpeas. Give everything a good stir together until it's well mixed through then bring it to a gentle simmer and leave it on a low to medium heat for 35 minutes uncovered until the sauce has reduced slightly leaving you with a thicker sauce looking like this. I like to serve this chickpea tikka masala with brown rice but you could serve it with white rice, quinoa, some homemade roti bread over a baked potato, whatever you have available. I had some coconut yogurt which needed using up so I added some of that on the top as well as some more dried chilli flakes and also some sliced green chilli but you could top this with some fresh coriander, some cashew nuts, slices of red onion or spring onion. I've shared a chickpea chana masala before but this chickpea tikka masala is creamier, it's slightly spicy but it's packed with lots of fresh flavours and immune boosting ingredients like the turmeric, ginger and chilli. Anything could work in this curry, you could do a red lentil tikka masala, make it with chunks of tofu, potato or a vegetable tikka masala with any vegetables that need using up in your fridge. The second recipe is for a red lentil chilli, for this drizzle two tablespoons of oil in a large pan on a medium heat, finely chop a white onion, add it to the pan then mince three cloves of garlic and add those into the pan too. Cook the onion and the garlic off in the oil until soft then next add in a tablespoon of chilli powder, two teaspoons of smoked paprika, a teaspoon of ground cumin, half a teaspoon of dried chilli flakes and a quarter of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Turn the spices through the onion and the garlic and fry them off for a couple of minutes. Next take a red pepper and slice it up into small pieces, add the red pepper into the pan and turn it through everything to get it well coated. Add a tablespoon of tomato puree in and again fry that off for around a minute. Pour a can of tomatoes of your choice in next, give the can a swirl with water and add in the extra juice. Next pour in 500 millilitres of vegetable stock, rinse and drain one cup of red lentils then add those into the pan too along with a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, a teaspoon of liquid smoke and then season really well to taste with a good pinch of sea salt and also some cracked black pepper. Give the chilli a good stir through until well combined and the sauce begins to thicken as the lentils cook then leave it on a gentle simmer, place on the lid and allow it to continue cooking for 25 minutes. This can be served with anything but I'm going to show you how I make my jacket potatoes to go with it. So I place my washed bacon potatoes in an ovenproof dish, I then drizzle over some extra virgin olive oil, this makes the skin of the potatoes really nice and crispy and then I prick it all over carefully with the tip of a sharp knife which just allows the heat to get through and cook it quicker. I then season them with some salt and pepper which also gives the skin some crispiness then I pop them in the oven to bake for around 45 minutes on 180 degrees celsius. Once they're done I then slit a cross in the top of the potato and then push the ends to open it up. When they've cooled down slightly I then take a fork and carefully scoop out the inside of the potato into a mixing bowl leaving just the skin. To that I then add a little more olive oil and you could add whatever you like to this, I sprinkled in some nutritional yeast for some cheesiness, you could add in some grated vegan cheese, I then took some fresh chives from my herb garden and chopped those up but you could add in dried chives, spring onion, red onion, again whatever you like. Then I seasoned it well with some salt and black pepper. I then just mash that all together with a fork until it's all well combined and the potato is smooth and there's no lumps. Then I take that and just then stuff it back into the skins. It's honestly amazing and works for whatever topping you're having on your potato. Just before the chilli is done add in a small can of drained sweet corn and just turn it through the chilli. At this point the lentils should be fully cooked through and it should look lovely and thick and hearty. You can then serve that on top of the potato or you could have this with rice, with quinoa, in taco shells, in fajitas, on loaded fries, with some potato wedges, on top of nachos, this works for so many different meals. I love using red lentils as a bit of a change to beans but you could obviously make this with any bean or chickpeas too. Again I topped mine with some coconut yogurt, some more dried chilli flakes and some sliced spring onion that I had but you could add on some jalapenos, fresh chilli, avocado, guacamole or coriander. This recipe easily serves four people but it freezes really well again so any leftovers can be frozen and you can even make it in a slow cooker too. The next recipe is for a black bean bolognese. For this first heat a good drizzle of oil in a large pan on a medium heat. Finely chop a white onion, red onion would work great too, then add the onion to the pan with the oil. Next mince three cloves of garlic, add that in and then sweat the onion and the garlic off until soft. After around five minutes add two teaspoons of dried mixed herbs or any dried herb will do, one teaspoon of paprika, an optional quarter of a teaspoon of dried chilli flakes for a little heat and a bay leaf. Turn the spices through the onion and the garlic and continue to fry off for a couple more minutes before then adding in a tablespoon of tomato puree. Stir through the paste then fry it off for another couple of minutes. Take a can of tomatoes, again these could be chopped or plumb tomatoes, I find plum tomatoes to be more rich in flavour and you can break them up in the pan anyway. Then add a splash of water to the can, swirl it around and pour it in to make use of the juice that's left. Add in a can of rinsed and drained black beans, then pour in 300 millilitres of vegetable stock. For more depth of flavour add in a teaspoon of marmite or alternatively vegan Worcester sauce or balsamic vinegar, this just adds so much more flavour and richness. Finally season really well to taste with some sea salt and cracked black pepper. Give everything a good stir using the back of the spoon to roughly break up the tomatoes if using plum tomatoes, then using a potato masher, mince up the black beans. I find this creates more of a bolognese texture and the minced beans then soak up all of the flavours. The consistency should be a little bit thicker and should look like this. Fill a separate pan with boiling water and add in a good pinch of salt, then place in your spaghetti and allow it to boil. Check the bolognese meanwhile and continue to stir it through, then once the spaghetti is al dente after around eight minutes of cooking, drain it off reserving around a quarter of a cup of pasta water. Add the cooked spaghetti into the sauce then pour in the remaining pasta water, this just makes the sauce a little bit creamier and stops it from becoming too dry or gloopy. Turn the spaghetti through the sauce, only a couple of times just to get it slightly coated, and it's then ready to plate up. I like to plate up the spaghetti first and add on the remaining bolognese on top. You could then garnish this with some fresh herbs, I used parsley which I have in my outside herb garden, but from the cupboard some dried herbs, some dried chilli flakes, toasted pine nuts or nutritional yeast would all work really well. I've shared a couple of different bolognese recipes before including a lentil bolognese and also a mushroom bolognese, but any kind of bean works great for this. I find black beans in themselves have a really nice flavour and the texture really works for this dish. Usually in spaghetti bolognese I would also throw in some chopped celery and carrot but as I said I'm cooking with what I've already got for now. If you do have any fresh produce to use up this is a great way to do so. This bolognese could also be served with any kind of pasta you already have or can find available. And the final recipe is for some sticky ginger and sesame tofu. I've had a hard time finding tofu recently and usually get it from the fridge section of the supermarket, but in my local small health food store they had it in jars. This lasts so much longer, it's exactly the same and I reuse the jars for storage afterwards. With this it needs to be drained off and pressed for a minimum of an hour, so to press it I simply wrap it in a clean cloth or tea towel making sure it's wrapped up fairly tightly. Then I place something heavy on top like a stoneware bowl with a can of tomatoes inside, but some heavy books or cans on their own work just as well. To make the sticky ginger sauce add a thumb sized piece of fresh peeled ginger to a blender along with two peeled cloves of garlic, three tablespoons of tamari, three tablespoons of maple syrup, a tablespoon of sesame oil, a tablespoon of rice vinegar, a tablespoon of corn starch, a teaspoon of dried chilli flakes and half a teaspoon of sea salt. Blend that up until the consistency is smooth. If you don't have a blender you can still make this by finely grating the ginger and garlic and whisking it together with the other ingredients. Once you've pressed the tofu cut it up into even sized cubes then make a quick marinade in a mixing bowl by adding in a tablespoon of sesame oil, a tablespoon of tamari and a tablespoon of maple syrup. Whisk that together until well combined then add in the cubes of tofu. If need be do this with half of the tofu at a time. Turn the tofu through carefully and leave it to marinade for 15 minutes. Next sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of corn flour on a plate then add the tofu and toss it through the corn flour getting each side of the tofu evenly coated. Add more corn flour if need be, the tofu should soak it all up and it should become quite gummy in texture. In a large wok or frying pan add a tablespoon of oil. I use coconut oil. Then add in the coated tofu and fry it off on a medium heat until it begins to turn golden, turning it continuously so that it doesn't catch or burn and so that each side is exactly the same. The tofu should be crispy in texture and it should look like this. As a heads up only corn flour will work for this not any other flour. Once the tofu is crispy and golden place it on a plate and set it to the side. I did mine with some green beans but you could use any vegetable you like. I used frozen green beans which I kind of blanched in boiling water first just to make sure the beans are evenly cooked and also don't spit when added to the pan. They literally went in the hot water for a couple of seconds then straight back out into the pan. I fried the beans off for around a minute then added in a good pinch of salt and then just turned them through it. Next pour in all of the sticky ginger sauce then add the crispy tofu back into the pan. Turn it a couple of times just to warm the tofu back through and get it well coated in the sauce but again this doesn't need long. Finally add in a couple of tablespoons of sesame seeds and just turn those through the tofu and the veg. Serve it hot immediately. I served mine with some white rice but again brown rice, quinoa or noodles would work great with this too. I sprinkled over some more sesame seeds and dried chilli flakes as well as some chopped spring onion to garnish and as I said any veg could work for this. Some carrots, broccoli, monge too, baby corn, they'd all be lovely with the tofu. The sauce is delicious, so fragrant and so many flavours and the maple syrup in it makes it lovely and sticky. Coating the tofu in the cornstarch makes it slightly crispy but also gives the sauce something to stick to so it has this lovely glaze to it. And those are some of my store cupboard slash freezer recipes. I hope you enjoyed this video. As always all of the recipes are written in the description box below. Thank you so much for watching, stay safe and I'll see you again soon. Bye!