The Water Explorer and Northdene Preparatory School Vegetarian Recipe Book For: The Water Diet Challenge
Producing meat uses a lot more water than producing vegetables. Plants need water to grow, and then we eat them. An animal drinks water, eats plants that need water, and uses water in all kinds of other ways. Eating more vegetables is not only healthy for us, but it saves water. Our school has put together a recipe book of their favourite vegetarian meals for you to try, And if you are a vegetarian already, perhaps you will find some interesting dishes to add to your menu.
Roast Butternut with Mint and Coriander (Tristen Govender ) Preparation time: 50 minutes Ingredients: Butternut Margarine or butter Topping: Cumin Mint Coriander Flaked almonds, toasted Method: Place the butternut in a roasting tin, cut side up. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Rub margarine or butter over the cut side. Roast in the oven at 180C for 45 to 50 minutes, or until butternut is tender. For topping, place marge/butter, cumin and herbs on top and serve.
Rice and Mixed Veg (Lomso Lujabe) Ingredients: Rice Stir fry veg Vegetarian chutney 1 Large onion 1 pepper, chopped (red/yellow/green) Method: Boil water, then add rice and salt. Cook until soft. Fry onions and peppers. Add chutney and stir fry, and season to taste with garlic, Aromat and mixed herbs. Fry for 5 minutes. Add cooked rice and mix.
Pumpkin Soup (Anna Richter) Ingredients 1kg pumpkin (you can also use butternut) 1 large onion 2 cloves garlic 15ml (1tablespoon) butter or vegetable oil 500ml (2 cups) hot water 2 vegetable stock cubes Salt and pepper 1 pinch ground nutmeg 250ml (1 cup) milk 6 white rolls Method Peel butternut and cut into pieces. Peel and roughly chop onion and garlic. Heat butter /oil in a large pot and fry the onion and garlic over moderate heat for about 5 minutes until just starting to colour. Add hot water and crumbled stock cubes. Bring to the boil and add butternut. Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes until cooked. Remove from heat and puree the soup in a blender or food processor, or pass through a fine sieve. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Mix in milk and reheat. Serve with toasted rolls.
Salad Pita (Sinothando Dhlomo) Ingredients Pita bread Tomato Lettuce Coriander leaves Cucumber Creamy salad dressing Toothpicks Method: First wash vegetables in a bowl of water Take the pita and cut in the middle Cut the vegetables into pieces and put into a bowl with the creamy salad dressing and mix. Put the mixture in the pita bread that was cut in half Lastly, take a piece of cucumber and put it on a toothpick and put the toothpick on pita for decoration
Braised Cauliflower 1small cauliflower or ½ a kilo cauliflower florets 25ml ghee 4 curry leaves 75ml oil 1 onion sliced 4ml salt 15ml masala 1 tomato, grated A few coriander leaves Method: 1) Clean and cut cauliflower florets into neat portions and soak in salt water 2) Heat oil and ghee in a saucepan and add sliced onions and curry leaves. Sauté for a few minutes 3) Add masala, cauliflower and salt. Stir and cook on moderate heat until soft. 4) Add grated tomatoes and cook for a few minutes. 5) Garnish with chopped coriander leaves Optional: Add 100ml peas in step 4 if desired Cooking time: 20 minutes Helpings: 6 Serve with rice, roti or bread
Italian Bread (Makayla Haripersad) Enough for four 450g white flour 1 level teaspoon of dried yeast 300ml warm water 6 tablespoons olive oil 1 teaspoon sea salt 1) Sieve the flour into a large bowl. Stir in the yeast, then make a hollow in the middle of the flour. 2) Pour the warm water into the hollow, along with five tablespoons of oil. Mix into the flour with a wooden spoon. 3) Mix until you get a soft dough that doesn t stick to the sides of the bowl. Then, wash your hands. 4) Sprinkle flour onto a clean dry work surface. Grease a large bowl. Knead the dough for about five minutes, then put it into the greased bowl. 5) Cover the bowl with plastic food wrap. Leave it in a warm place for an hour, until the dough rises to twice its size. 6) Knead the dough again for a couple of minutes to burst all the large air bubbles. 7) Sprinkle some flour onto a rolling pin, and then roll out the dough to make a circle about 25cm across.
8) Put the dough on the baking sheet. Rub oil on a piece of foodwrap and cover the bread. 9) Leave the baking sheet in a warm place for 20 minutes. Take off the foodwrap and make dimples all over the top. 10) Turn your oven on to 220C. Brush the top of the bread with oil and sprinkle the sea salt over. Put into the oven. 11) Bake the bread for 25 minutes until it is golden. Leave it on a rack to cool. Cut into wedges and serve with any filling. Fried Vegetables (Khwezi Sithole) Ingredients Any vegetable Oil Object Pan Method Slowly place oil in the pan. Place vegetables. Cook. Enjoy
Butternut Soup (Kaitlynn Meiring) Ingredients 1kg butternut, peeled and chopped 250ml cream Salt Pepper 15ml margarine 2 medium onions chopped 5ml nutmeg 1,25ml peri-peri 1 litre water Chicken stock cube Instructions 1) In a large pot, melt the margarine and fry the onions, garlic, nutmeg and peri-peri until soft. 2)Add the butternut, water and chicken stock cube and bring to the boil. 3) Lower the temperature and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the butternut is soft. 4) Remove from heat and blend until smooth. 5) Stir in the cream and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Recipe for Vegetable Akhni (Breyani) (Joshua Naicker) 2 cups precooked rice ½ cup cooked lentils 1 cup steamed gadra beans 1 cup fresh sliced carrots 1 cup peas 1 cup green beans 2 potatoes cubed and fried 1 onion (sliced) 1 tomato (chopped) ½ cup oil 1 teaspoon salt Ginger 2 cloves garlic 2 teaspoons Kashmiri chilli powder 1 teaspoon dhania powder 1 teaspoon turmeric powder 1 teaspoon whole jeera ½ teaspoon mustard seeds 1 star aniseed Elachi Cinnamon sticks and curry leaves 3 green chillies A few drops of food colouring
Method Braise onions with whole spices. Add all other spices and garlic and cook for a few seconds. Add tomatoes and allow to cook with lid on. Add the curry leaves and chillies. Once the tomatoes are cooked, add the other vegetables. Cover and simmer until everything is half cooked. Remove from heat and mix in rice and fried potatoes. Put your pot in the oven for 30 minutes until everything is cooked through. Cheesy Filo Parcels (Hailey Anadam) Ingredients 575g potatoes 225g filo pastry 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped ¼ cup butter ½ cup quark 4 sprigs fresh marjoram, leaves stripped and finely chopped ¾ cup grated hard cheese 2 eggs, separated Nutmeg Salt and freshly ground pepper Marjoram to garnish
Method Preparation and cook: 1 hour and 10 minutes 1) Preheat the oven to 180C 2) Cook the potatoes in salted boiling water for 30 minutes until soft. Drain, peel and press through a strainer. Leave to steam dry and cool slightly. 3) Grease 4 ramekins 4) Lay out the filo pastry in double layers and cut out squares about 15x15cm. Line the ramekins with the pastry and brush with melted butter. 5) Fry the onions in hot butter and let cool slightly. 6) Mix the quark with the chopped marjoram, two thirds of the hard cheese, the egg yolk, onions and potatoes. 7) Beat the egg whites until stiff, then fold carefully into the potato mixture and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. 8) Spoon into the ramekins and scatter with the remaining cheese. 9) Bake for about 25 minutes in the middle of the preheated oven until golden brown. 10) Garnish with marjoram sprigs and serve.
Vegetarian Patties (Andiswa Mbeje) Patties: 500g red lentils 1 onion, finely chopped 2 cloves of garlic, finely crushed 2 medium carrots, coarsely grated 2-3 baby marrows, coarsely grated 3 medium potatoes, cooked and peeled 15ml dried thyme or fresh chopped coriander 15ml soy sauce 15ml lemon juice 10ml fresh grated lemon rind 15ml curry powder 15ml ground coriander 2 extra large eggs 100ml fresh white or brown breadcrumbs 100ml cheddar cheese, grated Coating: 250ml cake flour, seasoned with salt and pepper 2 extra large eggs, lightly beaten with 30ml water 350ml dried breadcrumbs Oil for frying
Method: 1) Place lentils and 1,5ml water in a pot and heat until boiling. Do not add salt. Reduce heat and boil with lid on for 20 25 minutes until the lentils are soft and almost mushy. Rinse, drain and spoon into a bowl. 2) Sauté onions, garlic, carrots and baby marrows until tender. 3) Grate potatoes and add with vegetables to the lentils. (Tip: Grate in one direction only, or the potatoes will be stodgy) 4) Mix well and season liberally as lentils need enough seasoning. Divide mixture into patties, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. mixture is quite soft) 5) Coating: Dip patties into flour, then egg and then crumbs, Reshape patties and refrigerate for 20 minutes. 6) Heat a pan. Fry patties in a little oil on both sides until cooked. 7) Serve with: Bulgarian yoghurt fresh basil and coriander Rich tomato sauce Lettuce, tomato and avocado
Spud 1 potato 1 tablespoon maizena 125ml cold water 2 tablespoons butter 1 cup milk Garlic and herb spice Salt and pepper to taste 125ml grated cheese Method Poke the potato 5 times with a fork and microwave for 10 minutes until soft. While potato is cooking, prepare sauce. Heat milk, 1 tablespoon butter and spice. Mix water and maizena. Once the milk is warm, stir in maizena mix. Once sauce thickens, ass cheese. Stir until sauce is smooth, then remove from heat. Cut a X into the potato. Add the rest of the butter to the hot potato, then pour over the cheese sauce. Serve with corn and baby carrots.
Macaroni (Jivad Ballaram) Ingredients ½ packet macaroni 4 tablespoons salt 4 tablespoons olive oil 125g butter ½ cup flour 1½ cups milk A pinch of salt A pinch of pepper 125g cheese Step 1: Add water in a saucepan. Add salt and olive oil Step 2: Bring water to the boil Step 3: Add the macaroni to the water Step 4: Let the macaroni cook for 7 minutes Step 5: Drain the macaroni in a colander Step 6: Now let s make the cheese sauce Step 7: Take the butter and put in another saucepan Step 8: Add flour to the butter Step 9: Add milk and stir on low heat until sauce thickens Step 10: Add in cheese. Mix sauce and macaroni together Step 11: Put into baking dish and grate cheese on top Step 12: Put into oven until cheese melts
Braised Butterbeans in Rice 750ml (3 cups) cooked rice 125ml (½ cup) margarine 1 large onion, sliced 10ml (2 teaspoons) white fennel seeds 1 bayleaf 15ml (3 teaspoons) mint, chopped 2 green chillies, slivered 5ml (2 teaspoons) turmeric 5ml (1 teaspoon) salt 250ml (1 cup) canned butter beans Dhania for garnish Heat the margarine and fry onions until golden. Drain and keep warm. In the remaining fat, add the rest of the ingredients in the above order, except for the cooked rice and dhania. Cook for 5 minutes. Place the rice over the beans. Lower the heat to simmer. Add the onions and toss gently to combine very lightly. Garnish with dhania and serve. Thanks to the learners and parents of Northdene Preparatory School who sent in the recipes, and to the learners who helped type them out - 2017 -