On The Eighth Day plant-based meal planner
On The Eighth Day is a much-loved Manchester institution. For 50 years, they’ve been providing the people of our home city with delicious vegan and vegetarian food and produce. So, to mark Veganuary 2021, we’re working with them to provide helpful tips and recipes that could help you make the shift (whether temporarily or more permanently) to a plant-based diet.
We’ll hand over to Alfie from the team at On The Eighth Day team for his plant-based meal planner.
Hopefully, if you’re reading this, you’ve either already decided to ‘do’ Veganuary, or you’re thinking about reducing the amount of animal products in your life. Ace! We think any change you can make is a good step.
One pitfall that new vegans or vegetarians can easily fall into is a dependence on expensive ready meals and meat replacements. While these things are great, and it’s fantastic that more and more vegan options are available everywhere these days, you save money and generally have a healthier diet if you don’t rely on these foods too much. You don’t have to eat lentils for every meal, but it is super important to make sure you’re getting a wide range of plant foods into your diet - whether you’re vegan or not.
A major misconception about a vegan diet is that you won’t get enough protein. Generally speaking, your average person doesn’t need that much protein in their diet - about 50g per day, depending on your weight (World Health Organisation recommends 0.83g protein per 1kg of body weight).
To make things easy for you, we’ve put together a full day’s worth of scrumptious plant-based meals that are easy to prepare and will supply all your nutritional needs (we promise).
Tip: A lot of our savoury recipes include Tamari, which is a type of gluten free soya sauce. Plant-based cookery takes a little getting used to, especially as far as injecting that extra umami flavour goes. Tamari, as well as Shoyu and Kikuman, are very deep and flavoursome types of soy sauce that we wholeheartedly recommend - of course you can use whatever soy sauce you have available, but you might need to adjust amounts.
Breakfast: Peanut butter, banana & date syrup pancakes (18g protein per serving)
Makes 8 pancakes; serves 4.
Prep time: 10-15 minutes
You can also easily create a savoury filling, if preferred, but we like to start the day with a sweet treat. Traditionally, pancakes are made with dairy milk and eggs. The dairy milk can be swapped with most alternatives. Soya milk contains the most protein, but oat milk is especially good as it is creamy and lush. Pancakes usually only contain eggs as a binding agent for the batter; in this recipe we’ve swapped them for gram flour (chickpea flour) which contains a similar amount of protein to eggs.
Ingredients:
350ml (1½ cups) oat or soya milk
¼ cup water
100g (¾ cup) all purpose flour
35g (¼ cup) Doves Farm Gram Flour
1 tbsp corn flour
½ tsp salt
To serve:
8 tbsp Suma Peanut Butter (1 tbsp per pancake)
4 bananas, sliced (½ banana per pancake)
8 tbsp Meridian Date Syrup (1 tbsp per pancake)
Method:
Pour all ingredients into the blender jug, starting with the milk, and blend for a few seconds until smooth. If the blender jug has no spout, transfer the batter into a large jug with a spout to make it easier to pour into the pan.
Warm up your pan on medium heat until fairly hot and add a splash of oil (rapeseed or coconut work well).
Once the oil is hot, use a soup ladle to approximately measure out one pancake. Hold the pan handle with your other hand while pouring the batter to swirl and make the batter evenly cover the surface.
Fry for approximately 2 minutes on each side until golden brown. You will notice the white side (the not yet fried) of the pancake changing colour and becoming more solid which will show you when to flip the pancake.
While your pancakes are frying, peel your bananas, slice into circles and set aside. Once a sufficient number of pancakes have been prepared, spread a large tablespoon of good quality peanut butter on one of your pancakes (we love Suma and Meridian).
Arrange the banana slices on the pancakes, then douse everything in a hearty serving of date syrup and you’re ready to roll!
TIP: The batter can be prepared in advance and sit in the fridge for a few days. You also don’t have to use up all the batter in one go and store the remaining quantity in the fridge for up to 4-5 days if needed.
Lunch: Tofu & Kimchi Bibimbap Bowl (21g protein per serving)
Serves: 4
Prep time: 30min
This dish is quick, easy, healthy and a taste sensation! We can’t get enough of kimchi – the gut-friendly fermented food from Korea – we love Loving Foods’ version, it’s perfect for a New Year’s health kick and adds an extra taste dimension to any meal.
Ingredients:
2 onions
1 red or yellow bell pepper
200g kale
2 carrots
2 garlic cloves
1 inch ginger (or 1 tsp minced ginger)
1 fresh chilli
450g Clearspring Organic Tofu
200g brown basmati rice
5 tbsp Meridian Tamari
Loving Foods Kimchi
2 tbsp Meridian Sesame Oil
Optional garnishes, choose from:
Chopped spring onions
Toasted sesame seeds
Coriander
Eaten Alive Kimchi hot sauce
Method:
Start by peeling and chopping the onions, wash and slice the pepper and carrots into thin batons.
Peel and finely chop the garlic and ginger. Finely slice the chilli, leaving the seeds for more spice or removing for less.
Wash and drain the bag of kale. This may seem like a lot of kale but this dish is all about the greens and the kale will reduce when cooking.
Next rinse the rice and place in a saucepan – double quantity of water to rice so if using one cup of rice add 2 cups of water. Salt the water to taste and bring to the boil, then part cover (leaving space for steam to escape) reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
After the 30 minutes check the rice, the water should be almost absorbed, if it has entirely gone and the rice is in danger of sticking to the bottom of the pan add a splash more water. At this point if the rice is almost done turn off the heat and leave to stand for 10 minutes fully covered so the rice can absorb the remaining steam.
While your rice is at the simmer stage, cut your tofu into cubes and place in a warm pan, on a low heat. Stir the tofu until the liquid has evaporated and the tofu is dry and starting to seal on the heat (this is to get a crispy texture).
Remove from the pan and add some frying oil (sunflower or rapeseed) to the pan before re-adding the tofu to fry in the pan until crispy. Add a splash of Tamari for flavour. Remove and set aside.
To cook your veggies - warm some frying oil in a pan and add the sliced onions, stirring the onions so they don’t become brown - add the garlic, chilli and ginger. Once the onions are softened add the carrot and pepper batons. Add a pinch of sea salt if required. Stir-fry lightly on high heat but leave some crunch and then add the kale. Keep adding until all the kale is in the pan and it is starting to reduce and fry.
Then you add a splash of water and put a lid on to steam your kale until it is softened but still a vibrant green colour. Once done add an extra splash of Tamari and stir through.
Now you’re ready to load your bowls! Start with the rice, then add veggies, tofu and a large serving of kimchi, then a drizzle of toasted sesame oil. Add the extra garnishes if desired in any combination - spring onions, toasted sesame seeds, coriander, Tamari and kimchi hot sauce. Dig in and enjoy!
Dinner: Sweet potato, red lentil & coconut soup (14.7g protein per serving)
Serves: 4
Prep time: 25-35min
Soup contains 8.5g protein per serving and is served with 2 slices of Seeded bread for an extra 6.2g protein
Ingredients:
200g uncooked Infinity Foods Organic Red Lentils - 18g; 4.5g per serving
1 large onion (1.7g; 0.425g per serving)
2-3 garlic cloves (1.8g; 0.45g per serving)
Small knob of fresh ginger (about ½ an inch)
½ of a fresh red chilli or a pinch of chilli flakes
1 large sweet potato (7.77g; 1.944g per portion)
50g Biona Creamed coconut (3.5g; 0.875g per portion)
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp Meridian Tamari soya sauce (1.1g; 0.275g per portion)
1 tbsp Sunita Organic Lemon Juice (0.06g; 0.015g per portion
Bread of your choice (we like seeded!)
Naturli Vegan Block
Salt and pepper, to taste
TIP: This soup can be served blended or chunky if you do not have a stick blender. If serving chunky, make sure to dice all of your veg fairly fine.
To prep the coconut block: cut open the plastic packet and peel back. Normally it is very firm so watch your fingers. Cut the desired amount and set aside. Note, too much coconut will make the soup too thick.
Method:
Start by rinsing and cooking the lentils. Place the dry lentils in a large bowl and top up with cold water. Swirl several times with a large spoon to get the starches off the lentils then carefully drain the water (which should be a little white and starchy now) leaving the lentils in the bowl. Repeat the process a few times until the water runs clear.
Place your washed lentils in a saucepan, top up with water and bring to a boil then simmer until cooked (approx 5-7min), drain and set aside.
While your lentils are on the boil, peel and dice your onion. Peel the garlic then carefully dice finely together with the ginger and chilli, almost forming a paste.
Peel and chop the sweet potatoes, making the chunks smaller if the soup is not going to be blended.
In a large saucepan, heat up 2-3 tablespoons of rapeseed oil (sunflower or coconut will work fine, too) then add your onions.
Saute whilst stirring with a wooden spoon for a few minutes then stir in the garlic, ginger & chilli paste and a dash of oil if the mixture starts to catch. Add your spices (a pinch of cumin, turmeric, salt & pepper) and a splash of water, stir well and saute for a few more minutes.
Once you notice that your soup base is starting to form more of a unified paste, add the diced sweet potatoes, cooked lentils, creamed coconut, a dash of tamari and top up with boiling water from the kettle.
Stir well and bring to boil then simmer for around 7 minutes or until you are sure the sweet potatoes are cooked - try one with a fork to make sure it is soft, then add about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to bring some zing to this dish and blend until smooth.
Adjust your seasoning with salt, pepper, tamari and lemon juice to achieve your desired balance then serve with 2 slices of bread buttered with Naturli Vegan Block. Enjoy!
You can find full recipes over at On The Eighth Day’s website.