In my last articles I wrote about the difficulties with being vegan in Russia, specifically about lack of some vegan products. Nevertheless, I manage to always cook 100% plant-based at home and have a fridge completely free of animal products (except for when my husband buys a piece of cheese or sour cream for himself around once a month).
Of course with the lack of vegan products I have to rely largely on whole foods and cook from scratch. So my diet is based on all kinds of legumes, grains, fresh and frozen vegetables, mushrooms, nuts&seeds, potatoes, pasta, fruit of course, and some greens. I mostly cook with oil, because it’s a part of tradition and Russian cuisine, and though I try to minimize, it’s very difficult to go completely oil free.
Today I wanna talk about my top simple and cheap products that help me particularly to be satisfied with my meals and have a varied and balanced plant-based diet.
1 - TVP (Texturized Vegetable Protein, or “soya meat” or “soya chunks”).
This is what’s left after soya oil is extracted. It’s widely used all around the world as a meat substitute, it’s sold dry in form of chunks of different shapes and sizes, and in a shape of ground meat. It’s super-cheap, easy to store, easy to prepare. Just soak in hot water for a few minutes, then cook with sauces and spices. Whenever I’m lazy to cook something interesting from recipes, I just fry some vegetables with these soya chunks and with a side dish of potatoes, pasta or grains, it feel like a complete meal (and it is). It has 50% of its calories from protein, just 100 grams will provide you with 50 grams of protein, half of daily zinc requirement, third of daily calcium, iron and selenium requirements and much more. Low fat, healthy, nutritious, extremely convenient and delicious – depending on the condiments you use, you can have varied tastes. This is my number one help!
2 - Dried shiitake mushrooms.
They are always in the house, I buy in bulk. They’re also a help when I need to make simple vegetables tastier. It has a unique flavor which can change the whole perception of a dish. Amazing chewy texture. Their taste is really one of a kind.
3 - Sunflower seeds.
Any Russian person knows these, they are particularly popular unpeeled&roasted. It gives a special pleasure cracking them from peels, for example while watching a film or reading an internet article. It is amazingly tasty that way, and satiating, if you eat long enough :)) Before I had a baby, I used to crack seeds all evening long in front of a computer, with fruit, and it was instead of dinner, very satisfying. Now, of course, I have no time for it, but I use them in different other ways.
I can make a “cheesy” sauce from soaking dried raw (peeled) seeds, then blending them with water and spices. Then pour over a vegetable dish and bake in the oven. It gives an awesome taste and texture, adds extra protein. What I also love is: soak them, then ground in a food processor with water, then “fry” with a little oil, adding spices and garlic. Out from insipid dried seeds it turns into a satisfying savoury dish. Eat it with boiled potatoes and some juicy veggies – and you’ve got yourself a full dinner. Sooo easy to cook, I do it very often when baby has taken all of my time :) It’s also nutritious, packed with protein and a lot of microelements like copper, magnesium, phospohorus, selenium, Vitamin E and B1 and many more.
Also we have our 2 favourite sweet things made of sunflower seeds: Gozinaki – whole seeds baked in molasses and sugar sirup. And Halva (it's on Wikipedia). We eat those every day with tea, I’m kinda addicted to them :)) They’re one of the few vegan sweets easily available here in Russia, so they’re like sweet staples for us.
4 - Oatmeal.
Sweet oatmeal porridge with fruit and nuts is the best thing I can imagine for breakfast, which is satiating, nutritious and so easy to make. With different fruit (fresh, frozen or dry) and condiments you can make different tastes every day. My favourite things for the porridge are: banana, raisins, prunes, poppy seeds, coconut powder, grated lemon rind and some nuts, boil with a few cardamon seeds. Sometimes I go crazy for frozen strawberries. In any way, there are hundreds of versions of this porridge.
Also I use oatmeal to make my own homemade oatmilk, which my husband particularly loves. It can be used as a milk substitute for any dish, even in coffee and mashed potatoes. Easy to make and CHEAP, my home’s staple, especially with the absence of commercially sold Plant Milks. I’ll definitely give you my oatmilk recipe which I developed myself in the next posts.
5 - Nori (seaweed) sheets.
When my husband says he needs something like fish, I make some dish using this delicious seaweed, and he says he’s fully satisfied with that. And that’s all I need! :) A lot of vegan “fish” dishes can be made with this. In the next posts I’ll share an amazing “fish pâté” recipe, super easy to make and delicious!
6 - Buckwheat.
This crop is a staple grain for Russian people. It’s usually sold in a dry-roasted form, brown color, while originally it’s green. We boil it as a porridge and eat as a side dish (probably the way rice is eaten in Asia). Nutritious and delicious, especially if you add fried onion to it. I heard that when Russian people go abroad, this is the first thing they miss and can find only in special Russian shops.
Also I adore noodles made of buckwheat flour, called Soba (Japanese name), they’re my favorite noodles, they’re exquisite and fast to make.
Besides, that’s the only grain I love to eat sprouts from. It’s super helpful when vitamin boost is needed in winter and early spring. For that I of course use green raw buckwheat, not brown =)
7 - Ordinary cabbage.
It’s cheap, available year-round, it will never let you down :) I love stewed cabbage with soya meat, it’s surprisingly tasty for ordinary cabbage, and it feels like real traditional Russian dish.
Also it’s my life-saver in winter, since there a few raw vegetables I can find, and I really crave for some juicy side dish with vitamin C. I make sauerkraut from it at home, very easy to make, fresh taste. It is one of the most important sources of vitamin C for Russian people in winter.
8 - Green onion sprouts.
I grow them on my window-sill in a bottle! The easiest thing ever! Fresh green vitamins available for free all year round – that’s what I love about them!
9 - Chickpeas and lentil flour.
Chickpeas flour can be used to make vegan omelette, which is nice, full of protein. And lentil flour I soak in water (1:1) and pour over any stewed vegetables and fry together – I don’t even know how to describe, there you get a meaty proteinaceous dish. My mom thought it was a liver first trying it. I don’t know, for me liver was always a vomit-inducing substance, and this dish is very nice and tender, but you can feel it’s proteinaceousness. Same thing you can do with chickpea flour - different taste, but also a unique satiating dish.
10. Nutritional yeast flakes.
Yeaaah, of course any vegan is aware of this! It's not sold in Russia, like at all, but I can order it from iHerb in a good amount which will last for several months. Almost every dish gets better with it, sometimes I just eat it over bread with olive oil, what can be better??
Of course I eat a huge lot of other foods, but these particular above help me make my vegan life in Russia much easier.
If you have anything to say, please write, I’ll be glad to see all kinds of comments from you :)
Source of the pictures : Google images labeled for reuse.
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