Vungi - Vegan dinner party : comforting vegan dishes for any occasion

Skyhorse and Skyhorse Publishing are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation. Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file. Cover design by Lauren Shaw Cover photo credit by Janne Luigla Print ISBN: 978-1-62914-524-2 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63220-172-0 Printed in China Photo by Janne Luigla Photo by Janne Luigla Contents Introduction I have been passionate about cooking since I was five years old. I used to watch my mom prepare delicious meals for our family of five, and something about the art of food making fascinated me so much that I decided to roll up my sleeves and heat up the pots and pans. I havent stopped since.

My love for creating recipes and great home-cooked meals, and seeing peoples happy faces when they eat my food, is bigger than ever. I have dreamed about my very own cookbook since my early youth. When I became a vegan in 2007, it was clear to me that my passion for food and compassion for animals were meant to work together. I started my own vegan recipe site in 2009. In 2012, my first cookbook with one hundred vegan recipes was published by a major publisher in my home country of Estonia. In 2013, I created vegansandra.com to share my recipes in English.

I also run my own little catering company, which has allowed me to create so many delicious recipes, suitable for both fabulous parties and for fun, casual times with family and friends. This cookbook contains only the best selection of amazingly tasty food that will make your family and friends fall in love with these new, yet still comforting, tastes. Believe me, they will talk about your party for a long timewhether theyre vegan or not! This comprehensive vegan cookbook provides an array of dinner party fare, from soups, salads, and spreads to main dishes and cakes. You can even find a whole selection of dreamy no-bake desserts as well as barbecue and Christmas specials. The recipes in this book are doable and affordable and are made with familiar ingredients that you can find in your local grocery storeno fancy, complicated, and expensive ingredient lists. The dishes are home-style, flavorful, and quite filling.

All these recipes are also perfectly suitable for a cozy family dinner if you are not in the mood to throw a party. Since I am an Estonian, there are also quite a few special Estonian recipes like curd pastry with raisins, Estonian cookie cake, black pudding sausages, and sauerkraut with barley. I hope you will find some inspiration and feel the same amount of happiness when cooking delicious, compassionate, and healthy food for the people you care about. I wish you the greatest tasty moments and loveliest memories! Sandra Vungi Tips for Vegan Cooking When I mention the word vegan in some ingredients (like vegan margarine, vegan puff pastry, or vegan chocolate), it simply means that it doesnt contain any animal ingredients. Sometimes, supposedly vegan products can contain animal ingredients. Carefully read the labels.

I like to use light soy sauce in my recipes, not the thick and dark sauces. You can also use low sodium or tamari soy sauce if possible. Quite a few of my recipes ask for a vegetable stock powder. I use one with only salt, dried vegetables, and herbs in it. No additional stuff. Some store-bought vegetable stocks can contain flavor enhancers and other unnecessary ingredients.

Try to avoid those. You can also replace the stock powder with a little bit of salt. If you are low on money, soaked and blended sunflower seeds are a great alternative to cashews to make creamy sauces, soups, and spreads. Some of my recipes ask for vegan cream. It is basically an alternative to regular light cream to make some dishes and sauces creamier. I like to use soy-based cream, but you can definitely try different ones.

And if you are not a fan of store-bought creams, just use some homemade cashew or sunflower seed cream. It will work in most of the recipes. The only special cooking utensil you need in some of these recipes is a hand blender. All my creamy soups, spreads, and sauces are blended with this affordable and effective gadget. Soups, Salads, Snacks, and Spreads Cheesy pumpkin and cauliflower soup For me, this soup is such eye-candy. And the belly will be happy too! It has a smooth texture, a beautifully vibrant color, and a slightly cheesy taste.

Its like sunshine on your party table! Serves 34 1 pounds pumpkin flesh (peeled and seeds removed) head of cauliflower 4 Tablespoons oil 1 teaspoon salt ground black pepper to taste 1 cups hot water 34 Tablespoons nutritional yeast teaspoon turmeric teaspoon vegetable stock powder 1 Tablespoon soy sauce Preheat the oven to 400F. Grease a medium-sized baking pan. Add pumpkin cubes, cauliflower florets, oil, salt, and pepper. Bake until the pumpkin is soft. Place the baked pumpkin and cauliflower into a pot; add hot water, nutritional yeast, turmeric, vegetable stock powder, and soy sauce. Stir, bring to a boil, and remove the heat.

Blend until smooth. Creamy onion and plum soup There is this great childrens book I love to read once in a while. A tiny fella named Viplala is the main character and he gets into all sorts of trouble. But since I have always been a foodie, I especially like the fact that a character in this book worked in a factory where they produced savory canned plum soups! How amazing is that? I just had to create my own plum soup recipe, and it came out so tasty. Long live the childrens books with their creative ideas!