Vegan recipes that are must try this Veganuary month

If you've been toying with starting a vegan diet or want to go vegan, January may be the month you want to do it. A UK-based nonprofit refers to it as Veganuary. 

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Launched in 2014, Veganuary encourages you to consume only plant-based foods for January. The movement began from a desire to protect the environment, prevent animal suffering, and improve the health of millions of people.

It is a campaign that encourages people to try a vegan lifestyle for the month of January with the goal of raising awareness about the environmental, health, and ethical benefits of a vegan diet. The health benefits of a vegan diet include a lower risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer. A vegan diet is also associated with a lower body mass index (BMI) and can help with weight loss. If you want to go vegan or just want to become a part of the veganuary month, these are three must-have recipes for people wanting to begin this healthy journey.

Image: Pexels

1. Vegan Stuffed Tofu: 

This deep-fried vegan stuffed tofu is one of the most popular Indonesian afternoon treats, eaten with hot sauce dips or raw chili. Making Vegan stuffed tofu is easy as you need tofu, two shallots, one garlic, sea salt, pepper, 50 ml of water, 25 ml of string beans, 45 grams of carrot, 30 grams of bean sprouts, and oil to saute. 

Cut tofu pieces diagonally and make triangles. Slightly scoop out the middle part of the tofu with a small spoon to make some space, mash the scooped-out part, and reserve. Grind shallots and garlic into a paste, saute with oil until fragrant. Add in the rest of the ingredients with the mashed tofu, stir and cover with a lid until the carrots are soft enough and the water gets reduced. Stuff the veggies into the tofu. Mix all the dry coating ingredients, and add water till it has cake-batter-like consistency. Coat the stuffed tofu with the coating batter and deep fry until golden brown. Serve hot and all you need to do is enjoy.

Image: Pixabay

2. Broccoli Vegan Pasta:

Broccoli pasta is a little bit lemony, a little bit cheesy, and a whole lot of yum. The broccoli is cooked generously with the pasta then stirred vigorously with the sauce to make it juicy and saucy. 

You need two big heads of broccoli, pasta (any will do), cheese, extra virgin olive oil. Start by cooking the pasta according to the recipe instructions. While pasta is cooking, you can start chopping broccoli and add it inside the water. Make the simple lemony pasta sauce. Scoop out one cup of pasta water. It is the trick of making plenty of sauce without using tons of oil. Add half a cup of this into the sauce and shake. Drain the pasta. Put it back into the same pot, then add the sauce and cheese. Toss the pasta, pasta sauce, water and cheese until it is nice and juicy. Serve this dish hot by seasoning it with chili flakes and oregano seasoning.

Image: Getty Images

3. Vegan Lasagna:

Vegan lasagna tastes same, just like a classic, traditional lasagna but is meatless and dairy-free. Just take regular lasagna noodles, extra virgin olive oil, onion, garlic, meatless beef crumbles or vegan sausages, plum tomatoes canned, tomato paste, herbs, seasonings, raw cashews, vegan mozzarella cheese shreds, and so on.

Make the meatless meat sauce. Heat oil in a large saucepan with crushed garlic. Add the onions. Saute until they soften, about five minutes. Add the vegan "meat" and saute for a couple of minutes to brown. Add the tomato paste and mix in. Place the plum tomatoes in a bowl and squish them to break with your fingers. Add to the saucepan along with 3 cups of vegetable stock if using no-boil noodles and 2 cups of stock if using regular cooked noodles. Then stir well and bring to a boil. Add the oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and ground black pepper to taste. Cook the sauce without covering for about 15 minutes or until it turns a bright red. 

Turn off heat, check the seasoning followed by assembling it. Spray a 12 X 9 inch lasagna pan or baking dish with cooking spray or oil. Take out a small amount of sauce into the pan and spread. Layer on four sheets of the noodles into the bottom of the pan. If using no-boil noodles, which are smaller than regular noodles, you might need to layer on five noodles vertically and one more horizontally. 

Layer four sheets of pasta into the bottom of the pan. Layer one-fourth of the meat sauce over the lasagna sheets. Layer on one-fourth of the vegan mozzarella. Repeat until you have built up three layers of the meat sauce and the cheese. Over the fourth and final layer, layer the remaining meat sauce and mozzarella. Cover tightly with aluminum foil, place the lasagna pan on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the aluminum foil and bake for another 30 minutes until bubbly and hot. Let the lasagna stand for at least 15 minutes to firm up, then cut and serve.