ATTENTION: Whole food plant based vegan food doesn’t have to be boring!
Pictured is a Chickpea Shawarma board that my client had asked for, for a family style dinner in their home. Funny story about this, her husband was the one that had contacted me and said he doesn’t fully do this whole plant based diet but wanted to surprise his wife because she has followed this type of diet for years and wanted to try new recipes. When they had chosen this shawarma board, he informed me he wouldn’t eat it because he didn’t like chickpeas or hummus. Well fast forward to the day of the event. His family had him try a bite and after that he was hooked, he went up for seconds and thirds!
With this all being said, I have seen over the years in restaurants and just eating out, a-lot of places do not offer or have 1 or 2 vegetarian options.. let alone vegan options. The problem is people just do not have enough knowledge about this type of plant based options, they think its boring or theres not much you can really eat with whole plant based. So when they had the special request ran in they would just sauté up any vegetable they could find. In those moments I was always thrown off about how boring and felt bad this is how a vegan diet was, how “bland” their daily meals were. Little did I know, I was wrong, I was very wrong, they were getting some of the freshest ingredients, nothing was smothering the flavor, all the flavors just working together in harmony. I was the one that was so closed off. This is when i have come to the realization that plant based isn’t boring we just are closed off in our own minds.
Personally while starting this business my biggest thing was to keep learning, to keep growing and doing my first whole foods dinner was eye opening and I cannot wait todo more. I learned so much in such a short period of time. Cooking is about playing with flavors and ingredients that work together. putting recipes with one another you have to know what goes well together and things that could counter act and make it taste off. This recipe alone there was so many working parts, on their own there good, but once all layered together they were honesty mind blowing and mouth watering. Theres 4 separate recipes that make this whole board up and each one does their own part.
Something I learned during this event, each individual vegetable or herb enhanced one other. Having no dairy or heavy fats involved i was really just able to taste the authenticity of each individual ingredient and how well they all worked together in this dish. I can honestly say I have made this for more people then I can count and when I tell them that there isn’t any animal products they are blown away wondering how can something vegan be so flavorful and delicious. Skipping the cream or dairy really allowed for the fresh local ingredients to work on their own and bring this dish to a whole new level.
I keep this in mind now, the more i’m coming up with dishes for dinners at home. I have always used a-lot of butter and cream and cheese.. all the cheese. But sometimes I try to swap my long standing recipes and cut the cheese or cream out with lighter things and I have really found a flavor profile to things I never knew existed. With this being said vegan does not need to be boring. If I’m being honest theres almost more natural flavors your able to taste then with animal products. Nothing is smothered, everything is fresh, and I cannot wait to keep expanding my knowledge of whole foods plant based. If you love hummus it is a wonderful way to spice it up and show off to your family and friends!
This recipe is from https://minimalistbaker.com/chickpea-shawarma-dip/ Thank you minimalist Baker!
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