How To Replace Meat, Milk And Sweets During Lent?

2023 Author: Amber Richards | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-22 00:24

Fasting cannot be enjoyed ─ where do you put the comma? It all depends on your culinary horizons. Fasting is a great time to expand. Feel free to pass by meat counters, because the store has more interesting and tasty products. Elena Chazova, brand-chef of the “Dinner at Home” culinary service, tells what and what to replace.

Meat

It is most difficult to part with him for 40 days. But even he has a worthy replacement - soy meat. Pour boiling water over for 10 minutes, mix with soy sauce and fry ─ the taste is indistinguishable from the original. Soy, which is 40% protein, is a healthy and nutritious product (not to be confused with freeze-dried chunks in instant noodles!). There is a wide range of soy meat products on sale now: steaks, burgers, and even meatballs - don't be afraid to try.

Eggplant is another alternative to meat. It can be considered a dietary product, because the calorie content is low - 24 kcal per 100 grams. True, if you fry an eggplant in vegetable oil, then it actively absorbs it, and becomes very nutritious - keep this in mind.

Cereals

Fortunately, there is no ban on rice and buckwheat during fasting, but are we talking about alternatives? Fasting is a great excuse to try couscous (if you haven't tried it yet). Fill the cereals with water for 5 minutes, add sun-dried tomatoes, red grapes and herbs (or prepare tabbouleh according to our recipe ─ look below).

Don't forget about quinoa (nominally, it's not even cereal, but peeled cereal seeds). Quinoa is included in the TOP-20 of the healthiest foods in the world, because it contains more vitamins and trace elements than wheat, barley or rice. Cooking quinoa is also quite simple: pour water in a 1: 2 ratio and boil for 15-20 minutes over low heat. If desired, you can stir with cauliflower, baked pumpkin, red onions, avocado, lettuce, mint and cilantro, and season with olive oil.

Milk

If you cannot drink coffee without milk, and you consider porridge on water a challenge, then you will like a replacement - try all types of plant milk. Add coconut or almond milk to coffee, and porridge can be cooked in rice, soy, and any nut milk. And believe me, this is a real gustatory find.

Sweet

Now your focus should be on dark chocolate, halva and kozinaki. You don't have to suffer without buns either: just carefully study the composition of the finished baked goods - they just should not contain milk and eggs. You can also make vegan candy ─ let's get started.

Date sweets with walnuts

Ingredients

200 g almonds

100 g walnuts

2 tbsp. l. cocoa powder

150 g dates

2 banana

Preparation

Grind the almonds with a blender, set aside half. Add walnuts to the second half and chop everything with a blender again. Add banana and dates to the blender bowl. Mix until smooth.

In a bowl, combine the cocoa and leftover almonds. Use a teaspoon to separate some of the date mass and form a ball. Dip it in the cocoa and almond mixture. Place on a plate. Repeat with the entire mass. Refrigerate the candy for 2-3 hours. Serve chilled.

Tabouleh (Arabic dish of couscous and vegetables)

Ingredients

110 g couscous

1-2 tomatoes

1 red onion

1-2 cucumbers

2-3 sprigs of mint

2-3 sprigs of parsley

Preparation

Pour boiling water over the couscous in a cup so that the water covers the groats by 1 cm. Salt and leave under the lid for 5 minutes, then stir. Cut cucumbers and tomatoes into small cubes (no more than 1 cm). Chop the onion, mint and parsley very finely. Mix vegetables with couscous and serve.