Some Recipes for a Successful Vegetarian BBQ ~The veggies bite back~

Again this post is two weeks late, I just managed to squeeze out time to put this up before it became too late for a post. In early Jan this year I heard from Sandhya Prakash, who had visited my earlier blog at a vegetarian in the middle east and thought I should join the veggie party that was going on elsewhere in Dubai. I am glad I did, not only have I found myself a new bunch of friends they also happen to feel pretty strongly about being vegetarians in the middle east. MeVeg that’s what this group is called, you’ll find a link on the sidebar do click to know what’s with it.

Dubai is a fantastic place to be in right through December up until March. The weather is perfect and people make the most of the outdoors during this time, parks are bustling with cheerful faces on the weekends making the most of barbecues, and potluck parties. So somewhere in the middle of Feb. MeVeg held a vegetarian BBQ event at Safa Park. For many of us it was our first time at BBQ and for others an all vegetarian BBQ was a revelation of sorts.

It helped that Sandhya has a pretty infectious enthusiasm for the cause of the vegetarians. The raw vegetables and fruits were courtesy Choitram, a well known supermarket in UAE. And for all the rest those who could volunteer did so.

Here’s the menu:
Grilled vegetables – peppers in 3 different colours, mushrooms, onions, zucchini and tomatoes served with herbed fussili pasta.

Grilled falafel with tzatziki served with Arabic bread.

Grilled paneer & capsicum with yoghurt and mint chutney.

Grilled fruits and strawberries with chocolate sauce for dessert.

Baked sweet potatoes and corn on the cob.

I didn’t have time to take close-up shots of all the dishes but because some of you have been asking for recipes on the MeVeg Fan Page on FB I can definitely share some of that here.

Grilled Falafel

~serves 60~

Ingredients

1 1/2 kg chickpeas, soaked overnight & cooked al dente

4 large onion, roughly chopped

1 bulb garlic, cloves peeled

2 bunches fresh parsley, roughly chopped

3 tablespoon coriander seeds

2 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Salt to taste

1 tablespoon peppercorns

oil for basting

60 wooden skewers, soaked in water overnight

Method

1. Combine ingredients in a food processor, blend roughly adding water as you go along, you may need to do this in batches.

2.  Next, add breadcrumbs and combine with hand to get a soft, but reasonable tight dough, that holds together.

3. Take fistfuls of the mixture shape into balls, place a skewer in the middle and roll over a plate to shape like a seekh kebab.

4. Brush oil over the seekhs and either place directly over hot grill or use a griddle setting. Baste with oil every now and then and remove when it looks brown and crispy on the outside.

The falafel was had with a piece of arabic bread, topped with fresh tzatziki the Greek yoghurt and cucumber dip. I completely forgot to take a photograph of the dip, but it was good!

Tzatziki Dip

~makes 3 kilos~

Ingredients

4 kg tub yoghurt, hung overnight

10 cloves of garlic, minced

4 cucumber, grated

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

salt to taste

Method

Prepare all ingredients in advance. Combine oil and lemon juice in a mixing bowl. Fold in the hung yoghurt. Add the garlic, and cucumber. Stir.

Yoghurt & Mint Sauce

~makes 2 litres~

Ingredients

1 big bunch mint leaves

1 tablespoon sugar

2 kg yogurt

1 cup water

2 tablespoons lime juice

Method

Give it all a buzz in the blender!

Succulent paneer and crispy peppers dunked in minty yoghurt sauce was one of the highlights of our lunch that day.

Things I learnt on the BBQ:

1. If using wooden skewers we need to pre soak them overnight or at least 3 to 4 hours.

2. The coal needs about half an hour of work for a film of grey ash to form around it – after which its perfect for cooking.

3. You need some good lighter liquid and a fan to work on the flames.

4. A bunch of friends, cooking together, smell of food cooking over coal and great weather, works up quite an appetite!

We had loads of passers by that day who shared our food with us, many appeared surprised at the thought of eating only a vegetarian diet, for me going vegetarian was a personal choice. It has been 15 years since I stopped eating meat, I neither crave nor miss meat.

Finally to satisfy the sweet tooth we grilled chunks of pineapple and apples. I found it delicious, with the sugars intensifying upon grilling. We also had strawberries, we cut these up and had them dunked in chocolate sauce.

So fellow vegetarians, arm yourself with a bbq set and bare your fangs and bite for chrissake!