Fresh from the kitchen: three easy vegan salads
England is not renowned for being (say like Californias) a nation of salad eaters. But that’s often because (a) soup is nicer when it’s raining and cold or (b) most salads in restaurants consist of a slice of limp lettuce, a stick of celery and a cherry tomato.
Learning to make your own salad is far better! And much tastier than the store-bought plastic bags of wishy-washy salad greens. They also are very expensive, compared to if you make your own.
Vegan Caesar salad (Full of Plants) combines crispy Romaine lettuce with herbed croutons, shallots in a homemade creamy dressing.
You don’t need lots of tools to make good salad. Just a good chopping board and a quality knife, some fresh produce and a salad spinner (failing that, just use a tea towel to dry off your salad greens before serving with dressing).
- Check medication before eating lots of leafy greens (or grapefruit). Read more on food safety for people and pets.
- Before recycling cans, rinse then remove lids (pop ring-pulls over holes). Then step on upper cans to ‘pinch’ inner rims together, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.
- Unless you have a food waste bin, bin pepper and allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallots, chives) and citrus/tomato/rhubarb scraps, as acids could harm compost creatures.
Only made enough salad to last a day or two, keeping leftovers in a covered container in the fridge. Only adding dressing when you serve.
If you want, add some Hampshire watercress!
Watercress grows abundantly in Dorset and Hampshire, due to the mild weather, and is best from April to September. It’s quite peppery and has been popular since Roman times, when it was thought to cure everything from baldness to insanity!
Choose strong green leaves for freshness and only wash and shake dry before use. Store in the fridge (ideally in water) and eat within a couple of days.
Curried chickpea salad (cheaper than Morrisons!)
This curried chickpea salad (The Simple Veganista) is reminiscent of the version that you sometimes find in those big (very expensive) salad bars in supermarkets like Morrisons. This one is way cheaper and no plastic packaging.
Chickpeas are super-filling and tasty, and packed with protein. There are also some healthy carrots and green onions in there, blended with a curry-spiced vegan mayo and sweetened with dried raisins.
This is kind of like a take on chicken coronation salad, invented in the 50s to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. But if you’re going to replace chicken with chickpeas (good!), also ensure your homemade chickpea salad is cheaper and tastier than plastic-pots in supermarket versions!
Homemade potato salad (no Heinz cans needed!)
This classic potato salad (The Simple Veganista) will remind you of the old canned version by Heinz (it’s not made anymore). This is so easy to make, just season cooked leftover potatoes in a vegan mayonnaise mustard dressing.
Often the big adverts try to convince people that brands like Heinz are ‘nostalgic’ for people who live in England. When in fact most of the ‘big nostalgic brands’ are not owned or sometimes even made in England. So bring little money into local economies.
For instance, Heinz is owned by Kraft, based in the USA. So although the ketchup and beans are made in UK factories, huge amounts of profits go to shareholders abroad. Far better to support local artisan brands like Biona!
