Thanksgiving is just around the corner, which means that Christmas is basically in two weeks. We all know that holidays equal spending time with family and eating a lot of food (but mostly eating a lot of food). During the holidays or whenever my family decides to get together, we include a lot of vegan dishes on the table even though none of us are vegan — just lactose intolerant (haha)! Here are some meals that your vegan, vegetarian, and omnivore friends will love!
Hummus
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All you need are chickpeas, lemon, garlic, and some tahini (not to be confused with Tahani from The Good Place). You blend them together until you get your desired consistency and then garnish with olive oil, paprika, and some roasted pine nuts. Here’s a recipe if you’re interested in making this Middle Eastern staple.
Tabbouleh
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This salad is seriously so good and so simple to make. You can use bulgur, couscous, or quinoa as the grain element in this salad, but I personally think it tastes the best with quinoa. Finely chop up some parsley (a lot of it) because it will be the base for your salad. Add some diced green onions, mint leaves, and tomatoes. Dress with olive oil and lemon juice and add salt to taste. Here’s how to make this delicious dish.
Baba Ganoush
- This dish is similar to hummus, but rather than using chickpeas, you use a roasted eggplant. After you’re done roasting the purple vegetable and NSFW emoji, blend it together with some garlic, lemon juice, and tahini, and salt and pepper to taste. Garnishing this dish with pomegranate is common. Here’s the recipe. (:
Batata Harra (spicy potato)
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If you’re tired of eating roasted potatoes every Thanksgiving, batata harra, which literally translates to ‘spicy potato’, is a nice substitute. You can make this dish in under 20 minutes, it’s that simple. All you have to do is peel some potatoes, dice them into cubes, and sautee them in a pan with olive oil, garlic, cilantro, and a little bit of paprika, coriander, and cayenne pepper. If you don’t have these spices handy, you can use hot sauce to give it that kick. Try this recipe.
Fattoush
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This is another salad that is so easy to make. It consists of tomatoes, cucumbers, green onion, romaine lettuce, radishes, mint, parsley, and sumac. Sumac is a red spice that looks a lot like saffron but tastes nothing like it. You can find this spice in Middle Eastern markets and on Amazon (they literally have everything). Dress with olive oil and lemon juice and, as always, add salt to taste. You must garnish with fried pita bread because it isn’t fattoush without the pita. Here’s how to make this salad.
Manakish Zaatar
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You can eat these for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even as a snack. This is the Middle Eastern version of a pizza topped with olive oil, sesame seeds, and ground-up thyme. So yummy! Here’s the recipe if you want to try this food masterpiece.
Dawali (dolma)
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If you have not tried stuffed grape leaves you are missing out. Most fillings include rice, tomatoes, and parsley. Meat is oftentimes included but is easy to omit. Admittedly, this takes a while to make, but the result is so worth it. If this dish sounds enticing to you, click here.
Falafel
- If you haven’t tried falafel you are seriously missing out. Like dawali, this takes a while to make because you’re grinding up a bunch of parsley, cilantro, chickpeas, peeled fava beans (can omit), green onion, garlic, and falafel spices that you can purchase here. The greener the consistency, the better (in my opinion). Once everything is ground up, you roll the ingredients into little balls and fry them in vegetable oil. Viola! You have a vegetable fritter. (: Here’s how to make it.
Even if you choose not to make these dishes for the holidays, I hope you try them at some point in your life because they are so delicious and healthy!