Vegetarian Substitutions

I have begun to document the substitutions I make in some popular recipes, and how I recreate non-vegetarian flavours. This list will grow over time, so bookmark or pin and check back.

What you want to add to dishes that use meat (rather than chicken or fish) stocks is the deep earthy flavours. I use a selection of black cardamom, bay leaf, Indian bay leaf, juniper berries, allspice berries, black pepper corns. You can add a little miso as well.

 

Item	Substitution
fish sauce	dark miso paste with umaboshi vinegar; miso paste with wakame or kombu add some funky fermented tofu to the above suggestions a little soy sauce can also be added, but just a little. You may find it is not needed.
oyster sauce	dark miso paste with dark Kepak Asin soy sauce
shrimp paste	miso paste with fermented bean paste
anchovies	for the taste of anchovies (ie cooked in a recipe) use kombu and add a little miso when including anchovies, eg in a salad, I use earthy lentils cooked with kombu, for example beluga lentils or horse gram lentils, or even Chinese black beans. You only need a sprinkling of them. It doesn’t replace the taste but adds salty texture and interest.

Eggs	Substitution
fried or poached eggs topping a dish	Burrata
egg used as a thickener	Often besan (chickpea flour) will work well.
egg based batters or dipping for deep frying	A batter from besan flour (chickpea flour) with a little eno or baking soda to aerate it works well. It is excellent for French Toast too.
egg custard	Besan Payasam
rice pudding with eggs	Greek Rice Pudding
mayonnaise	Condensed Milk Mayonnaise or Creamy Dressing or Yoghurt Dressing

Meats and Stocks	Substitution
meat in some dishes with a gravy or sauce	Okra Deep fried tofu (you can buy deep fried tofu from your Asian shop, but it is easy and better to make it yourself from very firm tofu). Paneer A little dark soy (eg Kepak Asin) can be added to the gravy or sauce.
meat stocks	What you want to add to dishes that use  meat stocks (rather than chicken or fish stock) is the deep earthy flavours of meat. I use a selection of black cardamom, bay leaf, Indian bay leaf, juniper berries, allspice berries, a few black peppercorns, Kepak Asin, and dried shiitake mushrooms. You can add a little dark miso as well. This deeply flavoured coconut stock will work for SE Asian and some other dishes.
chicken stocks	Often plain water will do, but I also use a light vegetable stock. This Indian one is simple and very good. Here is an Asian Flavoured stock. Add a little umaboshi plum or a dash of umaboshi vinegar to the stock as well if you like – just a small dash. Light miso makes a great stock. It is surprising how well a stock made from left over sweet corn kernels and cobs substitutes for chicken stock. I keep vegetable stocks in the freezer (here is one made from peelings), but if I have run out I add some herbs and spices directly into the dish to create the stock flavour while the dish is cooking. The point with veg stocks is that you don’t want the stock flavours to be punchy and overwhelm the dish or alter the flavours of the dish. It needs to highlight and lift a dish with background flavours. Subtle and unassertive. A turnip added to a vegetable stock when making it lifts it to the next level. A little acid is good too – a wedge of lemon or a dash of umaboshi, red or black vinegar.
dashi stock	Use this seaweed based vegetarian dashi.
prosciutto	when used for flavour in cooked dishes use bay leaves and black cardamom instead.
chicken	cauliflower florets

Substitutions when the Cupboards are Bare

Ingredient	Substitution
dry white wine	A mix of verjuice and mirin
marsala (port wine)	prunes
rice vinegar	I sometimes use a palm vinegar for rice vinegar or wine vinegar, as I love the taste
harissa	chilli paste
reshteh noodles	udon, soba or chinese flat noodles
sushi rice	south indian short grained rice like pooni rice
tomato paste	tomatoes pureed in the blender
yellow lentils	channa dal or toor dal, depending on the recipe
yellow split peas	these are mator dal – the dried peeled and split seeds of Pisum sativum. There are yellow and green varieties which are mechanically split so that they will cook faster. They are very different from toor dal or chana dal although they look similar. Mator dal is relatively common in Bengal. If it is difficult to find mator dal, use chana dal.
yuzu juice	lime + cumquat juice
yuzu powder	citrus rind

Fruits and Vegetables	Substitution
alphonso mangoes	mixture of papaya and other mangoes
broad beans	edamame
edamame	broad beans
jicama (yam bean)	kohlrabi
kohlrabi	jicama (yam bean)
pomegranate kernels	barberries from the Afghan shop
prunes	marsala (a port wine)
shimeji mushrooms	pearl mushrooms (baby)
sorrel	watercress, purslane
dried sour cherries	barberries from Afghan shop, goji berries
tomato paste	tomatoes pureed in the blender
watercress	sorrel, purslane, nasturtium leaves