Not by bread alone: how to "hold the starch" in a vegetarian diet - includes recipe - Getting Started

Vegetarian Times, Sept, 1996 by Bryanna Clark Grogan

MANY VEGETARIAN prefer to call their diets "plant-based," but are you finding that your daily fare is what might be more accurately called "starch-based"? A little heavy on the bread, pasta and potatoes, perhaps? Sure, it's filing, cheap and even good for you, but there is more to vegetarian cooking than what the British trenchantly call "stodge".

One of the basic methods of converting to a vegetarian diet is to simply leave the meat, fish or poultry and perhaps even egg and cheese off the plate and eat more of what's left. This is fine as far as it goes, but if half a cup of veggies and/or a tiny pile of iceberg lettuce salad is all that accompanies the baked potato or spaghetti marinara, then you aren't addressing one of the major weaknesses of the common North American eating pattern.

We Norte Americanos eat far fewer vegetables and fruits than do South Americans, Europeans, Africans and Asians. The Italian government, for example, doesn't have to exhort its citizenry to eat five to nine servings of produce a day. One reason for this is that most North Americans eat so much animal protein that they don't have any appetite for all those greens. If you replace your 8-ounce steak, three pork chops or half a spring chicken with a huge pile of "stodge," you still aren't going to have room for your five to nine servings of fruit and vegetables.

So am I telling you to dump your pasta or compost your potatoes? Hardly. You don't have to give up all those lovely comforting starchy foods--just use them more often as side dishes or bases for a vegetable stew, sauce or stir-fry and replace some of them with more nutritious whole grains. For instance, instead of pasta, try serving a pilaf made from herb-scented millet. Millet has a nuttysweet taste as well as significant fiber content. It's a new taste worth cultivating.

Whole grains such as bulgur wheat and brown rice can be used to make hearty salads instead of the white elbow macaroni we're so used to. Add a hefty portion of raw or steamed vegetables to the salad, for color and crunch as well as nutrition. You'll expand your cooking horizons when you acquaint yourself with the more unusual whole grains available today in natural foods stores--the "new" ancient grains such as spelt and kamut, and exotic imports like teff, quinoa, amaranth and Job's Tears. These grains were cultivated by our ancestors for superior taste and nutrition. Today, they are enjoying new popularity with health-conscious consumers.

Vegetable proteins such as tofu, textured soy protein and tempeh, which are all made from soybeans, can - also add heartiness to meals without starch. These foods, and the dizzying variety of new "meat replacements" made from them, can be substituted for meat and poultry in many vegetable-based, highly flavored stews, stir-fees, chills and sauces.

Beans, packed with protein and rich in vitamins and minerals, are another boon to "starchaholic" vegetarian. Of course, there are dishes that feature beans in starring roles: bean salads, bean soups, baked beans and chili come to mind-- but beans also make excellent stand-ins for meat. Try them in stews flavored with herbs, wine and tomatoes. If cooking dry beans sounds too arduous, most varieties are available canned and even organic, with nothing more than salt added. Use black, red or pinto beans in place of beef in Mexican favorites such as tamale pie, burritos and enchiladas. Chickpeas (garbanzo beans) are great in rice dishes or pot pies in place of chicken.

Check out vegetarian cookbooks for recipes for bean patties and burgers, bean terrines and pates, and bean sauces for pasta. The Italians pair beans and pasta together, in the soup-stew with vegetables called pasta e fagiole, or Tuscan-style noodles with white beans, greens and garlic. This type of beans-and-greens combo makes a great topper for whole grains and baked potatoes too. In fact, many bean dishes, even chili, are delicious low-fat toppings for baked potatoes.

Notice that I keep mentioning vegetables along with all of these good vegetarian foods? That's because I'm trying to get you to keep those five to nine servings (some nutritionists say it should be seven to 12 servings) in mind! One of the best ways to eat all of those servings and to cut down on fat and "stodge" is to use vegetables as main course material.

At first, you'll probably think "meaty"--texture, chewiness, heartiness and flavor. Mushrooms, especially the big brown portobello variety, come to mind--grilled, en brochette, stuffed, in stews, sauces and pates. You can brush portobello caps with your favorite marinade or low-fat vinaigrette and grill them to juicy perfection, then serve them as vegetarian "steaks" or "burgers." Nothing could be simpler or more delicious!

Eggplant is another traditional "meaty" choice--you can grill it, stuff it, stew it, mash it into dips and spreads. Grilled eggplant sandwiches are trendy for good reason--they are delectable! Ratatouille, the popular Mediterranean vegetable stew, is eggplant-based and can be used on pizza, in sandwiches and crepes, on baked potatoes or as a cold salad.