Week 3: The Weekday Vegetarian Challenge
Meera Sodha's Matar Paneer plus next week's meal plan + shopping list
Welcome to Week 3 of the Weekday Vegetarian Challenge…
Herewith, five more recipes that I believe are capable of easing you into this whole less-meat thing you’ve committed yourself to. (You’ve committed yourself to it, right?) You can think of the following meal plan, along with the meal plans from Week 1 and Week 2, as being like mini cookbooks. Leaf through the recipes and see how many you think you might get away with this week. Is it one? Two? All of them? High fives no matter what the number. You’ve started, and that’s not nothing.
I have a feeling one of your keepers will from Meera Sodha’s cookbook Dinner: 120 Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes for the Most Important Meal of the Day. It’s not out until April, and you’ll be hearing more about it then, but she was nice enough to let me give you a sneak peak in the form of her Matar Paneer (shown above), the dish she describes as “one of India’s darlings.” There are many variations of matar paneer, but Sodha’s is a North Indian–style rendition made “extra luxurious because of the cashews blended into the sauce.” Sodha writes “The New Vegan” column for The Guardian, and I first discovered her through her book Fresh India (and later East) both of which showcase a superpower you’ll appreciate, namely cooking beautiful dinners in as low-fuss and high-flavor a way as possible. This collection, which she credits with infusing pleasure into cooking after a dark period in her life, is Sodha’s most personal one yet.
Back to the meal plan…
A Few Notes that Bear Repeating…
Make-Ahead & Annoyance Factor
I’ll always be upfront about a recipe if it’s, you know, annoying — just check the “degree of annoyance” rating for each one 😊 — but remember that you can make any recipe less fussy by reading it with your make-ahead glasses on. There is usually something you can prep on the weekend (whip up a dressing, chop some vegetables, wash your greens) that will keep your energy reserves high on weeknights, when you need it the most.
Shopping List & Sides FYI
Like with the first two meal plans, I’ve organized the shopping list by recipe (instead of by produce, pantry, dairy etc), so if you decide to make, say, three of the five, it will be easy to figure out which ingredients you need, and which ones you don’t. Some of the recipes will call for a salad on the side or a hunk of crusty bread. You’ll find suggestions for those side dishes in a separate attached PDF called Simple Sides. Your weekly shopping list will not include ingredients for those side dishes. You’ll have to decide what you want and add to your shopping list accordingly.
The Protein Issue
Most of the recipes in this week’s line-up include a protein (or suggestions for how to add one) but if they don’t, and it’s a concern, here are some plant-based strategies for working protein into the rest of your day.
OK, ready?
Let’s see this week’s superstars…