Stocking The Vegetarian Pantry
Everyone has a night when they want a home-cooked meal, but don’t have time to go to the store. Learn what items to keep on hand to prepare quick, easy vegetarian meals with item from your Vegetarian Pantry.
The following suggestions are tailored to simple vegetarian meals, and are especially useful for new vegetarians trying to re-stock the pantry for their new lifestyle. Many vegetarian cookbooks also list the ingredients most commonly used in their own recipes. Always check labels for ingredients such as broths and fish derivatives. Caesar dressing and Worcestershire sauce, for example, are not normally vegetarian.
Oils, Vinegars, and Other Liquids
It’s always smart to have at least one bottle of extra virgin olive oil around. You can use it for vinaigrettes, on bread or toast, and for sautéing. Some like to keep a more expensive, higher quality extra virgin around for bruschetta, dressings, and other uncooked items where the taste of the oil is most important.
It is also a good idea to keep a bottle of vegetable oil around for cooking and baking, and a large bottle of inexpensive cooking oil if you plan to do much deep-frying. Keep in mind that frying oil can be strained and re-used.
Vinegars are also essential for salad dressings and used in many vegetarian recipes. The most commonly used vinegars are white, red wine, and balsamic. Aceto balsamico is a very high quality balsamic vinegar that is sometimes recommended in Italian recipes.
Especially if you plan to bake or make sweet sauces, it is good to have least one variety of honey and a bottle of maple syrup (not the same thing as pancake syrup!) Corn syrup and molasses also tend to come up in dessert recipes. Extracts are handy to add flavor to baked goods – vanilla is a must, but almond and coconut are also tasty. Finally, it’s a good idea to have hot sauce on hand if you like a bit of a kick, and soy sauce if you plan to do much Asian cooking.
Dried Herbs and Spices
Fresh herbs are often ideal, and in cases like mint and basil, can lend vegetarian meals a huge kick of flavor. For this reason, it is better to keep dried herbs on hand that can still shine in that form. Dried herbs can be especially useful in casseroles or other complex vegetable dishes – sage, rosemary, thyme, and oregano are the most common.
When deciding which spices to buy, it is important to consider what types of dishes they might be used in. For Indian cooking, for example, cumin, curry powder, and tumeric are essential, and a spice blend like garam masala is also ideal if available. For baking, common spices include cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
Keep cinnamon sticks and whole cloves around for sweet sauces or mulled wine. Paprika is good for milder dishes, and cayenne for those who can take a bit of spice. Any kitchen should have salt and pepper on hand, ideally both black and white peppers and a fine sea salt or kosher salt along with the table variety.
Baking Essentials
For those who do a lot of baking, keeping certain essential items on hand can cut down significantly on grocery trips. Always have unbleached, all purpose flour and granulated sugar available. Whole-wheat flour comes up often in organic or health recipes, as does raw sugar, which is especially good for sprinkling on top.
Light brown and powdered sugar are also essential. Other common ingredients include unsweetened cocoa powder, cornstarch, dry active yeast for bread making, oats, chocolate or other flavored chips, coconut, and various nuts. Pick ingredients that you consider a real treat and keep them around to throw into the next batch of cookies. Also, if you like smooth desserts like panna cotta, keep in mind that gelatin is not vegetarian – look for agar agar or another substitute.
