Vegan Food Diet 101: 7

Plant-Based Food Items

That Surprisingly Fit The Bill

Going vegan is not about staring sadly at a dissatisfying plate. Instead, it's about discovering how plants and their various parts can deliver culinary satisfaction and nutrition. Beyond tofu, soybeans, raw fruits and vegetables, there are plenty of vegan ingredients that can elevate your everyday cooking. And no, you don’t have to go scuttling across exotic food aisles to find these items. These plant-based foods prove that a vegan diet can be rich, varied, and actually satisfying.

Young green jackfruit has a stringy, fibrous texture that makes it a brilliant alternative for pulled meat. Just simmer it with spices, barbecue sauce, or a zesty desi masala of your choice, and it will absorb the flavours beautifully while maintaining a pleasantly umami-like bite. It is one of those vegan ingredients that can turn any humble curry, taco, or sandwich into something much more interesting as well as substantial.

That cloudy liquid sitting inside a tin of chickpeas has a surprisingly useful second life. You may know it as the viscous water in which chickpeas have been cooked, but it’s called aquafaba. It can be whipped into a fluffy foam and used as an egg substitute in various recipes, from vegan meringues and mousses to various other desserts. It might be one of the cleverest vegan ingredients hiding in your pantry.

Nutritional yeast may look like ordinary golden flakes or dust, but its savoury, nutty flavour can imbue a unique and much-sought-after cheesy character to vegan food. It's similar to actual cheese in terms of versatility in application. You can sprinkle it over pasta, popcorn, roasted vegetables, or potatoes, or even whisk it into a creamy sauce. It is very useful when you want to add savoury or rich depth to a dish without adding dairy.

Mushrooms require little introduction in culinary and nutrition circles. They are naturally packed with savoury depth and become wonderfully meaty in taste and texture when browned properly and patiently. While there are many popular edible varieties, portobello, oyster, and shiitake mushrooms are ideal for grilling, roasting, or pan-frying until their edges turn deeply caramelised. If you are looking for a vegan food to be your menu’s hearty centrepiece, then mushrooms are the plant-based food for the job. 

Hearts of palm are harvested from the tender inner core of a specific set of palms like coconut, acai palm, and palmetto, among others, and have a delicate, slightly fibrous bite. They are commonly used in salads, sandwiches, as well as other savoury preparations, where their texture makes them especially interesting and relevant. While they have been underrated in contemporary Indian cooking, they are slowly carving a niche for themselves here. 

Lotus root has a unique, wheel-like appearance that is naturally replete with fully formed holes and proper spokes. It also stays pleasantly crisp when cooked correctly. Lotus root can be stir-fried, deep-fried, pickled, or simmered in gravies, with each method bringing out a different persona and mood of the vegetable. It is one of those vegan ingredients that add as much visual interest as texture to the dish; the latter varies according to your preferred style of preparation.

Banana blossom, or mocha, is the purple, petal-like flower that is found at the end of a banana bunch. Once nicely cleaned and cooked, its slightly fibrous texture makes it surprisingly substantial for curries, fritters, and quick stir-fries. In Bengali kitchens, this dish is already a beloved ingredient, but outside regional cooking, it remains one of the less-explored plant-based food items that deserves more culinary attention.

The best part of exploring vegan food is discovering how many familiar cooking tricks already exist in a plant-based kitchen. Many vegan ingredients are just regular items that deserve a second look. And for the lesser-known vegan foods, keep an open mind. Once they become part of your pantry, plant-based food items can feel less like substitutes and much more like ingredients worth cooking in their own right. Which one are you starting with first?