Article • 2 November 2018

The vegan pantry

From SuperNatural, Tobie and Georgia Puttock’s tips on essential vegan ingredients.

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Our pantry at home is 90 per cent vegan, I enjoy a cheese toastie from time to time, I eat fish every week or so and on rare occasions I enjoy a small piece of steak or a slice of porchetta if it’s on offer. Becoming ‘reducetarian’ wasn’t an overnight decision but a result of gathering information and experience. Since Georgia has been pescatarian for more than ten years, we’re used to not eating red meat, pork or chicken at home, which probably made it easier. We try out different ingredients, make the most of fresh produce and have fun creating new meat-free meals. We get all the nutrients we need from the various plant-based recipes I cook or use a supplement if need be – and we feel great!

For the past twenty years, my pantry probably looked typical of an Italian chef: various olive oils, vinegars, a couple of different spices and lots of herbs, grains and so on. I was in the land of garlic, basil and tomatoes for so long! But after some time out of the professional kitchen I’ve befriended a lot of spices I hadn’t really used before – simply because I hadn’t been taught how to use them – plus different chillies, flours and so on. It makes me realise that vegan cooking has definitely made me a better cook – I’ve learnt to understand how ingredients work on a deeper level, and you can too.

Spices

Spices are everything in vegetarian and vegan cooking – they are your best friend and you need to get to know them. They will allow you to make simple dishes with just a few ingredients that are incredibly layered and complex in flavour.

cardamom	cayenne pepper	chilli flakes	ground cinnamon	cinnamon sticks
cloves	coriander seeds	ground cumin	cumin seeds	fennel seeds
garam masala	whole nutmeg	paprika	sesame seeds	turmeric

Herbs

Herbs have always been an important part of my cooking and in SuperNatural, they definitely bring dishes to life. Fresh herbs are always my first choice but can lead to wastage. In order to reduce that, dry out leftover fresh herbs by laying them out on a baking tray lined with baking paper and sitting them in a warm part of the kitchen until dried and crisp. You can then keep them in zip-lock bags or crush them and store them in jars to be used through the bases of sauces for added flavour.

basil	coriander	mint	dill
tarragon	flat leaf parsley	curly leaf parsley

Legumes, grains, nuts, seeds

You can of course use dried beans of all varieties but, to be honest, I almost always use tinned at home. Some beans need to be soaked overnight whereas tinned are ready to rock in seconds. Some grains, like freekeh, don’t take too long to cook and they can also last in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days.

black beans	fava beans	chickpeas	red kidney beans	lentils
cannellini beans	peas	soybeans	pinto beans	rice
freekeh	couscous	quinoa	chia	flax
almonds	cashews	chestnuts	hazelnuts	pecans
macadamias	pistachios	walnuts	pine nuts	hemp seeds
poppy seeds	sunflower seeds

Other

My cooking is always evolving and my pantry reflects this.

olive oil	sesame oil	extra virgin olive oil	coconut oil
shredded coconut	fine polenta	semolina	flour
wholemeal flour	corn starch	almond meal	self-raising flour
bicarbonate of soda	baking powder	baking soda	maple syrup
brown rice malt syrup	icing sugar	dried apricots	cranberries
soy	tamari