Interested in vegetarian Irish stew? Do you want to know about the many different vegetarian stews available? Read our guide for more information on choosing the right stew for your meal…
Different Types of Vegetarian Irish Stew
Irish stew is usually made from meats like lamb and beef. With the flourishing vegetarian movement, many people have become vegans. If you’re a vegan, this doesn’t have to limit your eating habits as you can still enjoy a hearty vegetarian Irish stew.
A combination of solid foods and vegetables are cooked slowly together or simmered over a low fire in a thick sauce to enable all the flavors to meld with each other to produce Irish stew. With a vegetarian stew, you leave out the meat and put in generous helpings of potatoes, onions, carrots and mushrooms instead. The sauce can be made with water and veggie stock for seasoning and flavor. Spices and herbs will give your vegetarian stew an intense flavor. Paprika can make the Irish stew savory and parsley is normally used for garnishing.
Ingredients for Vegetarian Stew
Normally, vegetarian Irish stew would substitute seitan for beef or lamb. Seitan is made from wheat flour and when cooked, it looks like meat and has a similar texture. It is often used as vegetarian mock meat and is highly favored for vegetarian stew. With its high protein content, seitan is perfect for providing the protein requirements of a vegetarian dish.
The usual ingredients for vegetarian Irish stew are seitan which have been cut into strips or cubes. The vegetables normally comprise celery, onions, garlic and cabbages with plenty of root vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, parsnips and turnips. You could increase the vegetables by adding spinach, mushrooms and cauliflower.
The broth is made from vegetable stock, tomato paste and soy sauce. Herbs such as rosemary, thyme, parsley and basil give intensity to the vegetarian stew. Don’t put in leafy green vegetables as these will become over boiled and lose all nutrients through the long cooking process. Guinness stout is often added to capture the authenticity of Irish stew in a vegetarian dish.
Vegetarian Irish stew is gaining popularity amongst vegans who want the texture of lamb or beef in their stew but without the actual meat. You can use seitan as a substitute and cook the vegetarian stew with generous amounts of vegetables and Guinness stout for a rich, satisfying meal.
