Make Vegan-Friendly Indian Meals With These Simple Swaps

For a few years now January has been going by some alternative names in an attempt to encourage healthy New Year’s resolutions. One of those names is Veganuary. 

Veganuary encourages people to follow a vegan diet, and lifestyle, for the 31 days of January. The start of the year is typically a time when people are trying to make positive changes and to shift any Christmas weight-gain, so encouraging a vegan lifestyle is the perfect way to highlight the many positives of a vegan diet alongside those New Year goals. 

Benefits of a vegan diet have been found to include: 

• Weight Loss 

• A Nutrient Boost

• Lowering Blood Sugar and Improving Kidney Function 

• Protection Against Some Cancers 

• Improving Heart Health
  
• Reducing Arthritic Pain

On top of all of the personal health benefits, vegan diets (and, by extension, vegan lifestyles) can also have an incredible impact on the planet. And, the best bit (in our opinion) is that you can still enjoy most of your favourite meals with a few simple swaps. 

Try these swaps this veganuary to make your favourite Indian meal vegan-friendly: 

• Swap Paneer for Fresh Tofu – using tofu instead of paneer offers a similar texture and consistency to beloved paneer dishes, but none of the animal products. Paneer is an Indian cottage cheese, made from cow or buffalo milk. 

• Trade Yoghurt for Coconut Milk – there are many wonderfully delicious yoghurt-based Indian recipes and, thankfully, with this swap you won’t have to say goodbye to them whilst enjoying a vegan diet. Coconut milk is easy to come by and will provide the same rich, creamy texture that you would expect a yoghurt-based dish to have. 

• Replace Dairy Milk with Nut Milk – lots of Indian recipes are laden with either milk or condensed milk, however, dairy-free milk alternatives are now highly accessible from most food shops. Choose your dairy-free milk to your own personal taste, but we would recommend the flavouring of cashew milk works well for many Indian dishes, including Kulfi, cardamom-infused Indian ice cream.

• Use Chickpeas Instead of Meat – when dropping meat from your diet you need to replace that protein with a healthy alternative, and chickpeas are a mighty replacement. As well as being high in protein these legumes are also high in fibre and aid digestion, they have calcium, magnesium, and other nutrients that build strong bones, and have also been linked to boosting mental health. 

If you are participating in veganuary and want to enjoy one of your favourite Indian recipes, without having to put in the work at home – order from Lagan Indian Tapas, or visit the restaurant. All of our recipes are made to order and can be adapted for most diets, allergies and restrictions, please speak to your server when ordering.