Introduction

Hello wonderful cook. 

When you go out to eat as a vegan you can be pretty sure that you're not going to get enough protein in the meal that you're served. So in this episode, episode number four of the vegan cooking and nutrition podcast, I share with you three surprise sources of protein which I like to take with me when going out to eat or if I'm going away to ensure that my meal has the protein that I need. 

The Vegan Dining Experience

How many times have you been out to eat as a vegan or you know you're wanting to add more plant-based food into your diet and you think, okay when I go out to eat I'm going to have a vegan meal and you get the vegan meal and it's unsatisfying, you're left feeling hungry, you're left feeling a little disappointed and mostly if you look at that, that's because there's not enough protein in the meal.

Workshop Experience

I went to a workshop recently. It was a brilliant workshop, and they assured me that there would be vegan food. For morning tea, there wasn't any vegan food, there was fruit. Well, that's great, I can just eat fruit for morning tea, that's fine. I don't even eat morning tea a lot, so that was totally fine. But when it came to lunch, it was a make-your-own lunch, and it looked amazing. There were lots of salad ingredients, meats, eggs, and cheese, but there was nothing extra for the vegans. So, we just had salad. Well, I didn't. I actually went and paid for extra food to be brought out because I had been told there would be vegan options. I really let it slip and didn't take my protein sources with me. Normally, when I go out to eat, especially if I'm out travelling and don't have access to my kitchen, I will take food with me to restaurants and then just slip it on the plate if there isn't enough protein.

Surprise Sources of Protein

There are things that I do, and they're quite surprising because people don't think of them as protein. 

For example, hummus is eaten in so many different countries. 

No wonder it's a complete protein. 

So, if you're given a salad and it's just salad, you can put hummus on it, and you're set. 

If you're given a vegetable dish and there's no nuts, seeds, grains, or legumes, you can just put your hummus on it. 

Hummus is wonderful. 

A bit later on, I will talk about how to make hummus and its many variations. You can roast up pumpkin and put that in, boil up a beetroot and put that in, roast up red capsicum and put that in, or roast up carrots. Roast carrot hummus is delicious. 

What makes it a complete protein is the seed, the tahini, and the legume, the chickpea. 

That's a complete protein, a nice surprise source of protein that people don't think about.

If you would like my complete protein chart you can click here for it. 

Other Protein Sources

Another one is pepitas, pumpkin seeds. 

They're a complete protein, like quinoa. 

Quinoa is a complete protein too, but it's hard to take cooked quinoa because if it's not refrigerated, it can go rancid. 

We don't want to be eating rancid quinoa. 

Pepitas can be taken raw or toasted. 

In the last show  , I talked about making a pepita sprinkle, so you can take that along as a surprise source of protein. 

Another one is ABC spread. 

Do you know what ABC is? 

ABC spread is a combination of almonds, Brazil nuts and cashews. 

This combination of three nuts together has complete protein.

If you're going out for breakfast and are offered mushrooms on toast, yummy as it is, it doesn't have enough complete protein. 

So, I would get a second piece of toast and spread on your ABC spread, and you're all set for the morning. 

These are my three surprise sources of protein: 

Hummus

Pepitas

ABC spread.

Practical Tips

If I'm just going out to eat breakfast and am given mushrooms on toast with some avocado, I know that's not going to be a great source of protein for me. 

I'm going to feel full and then empty again in a couple of hours. 

Solution: I could take some pepita sprinkle to put on it or eat a handful of nuts or pepitas when I get home. 

If you're going to a workshop and are provided breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and there's no protein, you're going to be hungry all day. 

Taking these surprise sources of protein that I mentioned with you will help. 

Hummus needs refrigeration, but pepita seeds or sprinkle and ABC spread are easier to take along. 

You could also take nuts and hemp seeds to pop on things. 

If morning tea is fruit, you could put hemp seeds and nuts on it or ABC spread.

Hummus Recipe

For the hummus recipe you can cook along with me. Just click here. 

240 grams of cooked chickpeas

 ⅓  to ½  cup of tahini

4 tablespoons of water (or more if needed)

The juice of a lemon (or more if you like it more lemony)

 Two cloves of garlic (I boil garlic, but you could use raw garlic)

 Salt and pepper.

Note:  I don't put oil in the hummus, but I may put oil on top. 

Put the chickpeas, tahini, water, lemon juice, and garlic into a food processor and process until smooth. Adjust taste to your liking.

Hummus lasts about a week to ten days in the fridge but freezes beautifully for three months. So what I do is I make up a big batch of hummus, keep a third of it in the fridge and then freeze it into separate portions and put in the freezer so I don't need to make hummus again for a while.

Fun Cooking Tip

The fun cooking tip is how to cook garlic quickly. 

You can of course roast or fry garlic but if you want cooked garlic quickly and you want it cooked you can boil it. 

 Put the cloves of garlic in their skin into a small saucepan, cover it with water, boil it for five to ten minutes depending on how big the garlic cloves are. Take off the heat, strain the water and let cool a little. Then squeeze the cooked garlic out of the skins into the hummus. Yummy yummy yummy.

Hope you have a sensational week.