8 Grilled Vegetarian/Vegan Delights

A compilation of eight Vegetarian/Vegan grill recipes.

I am bringing to you a Tempting Tuesday post with lots of color and vibrance today. This post is a compilation of eight of my favorite recipes that involve grilling. Late summer is the perfect time to bring out the grill and char those beautiful summer vegetables and produce and make a healthy vibrant meal.

So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and bring out that grill!

Vegetarian Souvlaki Rolls [Vegan option available]

Greek flavored grilled vegetables and a zingy yogurt sauce, rolled in your favorite bread.  I highly recommend a garlic naan bread. Just the colors in this dish will brighten up your day. Use vegan yogurt to make the recipe vegan.

Grilled Cauliflower Summer Bowls [Vegan]

A vibrant summer bowl of spicy grilled Cauliflower, chewy Black Rice, fresh vibrant summer salad all tossed with a mint coriander oil. Rainbow in a bowl!

Grilled Vegetable Open Sandwich [Vegan]

Grilled Summer vegetables over a bed of mashed ripe avocado on a slice of crusty sourdough bread. Perfect for healthy mornings!

Corn Tomato Bharta [Vegan]

Pureed sweet summer tomatoes and sweet corn simmer along with aromatics and spices to make a delicious curry. Serve it up hot with roti, naan or rice.

Grilled Eggplant and Coriander Hummus Rolls [Vegan]

There is no way we are talking about grilling and skipping the eggplant. Thinly sliced eggplant is grilled and rolled with coriander (cilantro) hummus to make finger licking rolls.

Grilled Vegetable Open Sandwich [Vegan option available]

Two crusty chunks of rye bread, a generous helping of creamy tartar sauce and the hero - a garlic and chilli marinated slab of Paneer that is grilled to perfection. Oh ya and lettuce too. That's what is in this Grilled Paneer Sub Sandwich. Replace the Paneer with Tofu to make the recipe vegan.

Instant Paneer Tikka [Vegan option available]

Paneer, Capsicum and Tomato coated in an instant marinade of spices and grilled to make a quick weekday snack. This Paneer Tikka is perfect for the lunch box too. Replace the Paneer with Tofu to make the recipe vegan.

Bean and Grilled Veggie Burger with Coriander Cashew Sauce [Vegan]

Vegan burger with a patty made from grilled vegetables and red kidney beans and topped with a sauce made from coriander and cashews.

If you tried these recipes, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook, tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com. I'd love to see what you are upto. 

If you like these recipes, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

If you liked this, you may also like:

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Vegetable Souvlaki Rolls

Vegetable Souvlaki Rolls - Greek flavored grilled vegetables and a zingy yogurt sauce, rolled in your favorite bread

I've been MIA for a while, I know. I've been super busy at work doing things I never did UNTIL last week. I was super excited and tired at the same time. I'm used to sitting uber low in my chair at office, getting up only to get a cup of tea or a drink of water (which is a lot of trips). But last week was nothing like that, I got to go to out in the field. So the trips for water and tea were much longer than in office and all that walking around and working from 8am to 7pm kinda got me tired and in no mood to blog.

The little free time I had, I was planning a vacation. It's been 6 months since our amazing last vacation to Cambodia and I'm now ready for more. I'm thinking July, but the weather is kind of deterring me right now. The monsoons will be full swing in India and surroundings, so it has been quite a challenge to pick a destination as of now. I am all open to suggestions, if you have any.

While I don't have a vacation planned, I definitely have a recipe planned for you. I have a wonderful super healthy recipe - Vegetable Souvlaki Rolls that will take you to Greece, at least temporarily. Souvlaki is generally grilled meat with a few vegetables, but I tell you, you are missing nothing when you go all veggies. It is healthy and so quick to make. And so colorful, don't you think so?

I thought about calling it Grilled Vegetable Rolls, but Souvlaki sounded so fancy and the marinade had oregano and Olive Oil, so Souvlaki it was!! The recipe isn't even really a recipe, all you need to do is dice vegetables, the more variety you have, the better. And I would say use all the colors you can get, a bright vibrant dish has more takers. Once you are done dicing, marinate the vegetables in good quality extra virgin olive oil, garlic paste, lime juice, oregano, salt and pepper. Leave it aside for 30 minutes, while you make the yogurt sauce to go with it.

Just whisk together yogurt, salt and pepper. I made the saucy zingy by adding the marinade leftover at the bottom of the bowl after the vegetables were grilled. It made the sauce taste all Greek... Grill the vegetables until they are slightly soft and they develop a char.

You can eat the Vegetable Souvlaki just like this, dip the vegetables in that zingy Yogurt sauce and you have a cool and refreshing meal right there. But I love rolls!! So does Raj. I went all Indian and used Naan bread for the rolls, you can be traditional and use Pita. I upped the healthiness by adding a simple salad of julienne cabbage and coriander leaves. Veggie Power!! Then put the Souvlaki and drizzle the yogurt sauce, roll the bread and your Vegetable Souvlaki Rolls are ready to eat.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook, tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com. I'd love to see what you are upto. 

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life is there on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email (How convenient!!)

If you liked this, you may also like:

• Grilled Cauliflower Summer Bowl - Spicy grilled cauliflower tossed with black rice and a mint coriander oil.
• Grilled Eggplant and Coriander Hummus Rolls - Coriander hummus wrapped in grilled eggplant slices.
• Instant Paneer Tikka - Paneer marinated in spices and grilled until charred.

Vegetable Souvlaki Rolls

Vegetable Souvlaki rolls are Greek flavored Pita/Naan bread rolls with grilled vegetables and a yogurt sauce. 

Recipe Type:  Main
Cuisine:            Greek
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     30 minutes
Yield:                Makes 4 Rolls

Ingredients:

For the Vegetable Souvlaki:

1 Zucchini
0.5 Green Pepper / Capsicum
0.5 Yellow Pepper / Capsicum
0.5 Red Pepper / Capsicum
1 small Onion
2 Tbsp extra virgin Olive Oil
1.5 tsp dried Oregano
1 tsp Garlic paste
Juice of half a lime
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

For the Yogurt Sauce:

1 cup thick Yogurt
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
2 Tbsp Marinade

For Assembling the Vegetable Souvlaki Rolls:

Naan bread or Pita bread
1 cup julienne Cabbage
1 Tbsp chopped Coriander leaves
Salt to taste

Method:

To make the Vegetable Souvlaki:

Mix together the extra virgin olive oil, garlic paste, oregano, lime juice, salt and pepper to make the marinade.
Dice the vegetables into chunks and mix them in with the marinade. Keep aside for 15-30 minutes.
If using bamboo skewers, soak them in water until ready to grill to prevent the skewers from burning later.
Skewer the vegetables, mixing and matching as you please.
Heat a grill pan and when hot, place the skewers. You can grill these on charcoal or in the oven too.
Once one side is charred, flip the skewers until the other side is done too.
Remove from heat when done and keep aside.

To make the Yogurt Sauce:

Whisk together the yogurt, salt and pepper.
Spoon in the marinade leftover at the bottom of the bowl after grilling the vegetables, and mix well.

To assemble the Vegetable Souvlaki Rolls:

Heat the naan or pita bread.
Mix together the cabbage and coriander leaves with salt and add some over the bread.
Remove the vegetables from the skewer and place over the cabbage.
Drizzle some yogurt sauce and roll the bread.

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Grilled Cauliflower Summer Bowl

Summer in a bowl - Spicy grilled Cauliflower, chewy Black Rice, fresh vibrant summer salad all tossed with a mint coriander oil. What are you waiting for? Dig in!!

I love one bowl meals, so convenient. You spoon all that you want in one large bowl and then you mix together all the bits and pieces as you eat. Bowl meals are popular in so many cultures - Asians have bibimbaps and a variety of other bowl meals (I'm not sure what they are really called), there are Mexican Rice Bowls - I really really love this, I can never have enough of it. And I'm sure there are thousands more that I've never even heard of. What's your favorite bowl meal?

So while Summer hit its high notes, the weather had mercy and a few drops of rain in patches brought down the temperature a few degrees. Yay! Now I at least don't drag my feet to the kitchen. It was beginning to get so hot that I had almost wanted to give up cooking. Standing in front of a hot stove when the air around you is so hot, was definitely more unappetizing than take away food. 

Being a food blogger, I cannot "not" cook food. What will I write about? Life of a food blogger, especially a part time one like me is not at all rosy. Full time office job that pays me a salary takes up all of my day and a good part of my evenings and nights. I'm either travelling or in meetings or on a call. It's not that I hate it, in fact I enjoy a lot of it, but all that leaves me with very little time for cooking. So most of my kitchen experiments or as I call it "Delicious Exotic Cooking" happens only on the weekends. Weekdays are for simple non spicy dinners like this Tendle Bibbe Upkari with chapati. 

Today was a relaxing Saturday. I had planned to not cook anything. Breakfast was at Gee's place where she made this awesome Sabudana Khichdi. And when Sabudana Khichdi is there, I always over-eat. So we were in no mood for a regular heavy lunch. Binged watched movies on TV all day. All that lazing is doing wonders for me!! I finally feel like cooking.

But today we were in no mood for regular heavy spicy weekend lunch. We both wanted something fresh yet filling. Not so sure if he wanted filling, but I definitely am not cooking any snacks with evening tea, so lunch had to keep us full till dinner. So presenting, my Saturday kitchen experiment, *drum rolls* - Grilled Cauliflower Summer Bowl!!

This Grilled Cauliflower Summer Bowl has 4 main components - the spicy grilled cauliflower ( of course), black rice (I told you I cook exotic food), mint coriander oil (ah! so easy) and a fresh summer salad (so refreshing). 

Start by making the mint coriander oil. It is the simplest part of the entire bowl, but also the thing that ties it all together. The mint and coriander need time to infuse into the oil. So I'd start with this. 

Then comes the black rice. Why black rice, you ask? Because I had it!! You can use brown rice or even regular white rice. I loved the play of black and the other colors, plus I had to use the rice, so I used the sexy black rice. Black rice is very similar to traditional brown rice, it needs quite a bit of soaking and it takes time to cook. It also has that bite to it that's generally missing in white rice. Cook the rice you have just the way you want it and it should be good. 

The Cauliflower - marinate it with olive oil, red chilli powder, cumin powder, garlic, lime juice, turmeric powder and salt. I love this marinade, and I use it for all sorts of things - Paneer, Tofu, Chickpeas etc. Let the marinade soak in, then grill the cauliflower until it is done. I did mine in the oven. 

The salad is just a basic salad of raw vegetables with a light dressing of lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. I just mixed together colorful peppers / capsicum to brighten up the whole dish. Use whatever you feel like adding to the salad.

Finally just spoon everything in a bowl and enjoy!! I preferred eating it at room temperature as it was a warm day. You can serve it at any temperature you like.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook, tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com. I'd love to see what you are upto. 

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life is there on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email (How convenient!!)

If you liked this, you may also like:

• Spicy Cauliflower with Tzatziki
• Beetroot Cauliflower Burger
• Vegan Cauliflower Rendang Curry

Grilled Cauliflower Summer Bowl

Grilled Cauliflower Summer Bowl is a fresh summer bowl made with spicy grilled cauliflower, a fresh salad, black rice tossed with a refreshing mint coriander oil.

Recipe Type:  Main
Cuisine:            International
Prep Time:     60 minutes
Cook time:     45 minutes
Yield:                Serves 2

Ingredients:

For the Grilled Cauliflower:

2 cups Cauliflower Florets
1.5 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
0.5 tsp Turmeric Powder
1.5 tsp Cumin Powder
1 tsp Garlic paste
1 tsp Lime Juice
Salt to taste

For the Summer Salad:

1 Cucumber
1 small Onion
1 large Tomato
1/2 cup diced Capsicum (mixed colors)
1.5 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Lime Juice
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

For the Mint Coriander Oil:

2 tbsp finely chopped Coriander leaves
2 tbsp finely chopped Mint leaves
3-4 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Sugar
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

For the Black Rice:

1 cup Black Rice
2 cups Water
1/2 tsp Salt

Method:

To make the Mint Coriander Oil: 

Mix together all the ingredients and keep aside until assembling.

To make the Black Rice: 

Wash and drain the black rice.
Add water until covered and soak for 1 hour.
Drain the water.
Pressure cook the rice with 2 cups of water and salt until done but not mushy. You can cook it in a deep pot as well. Black rice takes longer to cook just like brown rice.
Fluff the rice with a fork and keep aside.

To make the Grilled Cauliflower: 

Mix together all the ingredients except the cauliflower to make a marinade.
Add in the cauliflower and rub the marinade. Keep aside for half hour.
Lay out on a baking sheet and grill in the oven for 12-15 minutes until the cauliflower is done.

To make the Summer Salad: 

Roughly dice the cucumber, onion and tomato.
Add the lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well.

To Assemble the Summer Bowl: 

Spoon the rice equally into bowls. Pour the mint coriander oil over the rice.
Place the roasted cauliflower and the salad over the rice.
Serve at room temperature or warm.

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Grilled Paneer Sub Sandwich

Two crusty chunks of  rye bread, a generous helping of creamy tartar sauce and the hero - a garlic and chilli marinated slab of Paneer that is grilled to perfection. Oh ya and lettuce too. That's what is in this Grilled Paneer Sub Sandwich. Eat that and tell me if you complain!!

We had this absolutely amazing cookout event in office organized by Slurp Studio where they had grilled Paneer, caramelized onions, sauted mushrooms, fresh tomato slices and many more mouth watering ingredients along with a variety of breads and spreads. We had to build our own sandwich and I tried this Grilled Paneer Sandwich that left me obsessed with it even after the day was over.

I had to HAD to have it again. I mentioned it to my sister Gee who got super excited. More than me I think to have this sandwich, it's funny, she did not even have it the first time. But then, that's her. She's totally obsessed with sandwiches. She hacks into my Pinterest account searching for mouth watering juicy sandwiches. I think she's trying to find the ultimate vegetarian Moist Maker just like Monica Geller's.

Building a sandwich is so much about the perfect bread than about the filling I feel. I'm sooo into Artisan breads. That hard crust and soft crumb makes my mouth water. I could probably eat warm Artisan bread with some extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper all day long. And I really NEEDED an artisan bread loaf to recreate the Sandwich of my dreams. Yes! that's what I shall call it, Sandwich of my Dreams!!! 

Now Bangalore's a big city where you get pretty much anything but you don't get it everywhere. So my hunt for Artisan bread took me to many famous bakery in South Bangalore, but I was sorely disappointed by the results.

Finally, I took to online shopping. I found this amazing looking herb crusted artisan bread, and I ordered it ASAP. Imagine my disappointment when it came pre-sliced like a regular bread loaf. I had imagined this Sub and I got teeny tiny slices. I immediately returned it. Luckily for me Gee was gracious enough to go all the way to the center of the city to get me this beautiful looking German Rye Bread. Two Thumps UP!!!

Bread sorted out, now let's get on to my Grilled Paneer. This super easy grilled paneer is marinated in a very simple marinade made of ingredients found in your pantry - Oil, Paprika or Red Chilli Powder, Garlic Paste, Cumin powder and salt. Marinate the paneer for 30 mins to 1 hour. I grilled the paneer on a grill pan to get that beautiful char lines, but you can grill it in the oven or a greased pan as well. A coal barbeque is actually the best way to cook it, as it will add that wonderful smokey flavor. The paneer really doesn't need to be cooked for any particular amount of time. The cooking is only to soften it on the inside and char it on the outside.

You can replace the Paneer with Haloumi or Tofu (for a vegan version). It needs to be a hard cheese that won't melt when grilled at high heat.

I also made my own Tartar sauce. It is super simple, just chop and add. If you don't have the ingredients, you can just use Vegetarian Mayo.  You can also use add some mint puree to regular mayo to get mint mayo. Mint mayo goes really well with this sandwich.

Lastly the fresh ingredients, I kept it simple with just lettuce, you can add sliced tomatoes and onions.

The instructions for building the sandwich are as per what I made. Take them as just general guideline and feel free to adapt it to your style of sandwich making.

If you liked this, you may also like:

• Beetroot and Cauliflower Burger
• Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich
• Breakfast Bruschetta Duo

Grilled Paneer Sub Sandwich

Sandwich made with rye bread and grilled marinated paneer along with a home-made tartar sauce and lettuce. 

Recipe Type:  Main
Cuisine:            International
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     15 minutes
Yield:                Serves 4

Ingredients:

For Grilled Paneer:

400gms fresh Paneer
1.5 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1.5 tsp Garlic Paste
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
0.5 tsp Cumin Powder
Salt to taste

For Home-made Tartar Sauce:

1 cup vegetarian Mayonnaise
1 Tbsp chopped Dill Pickle
1 tsp Lime juice
1 tsp finely chopped Dill leaves
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

For the Sandwich:

2 loaves Rye Bread (or any Artisan Bread loaf)
Grilled Paneer
Tartar Sauce
Lettuce leaves

Method:

For Grilled Paneer:

Mix together the extra virgin olive oil, garlic paste, red chilli powder, cumin powder and salt to make a marinade.
Slice the paneer into slabs, about 0.8-1 cm thick.
Marinate the paneer. Cover and keep aside for at least 30 minutes.
Heat up a grill pan or on a barbeque grill, grill the paneer for 1-2 minutes on each side until char marks appear.

For Home-made Tartar Sauce:

Mix together all the ingredients to make a simple tartar sauce.
Adjust lime, salt or pepper according to your taste.

For the Sandwich:

Halve the bread lengthwise.
Layer the lower half of the bread with lettuce.
Place the grilled paneer slab on it.
Spread the tartar sauce on the paneer.
Cover with the other bread slice to make the Grilled Paneer Sandwich.

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Instant Paneer Tikka (Vegan Option Available)

I absolutely LOVE these Instant Paneer Tikkas. Just what I needed to brighten up a really boring week.

I've been bored to death this week. A continuing bus strike meant me not going to office. I had to work from home. Alone!! So boring. I miss talking to people. All alone at home means I talk to myself or my TV talks to me. Not so entertaining, really.

I love meeting up my friends at work in the morning over an extended tea break and chatting away. We talk about everything, from real serious technical stuff to light hearted sitcoms. I miss these "Tea Sessions", as we call it, the most. It's my best part of the day in office. There are times I go to office early just so as to reach in time for Tea.

So as I prepared myself for yet another ALONE Tea Session (Sigh), I decided to add some spice into it with something so tasty that I forget I am alone.

When I am dull or bored, I cook. Cooking wakes me up like nothing else can. And especially trying something new is always so much more exciting. I looked through my fridge and I had - Capsicum and Paneer and some Cherry Tomatoes. An idea formed. Voila - Instant Paneer Tikkas.

These Paneer Tikkas need no overnight marination or complicated setup. They took hardly 30 minutes from start to finish. Now that's INSTANT in my dictionary.

I used what I had in my fridge - Capsicum, Tomato and Paneer. You can use anything with the Paneer. The usual combinations are Capsicum, Onion or Tomato. But you can get creative and may be pop in a mushroom or a thick slice of Zucchini.

I liked the idea of individual sized portions, hence I used toothpicks. You can use real skewers to pile on all your favorite things on it. For it to be as Instant as mine, use quick cooking ingredients only, If you want to skewer on Potato or Corn, you may probably want to parboil them first. that makes it a little less instant-ty, but definitely not any less tasty.

For the marination, use thick yogurt or curd, I tend to always have at least a bowl of homemade yogurt in the fridge, so no worries there for me. If the curd or yogurt you have is thin, then place it in a tea strainer or a muslin cloth for around half hour to let the whey drain off and you will have nice thick curd. I've used a bunch of spice powders to made the marinade. If you want it to be even more instant, use store bought Tandoori Masala and it will taste just as good.

Paneer Tikka is always grilled. I grilled mine in the oven. But if you do not have any means of grilling it, then you can shallow fry them. Just don't cook it for very long, they will lose that silky smooth texture of the paneer.

If you are a Vegan, you can replace the Paneer with Tofu and the yogurt with some Lime juice.

Instant Paneer Tikkas

Paneer, Capsicum and Tomato coated in an instant marinade of spices and grilled. 

Recipe Type:  Snacks / Appetizer
Cuisine:            North Indian
Prep Time:     10 minutes
Cook time:     20 minutes
Yield:                9 Tikkas

Ingredients:

For the Tikka:

100 gms Paneer (use Tofu for a vegan option)
1 small Capsicum or Bell Pepper
1 Cherry Tomato per Tikka (Optional)
3/4-1 tsp Oil per Paneer Tikka

For the Marinade:

2 Tbsp thick Yogurt or Curd (use 1-2 tsp lime juice for a vegan option)
1.5 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
1.5 Tbsp Besan or Gram Flour
1/4 tsp Cumin powder
1/2 tsp Coriander powder
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/4 tsp Garam Masala
1/4 tsp Amchur or Dried Mango Powder (Skip if using lime juice or if the yogurt is very sour)
1/4 tsp Chaat Masala (Optional)
A pinch of Hing or Asafoetida
Salt to taste

Method:

Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade.
Cut the Paneer into individual bite sized cubes. Cut the Capsicum to the same size as the Paneer.
Add the paneer and capsicum to the marinade and mix well.
Skewer the capsicum, paneer and the cherry tomato onto the toothpick.
Place them in a greased grilling sheet or pan.
Spoon a little oil over each of the Paneer Tikkas.
Grill them for 10-15 minutes, turning them every 3-4 minutes.
They are ready when they char slightly.
Serve hot with some mint chutney.

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