Vegetarian Society – Vegan Street Food Cookery Class*

We love food at Yeah Lifestyle and have a wide range of recipes on our blog catering from mains to desserts as well as wine and food pairing and one of our top recipes which we have featured on the blog is our Vegan Banana Loaf Bread Recipe.  So today, we will be sharing about the Vegetarian Society based in Altrincham, Manchester to showcase their Vegan Street Food Cookery Class for our Vegan/Vegetarian readers.

We were invited to attend the Vegan Street Food class where we learnt how to use readily available vegan ingredients to make delicious street food such as Pulled BBQ Jackfruit Kebab, Loaded Vegan Mac and Cheese, Southern Fried Vegan Chicken with vegan aioli and sticky maple BBQ sauce as well as Black Bean and Mushroom Burger topped with vegetable bacon, crispy Cajun onion rings and vegan blue cheese sauce.

So keep on reading to find out more about our day at the Vegetarian Society.

The Vegetarian Society is a place that inspires, inform and enable people to be vegetarian. The society is housed in a lovely building with ample parking space and just 20 minutes away from the train/bus station.

Soon as we arrived, we were asked to present our covid certification before we were shown to our locker, to store our belongings and then to our cooking station. We were asked to wear our masks throughout unless we were drinking or eating. We were also provided with a tablet (on our stations) with the recipes to refer to as we prepared the dishes.

We helped ourselves to hot/cold drinks before we were introduced to Maz our instructor for the day by Sam Platt who is the Head of the Vegetarian Society Cookery School.

The cooking session was very informal and Maz our tutor was very casual sharing details about each dish as she prepared it.  There were about 10 of us on the day and we had our own cooking stations.  We had the chance to see demos as well as cook some of the dishes on our own.

We started off by preparing the Southern Fried Vegan Chicken with vegan aioli and sticky maple BBQ sauce. We used Seitan to create the southern style fried chicken and it tasted really food especially paired with the aioli.

If you are wondering, Seitan (pronounced Say-tan) is the base for many vegetarian products which is available in the market as it looks and tastes similar to chicken.  Also known as “wheat meat/wheat protein/wheat gluten”, this has been around for centuries but has only just started being used more commonly.

Seitan has a savoury taste and is best made and added to stir-fried dishes or in this case deep fried and served with a dip.  My only reservation was that we had to wrap the Seitan in clingfilm and cook it in boiling water to avoid it getting wet so that it will have a crispy texture to it.   Otherwise, I totally loved the taste and texture of the Seitan which was extremely close to chicken and enjoyed learning how to prepare it from scratch.  We even had extra to bring home and I oven baked it the next day and it tasted as good!

This next dish is a favourite at home with my children and I have always used cheese for it.  If you are vegan and if you are now trying to cook more vegan-based dishes at home then the Loaded Vegan Mac and Cheese is something you would enjoy making.

This dish is another great way of serving your children vegetables (without them knowing it) as it contains cooked and pureed butternut squash. We topped off the mac and cheese with toppings such as Doritos, chillies and black beans before taking it back home to bake in the oven before serving.

I love Jackfruit and grew up (in Malaysia) eating them freshly plucked from the tree as a fruit or fried as a fritter or in a curry.  I have only eaten it once before since moving to the UK in a Vegan Cafe when I tried it as in a Wrap with Chinese sauces and loved it. So I was keen to learn more about how to cook the Pulled BBQ Jackfruit Kebab.

To be honest, this dish was the easiest and tastiest of all.  It hardly had much seasoning it in except for the Chilli BBQ sauce and is such a quick dish to prepare when having a BBQ nite at home with friends.

Another super yummy and my favourite from the session was the Black Bean and Mushroom Burger topped with vegetable bacon, crispy Cajun onion rings and vegan blue cheese sauce. This dish was prepped as a demo and we watched Maz prepare it in awe as she kept the bean burger in tack the whole time (as I am sure many of you might find it a struggle to keep the burger together at home).

This burger is not only tasty but has loads of ingredients packed into it including brown rice, natural yeast and oats. I loved the onions rings which were cooked to perfection as well as all the other accompaniment which came with the burger. Soon as it arrived, the class went quiet and we devoured every bit of it!

What did I think of the class?

I enjoyed the cookery class and learning about new ingredients such as nutritional yeast and using miso paste to lift the flavour of the dish.  The whole atmosphere was very relaxed and made me feel comfortable from the start especially since I am a novice to vegan cooking and came to the class to learn more about how to cook more healthy and introduce more vegan-based meals at home.

If you are wondering, veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products such as meat, eggs, dairy products and any other animal-derived substances.

I would have preferred if a little more introduction was given to some of the ingredients they used such as nutritional yeast or included an info sheet in the recipe as I had never used it before but still enjoyed learning so much about its usage.

I also loved the fact that we were well fed in class (so don’t bring a packed lunch when you go) and we also had extra food to bring home for dinner.

Before leaving we had to fill in a questionnaire before we were emailed the recipes and some of us who booked the course early were given a goodie bag filled with lots of vegan-based products which will definitely come in handy.

So in a nutshell, the Vegetarian Society is a fabulous place to head to if you are wanting to learn more about vegan/vegetarian cooking and practise a more healthy way of living and stop animal exploitation and cruelty.   It is also a great place to learn delicious recipes to add to your repertoire.

Both Maz and Sam were patient with us, answering all our questions and ensuring all our crockery were tidied away and new ingredients ready on our stations before we started with the next recipe. A hands-on and relaxed way to learn vegan cooking for both novice or an experienced cook wanting to add more recipes into their collection.

FAQ

• You will need a negative lateral flow test or covid certification before attending the class
• You will need to wear a mask during the class, only removing it to eat/drink
• There will be food to eat in the class, so don’t worry about bringing a packed meal when you come.
• You will have some food to take away with you to enjoy with your family or for dinner
• They provide tea/coffee and water during the session.
• There is also aprons and nametag and a table provided during the class

How much did the class cost and how do I book a cooking session?

The three-hour Vegan Street Food Class cost £75 per person and we were provided with all the ingredients and had lots of food to eat in class and also take back home with us.

Where is Vegetarian Society Cookery School? 

About Vegetarian Society Cookery School

At the Vegetarian Society Cookery School, they offer a range of unique veggie and vegan cookery experiences just perfect for when you want to do something a little different.  They teach in small groups (maximum of 10 places for each course), so there are plenty of opportunities to ask the tutor questions and benefit from their knowledge and experience.

About Maz (Tutor)

Maz has a passion for fantastic flavours! She teaches on a wide range of courses at the Vegetarian Society Cookery School including Thai and Vietnamese Cookery and Vegan Street Food. She now uses her vast experience to teach on their Professional Chefs’ Diploma. Maz has worked with big organisations, including the LGBT Foundation and Manchester University, and has catered for the England women’s cricket team too.

About Sam Platt (Head of the Vegetarian Society Cookery School)

A life-long vegetarian, now vegan, Sam is Head of the Vegetarian Society Cookery School. She has a wealth of experience, having worked in the catering industry for more than 15 years.  Originally from Liverpool, with a mixed European heritage, she has experimented with many different flavours and dishes throughout her career. She frequently leads cookery events at the school and across the country to teach people how to make fantastic vegetarian and vegan food.

You may want to read this:

Vegan Banana Bread Loaf Recipe

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*Disclaimer: We were invited to attend the cooking class in return for a feature. All opinions are our own.