Urgent vegan BBQ help!

[Pickled Jhon]

Hello vegan friends! I need your help! I need to create a three course vegan menu that has to be cooked outdoors/barbecued etc! It's for a dinner party. Can you please help/advise me? Many thanks! Need to sort this by tomorrow! Any advice would be great! Are there any good vegan BBQ books you can recommend??

Cheers y'all x

[twinkle]

Does *everything* have to be barbecued, including dessert? I guess barbecued cake might be interesting...although thinking about it, you can slit down one side of a banana, squeeze a passionfruit into it, or tuck some dark chocolate in then wrap in foil and bake - that's quite nice and simple.

I had a vegetarian barbecue book once, but it was awful, it just suggested wrapping everything in foil or using saucepans on top of the barbecue! That's one way you could do it. Baked potatoes in foil in the coals are pretty good but you need to wait for them to have died down a good bit for that and they take ages.

Other things that spring to mind are pretty obvious - corn on the cob, veggie kebabs with marinaded tofu/tempeh/seitan, some form of beanburger, portobello mushrooms (do the flat side first, then stick some garlic oil in when you do the other side).

[harpy]

There is a book http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en-GB&rlz=1T4GGHP_en-GBGB431GB432&q=vegan+barbecue+book&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=11016938212107416452&sa=X&ei=cr0VTsSlMc6JhQfM15Ay&ved=0CEcQ8wIwAw# but I haven't seen it and I'm not sure whether you could find it in the shops. There are a lot of recipes online though, perhaps that will be easier?

I'm afraid I don't have any recent barbecue experience but I remember that bananas cooked in their skins were good. So were tofu kebabs - drool. I have this rather vague marinade recipe from a friend in the annals:

Here's my magic marinade for tofu kebabs (which has won over a few
non-tofu eating folks of these parts!):

Olive Oil
Garlic (crushed or paste - it doesn't much matter)
Black Pepper
Chilli sauce of some description (the 'thai' style dipping sauce is quite
good)
Henderson's Relish or vegan Worcestershire Sauce
Golden Syrup

No specific weights or measures - I tend to just chuck the ingredients
into a bowl until the consistency looks right!

Best left overnight to let the flavours really soak into the Tofu.

Perhaps the others will have some less vague suggestions for you.

[artichoker]

Mark Bittman suggests grilling melons (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/magazine/bittman-throws-another-melon-on-the-barbie.html?_r=1&smid=tw-nytimesmagazine&seid=auto)!

[RubyDuby]

I love cooking over a fire, but I don't know if what I eat would be a crowd pleaser. We toast pita bread, then smear on avocado and top with canned chili beans. I open the can of beans and set it in the fire. Within 5 minutes it's bubbling and ready. I'd like to reiterate veggie kebabs, veggie burgers, dogs and sausages and corn on the cob.

Mac salad is a crowd pleaser. I cook the pasta, then mix in a bouillion cube while it's still hot. Chill the pasta while chopping your choice of veg (I like edamame, celery, corn, shredded carrots, scallions). Once the pasta is cool, stir in the veg with a whole lotta vegan mayo, salt and pepper. You can make chickpea salad and tempeh salad the same way... and potato salad.

Many veggies can be cooked in foil, right in the fire. Potatoes cook faster if their cubed first, obviously. I like to do brussels sprouts, onion, tomatoes, green beans, all wrapped separately. I also put a few pats of marg, and salt and pepper, before double wrapping in foil. You can also add herbs, like rosemary and garlic cloves in with the potatoes.

Let us know how you make out!