The ultimate vegan meal made from scratch! Top right: basmati rice with corn, coconut and whole spices. Bottom left to right: red kidney bean curry, smoky mashed eggplant with spices, and crunchy pan-fried okra

According to a recent article in the Huffington Post in 2013 more than 1 million Americans followed a vegan diet and more than 7 million described themselves as vegetarian. Of these folks, the overwhelming majority were women at 79% and 59% respectively. Sean and I are omnivores, which means we eat everything, but we do believe in the nutritional power of vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds. We’ve ‘gone vegan’ for a couple of months each year, which essentially means we followed a plant-based, whole foods diet that eliminated all meat, poultry, fish, and dairy. The word “vegan” conjures up different things for people , ranging from soy “cheese” and tofu “turkey” to a raw kale salad with walnuts. For me, the word “vegan” conjures up images of countless traditional Indian dishes from chick peas curry to pan-roasted eggplant. In fact, many South Indian vegetarian dishes, like Thai dishes, are often thickened with coconut milk instead of dairy milk or cream. Bursting with flavor and completely authentic, these are recipes that have been around for hundreds of years, well before anyone deemed them as ‘vegan’ …

veg·an noun \ˈvē-gən also ˈvā- also ˈve-jən or -ˌjan\
: a person who does not eat any food that comes from animals and who often also does not use animal products (such as leather) 

If you’re vegan or you need to cook for a vegan, you might be hunting for menu ideas. In my online searching, I found plenty of terrific vegan recipes of course, but I don’t often come across complete menu ideas that are compelling enough for say, hosting a vegan dinner party. So, I thought I would come up with my own and share it with you. If you want to serve an elegant vegan dinner, look no further. This is the real deal. No fake-out packaged ingredients or soy products trying to masquerade as meat. Instead, by celebrating natural ingredients, these are wholesome dishes made from fresh vegetables, legumes, spices, and herbs. Basmati rice scented by whole spices and gently steamed with sweet corn and coconut milk is the perfect foil for the hearty bite of red kidney bean curry, silky robustness of the smoky mashed eggplant, and long shards of bright green okra that’s been pan-fried until the edges are browned and crunchy, adding just the right texture to your whole plate. If you make any of these dishes, I promise you, your guests will not be disappointed! Sean and I hosted our friend Gene from Costa Rica when she visited New York City last month — none of us are vegans and we absolutely savored every bite.

Ina & Sean’s Ultimate Vegan Dinner …

Red Kidney Bean Curry

Smoky Mashed Eggplant with Spices

Crunchy Okra

Coconut Corn Pulao

Subtly scented with whole spices like cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom, basmati rice is steamed with sweet corn and delicate coconut milk