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E N J OYME N T
In the mood
for
vegetables!
NICOLE JUST IS
“LA VEGANISTA”.
Since she became a vegan in
2009, the Berlin-based cook
has already published four
cookbooks under this name
with the publishing house
Gräfe and Unzer Verlag.
W I T H T H E R I GH T I NGR E D I E N T S AND R E L I A B L E GADG E T S ,
V E GAN R E C I P E S T URN OU T P E R F E C T I N E V E R Y K I T CH E N .
SPAGHETTI WITH RED TOMATO AND
HEMP PESTO, MARINATED AUBERGINES
AND SOY CRUNCH
– Nicole Just makes dishes just like this one in her
kitchen almost every day. In 2009, Nicole Just, who
is the granddaughter of a butcher, decided to stop
eating animal products for ethical reasons. “After I
learned how animal products are produced, I was
so shocked by the so-called livestock’s actual living
conditions that I decided to eat only plant-based
food.” She quickly found out how delicious and sim-
ple vegan cuisine is. Since then, she has been cooking
for a steadily growing fan base. She not only attracts
converts who have already given up meat, but also
wins over those who were previously unconvinced
that vegetables alone would fill them up.
PEPPERS STUFFED WITH CURLY KALE
AND TOFU, CARROTS WITH ROUX AND
POTATOES
It never gets boring in the pots of La Veganista, her
kitchen stage name. If it isn’t simply hunger that
inspires her, it’s often the many colours or seasonal
products that she encounters when shopping at the
supermarket. And she is constantly motivated by how
to put a new twist on old staples like potatoes or
carrots. “I often cook spontaneously and see where I
can incorporate the selected ingredients. Which is why
I never cook without a notepad,” explains Ms Just.
The recipes from her test kitchen now fill four cookbooks
from the “La Veganista” series and several others too.
Whether baking, superfoods, fine dining or vegan
cooking with what’s already in the fridge, Nicole Just has
the right recipe for every occasion. She also shares her
passion for the vegan lifestyle on her blog (see below),
where she shows, for example, how to build a cheap
raised bed in your garden from a composter.
ZOODLES WITH LENTILS AND BASIL
In her kitchen, Ms Just swears by a few indispensable
gadgets such as her electric KULT X spiraliser from
WMF, which she uses to turn vegetables into fine
strips in next to no time at all. These “zoodles” – a
portmanteau of the words “zucchini” (courgette) and
“noodles” – are an ongoing trend in the vegan fan
base, and with good reason too. “Vegetable noodles
fill you up and can be made in a jiffy,” raves Ms Just.
And every good vegetable kitchen should have a
good blender or a powerful purée rod to make sauces
as well as spreads, dips, smoothies, ice cream and
soups. “With this combination, anyone can conjure
up something healthy and delicious after a hard day
in just 15 to 20 minutes.” And what’s Nicole Just’s
favourite vegetable, I hear you ask? Now, she likes all
sorts of vegetables – but this wasn’t the case before
she became a vegan. “What I pretty much always
have in the house are different kinds of mushrooms
like shiitake and button mushrooms and potatoes.
Also carrots, courgettes and sweet potatoes – which
are particularly suitable for the spiraliser.”
B L OG : WWW. N I CO L E - J U S T. D E
Dish
by WMF
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