The Fiery Vegetarian 2024: International Flavors and Expertise

DeliveryRank chats with Deirdre Gilna, the culinary mastermind behind The Fiery Vegetarian, brings a wealth of international flavor and expertise to her blog. Originally from Dublin, Ireland, Deirdre's journey through Spain, India, France, and now Angola has profoundly shaped her approach to vegetarian and vegan cooking. With a passion for spicy dishes and a knack for crafting delicious pasta sauces, Deirdre shares her unique recipes and culinary adventures, blending global influences with her love for fiery flavors. 

Deirdre, what inspired you to start The Fiery Vegetarian, and how has your journey shaped the content you share on your blog?

That's a great question, Sarah. I'm just going to be honest here, I was inspired to start a blog because I wanted a second income stream. I wanted the money!

I'd just finished my postgraduate in computing when we were repatriated to Spain from India, which was sudden and unexpected. Salaries in Spain in my field were pretty low and I started looking into how I could bring in some extra money. 

One of the suggestions I came across was to start a blog and after researching a bit more I stumbled upon traffic and income reports and was hooked. It really did seem like if you started a blog and put the work in, you would eventually see some money. All I had to do then was pick my niche, which was quite easy because I love cooking. 

You'll find the content on my blog is a mix of vegan and vegetarian with many spicy dishes because I love all things spice, and working full time initially meant that my blog activities had to fit into our family menu. Later I could branch out into different types of content that were more geared to SEO opportunities as blogging became my full-time job.

Can you share some tips for busy families who want to incorporate more vegan and vegetarian meals into their weekly meal plans?

I guess my top tips would be firstly, make what you want to eat. Don't make recipes that contain ingredients you don't like or that sound like they won't be up your street, just because they are healthy or someone told you they liked it. Secondly, look into vegan or vegetarian versions of food you already enjoy. Lastly, for daily cooking inspiration, I bookmark bloggers and cooks whose recipes I have already tried and liked and I go through their posts looking for new things to make.

Pasta dishes are some of the easiest vegetarian recipes to start with if you're not a very experienced cook (or you just love pasta, like me!).

How do you balance creating recipes that are both easy to make and packed with flavor, especially for those new to vegan and vegetarian cooking?

I love cooking but I get tired and fed up doing it sometimes just like everybody else I guess, so I'm always looking for shortcuts to speed up the whole process. However, for me, shortcuts should only be used when they make sense and they don't compromise the taste of the recipe. So I guess I just always keep in mind those considerations, easy shortcuts, and the final taste of the recipe. I think there are a few basic tricks and skills that will always elevate vegetarian cooking too. For example, using vegetable stock or broth instead of water, learning how to salt to taste properly, and upping your herb and spice knowledge and usage. 

How has your extensive international experience, living in countries like Spain, India, France, and Angola, influenced your approach to vegan and vegetarian cooking? Can you give specific examples of dishes or ingredients that have been particularly impactful?

I lived in Spain for a long time and when I first moved there right after finishing university it was quite difficult to get the jarred sauces and prepared food I had been depending on during my studies The same went for traditional vegetarian foods like tofu, soy granules, textured vegetable protein, veggie burgers etc. So I guess Spain first made me learn how to cook properly from scratch, and it also really increased my appreciation for quality produce and simpler dishes. Such as patatas bravas (but only with a good homemade Madrid-style bravas sauce) or parboiled and then fried Cauliflower with garlic, olive oil, and just a pinch of salt. 

India was amazing, the best country to be a vegetarian in. I attended cooking classes there and learned the importance of a good masala, fresh spices, and using larger amounts of spices. I also learned a lot about South Indian cuisine and chaat (super tasty savory snacks and salads), which are harder to find outside India. You can see more South Indian influence on the blog with coconut milk everywhere, as well as chaat masala on things like sandwiches.. Shorba and rasam also really changed my ideas of what a soup should be like.

I have to be honest, France didn't have a huge impact on me, as we were only there for a year and it's not very vegetarian-friendly at all, especially if you have an egg intolerance. I enjoyed copious amounts of cheese, learned to cook more with butter (it does make everything taste better), and spent a lot of time making potato dishes (perfecting pommes fondant and pommes boulangère) and tweaking a carrot salad recipe!

As for Angola, it's early days yet but I'm intrigued by palm oil beans and spicy local gindungo sauce. I can see my upcoming recipes including scotch bonnet peppers and collard greens, which are plentiful here. There's a lot of Portuguese influence on cooking here and I've recently discovered arroz malandro ("naughty" rice) which is like an easier soupier version of risotto. I've just successfully tested and written a tomato version inspired by a dish I had here at a restaurant which I'll be shooting and putting up on the blog soon.

Overall, the biggest effect all the moving around has had on my cooking is becoming an expert on substitutions and pivoting. I also appreciate more how much easier it is to get a wide range of ingredients all in one shop, like back home in Ireland.

What challenges have you faced in developing recipes that cater to various dietary restrictions and preferences, such as your son’s allergies or your own egg intolerance, and how have these challenges shaped the recipes and content on The Fiery Vegetarian?

I guess this answer ties in with the previous question, but the biggest challenge I've faced is a lack of easy substitutions. I've never had "Just Egg" for example because I've never seen it: So for egg substitutes, I've had to test omitting or replacing with easy-to-find substitutes (like oil, chickpea flour or aquafaba) and baking is such an exact science that those recipes took a long time to develop. 

My workmates had to be constantly munching on my experimental baked goods! Dairy was easier. So many plant-based kinds of milk are now available that substituting milk is never an issue. There weren't any good vegan cheeses available when my son was growing up, so I tend to develop recipes where you can add or omit cheese quite easily. I have a recipe for spicy pizza for example that has a super chunky spicy sauce and lots of veggies and you don't miss the cheese; In fact, many non-veg friends have tried it with cheese and prefer the regular vegan version.

If you would like to find out more about The Fiery Vegetarian, please visit https://www.thefieryvegetarian.com/