3-COURSE VEGAN MEAL

Starter: Baked onion bhajis
Main: Chilli non carne with seitan, coconut milk and Thai spices
Pudding: Apple strudel

Baked onion bhajis

I left these a couple of minutes too long in the oven - so they've just caught a little

Ingredients:

2 large onions, sliced fairly thinly

Oil (for the frying pan - I use rapeseed)

1 teaspoon curry powder (my made up curry powder consists of 3 parts chilli powder to 1 each of cumin, coriander and turmeric – you may wish to reduce this ratio)

½ teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

100g gram (chickpea) flour

2 teaspoons bouillon powder

2 dessertspoons tomato puree

Water

Method:

Fry the onions for about 5 minutes until al dente

Stir the spices in with the onions and fry for a couple more minutes

Mix the gram flour, bouillon powder in a bowl, then add the tomato puree and enough water to form a batter.  Add the onions and mix altogether. It should be a fairly loose mixture.

Using a dessertspoon, place heaped spoonfuls of the mix onto a prepared baking sheet (I simply oil mine), and bake at 200C for 20-25 mins.

Thai chilli non carne with seitan

Ingredients:

Start with a vegetable curry.

To which add a tin of coconut milk, a dessertspoon of Thai curry paste, a dessertspoon each of soya sauce and lemon juice, and a squeeze of garlic paste.

Then add a tin of red kidney beans (or 240g of dried, cooked beans), the Seitan chunks and simmer until the chunks have softened.

Adjust seasoning

(Personally, I would add an extra dessertspoon of Thai curry and a splash of Encona West Indian Hot Pepper sauce, or similar)

Serve with Jasmine rice

Apple strudel

This is one of the strudels made with my special need's students. If you look  carefully, you can just make out a K (on the right) made from a scrap of dough - which means it was made by Kestor.

You can, of course, make this with ready made puff pastry which is easily available and very often vegan.

However, I find a strudel made with your own croissant dough to be, not only tastier, but very satisfying to make.

Ingredients:

1 portion of croissant dough, made with 200g flour and a dessertspoon of sugar instead of the salt. Once made, keep it in the fridge, in an oiled plastic bag, until you're ready to use it.

Filling:

3 medium apples, peeled and thinly sliced

200g sultanas

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon each cinnamon and nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground clove

100ml orange juice

Either stew the fruit in a saucepan on the stove until the apples are soft - but still retain their shape; or, microwave the fruit for approximately 10 minutes.

Let the fruit mixture cool before shaping the strudel.

Once you're ready to go, roll the dough out to to approximately 35cm x 25cm (a little bigger than my laptop!) and place it onto a piece of baking parchment, with the long side across in front of you.

Spread the filling in a thick band across the length of the dough, leaving a couple of centimetres at each end. Gently, using the baking paper as support, bring the dough over the top of the filling until it is covered. Roll it over an extra 2-3 cms to create an overlap.

Trim any spare width of dough (bake as nibbles), and carefully tuck in the ends.

Using the baking parchment, slide the strudel onto a baking tray and, using a sharp knife, make shallow diagonal cuts in the top of the dough. Cover the strudel with a dry tea towel and leave to prove until the dough is risen and puffy.

Turn the oven onto 200C, and carefully brush the strudel with a sugar glaze - one dessertspoon sugar to two dessertspoons boiling water.

When the oven is up to temperature, place the strudel in the middle of the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. Brush again with the sugar glaze. 

Either serve immediately, with Alpro custard, or place to cool on a wire rack.