Leek, Mushroom and Lentil Samosas

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”] I guess technically this shouldn’t be called a samosa recipe since I used puff pastry instead of the traditional short-crust pastry. You could use either with success though, so it’s up to you which you choose, in my case the puff pastry was just the only stuff I had in the freezer. Either way, the filling was delicious, really rich and warm and mushroomy.. hmmmm.. I’ll definitely be making this one again. This is the kind of recipe you pull out when the omnivores come to visit, to knock their socks off. This one would also freeze really well if you wanted to make a double batch.

Leek, Mushroom & Lentil Samosas

Ingredients:

1 tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small leek, chopped
3 cups chopped button mushrooms
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 tbs mushroom soy sauce
1 tbs hot curry powder
1/3 cup of frozen peas
1/2 400g can of lentils
2 sheets of puff pastry

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a medium pan over medium heat, add the garlic and leek and saute until translucent. Add mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are cooked. Add vegetable stock, soy sauce, curry powder and mix well. Simmer for 5 minutes and then add your peas and lentils. Simmer until most of the moisture has disappeared. Remove from the heat and allow mixture to cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Cut your puff pastry sheets into 4 equal squares, spoon the mixture onto the middle of the pastry square and then fold the square in half to make a triangle, press the edges of the pastry down with your fingers to seal the edges. The mixture will make approximately 8 samosas, depending on how much mixture you put in each.

3. Place the samosas on a baking tray and bake for 30 minutes.

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Vegan Beef Wellington with Mushroom Pate

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]I’ve been struggling with finding a name for this recipe all day. The recipe is loosely based on a beef wellington, using a mushroom pate and mushroom filling, but the addition of brown rice and vegetables to the mixture makes it similar to a vegetable pie, either way it’s really good, I’m especially happy with the mushroom pate. (And a special thanks to all my lovely peeps who contributed to get me my sparkly new blender for my birthday! Lots of love to you all, and Happy Birthday to me!).

Vegan Beef Wellington with Mushroom Pate

Ingredients:

1 tbs non dairy margarine
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium leek, chopped
5 cups button mushrooms, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 cup small brocolli florets
4 sheets vegan puff pastry
4 tbs wholegrain mustard
1/2 cup brown rice
1 vegetable stock cube
2 tsp tamari
1 tbs vegan mayonnaise
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup soft silken tofu
1/2 cup walnuts
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried marjoram
1/4 cup fresh parsley

Method:

1. Heat half your margarine a fry pan over medium heat, add 1/2 your leek, 2 cups of chopped mushrooms, tamari and the thyme. Cook for approximately 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until mushrooms are cooked.

2. Place the mushroom mixture into your blender, add mayonnaise, breadcrumbs, tofu and walnuts and blend until smooth. Place in a small bowl, cover and refrigerate.

3. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Cook your brown rice according to packet instructions, dissolving one vegetable stock cube into the water while cooking. In the same fry pan as you used for the mushroom mixture, heat the rest of your margarine over medium heat, add garlic and leek, cook for 2 minutes. Add the wine and simmer for 2 minutes. Add your mushrooms and simmer for 5 minutes. Add your zucchini and broccoli and cook, stirring occasionally for approximately 7 – 10 minutes (depending on how soft you like your vegetables), then remove from the heat until your brown rice is ready.

4. In a large bowl mix your vegetable mixture with the brown rice. Add your parsley and mix it through.

5. In the middle of each sheet of pastry spread 1 tbs of mustard, 2 tbs of the mushroom pate and 1/4 of the vegetable mixture, top with another tbs of the pate and fold the pastry to make a pie, the edges of the pastry should stick with some pressure but, a little water or soy milk will work as well. Put each pie on a non stick baking tray, poke some steam holes in them and bake for 35 minutes.

Serve with a garden salad or mashed potato or eat it on its own. Either way it’s yum!

NOTE: I put 1 tbs ground chia seeds into the mushroom pate as well but this is an optional ingredient.

Also, for the record, I have discovered that it is impossible to take photos of pate that don’t look unappetising, which is why there are none of them here. It’s just one of those things that tastes great and looks gross. So, you’ll just have to take my word for it that there is pate in the pies okay? 🙂

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Mushroom, Pumpkin & Sage Risotto

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”] While risotto seems like a lot of work with all the stirring required, it’s actually quite a fast meal that doesn’t require a lot of preparation, and best of all, there is only one pot to clean once you’re finished eating. I personally find risotto quite heavy and that is one of the reasons I like to add tomatoes during the last stages of cooking, I find that they lighten up the dish a little. If you wanted to make the meal without the tomatoes it would work equally well. Enjoy!

Mushroom, Pumpkin & Sage Risotto

Ingredients

1 tbs non dairy butter
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 clove garlic minced
1 medium leek, chopped
2 cups button mushrooms, chopped
1 1/2 cups pumpkin, chopped (approx 1.5cm cubes)
3/4 cup zucchini, chopped
3/4 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped
3 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh sage
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Melt your butter in a heavy based medium saucepan over medium heat. Add your garlic and leek, cook for 2 minutes. Add the wine and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the pumpkin, mushrooms, zucchini, vegetable stock, rice and some freshly ground black pepper.

2. Stir the mixture constantly, until the rice has completely absorbed the stock, this will take approximately 20 minutes. Test the rice at this stage, it will largely depend on the water content of your vegetables whether the rice is completely done, if it is still a bit cruchy, add another 1/2 cup of water or stock to the mixture and continue stirring until the liquid has been absorbed.

3. Stir in your tomatoes and fresh sage and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add extra salt and pepper if required. Serve the risotto, garnished with the chopped walnuts.

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Vegan Lentil & Vegetable Pie

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”] With the temperature dropping so radically here in the last few days (farewell Summer! We will miss you!) I thought today would be a good day for a nice Wintery Vegetable Pie. I cheated a little by using puff pastry from the freezer instead of making it from scratch but I wanted to take photos of the pie before I lost the light. You could make your own pastry if you wanted though! As for the pie mixture, I personally like my veggies nice and firm but if you want them more mushy and pie-ish you might want to cook the pie for an hour or so, instead of my 45 minutes.

Vegan Lentil & Vegetable Pie

Ingredients:

2 1/2 sheets puff pastry
2 tbs non dairy butter
2 tbs plain flour
2.5 cups water
2 vegetable stock cubes
1 leek, finely chopped
3 potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1.5 cubes
2 cups button mushrooms, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 head of brocolli, chopped into small florets
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 can lentils
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
1/2 tbs dried marjoram
Salt & Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Bring a medium saucepan filled with water to the boil. Add the potatoes and boil them for 1o minutes, drain the water from the saucepan and put the potatoes aside. NOTE: They do not need to be totally cooked through at this point.

2. Melt the butter in a large frypan on medium heat. Add the leek and cook for 2 minutes, or until leek is softened and partly translucent, add the flour and stir well so that the flour and butter form a thick sauce. Cook for 2 minutes and then add the water and stock cubes. At this stage the mixture will start to look like a gravy.

3. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes. Add the brocolli, carrots, zucchini and frozen peas, cook for a further 2 minutes. Make sure the vegetables are coated and remove from the heat.

4. In a large mixing bowl mix the vegetable mixture and the potatoes together. Add the lentils, basil and marjoram and mix thoroughly, add salt and pepper to taste.

5. Line your pie tin with puff pastry (I needed 1 1/2 sheets to do this but you may only need one depending on the depth of your tin, fill with your mixture, top with the other puff pastry sheet. Poke some holes in the top, decorate with any left over pieces of pastry and put in the oven for 45 minutes. Serve immediately.

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Moroccan Vegetable Stew with Couscous

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While I didn’t use a tagine for this recipe, it could actually be cooked in one easily enough (I don’t have one, or it would have been), I used my slow cooker for this, (you all know how much I love my slow cooker!) but if you don’t have one, it could just as easily be done in a big pot on your stove top at a low temperature.

Moroccan Vegetable Stew with Couscous

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium carrots, chopped roughly
1 medium butternut pumpkin peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
2 potatoes peeled and cut into 1.5cm cubes
1 medium leek, chopped
4 large mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup pitted prunes, chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon chili flakes
2 cups vegetable stock
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon paprika
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste

1 cup couscous, prepared as directed on packaging
Chopped walnuts and raisins for garnish

Method:

1. Turn your slow cooker to LOW heat, add olive oil, leek, carrots, potato, pumpkin, mushrooms, prunes, walnuts, chickpeas, tomatoes, cinnamon stick, cumin, coriander, paprika, chilli flakes and vegetable stock. Stir well, cover and cook for 6 – 8 hours.

2. Prepare the couscous according the directions on the packaging.

3. Before serving, stir parsley into stew and season to taste with salt and pepper, remove the cinnamon stick and serve over hot cooked couscous. Garnish with parsley and a few chopped walnuts and maybe a handful of raisins for some extra sweetness.

NOTE: Almonds are more traditionally used in Moroccan cooking so you could substitute the walnuts for almonds if you like. If you don’t have prunes, raisins would work equally well.

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Vegan Lentil and Barley Soup

[tweetmeme source="VeganChickie"]My love affair with my slow cooker continues! Today’s recipe: Lentil and Barley Soup! Jam packed with veggies and lovely and spicy, this one is definitely going to become one of my stand by recipes, especially once winter comes. Serve with some crusty bread rolls.

Lentil and Barley Soup in the Slow Cooker

Ingredients:

1 tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbs minced ginger
1 small red chili finely chopped
1 leek, chopped
2 zucchini, chopped
3 ribs of celery, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup pearl barley
1 cup brown lentils
2 small potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1cm cubes
5 cups water
1 cup vegetable stock
2 tbs tomato paste
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt & Pepper to taste

Method:

1. Turn the slow cooker to high, add the oil, garlic, chili and leek, cook for 10 minutes with the lid on.

2. Turn the slow cooker on low and add the rest of your ingredients, stir well and cover. Cook on medium for 8 hours.

3. Remove the bay leaf and cinnamon stick. Serve!

Garnish with fresh coriander or parsley! YUM!

Note: The longer you leave this recipe, the more stew-like it becomes. The first night we ate it as a clear soup as pictured and reheated it the following night as a stew – delicious!

Mock Mince Vegan Bolognese

[tweetmeme source="VeganChickie"]Based on a recommendation from T over at Blog-of-Nathan, I bought some Planet Organic Vegetarian Mince last week. I’m not usually one for mock meat products, I use them every so often but they aren’t really a staple in my vegan diet, but I stumbled across the box when we were checking out the new organic grocery in town so I thought I would buy it and give it a go. I didn’t actually take photos of the progress of this recipe because to be honest, I wasn’t really expecting it to be that good. Well, boy was I surprised! Lucky it was good, because I made a GIANT batch of the stuff. I’ve got masses of the stuff stored in the freezer now, but I don’t know if it was last very long because I’m pretty sure I’m going to eat the whole lot in a matter of days.. this bolognese is just that good! Beware, the amounts below make a massive quantity. Use your discretion for a smaller batch.

Mock Mince Vegan Bolognese

Ingredients:
1tbs olive oil
1 Leek, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small red chili, finely chopped
1 carrots, chopped
250g button mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup vegetable stock
4 large cans of chopped tomatoes
2 tbs tomato paste
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 packet planet organic vegetarian mince
Fresh basil
Pasta of your choice

Method
Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat, add the garlic, chili, leek, carrot and mushrooms and cook for 5 – 10 minutes, or until vegetables are soft. Add the red wine and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the stock, tomatoes, tomato paste, dried herbs, sugar, salt and pepper, mix well and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. Add the vegetarian mince, straight from the box, mix well, and simmer for a further 10 minutes (minimum, after this stage you can leave the pot cooking for as long as you wish, the longer you leave it, the more delicious it will be!). 5 minutes before serving, add the fresh basil. Serve with pasta of your choice.

Vegan Minestrone (slow-cooker)

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]Well after the success of slow-cooker week I think I’m going to declare next week slow-cooker week too. All of these recipes were so easy and SO cheap as well, which is good because the foodie car needs new tires!

All-Day Minestone:
(Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker)

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion leek, minced
1 celery rib, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 garlic cloves, minced
4 ounces green beans, ends trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 medium sized zucchini or yellow summer squash – diced
6 cups vegetable stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup raw ditalini or other small soup pasta
1/4 cup pesto

Method:
1. Pour the oil in the bottom of the slow-cooker. Add the onion, celery, carrot and garlic. Cover and cook on high while you assemble the remaining ingredients.

2. After they’ve been prepped, add the green beans, chickpeas, tomatoes, zucchini and stock. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook on LOW for for 7 to 8 hours.

3. About an hour before you’re ready to serve, add the raw pasta to the slow cooker and cover.

4. Just before serving, stir in the pesto.

NOTE: you can use cooked pasta if you prefer instead of raw, just add it to the soup when you add the pesto.
The omnivore of the household sprinkles grated parmesan cheese on top for extra delish.

Vegan Lentil Bolognese

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]I’ve decided that this week is going to be slow cooker week in the foodie household, starting with Vegan Lentil Bolognese.. and oh wow, this recipe was good! And I don’t just mean that in the being polite to the cook kind of way, I mean that in the oh my goodness I need another bowl even though I’m so full I can barely move kind of way. Bolognese was always one of my favourites when I was a kid and it’s one of those dishes that I have really missed as a vegetarian (that and the Hainanese Chicken Rice I used to love to eat when I was in Singapore – Anyone got a good vegan substitute for that recipe?). Well, I will no longer be pining for the bolognese of my past because I’ve definitely found a replacement for this particular comfort food.

The inspiration for this recipe came from “Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker” but I’ve modified it quite a bit.

Note: Although I used fettuccine in this recipe I actually prefer to use a shell pasta, that way the lentils are cupped in the pasta and more evenly distributed throughout the meal.. with fettuccine or other long pasta then you are likely to end up with a pile of lentils on your plate at the end.

Vegan Lentil Bolognese

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
1 medium leek, minced
2 carrots, minced
2 celery rib, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red chili, minced
1 800g can of crushed tomatoes
1 cup dried brown lentils, picked over and rinsed
2 tablespoons tomato paste dissolved in 1 cup of hot water
Pinch of mixed spice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
Fettuccine or other pasta of your choice
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese or soy Parmesan to serve

Method:
1. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the leek, carrot, celery, chili and garlic. Cover, and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in the wine and simmer for 2 minutes.

2. Transfer the vegetable mixture to the slowcooker. Add the tomatoes, lentils, tomato paste mixture, mixed spice and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours (couldn’t be easier!!!)

3. When ready to serve, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally. Drain well.

4. Just prior to serving, stir the parsley into the sauce. Place the cooked pasta in a serving bowl, top with the bolognese and serve immediately with the cheese (or not, it’s just as good without it!).

Tomorrow I’m pulling out the slow cooker again but I’m not sure yet whether I’ll make White Bean Cassoulet, Minestrone, or Irish Stew, they are all on the menu for the coming week.. any requests?

Vegan Lentil Cottage Pie

[tweetmeme source=”VeganChickie”]This is an old favourite of mine that I’ve been making for years. It’s not very pretty, but it sure is delicious!
Note: This recipe is fine to make and eat right away but is INCREDIBLE when made 24 hours before hand and left in the fridge overnight to let the flavors really mesh.

Lentil Cottage Pie

Ingredients:
800g potatoes
40g vegan butter
1 medium onion leek, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, crushed
100g button mushrooms, quartered
415g can of crushed tomatoes
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup water
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/3 cup dry red wine
2/3 cup red lentils
2 medium carrots, chopped finely
1 small red chili, chopped finely
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Boil, steam or microwave potatoes until tender. Drain and mash in a large bowl with half the butter.

Melt remaining butter in medium saucepan. Cook leek and garlic, stirring until leek is soft. Add mushrooms and chili, cook for 2 minutes. Add undrained tomatoes, vegetable stock, water, tomato paste, wine, lentils and carrot. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add peas, parsley, salt and pepper, cook, uncovered for 20 minutes. Stand pie for 10 minutes before serving.
NOTE: If you’re not concerned about keeping this dish vegan, you can stir 1/2 cup of finely grated parmesan cheese into the potato mash.

Yum!