Month: Aug 2019

This Indian Shepherd’s Pie recipe was taken (and adjusted to vegan) from Anjum Anand’s 2008 book called ‘Anjum’s New Indian’. This book revealed to me the secrets of how to create and cook proper knockout vegetable curries from scratch because it’s the spices, and their combinations, that’s key.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

4 black cardamom pods

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

10g fresh ginger, peeled

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 tablespoon ground coriander

¼ – ½ teaspoon red chilli powder

1½ teaspoons ground cumin

1½  teaspoons garam masala

One pack Waitrose Vegan Grain Mince (240g) OR a 50/50 mix of pre-cooked puy lentils/chestnut mushrooms OR 50/50 mix of pre-cooked green lentils/chestnut mushrooms

1 vegetable stock in 100ml boiling water

1 tablespoon vegan Worcestershire sauce

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

Handful of frozen peas

350g potatoes, peeled and chopped

Vegan spread and soya milk to add to mashed potatoes

1. Boil potatoes until soft. Drain and mash with some vegan spread and soya milk until smooth. Set aside.
2. Heat the oven to 190ºC / Gas 5 / 375ºF
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a large non-stick saucepan and add the black cardamom pods. Cook them for 30 seconds then add the chopped onion and cook until golden brown (5-10 minutes).
4. Use a blender to make a paste with the ginger and garlic (add a little water to make this easier). 
5. Add all the spices and ginger/garlic paste to saucepan. Give it a good stir and cook for one minute.
6. Then add the vegan mince and mix well for two minutes.
7. Now add the vegetable stock, Worcestershire sauce and tomatoes. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Add a bit more boiling water if it’s too thick. If it’s too runny, leave the lid off and evaporate some of the liquid. 
8. Take off the heat and add the frozen peas. Carefully remove the cardamom pods. Add some salt to it, if you prefer.
9. Place the spicy mince into an ovenproof dish and top with the mashed potatoes. 
10. Bake in the middle of the oven for 20-30 minutes at 190ºC / Gas 5 / 375ºF until hot and bubbling.
11. Then grill for 5 – 10 minutes to brown the top.

My mum recently made a vegan Grasmere cake. I’d never heard of such a thing but scoffed a few slices nonetheless (won’t go into detail about how many). 

Mum’s numerous cookbooks are often made up of recipes cut out from newspapers and magazines that have been collected and compiled over a lifetime with the useless ones being ejected and the successful ones kept. These tomes are a treasure trove and many can easily be converted into vegan versions. Expect more of these gems in the coming months.

My tips for this recipe: I’m not keen on mixed spice so I substituted this with half a teaspoon of ground ginger and about seven ground-up whole cloves. Make sure to finely grind the cloves so you don’t get hard bits in the cake. This gives it a warming kick and the smell coming from the oven was amazing. I used Pure Sunflower Spread and soya milk (sweetened) replaced the cow juice. Regarding the fruit, I made it with 175g of sultanas and 75g of raisins (just because I had some spare in the cupboard) and it baked fine. They become very plump and succulent.

Leave the raw mixture covered for a minimum of three hours and use a big tin because this one is a heavy brute, as my mother will concur (it’s her handwriting on the recipe).

This is an exceptionally tasty, smoky one-pot rice dish that sets your taste buds alight in a good way. 

My tips for this recipe: As someone who uses an electric cooker (not gas) I just deseeded the red peppers, sliced and roasted them for half an hour at 200ºC. Make sure to drizzle some vegetable oil on them first. I’ve also substituted the celery (not a big fan) with roasted aubergine and/or roasted sweet potato. Do these at the same time as your peppers and Bob’s your uncle. Cayenne pepper can also be replaced with a small green chilli. Oh, and jasmine rice isn’t essential. Any old white rice will do.