Salena's Vegan Christmas

Personally, I feel Christmas is a time for caring and sharing and enjoying the company of friends and family. It's also a time for reflection, looking back on the ups and downs of the year, reminiscing on the good times and looking forward to the future with loved ones.

I dislike the way Christmas has turned into a big consumer scramble arguing who has the biggest turkey, who has the most presents or who bought the most expensive present. Christmas should be consumer and cruelty free.

For me, the main part of Christmas is good food and good company, not worrying about what to buy for people or what to feed people. So to help you out I have prepared a number of vegan recipes for anyone having a vegan guest or wanting to try something a bit different this year. The good thing about most of the recipes is that you can do much of the preparation the day before, allowing you to enjoy Christmas morning and not have to worry about basting the turkey.

So this is how you can enjoy a wholesome tasty meal without the cost of an animal's life.

Puy Slice

25g dried mushrooms
120g puy lentils (you can use other lentils if you do not have puy)
3 tsp vegetable stock powder
450ml water
½ onion
2 heaped tsp maize/corn flour
2 tsp carob powder
1 tbls molasses
1 tsp yeast extract
2 tbls tomato sauce
1 tsp dried sage
1tsp dried thyme
350g puff pastry

Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water for 20 minutes. Chop up the onion and put in a saucepan. Add the puy lentils to the pan along with 300ml of the water and 1 tsp of the stock powder and cook until the lentils are soft but not mushy. Then drain the water from the dried mushrooms and add them to the lentil mixture.

In a separate bowl mix together the maize flour, carob, the rest of the stock powder, molasses, yeast extract, tomato sauce, sage and thyme and slowly add the last of the water. Mix together until you have a smooth paste. Add this to your lentil mixture and bring to the boil while constantly stirring. Once boiling, let the mixture simmer until it thickens up.

The filling is now ready so once it's cooled down you can put it in the fridge until you are ready to use it or continue with the recipe now.

Roll out the puff pastry until you have a rectangle about ½ cm thick. Place the pastry onto a greased tray then spoon the lentil mixture along the middle of the rectangle. Make diagonal cuts about 2cm apart on the sides of the remainder of the pastry so you end up with lots of strips. (see left photo)

Here comes the fun bit - tuck the top and bottom of the pastry over the mixture and simply cross over the strips to create a pastry plait on top.
Cook at 200c for approx 30-40 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and all puffed up.

Serve a big slice along with plenty of seasonal vegetables and vegan gravy.

Omega Balls

100g puy lentils
1 tsp each of dried sage, thyme and basil
200g water
2 tsp veg stock powder
100g seeds (sunflower, sesame, pumpkin)
1 onion
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 tsp tahini
1 tsp yeast extract
1 tbls soy sauce
4 tbls oat bran or breadcrumbs
1 chopped chilli (optional)

Cook the puy lentils in 200g of water with the sage, thyme, basil and 1 tsp of the stock powder until the lentils are soft but not sloppy.
Heat the seeds in a non-stick frying pan on a low heat. Stir occasionally until they have roasted. You will know when this has happened as they will start to brown and crack. Place all the roasted seeds into a food processer and blend. Then add the remainder of the ingredients and the lentil mixture to the processor and blend until they have almost formed a ball of mixture. Roll this mixture into golfball-sized balls.

You can now either put this mixture in the fridge until needed or cook it straight away in a roasting dish with a drizzle of oil for about 15-25 mins at 200c until the balls start to brown up.

Serve with plenty of seasonal vegetables and thick vegan gravy.

Vegan Yorkshire Puddings

A lot of people think vegans miss out when it comes to Christmas dinner but there is an animal-free way of doing most dishes.

For a good alternative to the traditional Yorkshire pudding cut strips of puff pastry and cook in a dry non-stick pan until puffy and golden, turning to make sure the pastry is cooked on both sides. 

Alternatively, use the recipe below for vegan Yorkshire puddings. They don't puff up as much but they taste pretty good.

Ingredients for 2 Yorkshire puddings:

2 tbls sunflower oil
100g flour
Sprinkle of salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 pt soya milk

Use a Yorkshire pudding tray and put 1 tbls of the oil at the bottom of the bases and place in a hot oven ( about 220c). Using a blender, whizz up the rest of the ingredients.

When the oil is very hot pour the mixture in, return to the oven straight away and cook until brown and crispy.

Love your Veg!

You can always make your dinner a bit special by adding a bit of extra love to the vegetables. I always roast my potatoes with rosemary and thyme and roast my carrots in a roasting dish with the juice from ½ an orange, a drizzle of olive oil and agave syrup and a sprinkling of salt.

Yummy! So if you want an animal-free Christmas dinner choose one of these recipes. The main thing though is to enjoy it!

For more ideas on how to enjoy a cruelty-free Christmas visit Animal Aid's Christmas section www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/NEWS/news_living/ALL/947

Animal Aid also have an annual Christmas without Cruelty Fair in London and this year it will be held on Sunday 30th November, at Kensington Town Hall, 10am- 5pm. More than 80 stands will be selling cruelty-free goods and gifts and there will be lectures, face painting, children's workshop, press-ups competition and delicious vegan food. Make a note in your diary and maybe see you there!

Merry Christmas/Nadolig Llawen Salena

(c) Salena Walker 2008
All photos © Salena Walker 2008