The proof is in the pudding…

Vegan Sunday dinners can be as filling and warming as any roast

Home » The proof is in the pudding…

Published: January 26, 2018
This Article was written by: Katie Hill - My Green Pod
recipes, vegan

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This article first appeared in our winter ’18 issue of MyGreenPod Magazine, The Resolution Revolution. Click here to subscribe to our digital edition and get each issue delivered straight to your inbox

Eating fewer animal products is great for the planet, animal welfare and our health – and it’s really easy once you’ve built up a stock of alternative products and know how to use them.

There really is a substitute for most ingredients; the cream in a chocolate mousse, for example, can be replaced with avocado, coconut cream, cashew nuts, tofu, chia seeds – the options go on and the results will all be deliciously different.

Once you start experimenting you’ll soon gain confidence and develop your own favourites. This recipe for a delicious vegan winter warmer will help get you started!

VEGAN MUSHROOM AND STOUT PUDDING RECIPE

This savoury pudding is a great dish for a family Sunday dinner. It’s rich and robust, thanks to the winning combination of stout, mushrooms and yeast extract, and tastes delicious with chips and steamed greens.

Eat it alongside a bottle of hearty stout, one of its key ingredients. The creamy, roasted flavour of the bottle-conditioned stout from Suma Wholefoods echoes the richness of the pudding itself.

Earthy mushrooms are subtly contrasted by hints of citrus, thanks to the orange peel undertones of the stout.

SERVES: 4-5
TIME: 40 mins prep, two hours cooking
USE: Medium pudding basin (17cm)

INGREDIENTS
For the filling:

2 tbsp vegetable oil, for frying
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
250g chestnut mushrooms, quartered
150g closed-cup/field mushrooms, quartered
2 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
200ml Suma Penumbra Stout
1/2 tsp English mustard
1 tsp yeast extract
100g Fry’s Beef-Style Chunky Strips, or other meat alternative

For the suet pastry:

300g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting/li>
½ tsp salt/li>
150g Suma Vegetarian Suet

METHOD

1. Pour the oil into a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the chopped onion and fry for a few minutes until softened. Add the chopped garlic and mushrooms and fry for five minutes or so, adding more oil if it’s all absorbed. Add the thyme and bay leaves to the pan followed by the stout, mustard and yeast extract. Simmer on a low heat, with lid on, for around 20 minutes.

2. For the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl and stir in the suet.

3. Gradually stir in enough cold water to make a soft pastry; you’ll need around 200ml.

4. Set aside one-third of the pastry to make the pudding lid. On a floured surface, roll the rest into a circle big enough to line your pudding basin. Oil the inside of the basin then ease the pastry into it. Trim it to 1cm below the rim of the dish, to allow room for rising. Roll out the remaining pastry and trim it to fit snugly on top of the pastry edge.

5. Stir the beef-style pieces into your filling mixture, then season to taste. Pour the mixture into the pastry case, rub the top edge with a little water then seal the pastry lid on top.

6. Cover your pudding basin first with a layer of greaseproof paper, then with foil, folding a large pleat in the top. Secure by tying string around the basin.

7. Place a saucer or cookie cutter in the base of a large saucepan and sit the pudding on top. Half-fill the pan with water and bring to the boil. Cover the pan with a lid and leave it to simmer gently for two hours, topping up the water if necessary.

8. Take the pan off the heat and carefully lift the basin out using oven gloves. Leave to stand for five minutes, then remove the string, foil and baking paper. Loosen the sides of the pudding with a pallet knife and invert the pudding carefully onto a serving plate large enough for the filling to ooze into. Slice and serve.

Click here for more meat-free recipe inspiration from Suma Wholefoods.