Vegan Shepherd’s Pie

Makes 6-8 servings

Vegan Shepherd’s Pie

Earthy mushrooms and lentils, topped with velvety mash!

I have been looking for ways to incorporate more lentils in my diet, since reading the book ‘How not to die’ by Dr. Michael Greger. Great book, highly recommended and so is this dish.
Transforming a traditional dish to a healthier version is a great way to transition to eating more plants.
While most pies end up being baked, I chose to keep it simple and just layer the ingredients, without baking the pie afterwards. I am a big fan of mash and I find that baking or grilling the pie makes the velvety mash dry out.
I think this pie would be really nice served in individual pie dishes, so I may try that next time we have someone over for dinner.
I hope you enjoy this delicious and nutritious pie!

Ingredients 

• 1kg potatoes (Maris Piper)
• 1 cup warm soy milk
• A couple of knobs of Flora buttery
• Salt to taste
  
  
• Oil for frying 
• 1 onion – chopped
• 1 teaspoon of lazy garlic
• 1 tablespoon of tomato puree
• 1 chilli pepper – chopped
• 600g mushrooms – chopped
• 1 can of green lentils (400g)
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes (400g)
• 100g fresh peas from the pod
• 250ml hot water 
• 1 bunch fresh parsley – chopped
• 1-2 sprigs rosemary – chopped
• A pinch of Cayenne pepper (optional)
• Salt & pepper to taste 

Method

1. Peel and chop the potatoes. Cook the potatoes into a large pan of boiling water until tender. Drain and return to the pan. Add the Flora buttery, soy milk and salt; mash until smooth. 
2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the onions and garlic. Fry on medium heat until starting to soften (about 5 minutes), stirring occasionally. 
3. Add the tomato puree and chopped chilli pepper; stir until combined.
4. Add the chopped mushrooms and cook until all the liquid released by the mushrooms evaporates.
5. Add in the chopped tomatoes, green lentils, fresh peas and water.  Simmer until the sauce has thickened (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat and add the chopped parsley and rosemary.
6. Pour the lentil mixture into a large dish and pipe the mash potato on top. Enjoy a delicious and nutritious meal!
   Thanks for the recipe inspiration go to Tesco Real Food.
   

Vegan Shepherd’s Pie

Vegan Meatless Meatballs

Makes 16 meatballs

The BEST vegan ‘meatballs’! Amazing taste & texture; and couldn’t be easier to make.

You only need 5 ingredients to make these ‘meatballs’, but each ingredient plays an important role.
I feel dill is such an underused herb in UK, but it really shines through in this recipe and it reminds me of my mum’s cooking.
Seasoning is very important. Whenever I cook aubergines, I find I need to add a generous amount of salt to bring out the flavour in the aubergines.
The meatballs are great with pasta and a lovely sauce. Arrabbiata is my favourite pasta sauce: a rich tomato sauce at heart, but with added chilli and peppers.
This recipe is a definite keeper for me, but I’d love to know what you think.

Ingredients

• 2 large aubergines
• 150g porridge oats
• 1 bunch fresh dill (chopped)
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• ½ – 1 teaspoon garlic granules
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Oil for frying

Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 6 and bake the aubergines for 1 hour (turning them on the other side after 30 minutes). Once baked, cover the aubergines in aluminium foil for 10 minutes. This will make the skin on the aubergines sweat, which will make it easy to peel off with your fingers (use gloves to avoid colouring your hands).
2. Finely chop the aubergines until they resemble a paste. Place the chopped aubergines in a fine sieve for 5 minutes, to allow some of the liquid to drain. Don’t drain them for too long, as you don’t want to remove all the liquid.
3. In a food processor, add the aubergines, oats, chopped dill, oregano, garlic granules, salt & pepper to taste. Pulse until combined. Make sure to add enough salt to bring out the taste in the aubergines.  The resulting consistency is fairly soft and sticky, so I use wet latex gloves to shape into balls.
4. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and fry the meatless balls until lightly golden. Enjoy with your favourite pasta sauce! 

Thanks for the inspiration go to Tesco