VEGAN RECIPES FOR LENT

 

Here are a few vegan recipes for lent.

 

                                                 CARROT PATTIES

 

4 cups roasted carrots

¼ cup minced garlic

¼ cup olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground fennel seeds

1 tsp allspice

¼ cup chopped mint

2 cups toasted breadcrumbs

2/3 cup minced onion

Vegetable oil

 

Peel and slice carrots into small rounds and toss with salt, pepper, turmeric, fennel seeds allspice and minced garlic in a bowl. Mix well and turn out on a tin lined with baking parchment. Set the bowl aside and do not rinse it.  Cover the carrots with a piece of aluminium foil and bake in an oven preheated to 180 C (350 F) for 30-36 minutes until tender.  Return the carrots into the bowl you mixed them in, cool them and coarsely mash them with a potato masher of a fork.

 

In a large bowl, combine the fresh mint, thyme, minced onion and breadcrumbs. Add the mashed carrots and mix well together.  Blend into a thick paste, cover the mixture with cling film and refrigerate  for at least 2 hours or as long as 5 days before cooking.

 

Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F).  Shape the mixture into patties and place them in a tin lined with oiled parchment and bake for 25 minutes or until the carrot parties are crisp and golden.

 

      

                                                     LAGANA BREAD      

 

A vegan bread which is offered of Clean Monday but can be offered throughout lent.

 

3 ½ cups plain flour

1 ½ tsp dry yeast

1 tsp sugar

1 2/3 cups warm water

½ tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

½ cup sesame seeds

1 tbsp honey mixed with

5 tbsp boiling water

 

Combine yeast, sugar and water and set aside to activate, small bubbles will form on the surface when the yeast is activated.    Combine flour, salt and activated yeast and mix well until you have a sticky dough.  Place the dough on a floured surface and approximately for 10 minutes and can be shaped into a ball. 

 

Place the dough in a large, clean bowl and brush with olive oil, cover with cling film and a small blanket and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 ½ hours.  In a bowl knead the risen dough for a few minutes to deflate.  Gently stretch and pat the dough into a rectangle.  Using your fingers poke small grooves into the dough, brush with honey and water solution, sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake in an oven preheated to180 C (350 F) for 30 minutes until golden brown.

 

 

 

                                                  VEGAN PASTITSIO

 

Sauce:

500 g (1 lb) mushrooms, trimmed and chopped into small pieces

3 tbsp olive oil

1 onion peeled and grated

2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

250 ml (1 cup) white wine

500 ml (2 cup) vegetable  stock

1 tsp thyme

A tiny pinch of Cayenne pepper

 

500 g (1 lb) macaroni, boiled in salted water until al-dente, strained and drizzled with olive oil.

Breadcrumbs

 

Bechamel Sauce:

80 g olive oil

80 g plain flour

1 bay leaf

800 ml vegetable broth

Salt, white pepper and grated nutmeg to taste

 

For the mushroom sauce, sauté the onion in olive oil until translucent, stir in the mushrooms and garlic and simmer gently until dry, season to taste.  Pour in the wine and cook until the alcohol evaporates. Then pour in the hot vegetable stock, season with chopped thyme and a tiny pinch of Cayenne pepper and cook until the mushrooms are tender and dry, and set aside.

 

For the bechamel, sauté the flour and bay leaf in olive oil for 4-5 minutes. stirring then pour in the stock in three doses, season with salt, white pepper and nutmeg to taste, stirring vigorously each time until the sauce bubbles and thickens.  Set aside and discard the bay leaf. Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F).

 

Mix the macaroni with the mushroom mixture and stir in 2 heaped tablespoons of bechamel sauce. Spoon the mixture into a dish brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with half the breadcrumbs.  Cover with the remaining bechamel, sprinkle with the remaining breadcrumbs and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove and serve hot with a salad of your choice.

 

         PRAWNS WRAPPED IN KATAIFI WITH A SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE

Kataifi derives from kadife which is Arabic for velvet.  The original way of preparing this pasty is by pouring batter through a perforated tube on a very hot slab.  After a few seconds, the fine strands of pastry were pulled off, folded and packed further use.

 

Today pastry manufacturers in Greece use the same concept as their colleagues did centuries ago.  Now with sophisticated machinery and the appropriate “know-how”, they produce an excellent kataifi pastry.

 

This is an appetizer that can be served either as a first dish or as finger food.

 

30 middle-sized prawns, shelled, deveined, tails left on

Salt and freshly ground multi-coloured pepper to taste

30 wooden skewers

750 g (1 ½ lb) kataifi pastry

Corn oil

 

Sweet and Sour Tomato Sauce:

1 large onion, peeled and grated

2 leeks, white part only, split in half, lengthwise, washed and finely chopped

1 tsp grated ginger

A little salt

250 ml (1 cup) water

125 ml ( ½ cup) vinegar

62.5 ml ( ¼ cup) balsamic vinegar

100 g ( ½ cup) sugar

4 large tomatoes, halved, deseeded, grated skins discarded

3 tbsp tomato ketchup

Salt and freshly ground multi-coloured pepper to taste

1 bay leaf

 

First prepare the sauce.  Sweat the onion, leeks and ginger with water and a little salt until soft but not brown.  Then add the 2 kinds of vinegar, sugar, grated tomato, tomato ketchup and bay leaf to the onion and ginger mixture.  Cover and simmer gently until the sauce is cooked and thick. Turn off the heat and discard the bay leaf.

 

Puree and sieve the sauce, pressing with the back of a spoon to extract all the sauce and taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.  Place in a bowl, cover and refrigerate.

 

Sprinkle the prawns with salt and pepper and thread each one on a wooden skewer. Fluff out the kataifi pastry thoroughly.  Take equal strands of kataifi and cover and cover each prawn completely except the tail.  Fry in hot corn oil until crisp and golden and pat with kitchen paper to remove the superfluous oil and discard the skewers.

 

Serve hot dipped in hot sweet and sour tomato sauce.