This year for Christmas Day dinner, I made the same centrepiece as one year ago: seitan turkey roast with wild rice stuffing. This scrumptious vegan dish is similar to commercial products like Tofurkey or Cheatin’ Roast. Only better.

For side dishes, we had stuffing balls; veggie bacon-wrapped sausages; various roasted veggies: potatoes, oca, parsnips, carrots and brussels sprouts; along with braised leeks. All served with homemade turkey-style veggie gravy and lingonberry sauce (which is like cranberry sauce), accompanied by delicious homemade wine from our postman and friend, Hugh.

A vegan feast!

I decided to do the seitan turkey a bit different from last year. The technique of kneading the seitan dough, letting it rest, then kneading it again is rather time-consuming. And I found that it is not necessary to do it this way, as the texture of the seitan is not any different than simply using a basic seitan deli slice recipe. This method involves blenderising the wet ingredients, then stirring in the dry ingredients to make the dough. No kneading and no waiting.

I made the seitan turkey the day before. This meant that on Christmas day all I had to do was wrap the roast in the beancurd sheet (optional, but gives it a nice crispy “skin”) and heat it in the oven. I think the texture is a bit better if the roast is left to rest in the refrigerator overnight, but it isn’t absolutely necessary.

If you don’t want to use beancurd sheet to make a “skin”, I suggest basting the roast so that it doesn’t dry out. There are a few basting suggestions on the Tofurkey site.

I’m posting this seitan turkey roast recipe as the “new and improved”  version over last year’s.

Happy Christmas to all creatures!

Seitan turkey roast with wild rice stuffing (version 2.0)

1. First, make stuffing. Rinse rice thoroughly with cold water. Bring a small pot of water to the boil, add rice and simmer for 40-45 minutes, until grains are beginning to pop.

2. Heat margarine in a heavy skillet over medium-low heat and saute onion, celery and mushroom until tender, about 5-10 minutes.

3. When rice is cooked, add to the sauteed vegetables along with the breadcrumbs, cranberries and pecans; mix thoroughly. Add enough broth to make the mixture moist but not soggy. Add salt, pepper and herbs to taste. Set dressing aside.

4. If you’re starting with whole cashews or almonds, grind them in the blender first while it’s still clean and dry, then remove and set aside.

5. Crumble the tofu into the blender. Put the bouillon cube in a glass measuring cup and add a couple tablespoons of boiling water to dissolve the cube. Add the soy sauce, then add enough water so the mixture equals 100ml  (6-1/2 tablespoons). Add this to the blender.

6. Add remaining ingredients to blender EXCEPT gluten. Blenderise until completely smooth. Empty into a large mixing bowl.

7. Whisk together the gluten and arrowroot or cornflour (cornstarch), then stir into the wet ingredients and mix until evenly combined. You’ll have a soft dough.

8. Place a large piece of cling film (Saran wrap) onto the work surface. Turn dough out onto the cling film and press flat into a 25×38cm (10″x15″) rectangle.

9. Spread stuffing evenly over dough, leaving a 1″ border at the edges. Roll into a log (starting from the short end), then press the ends together to seal. Make sure the log is short enough to fit into your steamer. You can gently press the log into a shorter, fatter shape if it’s a bit too long.

Seitan turkey before rolling

Seitan turkey after rolling

10. Wrap the log in a piece of baking paper (parchment paper), then in muslin and tie the ends with cotton string.

Seitan turkey wrapped in muslin

11. Bring water to boil in a pot that has a steamer insert. Steam turkey for two hours over gently simmering water, turning a quarter turn every half hour. Check water level regularly to ensure the pot does not boil dry and add boiling water as necessary.

12. The roast can be prepared ahead of time to this point. If preparing ahead, let cool and refrigerate.

13. For “skin” on turkey: Preheat oven to 400F (200C). When finished steaming, let turkey cool until it can be handled. (Or remove from refrigerator if prepared ahead of time.) Unwrap from muslin and baking paper/parchment. Take the sheet of beancurd skin and dip it into a bowl of warm water until it softens. Don’t oversoak it or it will start to fall apart. Fold beancurd skin in half and place on work surface. Place turkey on top of beancurd skin, fold in the sides and wrap around the turkey.

14. Combine oil and soy sauce. Brush over surface of turkey.

15. Bake in preheated oven for 30-45 minutes, rotating halfway through, until “skin” is crispy. Slice and serve with gravy and all the trimmings.

Serves 4-6.

Vegan turkey gravy

1. Bring 310ml (1-1/4 cups) water to a simmer with bouillon cube. Add soya cream, onion, garlic, sage, thyme, salt & pepper.

2. Mix 2 tablespoons cold water with cornflour (cornstarch) until blended.

3. When broth mixture is simmering, slowly whisk in cornflour (cornstarch) mixture, until gravy is as thick as you like it. Continue to gently simmer for another couple of minutes.

Serve with seitan turkey roast.

Happy Holidays from our home to yours!

This was the highlight of our Christmas day meal. I wanted to make a stuffed turkey-type entree, kinda like Tofurkey or Redwood Cheatin’ Turkey Roast, only better.

For the turkey part, I modified a seitan turkey recipe from the queen of seitan, Bryanna Clark Grogan. I made half the recipe, used fresh onion & garlic instead of dried and added a few herbs. I used Bryanna’s technique of kneading the dough in a bread maker.

The stuffing was one I’ve been making for ages and is adapted from a recipe originally from a pamphlet put out by Rise ‘n’ Shine wild rice.

Bryanna’s recipe calls for cooking the faux turkey in the oven for 3-1/2 to 4 hours. I’ve tried cooking seitan in the oven before, and haven’t had a lot of luck. It always seems to take much longer than it’s supposed to, and at a higher temperature. And the cost of fuel being as extortionate as it is, I try not to cook things which need hours and hours in the oven. So I decided to wrap the turkey in cotton muslin and steam it instead. This worked great! I was inspired by Monique at The Happy Veganarian for the idea of using cloth instead of cheesecloth or foil; Monique came up with the technique of using handkerchiefs to steam her veggie sausages.

Because I wanted a “skin” on the turkey, after it was finished steaming, I wrapped it in bean curd skin and baked it in the oven for a nice crispy skin. Bean curd skin is available from Chinese stores, frozen or dried. The dried product is either pliable or brittle. I bought the dried but pliable type which also happened to be the only one labelled as GM-free.

The end result was a tender, moist vegan “turkey” roast with a tasty wild rice stuffing inside and a crispy “skin” outside. Yumm!

For sides, I made a potato and parsnip rosti using this recipe from BBC Good Food (substituting vegan margarine for the butter). My rostis never seem to stick together and this was no exception. It was very tasty, though. We also had a simple braised leek dish, also from the BBC Good Food site (again, with marg instead of butter).  And also roasted Brussels sprouts, which don’t really need a recipe (just cut the little suckers in half, toss with a bit of olive oil, salt & pepper and roast in a hot oven until tender and browned on the outside).

For gravy, I used my basic chicken-style veggie gravy recipe, adding a couple tablespoons of Alpro vegan cream for richness. (I prefer the chilled Alpro to the long-life version.)

It was a perfect Christmas day dinner (which will be repeated long before the holiday season rolls around again).

Seitan turkey roast with wild rice stuffing

1. Crumble the tofu into a blender. Put the bouillon cube in a glass measuring cup and add a couple tablespoons of boiling water to dissolve. Add soya milk, vegetable oil, soy sauce, onion and garlic, then add enough cold water so the mixture equals 220ml (7/8 cup). Add this to the blender. Blenderise until completely smooth.

2. In a breadmaker, layer gluten, besan, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper & herbs. Add tofu mixture and put the breadmaker on the “dough” cycle. Some breadmakers will knead the dough, let it rest for an hour or so, then knead it again. Mine didn’t knead the dough again after the rest, so I restarted it again on the dough cycle to knead it for a further 10 minutes or so.

3. Meanwhile, make stuffing. Rinse rice thoroughly with cold water. Bring a small pot of water to the boil, add rice and simmer for 40-45 minutes, until grains are beginning to pop.

4. Heat margarine in a heavy skillet over medium-low heat and saute onion, celery and mushroom until tender, about 5-10 minutes.

5. When rice is cooked, add to the sauteed vegetables along with the breadcrumbs, cranberries and pecans; mix thoroughly. Add enough broth to make the mixture moist but not soggy. Add salt, pepper and herbs to taste. Set dressing aside.

6. After dough has finished the knead/rest/knead cycle: Place a large piece of cling film (Saran wrap) onto the work surface. Turn dough out onto the cling film and press flat into a 25×38cm (10″x15″) rectangle.

7. Spread stuffing evenly over dough, leaving a 1″ border at the edges. Roll into a log (starting from the short end), then press the ends together to seal. Make sure the log is short enough to fit into your steamer. You can gently press the log into a shorter, fatter shape if it’s a bit too long.

Seitan turkey before rolling

Seitan turkey after rolling

8. Wrap the log in a piece of muslin and tie the ends with cotton string.

Seitan turkey wrapped in muslin

9. Bring water to boil in a pot that has a steamer insert. Steam turkey for two hours over gently simmering water. Check water level regularly to ensure the pot does not boil dry and add boiling water as necessary.

10. For “skin” on turkey: Preheat oven to 400F (200C). When finished steaming, let turkey cool for a few minutes until it can be handled. Unwrap from muslin. Take the sheet of beancurd skin and dip it into a bowl of warm water until it softens. Don’t oversoak it or it will start to fall apart. Fold beancurd skin in half and place on work surface. Place turkey on top of beancurd skin and fold in the sides.

11. Combine oil and soy sauce. Brush over surface of turkey.

12. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, rotating halfway through, until “skin” is crispy. Slice and serve with gravy and all the trimmings.

Serves 4.

Vegan turkey gravy

1. Bring 310ml (1-1/4 cups) water to a simmer with bouillon cube. Add soya cream, onion, garlic, sage, thyme, salt & pepper.

2. Mix 2 tablespoons cold water with cornflour (cornstarch) until blended.

3. When broth mixture is simmering, slowly whisk in cornflour (cornstarch) mixture, until gravy is as thick as you like it. Continue to gently simmer for another couple of minutes.

Serve with seitan turkey roast. We used this amount of gravy for about 2/3 of the roast (little Christmas piggies that we were), so if you’re serving the whole roast, you’ll probably want to increase the amount of gravy you make.

I am a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas dinner. It just wouldn’t seem right without turkey, stuffing and gravy, along with generous portions of veg like potatoes, parsnips, leeks and Brussels sprouts.

But Christmas should be about spreading goodwill to ALL creatures, not just those of the homo sapiens variety, so of course in the Thrifty household, the turkey is faux, the gravy contains not a drop of animal fat, and no butter adorns the veg.

This year I decided to make a vegan turkey roulade with wild rice stuffing. It turned out absolutely delicious, and I wouldn’t hesitate to make it again, or to serve it to company.

Side dishes were potato and parsnip rosti (I have absolutely no luck making rosti into cakes, but it was yummy nonetheless), roasted sprouts and braised leeks. And, of course, gravy.

Recipes will follow soon, but I hope you enjoy the photos in the meantime.

Peace and joy to all creatures.

Even though I’m not religious, I love Christmas music.

Since it’s only just over a week ’til Christmas (yes, believe it), I thought I’d share some of my fave Christmas tunes.

You’ll find an eclectic mix here. You won’t find choirs or crooning, though.

I’d love to share the music for free, but that’d be, ya know, illegal and all. I found some of the songs on last.fm, and I’ve included those links so you can listen to them there. One song can be downloaded for free, the haunting Huron Carol, sung in native Canadian Huron language by the Eskasoni Trio.

If the song is available on eMusic, I’ve linked it, because it’s cheaper to buy the songs (if you’re so inclined) from eMusic than iTunes. You can listen to 30-second clips on both sites. eMusic has an introductory offer where you can get 25 (if you’re in the UK) or 50 (in the US) tunes for free.

This list is by no means comprehensive, and there are a lot of Christmas faves missing (including some of my own faves).

But hopefully you will find some music here to put you in the holiday mood!

(And yes, apparently I really like God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen!)

Ancien Noël Provençal (Franz Liszt) – Frédéric Gevers (eMusic) (listen)

Away In The Manger – The Klezmonauts (eMusic)

Birjina gaztetto bat zegoen – Aquabella (eMusic)

A Canon For Christmas – Liona Boyd (eMusic) (listen)

Carol Of The Bells – Mulberry Lane (eMusic)

Carol of the Bells – Deana Carter (iTunes)

Carol of the Birds – Joan Baez (iTunes)

Christmas Time’s A Comin’ – various artists from Christmas Grass (eMusic)

Coventry Carol / Silent Night / O Holy Night- Mulberry Lane  (eMusic)

Dancing Angels – Armik (iTunes) (listen)

Deck The Halls – various artists from Christmas Grass (eMusic)

Entre Le Boeuf Et L’Âne Gris – Nicolas McComber (iTunes)

The First Noel /Mary Mary – Sarah McLachlan (iTunes) (listen)

For Unto Us a Child Is Born – The Roches (listen)

Gabriel’s Message – Sting (listen)

Gaudete – Mediaeval Baebes (eMusic) (listen)

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan (eMusic)

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – Scott Williams (iTunes)

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen / Deck The Halls – Tim Thompson (eMusic)

Go Where I Send Thee – A Cappella Angels (eMusic)

Holly Herald – Jethro Tull (eMusic)

Huron Carol – Crash Test Dummies (eMusic)

Huron Carol – Eskasoni Trio (free!)

I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day – Sarah McLachlan (eMusic) (listen)

In Dulce Jubilo – Mediaeval Baebes (eMusic) (listen)

I Saw Three Ships – Sting (listen)

I Wonder as I Wander – Jewel (iTunes)

Jingle Bells – Gumbo Jass Band (eMusic)

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas – Joel Brown (eMusic)

Joy to the World – Klezmonauts (eMusic)

Let It Snow – Eddie Higgins (eMusic)

Linus and Lucy – Vince Guaraldi (eMusic)

Los Reyes Magos – Aquabella (eMusic)

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer – Rockapella (iTunes)

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer – various artists from Christmas Grass (eMusic)

Sleigh Ride – various artists from Christmas Grass (eMusic)

Snow – Loreena McKennitt (eMusic)

‘Snowdrops’ from Floris - Woodbridge Flute Choir (eMusic)

The Snow Lay On The Ground – Kim Robertson (eMusic) (listen)

Spanish Carol – Liona Boyd (eMusic)

Star of Wonder – The Roches (eMusic) (listen)

Walking in the Air – Aled Jones (iTunes) (listen)

We Three Kings -  Ottmar Liebert (iTunes) (listen)

We Three Kings / What Child Is This – Tim Thompson (eMusic)