For Vegan MoFo (Vegan Month of Food) this year, I will be cooking my way around the world with interesting dishes from different regions.

Starting in my own country, today I’m featuring that classic British pub dish, bangers & mash with onion gravy.

Anyone following my blog previously knows that I’m a big fan of veggie sausages, and I’ve previously shared recipes for breakfast sausages, bratwursts, hot dogs & sundried tomato sausages.

I’ve been experimenting with a new ingredient for my sausages that I’ve used a couple of times now. I was inspired by Quorn, a brand of vegetarian meat substitute that has a huge range of different products. Quorn isn’t vegan, but the main ingredient in Quorn is mycoprotein, which is a type of factory fabricated fungus. Of course, I have no way of making this type of fungus in my kitchen, so instead I used a fungus which is available, i.e. the marvellous mushroom. I used mushrooms in place of the tofu or beans I usually use in my sausages.

The first time I made sausages with mushrooms, I used fresh shiitake mushrooms, which are ever so tasty, but freakin’ expensive. This time, I used half shiitakes and half ordinary white button mushrooms.

The sausages were a bit softer using shiitake/button mushrooms, than with just shiitakes. I’ll be experimenting further with using mushrooms in sausages, but for now I’ll post the recipe as I made it. The seasoning combo I used was deelish.

I served the sausages with Mr Thrifty’s special mash, along with onion gravy and peas. The recipe for onion gravy is here, the only modification I made was to use vegan margarine instead of butter. It was super scrummy.

To really get into the whole pub experience, the meal was made complete with beer (for Mr Thrifty) and homemade cider (for me).

Cheers!

Homemade vegan bangers

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

2. Thickly slice the mushrooms, then saute in a bit of the coconut oil until excess moisture from mushrooms has evaporated. Set aside.

3. Put the bouillon cube into a glass measuring cup and add a couple of tablespoons of boiling water; stir to dissolve the cube. Add soy sauce to measuring cup, then add enough water to equal 125ml (1/2 cup). Add this to the blender.

4. Add remaining ingredients to blender EXCEPT gluten. Blenderise until completely smooth. If the mixture is too thick to blend smooth, add a bit more water, one tablespoon at a time, until the mixture can be blended smooth. (I added three extra tablespoons of water.) Empty into a large mixing bowl.

5. Add gluten to wet mixture in bowl and mix well, until you have a uniform soft dough. If the dough is too soft to form into sausages, add more gluten, one tablespoon at a time, until dough is firm enough.

6. Divide dough into eight pieces. Roll each piece into a sausage shape. Wrap each sausage in baking paper and then in aluminium foil. Lightly twist the ends together.

7. Bring water to boil in a pot that has a steamer insert. Arrange wrapped bangers in your steamer insert, with seam side down to reduce the likelihood of a foil blowout. (Packing the bangers tightly in the steamer also reduces this chance.) I arranged four on the bottom of the steamer insert, then another four at a 90 degree angle on top of them.

8. Steam for 40 minutes over gently simmering water. If you’ve arranged your bangers in two layers, switch their positions halfway through the cooking time (bottom ones on top and top ones on bottom). Turn heat off and let cool.

9. To cook, gently pan fry in a bit of olive oil until golden.

Can be frozen for future use: leave them wrapped and place in a freezer bag.

Makes eight bangers.

Mr Thrifty’s special mash

1. Peel potatoes and cut into large chunks. Bring a pot of water to the boil, then add potatoes and simmer 15 minutes, or until tender.

2. Drain potatoes, reserving a bit of the cooking water. Mash potatoes in the pot, then add margarine, mayonnaise and bouillon powder. If the mixture is a bit dry, add some of the reserved cooking water.

Makes two servings.

I love homemade seitan sausages, but wanted to try a version that used beans instead of tofu. Tofu is kinda pricey here, and since the local supermarket stopped carrying it, it’s a car ride away to buy.

I’d tried seitan sausages using beans before, but didn’t really like them. The recipe I used at that time called for simply mashing the beans by hand, which meant there were bits of hard bean skin in the finished sausages, which wasn’t especially appetising. Also, I thought there was too high a percentage of gluten in the sausages, which left them a bit too rubbery and chewy. I like sausages that are more tender.

Since I really like my own seitan sausage recipes, I decided that instead of using 250g of tofu, I would use 250g (9 ounces) of cooked beans (haricot beans, specifically, which are small white beans). If you’ve tried other seitan sausage recipes that use beans, you’ll notice that I use about three times as many beans as some other recipes use. This results in a more tender sausage.

The sausages turned out fantastic. They had a nice tender texture and a great flavour.

I’ve made these bean-seitan sausages a few times now, including breakfast sausages, bratwurst and olive sausages. For the latter, I used the seasonings in Mihl’s recipe for Olive and chickpea seitan sausages.

I start with 110g (one generous cup) of dried beans for this recipe, which is approximately equivalent to a 400g/14oz tin, drained and rinsed. (This works out to around 250g of cooked, drained beans.) I usually let my Stanley thermos cook the beans.

I’ve gone back to using baking paper plus aluminium foil to wrap the sausages for cooking, instead of baking paper plus cheesecloth. I’m using a new baking paper which isn’t as stiff as the old one I was using, and combined with the cheesecloth, the sausages didn’t seem to cook quite as well as with the baking paper/aluminium foil combo. I still want to try using muslin to wrap the sausages for cooking, but have yet to find somewhere to buy it.

I now use beans in all my homemade sausages, as cooked from dry they cost about 80% LESS than the equivalent amount of tofu, and are indistinguishable in taste and texture. A very thrifty result!

I wasn’t sure whether to call my latest batch of seitan sausages “bratwurst”. I can’t remember ever having had “real” bratwurst, so I didn’t have any memories of my own to compare them to.

But Mr Thrifty had eaten bratwurst before. He said these were deserving of the bratwurst name.

We loved this combination of seasonings, but feel free to improvise.

That squiggle of mustard on the brat is Ikea’s svensk senap… it is soooo tasty, and my new favourite mustard.

BTW, those fried things are potato bhajis and courgette (zucchini) bhajis, and yes, they are as yummy as they look! I used kalonji seeds instead of ajwain because I thought they were the same thing (they’re not), but the mistake worked out very well. Mr Thrifty even thought the combination of besan (chickpea flour) and kalonji seeds tasted a bit bacon-like.

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

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

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

4. Add gluten to tofu mixture in bowl and mix well, until you have a uniform soft dough.

5. Divide dough into six pieces. Roll each piece into a sausage shape (make sure you don’t roll them longer than your steamer). Wrap each sausage in parchment paper and then in aluminium foil or cheesecloth. Lightly twist the ends together if using foil, or tie them with string if using cheesecloth.

6. Bring water to boil in a pot that has a steamer insert. Arrange wrapped sausages in your steamer insert. If using foil, arrange with seam side down as this reduces the likelihood of a foil blowout. Packing the sausages tightly in the steamer also reduces this chance. I arrange three sausages on the bottom of the steamer insert, then another three at a 90 degree angle on top of them.

7. Steam for 40 minutes over gently simmering water. If you’ve arranged your sausages in two layers, switch their positions halfway through the cooking time (bottom ones on top and top ones on bottom). Turn heat off and let cool.

8. To cook, gently pan fry until golden.

Can be frozen for future use (remove string, but leave them wrapped and place in a plastic freezer bag).

Makes six sausages.

When I moved to this side of the pond, I was introduced to the Full English breakfast, vegan style.

A full English breakfast is typically sausages, bacon, hash browns, eggs, baked beans, mushrooms, tomatoes and toast, along with coffee (or tea) and fruit juice. Anyone partaking of this cholesterol extravaganza will usually be able to hear their smaller arteries slamming shut partway through the meal.

Vegan versions are fairly widely available, though they’re usually abbreviated to hash browns, baked beans, mushrooms, tomatoes and toast. If you’re lucky, vegan sausages will be available, and if the gods are smiling down on you, vegan bacon will also be on the menu.

This morning, I decided to make my own version of the full English vegan breakfast. Homemade breakfast sausages, hash browns, tofu scramble, baked beans, mushrooms, tomatoes and toast, along with coffee and fruit juice. I haven’t experimented with homemade bacon (yet), and couldn’t find any in the shops, so that wasn’t included.

The tofu scramble used the same recipe as the one I’d made last week (except I was out of lemons and therefore lemon juice, but I couldn’t say I noticed a difference).  The breakfast sausages had been made the day before. I tried a new recipe for hash browns, and it was the most successful yet, though it does require precooking the potato the day before. The beans were organic ones from a jar, and the mushrooms and tomatoes were simply fried with a bit of vegan margarine and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Needless to say, it was delicious, and I’m happy to report that not only were no arteries closed during the meal, but my karma survived brilliantly. What more could one want on a cold February morning?

Seitan breakfast sausages

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

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

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

4. Add gluten and mix well, until you have a uniform soft dough.

5. Divide dough into 12 or 16 pieces, depending on how big you want your sausages. (I made 12 this time.) Roll each piece into a sausage shape. Wrap each sausage in parchment paper and then in either aluminium foil or cheesecloth. Lightly twist the ends together if using foil, or tie them with string if using cheesecloth.

6. Bring water to boil in a pot that has a steamer insert. Arrange wrapped sausages in your steamer insert. If using foil, arrange with seam side down as this reduces the likelihood of a foil blowout. Packing the sausages tightly in the steamer also reduces this chance. I arranged six sausages on the bottom of the steamer insert, then another six at a 90 degree angle on top of them.

7. Steam for 40 minutes over gently simmering water. If you’ve arranged your sausages in two layers, switch their positions halfway through the cooking time (bottom ones on top and top ones on bottom). Turn heat off and let cool.

8. To cook, gently pan fry until golden.

Can be frozen for future use (leave them wrapped and place in a plastic freezer bag).

Makes 12 to 16 sausages.

Homemade hash browns

Plan ahead, as the potato needs to be pre-cooked the day before.

1. The day before, steam potato (unpeeled) for 20 minutes, until tender (some firmness in the center is okay). Cool, then refrigerate in a plastic bag overnight.

2. The next day, grate potato using a coarse grater, discarding any large pieces of skin. Put in a large bowl. Add minced onion, garlic (if using), plus salt and pepper to taste. You can also season with herbs.

3. Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium-low heat. Add a tablespoon or so of olive oil. Form potatoes into three patties and fry until golden brown, then carefully flip and fry the other side. Keep in a warm oven if not eating immediately.

Makes 3 patties, enough for 2 or 3 servings.

I’ve tried a few different flavours of homemade seitan sausages, but these ones are really good. Mr Thrifty says they’re the best yet, but he says that every time I make seitan sausages.

I usually put all of the ingredients, other than the wheat gluten, into a blender and process until smooth. This time, I wanted little bits instead of a uniform texture, so the fennel, pepper and sundried tomatoes were stirred in after the other stuff was blenderised.

These sausages have Italian-type seasonings, which goes well with the sundried tomato flavour. They’re a bit softer than my other veggie sausages because of the tomatoes.

If you try the dough before you cook it, you’ll probably think there’s too much garlic, but the garlic flavour really mellows when they’re cooked.

Some bloggers wrap their sausages in foil before steaming. I don’t like to use foil right next to food. When I first made seitan sausages, I wrapped them in parchment paper, then in foil, before steaming, but sometimes they can burst the foil. Also I found I had to use new foil every time because it always tore when I unwrapped the sausages. Last time I tried wrapping them in parchment, then in cheesecloth. This worked better, and the cheesecloth can be reused. I also love Monique’s idea of wrapping veggie sausages in handkerchiefs before steaming, and I want to try that method as well.

One note about the gluten. It seems that every time I weigh gluten, then measure it by volume, I get a slightly different result. If you are using American (volume) measurements, you may find you need a bit more or less gluten.

The dough should soft, but not so sticky that it sticks to your hands. It won’t matter if the measurements are off a bit… the sausages will still cook through okay, they just might be a little softer or firmer than you want; take notice of the texture of the dough before you cook them, and adjust it accordingly next time.

Sundried-tomato seitan sausages

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

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

3. Add remaining ingredients to blender EXCEPT tomatoes, pepper, fennel and gluten. Blenderise until completely smooth. Empty into a large mixing bowl.

4. Toast fennel seeds in a clean, dry skillet (I use cast iron) until fragrant and starting to turn light brown. Remove from skillet and grind coarsely in a mortar and pestle.

5. Add fennel, cracked pepper and sundried tomatoes to tofu mixture in bowl and stir until evenly combined. Then add gluten and mix well, until you have a uniform soft dough.

6. Divide dough into six pieces. Roll each piece into a sausage shape (make sure you don’t roll them longer than your steamer!). Wrap each sausage in parchment paper and then in aluminium foil or cheesecloth. Lightly twist the ends together if using foil, or tie them with string if using cheesecloth.

7. Bring water to boil in a pot that has a steamer insert. Arrange wrapped sausages in your steamer insert. If using foil, arrange with seam side down as this reduces the likelihood of a foil blowout. Packing the sausages tightly in the steamer also reduces this chance. I arrange three sausages on the bottom of the steamer insert, then another three at a 90 degree angle on top of them.

8. Steam for 40 minutes over gently simmering water. If you’ve arranged your sausages in two layers, switch their positions halfway through the cooking time (bottom ones on top and top ones on bottom). Turn heat off and let cool.

9. To cook, gently pan fry until golden.

Can be frozen for future use (leave them wrapped and place in a plastic freezer bag).

Makes six sausages.

I came across a recipe for Baked pepper & chorizo penne and it sounded really good, and easy to veganise. The crispy rosemary-flavoured breadcrumb topping was especially appealing.

Instead of chorizo, I used homemade sundried tomato Italian-style seitan sausages, but the dish would be delicious even without the faux sausage. For cheese, I used strong Cheddar-style Sheese.

I used less red pepper flakes in the pasta than the original, and less rosemary in the topping, though next time I’d use more of each.

The original recipe used 150g (5 ounces) of dried pasta for four servings. I didn’t think half the recipe would be enough for the two of us, so I made the full recipe. I was surprised that there actually WAS enough for three or four servings.

BTW, rosemary is very easy to grow, we have some growing in a pot outside and it stays green throughout the winter, one of the few herbs that does in this climate.

1. If you are using the optional seitan sausage, heat two teaspoons of the oil in a heavy skillet and fry over low heat until golden. Remove from skillet and set aside.

2. Heat remaining olive oil and saute onion and sweet pepper for three minutes. Add mushrooms and continue to saute for 10 more minutes, until vegetables are soft.

3. Preheat oven to 200C (400F).

4. Add garlic and chilli flakes, and saute an additional minute or two.

5. Add tomatoes (with juice), sun-dried tomatoes and capers. Cook gently for another five minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

6. Meanwhile, cook pasta in boiling salted water until just done (mine took 11 minutes, but check the package as this varies).

7. Whilst the sauce and pasta are cooking, make the topping. In a blender, process bread until broken into crumbs. Add chopped rosemary and blend for another 10 seconds or so. Remove from blender and toss with grated cheese.

8. When pasta is cooked, drain and add to vegetable mixture. Thinly slice sausage (if using), and add to the mixture.

9. Spoon pasta mixture into a large shallow baking dish (I used an enamelled roasting tin). Top with crumb mixture.

10. Bake for 20 minutes, until topping is slightly crunchy.

Makes 3 or 4 servings.

A few days ago, I perused the ingredients I had on hand and decided to make this Italian-style veggie sausage and pepper dish. I’ve made a similar dish before, but this was the first time I’d a) used homemade instead of bought veggie sausages and b) written down the ingredients.

I used spicy homemade sausages that I had in the freezer. I haven’t yet posted my veggie sausage recipe, but it’s similar to my hot dog recipe, with different spices and a bit more gluten to make them firmer. Seems most everyone in vegan blogland has their own version of sausages anyway, so I’ll leave that part to you!

I usually peel peppers if they are the thick-walled type, but it’s optional.

This is a really delicious dish, and very easy if the sausages are already made (or you use bought ones).

Italian veggie sausage and peppers

1. In a heavy skillet, heat 1 teaspoon olive oil over medium heat. Saute sausages for 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from skillet, allow to cool and slice into 12mm (1/2″) thick slices.

2. Put remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil in the skillet and saute onion for 5 minutes, until softened. Add pepper and continue to saute until vegetables are soft, about another 5 minutes (covering the pan will speed up the softening). Then add garlic and saute for two more minutes.

3. Add halved cherry tomatoes and continue to cook until tomatoes are softened and starting to collapse. At this point, you can remove the tomato skins if you like (they’ll slip right off). Add passata (tomato sauce) and bring to a gentle simmer.

4. Add reserved sausage back into skillet along with basil, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes to blend flavours.

Makes two servings.

Nice served with crusty bread to mop up the juices (and the ubiquitous salad, of course).

A while back, I bought a pack of veggie bratwursts made by viana. I loved the taste and texture of those sausages and — as luck would have it — the ingredients listed the percentages of the two main ingredients (tofu and gluten). Using that info & the nutritional values, I “back engineered” a recipe.

The bratwursts that I made using that recipe were great. My FIL (who is omni) tried them, and I overheard him telling someone a few days later that they’d be hard-pressed to distinguish them from the type containing dead animals (well, he didn’t put it quite like that, but that was the gist).

After that successful experiment, I turned my attention to making veggie hotdogs… or weiners, wieners, frankfurters or whatever you want to call them! I thought it should be pretty easy, considering it was just a matter of fiddling with the spices and making them a tad softer and smaller than sausages. The first time I made them, I was in vegan heaven, because not only did they taste better than store-bought veggie hotdogs, they were a whole lot cheaper to make.

You’ll notice that the base ingredients are the same as my Vegan Deli Slices, because that recipe was also derived from the original bratwurst recipe. I won’t repeat the info on ingredients, so you may want to peruse that recipe if there’s any ingredient you’re not sure about.

Edit: I now add a teaspoon of arrowroot to the gluten flour before mixing in the wet ingredients. This makes a more “cohesive” dog.

Enjoy!

Veggie hotdogs

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

2. Crumble the tofu into the blender. Measure the soy sauce into a measuring cup and add enough water so the mixture equals 100ml (6-1/2 tablespoons). Add this to the blender.

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

4. Add gluten and mix until evenly combined. You’ll have a soft dough.

5. Divide dough into eight pieces. Roll each piece into a hotdog shape (make sure you don’t roll them longer than your steamer!). Wrap each hotdog in parchment paper and then in aluminium foil. Lightly twist the ends together.

6. Bring water to boil in a pot that has a steamer insert. Arrange wrapped hotdogs in your steamer insert with the seam side down. There is less chance of the hotdogs bursting the foil if they are packed tightly in the steamer. I arrange four dogs on the bottom, then another four at a 90 degree angle on top.

7. Steam for 45 minutes over gently simmering water. If you’ve arranged your dogs in two layers, switch their positions halfway through the cooking time (bottom ones on top and top ones on bottom). Turn heat off and let cool.

8. To cook, simmer unwrapped dogs in water for 5 minutes.

Can be frozen for future use (leave them wrapped in parchment/foil, and place in a plastic freezer bag).

Makes eight hotdogs.