Never mind turkey roast, never mind roast chicken. Word on the street is that if you really want to surprise your guests you must go vegan this year, at least for one course. Veganism is not just for celebrities, although there is a growing trend at Hollywood into this direction and more stars are dipping their toes into vegan cooking.
But just because you’re not one of Hollywood’s famous that doesn’t mean you can’t make a true Hollywood-style full course dinner with at least some vegan options if you can’t go vegan all the way.
For those of you who are feeling adventurous here are some ideas to try this Christmas. Who knows, you might even convert a few!
Appetizer
Mini veggie burgers: the secret to a good veggie burger is mixing in ingredients that won’t fall apart when you cook the burger, whether you fry it or bake it.
Ideas for ingredients: sweet or normal potato, butternut squash, black beans, chopped onion, garlic, sunflower seeds, breadcrumbs, oat flour, olive oil, spices.
Or
Roasted mushrooms: one of the most simple and versatile vegan recipes that you can make as an appetizer. Simply combine your choice of mushrooms with ingredients like rosemary, pepper, soy sauce, minced garlic, salt and olive oil, toss everything in a mixing bowl and bake for about 30 minutes. Serve with warm pita bread.
Vegan Fish Course
Vegan Dynamite Rolls: it takes a few steps and time to create these rolls, but they are totally worth it. It’s basically a 4-step process and the recipe is thoroughly explained here.
Or
Spicy Vegan Scallop Roll: The king ingredient in this recipe are king oyster mushrooms which have to be soaked in warm water to obtain scallop-like texture.
Main Dish
Stuffed peppers: you have a lot of variety when it comes to vegan stuffed peppers and if you are only beginning to experiment with vegan cooking, this is a great option right here.
A few ideas for ingredients: quinoa, cooked rice, can of black beans, diced tomatoes, chopped onion, salsa, cumin powder, chili powder, garlic powder, corn, avocado for topping, cilantro dressing for topping or fresh lime juice.
Or
Classic Nut Roast: Again something simple to get you started, the classic nut roast can be served with various vegan gravy recipes.
Ingredients: 1 onion, 3tbsp vegetable oil, 2 tomatoes, 30g wholemeal flour, 140ml water, 1 tbsp soya sauce, 115g hazelnuts, 115g chopped cashew nuts, 85gr wholemeal breadcrumbs, 1 tsp dried mixed herbs, 2 tbsp gram flour, 2 tbsp flax meal, 4 tbsp warm water.
Method: Remove tomato skin by soaking the tomatoes in boiling hot water and skinning afterwards. Chop the onion and sauté in a pan with the vegetable oil, and then add the tomatoes chopped and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the flour, then the water gradually and stir well. Remove from heat.
Hazelnuts should be grind and added, together with the rest of the ingredients, to the sauce. Mix everything together and place in a greased baking tin. Bake for about 45 minutes at moderate flame.
The dish serves well with seasonal vegetables.
Dessert
A beautifully-looking and incredibly-tasting vegan Christmas dessert is the Chilled Dark Chocolate Pie with Toasted Almond Crust and Strawberry Vanilla Compote.
It serves 12 people and it’s not at all difficult to make.