Traditions: we hold them in high regard. They’re the backbone of most if not all global societies; they’re what we refer to when we want to know why or how to do something; they inform everything from our laws to the way we dress to what we eat, and often with good reason.
What we tend to forget about traditions, though, is their changeability. Though we may like to think so, traditions aren’t immovable or constant. On the contrary, they change endlessly. The traditions we keep now have altered in hundreds of ways over as many years and as many generations. And the traditions we pass on to our families and friends can be whatever we make them.
I thought my traditions were over when I went vegan. I thought my favourite traditional foods - the meat- and dairy-heavy Lancashire fare I ate as a child, and the new foods I’d discovered when I moved to Scotland - were out-of-bounds. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. I didn’t need to give up my favourite foods; I just needed to rethink them. So I did. I rethought my traditions too.
These recipes are the results of my rethinking, vegan versions of my old and less-old favourites: the stew and dumplings I ate on cold school nights, the parkin I had in my gran’s kitchen, and the macaroni pies long-revered by my Scottish friends. They’re my ultimate comfort foods reinvented for the people of an ethical future.
To me these recipes are meaningful not just because they’re familiar and comforting, but because they also represent what vegan food can and should (I think) be: a melding of old and new, familiar and unfamiliar, traditional and radical. They demonstrate that going vegan doesn’t mean giving up comfort food, memories, or traditions- just animal products. They’re my new traditions, better traditions, traditions I will be proud to pass on. I hope they’ll become your traditions too.
My mum made incredible stews when I was a kid; they were the ultimate winter dinner and the best way to warm up on cold, dark nights. This is the stew I eat nowadays, a vegan homage to hers. With root vegetables, herbs, and plump suet dumplings, it’s flavourful, hearty, and extremely comforting.
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 120 mins
Ingredients:
• 4 tablespoons vegan butter
• 1 brown onion, diced
• 1 leek, sliced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 potatoes, diced (no need to peel!)
• 2 parsnips, diced
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tin butter beans, drained (c. 200g)
• 25g fresh sage, finely chopped
• 25g fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 25g fresh thyme, leaves removed
• 10g rosemary, leaves removed, finely chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 teaspoons strong mustard
• 4 teaspoons nutritional yeast
• 330ml vegan beer
• 1.5 litres good-quality vegetable stock
• 100g vegetable suet
• 200g self-raising flour
• 250ml cold water
• Salt and cracked black pepper to taste
Method:
1. Melt the butter in the saucepan over a medium-high heat. Add in the garlic, onion, and leek, along with the bay leaves, and fry until softened.
2. Add in the celery and carrot and fry these for a further three or four minutes, stirring as you do. Then do the same again with the potato and parsnip.
3. Add in the butter beans, then pour in the beer and stock. Add the mustard, nutritional yeast, a little salt and black pepper, and around a half of the chopped herbs.
4. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for at least an hour, or till reduced and thickened. Keep an eye on the heat and stir occasionally.
5. Season again to taste - I like plenty of black pepper - and remove the bay leaves.
6. Mix up the dumplings. Combine the flour, suet, a pinch of salt, and the remaining herbs in a large mixing bowl. Stir in some cold water, a tablespoon at a time, bringing together the dough with your hands. You will probably need less water than stated above. Just try and judge the feel of the dough as you mix; you want a firm but pliable texture.
7. Form the dough into around 12 roughly even balls and drop gently onto the top of the simmering stew. Cover the pan and simmer for a further 20 minutes. To brown the dumpling tops, remove the lid and finish in a hot oven, or put briefly under a hot grill.
8. Serve topped with a sprinkling of herbs or some extra black pepper.
This ginger cake is a reworking of a family parkin recipe. Richly spiced and treacly, it gets better and better as it ages, so try and leave it a day or two before you dig in - if you can wait!
Makes: One loaf
Preparation time: 80 mins
Ingredients:
• 100g vegan butter, plus extra for greasing
• 75g muscovado sugar
• 150ml golden syrup
• 150ml black treacle
• 4 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 275g flour
• A pinch of salt
• The aquafaba (water) from 1 x 400g tin of chickpeas (non-salted, preservative-free, and preferably organic) - this should equal about 125-180ml (half to three quarters of a cup)
• 150ml soy or almond milk
Method:
1. Grease and line the tin and preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
2. Add the butter, sugar, syrup and treacle to the saucepan. Heat gently over low to medium heat until the butter has melted. Take off the heat and stir in the spices; mix well.
3. Sift the baking soda, baking powder and flour into the mixing bowl, and make a well in the centre.
4. Add the aquafaba, vinegar and milk to a jug. Mix up a little then set aside.
5. Tip the butter/sugar mixture into the flour, stirring constantly as you do, till fully incorporated.
6. Beat the milk/aquafaba mixture into the batter, a bit at a time. Mix till smooth (but not too much!).
7. Pour the finished batter into the tin and bake for about an hour (or till a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean). Resist the temptation to open the door for as long as possible.
8. Remove from the oven, tapping the tin on a work surface or table, then leave to mature.
Macaroni pies are a well-loved Scottish delicacy, and with good reason. My recipe uses a traditional roux-based white sauce for the macaroni, and crisp hot water crust pastry. Enjoy hot or cold (or even baker-style: just-warm with tomato sauce!).
Makes: 7 small pies (or 1 mega pie!)
Preparation time: 160 mins
Ingredients:
For the macaroni filling…
• 1 litre of soy milk
• 1 large brown onion, peeled and halved
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 bay leaves
• 300g dried macaroni
• 100g vegan butter
• 80g plain flour
• 3 teaspoons strong mustard
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 100g vegan cheese, grated
• Salt and white pepper to taste
• A note on cheese: Be sure to pick a good-quality vegan cheese that melts. I have used Daiya cheddar shreds and Violife cheddar slices with success.
For the pastry…
• 500g flour
• 250g vegan butter
• 150ml water (potentially more)
• A pinch of salt
Method:
1. First, place the onion halves, garlic, and bay leaves into a saucepan along with the soy milk. Set this aside while you make the pasta.
2. Cook the macaroni until soft, as normal.
3. Place the pan with the milk, onion, garlic and bay over a medium-high heat. Bring to the boil, then simmer for a minute or two, then turn the heat off and pick out the onion, garlic, and bay leaves.
4. In a separate pan, melt the butter over a medium-high heat. Add in the flour, stirring as you do, until a paste (roux) forms. Then pour in the milk, a little at a time, whisking constantly. Bring the whole mixture to the boil, then turn down the heat. Stir in the nutritional yeast, the cheese, and the mustard, and simmer for a few minutes, till thickened. Season to taste.
5. Add the macaroni to the cheese sauce, and combine well. Set this aside while you make the pastry.
6. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
7. Mix the salt into the flour in a large mixing bowl. Place the butter and water in a saucepan and heat until the butter is melted and just about boiling.
8. Make a well in the flour and pour in the butter and water mixture, stirring in the flour as you do. When mostly combined, work the dough with your hands, bringing it together into a ball; add a little extra hot water if the dough is too dry to work. Knead until smooth, then set aside until just about cool to the touch.
9. Roll the dough out into a even circle large enough to fully line the bottom and sides of your tins (or tin). Make sure there are no holes! Trim any excess from the top, then fill with the macaroni.
10. Bake in the oven till golden-brown on top.
11. Serve hot or cold. Enjoy!
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