Vegan Sunday Roast

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
• There are a few parts to this dish, so timing is quite important. Start off with baking the roasted veg and make your roasted meat in the meantime. The peas will only take 1 minute to prepare so leave them to the end until just before serving.

Roasted Veg:

• Chop the potatoes in halves or quarters (leaving the skin on, just give a good scrub and a wash) and transfer to a mixing bowl. Sprinkle over 1 teaspoon of salt, drizzle over 3 tablespoons of the oil and mix so that all potatoes are well coated. Spread out on a baking tray, put in the preheated oven and bake for approx 45 minutes or until they are turning golden and char, and are smelling amazing!
• While the potatoes are baking, chop the carrots and parsnips (unwashed just scrubbed) into batons and into the same mixing bowl as you used for the potatoes. Add in 2 tablespoons of the oil and 1 tablespoon maple syrup, and mix well. Place on another baking tray and bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until they start to char and smell fab.

The Roast:

• Now for the main event, the roast! In a bowl, mix together the vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, salt and black pepper. Drain and rinse the lentils and leave to dry in a colander. Finely chop the mushrooms and add to the bowl along with the lentils and the tomato puree, and mix well. Slowly, add the tamari/soy sauce and ¾ of the veg stock, and mix it well together. You want the mix to be quite dry.
• Slowly add the remaining veg stock a little at a time being careful as you don’t want a wet ‘dough’. Knead it with your hands for a couple of minutes until it really comes together into a dough ball.
• On a board, flatten out your dough ball into a rectangular like shape that is about 2cm high. Cut it into 8 thin rectangular strips, making sure they are suitable size to fit in your steamer.
• Set up a steamer in a pot of water and bring the water to a boil. Cut off 8 pieces of tin foil (aluminum foil) or parchment paper, each big enough to wrap fully around each strip. Place a piece of foil or parchment on the counter. Place your first ‘meat’ strip on the foil/paper and wrap it up, compressing lightly with your hands to give it an even shape, and then fold/twist the ends closed so that it is entirely covered. Repeat with the remaining strips.
• Place all the wrapped ‘meat’ strips on top of the steamer, cover, and steam for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly before unwrapping. If you want to premake this and save time, you can store the ‘meat’ strips in a covered container in the fridge.
• In a mixing bowl, pour in half the gravy and add the maple syrup and the tamari. Marinate each ‘meat’ strip in the gravy and compress it so that it absorbs as much flavour as possible.
• Put a flat pan on a high heat and add 2 tablespoons of oil. Once heated up, add the ‘meat’ strips and cook for approximately 3 minutes on each side or until each one starts to char and smell amazing!
• Boil the kettle, once boiled fill a small saucepan with boiled water and put on a medium heat so there is a gentle simmer, add your peas in and boil for 1 minute. Remove and drain in a colander.
• Now to plate up, serve each plate with a roasted ‘meat’, a portion of potatoes, carrot & parsnips and the peas and equally as important an ingredient is the gravy, be sure to use any left-over marinade as gravy, too. Enjoy!

Gravy:

• Peel and finely chop the onion.
• Put a small non-stick saucepan on a high heat and add the oil. Once pan has heated up, add the chopped onions and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly.
• Mix the veg stock in a large jug together with the nutritional yeast, tamari and garlic powder (or finely chopped garlic) as well as the the black pepper.
• Pour the stock mix into the pan and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat down to a gentle simmer. Sieve the corn flour into the mix a little at a time, stirring at the same time. Then add the olive oil and cook for further 3-4 minutes.
• Place your sieve over a 1 litre jug/large bowl and sieve the gravy by pouring it from the pan through the sieve and into the jug/bowl. For a thicker consistency and stronger taste, you can leave the mixture to simmer for longer. Enjoy!