First Vegan Christmas

At the best of times everyone always asks me "what do you eat' given that I'm asked that question at least once a day lead to the birth of this blog coming about.

With my last post being a month ago i've had more then ample time to consider how I can showcase the ultimate question....'what will you eat on Christmas day'. If truth be told when I ate meat I would have something resembling a full roast with all the traditional trimmings about twice a month anyway so the 'big deal' that people make over the christmas roast was never an issue to me, it was just the same roast we would usually have just on a larger scale.

So this year being my first christmas as a vegan I did consider what I would do to substitute the roast lamb and chicken which I would have previously consumed. I looked at the nut roast options and to be totally honest not one of them appealed to me.

Being of Caribbean descent I am used to food with an abundance of flavour and varied textures. The prospect of a plate of nuts and potatoes just didn't appeal to me in the slightest.

Having attended Vegan Nights on 22nd December in Brick Lane, (see previous post) I had the opportunity to sample an array of vegan street foods which a lot used seitan as the main ingredient because there where a lot of stands which had burgers, sub rolls, etc. I spoke with the guy at the Temple of Seitan stand who informed me that they would be at the Hackney Downs Studios on Sunday selling their seitan chick'en roast and gravy which he assured me would be a prefect meat substitute for Christmas day. I was sold! All I had to do was travel to Hackney and grab a box containing the main ingredient of my Christmas dinner - how hard could that be?

As said as done Sunday 24th December I was in Hackney at the Vegan market.

I placed my order for my Chick'en roast box from Temple of Seitan and whilst I was waiting I decided to indulge in a Christmas roast Chick'en sub.

The sub contained cranberry sauce, seitan (roast chicken substitute) stuffing, gravy and onions. I didn't see the stuffing or the onions on the roll in the concoction so I asked a lovely lady serving. She advised me it was there amongst the seitan. If I am totally honest I couldn't tell what was what but I just thanked her anyway and indulged whilst I continued to wait.

The verdict.........it was really good.

The cranberry added the obligatory sweetness and although I couldn't see the stuffing or the onions I could certainly taste them. The chicken substitute was full of flavour and their gravy wasn't bad (I would have appreciated a bit more) it was flavoursome and also quite thick in texture but not gloopy. The sub roll was too cold and was the only thing that I found disappointing, I personally think it would have been better slightly toasted or even just warm considering that the contents were all warm and it was a very cold Sunday afternoon.

I had to grab a hot mulled wine .....which was delicious.

Fed and watered I grabbed my food box and returned home only to see that I had accidentally been given the roast beef (beef substitute). I was gutted!

I had to work with what I had so I popped it into the fridge and hope for the best come tomorrow.

Our breakfast on Christmas day is generally the same in our house every year and is traditionally the most sought after dish in Jamaica given that it is the countries national dish - Ackee and Saltfish.

Ackee, the national fruit of Jamaica, is a food staple in many Jamaican diets.

The fruit is rich in essential fatty acids, vitamin A, zinc, and protein.

Its very hard to get fresh ackee in London (unless someone has brought it over for you from the Caribbean just in time for Christmas or a few weeks or months beforehand and you managed to freeze it). Given that is not the case for me I tend to just buy tinned ackee and tinned callaloo (as featured in other posts).

This year I didn't use the salt fish with the ackee I simply fried onions, sweet peppers, spring onions, a tiny bit of scotch bonnet pepper added fresh thyme and also the ackee. Let that simmer for around 15 mins but be sure not to overly stir it as the ackee is inclined to break up and become quite mushy.

I added fried dumplings - which is simply flour and water with a pinch of salt and cornmeal. I would have usually used spelt as opposed to flour but the entire family objected and I was outnumbered and under duress used self raising white flour.

The callaloo was cooked the same as I have done in previous post using coconut cream, fresh thyme, scotch bonnet pepper and spring onions.

Christmas dinner was practically effortless... the sides of roast potatoes, roasted parsnips, carrots, brussel sprouts, macaroni cheese (see previous post) and stuffing.

I used avocado oil in the baking tins for the roasts as opposed the goose fat I would have used before.

The veg was steamed and the roast beef (seitan) was warmed though in a frying pan for literally 3 minutes with the gravy being warmed in a sauce pan for the same time. I added a little salt and pepper to the beef substitute and all was done. I only missed Yorkshire puddings ..... as I couldn't find egg free options

It was good, I think I would have preferred the roast chick'en option as I was never really a beef person however it was ultimately a good hearty meal, sticking with our usual Christmas traditions and I was satisfied enough to curl up on the sofa in front of the fireplace afterwards falling into a very satisfying slumber.