Nut and Vegetable Roast

Honestly, I don’t know what ‘roas’ means. Did Cranks mean ‘roast’?

You could get and cook this anywhere. From a Cranks recipe Nut and Vegatable Roas, re‐organised. See the discussion.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp cumin seeds

• 1 handful fresh coriander

• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric

• 1 tsp chilli powder

• 2 garlic cloves

• fresh ginger

• 1 onion

• 200g of chestnut mushrooms

• 1 carrot

• 2 tomatoes

• 100g of red lentils

• 100g of walnuts, finely chopped

• 100g of cashew nuts, finely chopped

• 100g of paneer cheese

• 100g of mature cheddar cheese

• 1 tbsp of rapeseed oil

• !/2 handful dried breadcrumbs

• salt

• 200ml of water

Tools

If you can chop and bake, you’re good. Everything needs chopping. Tinfoil helps with the oven, as would a loaf tin (which I didn’t have)

Oven

Mid

Make

1. Fry the cumin seeds

2. Add the onions and cook for a song

3. Add the garlic and ginger in the pan and stir for a song

4. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook until looking soft

5. Add the paneer and carrot and cook the mixture for a song

6. Add the chilli powder and turmeric and stir in

7. Add the tomatoes and cook until they mush a bit,

8. Add the water, salt and lentils. Bring to the boil then simmer on low until dry (three songs)

9. If wet, add bread crumbs

10. Allow to cool

11. Stir in chopped nuts, cheese and coriander

12. Spoon the mess into a tin, cover with foil

13. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, remove the foil, bake for a further three songs

Getting the mix dry but cooked is the main aim. If not boiled to start, like most beans and pulses, this will make you ill. You must get it dry. The Cranks suggestion of breadcrumbs is a winner.

Variations

• It’s proper vegetarian if you use vegetarian cheese, yes?

• You could use any cheese in the main mix. Paneer doesn’t melt, so for melting cheeses be sure to mix in well, and be prepared for mix sticking

• Nuts could be substituted—sure hazelnuts would be ok

Discussion

Hear me, I dislike cooking like this. It reminds me of students passing an entire afternoon cooking a white sauce for some vision of vegetarian cookery. I took it on because I had time to spare. Then wasn’t convinced by watching many good ingredients being fryed and baked down to pulp. Some awful vision of late ’70’s/early 80’s vegetarianism. Someone’s gonna tell me it will do me spiritual good.

However, I’m giving this a place for good reason. The result cooked right (dry), even if I had no loaf tin. And the mix is genuinely interesting. The nuts make it slightly crunchy. The cheese makes interesting gaps in the mix with oil in them. The not‐so cooked leaves and lentils give textures. I figure it’s as good as any substitute veg burger I’ve tried.

References

Original recipe. You may prefer that,

Nut and vegatable Roas

Feedback

Yeah, it was good stuff. Everyone, all two of us, agreed. If it’s worth the effort is up to you.