Sunday 11 January 2009

Vegan Haggis - one answer to the worn out question "what do vegans eat"

I have decided to write reviews of products, this is the first, so a bit of background comes with this post. there will be several categories :- food, products, places, etsy purchases. The food will all be vegan, since I am vegan. the places will have a vegan slant on them, as it'll include places to eat, accommodation, days out and such. And of course products and etsy purchases will all be vegan suitable.
Tonight we tried Vegan Haggis. It took quite a long time to cook, as I do not have a microwave, and the instructions said 45 minutes in the oven. I have never eaten haggis, nor will I (being vegan), but when I saw this in our local health food shop, I thought I'd give it a try.
I would like to point out that i duid not buy it to see what Haggis tasted like, since I have no desire to know. I have been asked why vegans eat thing that imitate meat or animal products such as milk cheese, all I can say to that is, to me, it's just a savoury taste, and in no way do i miss or crave 'the real thing', I enjoy a nut roast as much as a veggie sausage if it is tasty and well made.
I cooked vegetables to go with the haggis, as several internet searches led me to some interesting sites about haggis and Scottish tradition, here are some of the sites i read:
Very interesting stuff- address the haggis ??????? tatties????????
I think haggis is traditionally eaten with mashed turnips and mashed potatoes. Since i didn't have turmips, and the potatoes were 'new potatoes', I decided just to boil/steam some potatoes and veg, including - runner beans, green beans, carrots, broccoli, courgette, and to saute some mushroms and onions, adding some herb salt and black pepper. I used a quick, sure thing for gray - Bisto, which incidentally the original one is vegan suitable, yay! I also topped the dinner with crushed garlic mixed with a little freshly squeezed lemon juice and olive oil.
The dinner was delicious. the veg and gravy fabulous as usual, as I always say 'nutricious and delicious'. The Haggis was unusual, slightly sweet, grainy (tasting that is, not texture), on it's own, not my kind of thing, but with the veg and gravy it was nice. a bit different at first, but by the end of it, i would say delicious, and I'd certainly have it again.
Check out your local veggie/health food shop and see if they stock it:

The Veggie haggis in it's wrapper, it states 'vegan' on the back!
the veggie haggis out of it's wrapper, ready to cover in tin foil and bake.

The end result was a very tasty satisfying dinner. The veggie haggis broke up a bit in the cutting, but that didn't matter.

1 comment:

Mishkat said...

I had to look up "Haggis" on Wikepedia to figure out what it was! This actually looks really good :).

I eat veggie burgers and other vegan/vegetarian prepared foods too - I know I could make them myself, but I usually don't have time.