Vegan Welsh Faggots

We wanted to serve a vegan Welsh faggot on our Veggieman menu but I just couldn't find a good recipe anywhere so I came up with this one.  It turned out very well!

Ingredients

(makes about 12 x 60g balls)

125g leeks, halved lengthways and thinly sliced
125g field mushroom, finely chopped
250g swede, diced
250g carrot, diced
75g dried green lentils
175g bread
20g sunflower seeds
10g pumpkin seeds
1 small red chillies
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
2 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
1tsp allspice
0.5 tsp ground mace
salt
freshly ground black pepper
veg oil for frying

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.

Peel and dice the swede and carrots. Place them on a baking tray and drizzle over some veg oil. Stir them to coat evenly. Season with some salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 35-40 minutes until the carrot and swede are soft.

Meanwhile cook the dried green lentils by putting them in a pan of boiling water and cook for 20 minutes until they begin to soften.

Make the breadcrumbs by blitzing pieces of bread in a food processor. Add the pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds and pulse them a few times to break them down into smaller pieces. Don’t over process them as they are there to add some texture.

In a large frying pan bring some veg oil up to a medium heat before adding the mace, allspice and red chillies. Fry for a minute then add the leeks. Cook for 5 minutes until they start to soften. Add the mushroom and continue to fry for another 5 minutes. Once cooked remove from the heat and set aside.

Remove the swede and carrot from the oven, also set them aside to cool a little. Bring all the ingredients together in a large bowl and mix them together well with a wooden spoon to form a thick sticky paste.

Spoon 60g of the mixture into the palm of your hand and form a ball. Place on a greaseproof paper. There should be enough to make a dozen.

Bring a deep fat fryer to 180C and carefully drop in the faggots for a minute or two until to colour and form a bit of a crust. (Alternatively, you could shallow fry in large frying pan, gently rolling them to get them evenly coloured.)

Keep the oven on 180C.

Put a sheet of greaseproof paper on a baking tray, then place the faggots on the tray. Pop them in the oven, uncovered for 40 minutes, turning them once half way through.

Serve warm with onion gravy, mashed potatoes and mushy peas.