Our whole family loves this Vegan meaty plant based mince alternative, it’s delicious made into Bolognese as pictured and even better in lasagna, I’ve even managed to fool a few visiting meat eaters when I’ve dished it up; the kids like to keep it’s true identity a secret, only telling guests after they’ve had seconds.

Often the best plant based meals are those made from scratch, making your own ‘mince’ instead of buying it is cost effective and easy to do, this recipe uses nuts, seeds and brown rice combined with herbs, spices and seasonings to give a good texture and flavour, all you need is a food processor to blend it up, I often do a double or triple batch and keep the extra portions in the freezer.

Making your own base products is not as much of a necessity as it used to be with so many alternatives now available in New Zealand, the Quorn range is now here; they have southern fried ‘chicken’ patties that are excellent in burgers and there’s a new protein packed ‘not chicken’ from Sunfed that’s a brilliant substitute in dishes like stir fries, pastas and risottos, check them out here.

For more vegetarian recipe inspiration Safe NZ has an extensive menu of easy to prepare options available on line as part of their Eat Kind campaign, for more yummy goodness follow this link

 

Best Ever Vegetarian Mince

3/4 cup mushrooms

1/2 cup each cooked brown rice, walnuts and sunflower seeds

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

2 Tbs nutritional yeast – see pic below – avail at organic, bulk food & health stores

1 tsp each soy sauce, sage and paprika

1/4 tsp each cinnamon, nutmeg, mustard powder

Ground pepper and salt to taste

Place all ingredients except for the mushrooms into your food processor and process on pulse until well combined but still a little chunky. Add the mushrooms and pulse again until coarsely chopped. Use as you wouldregular mince but keep in mind you will need more sauce or water in your recipe as vegetarian mince soaks up moisture and does not excrete any fat or juices.

Picture of nutritional yeast – has a savoury, cheesy, creamy flavour

 

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