Vegan Toad in the Hole

Toad in the Hole is my favourite meal in the world, so I wasn’t buying the idea that batter needs eggs to be batter.

After the resounding success of making a batter that consists of only two ingredients (yes, only TWO), I’m wondering if eggs were superfluous all along.

Note: when I had a search on the web for vegan toad in the hole recipes, most of them used an egg replacer, but in my opinion egg replacers are expensive and not using them has never seemed to affect my culinary creations. My advice would be: if a recipe suggest egg replacer, just don’t bother using one and see how it turns out.

So, this recipe is really quick, really simple, and requires a total of five ingredients you probably already have around the house, plus a couple of spices (if you have them), and just salt and pepper if you don’t.

I’ve now made this three times, and the third time I made it for my omnivorous family, as I convinced them through the medium of photography and enthusiasm how amazing the recipe was. I think they enjoyed it, and my only piece of info for meat eaters reading this is: the flavours and textures are a little bit different to traditional toad in the hole, but if you go in and try it without any preconceptions, you’re definitely going to enjoy it.

So without further ado, here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• A handful of chopped mushrooms (enough to fill the base of whatever oven tray you are using – choose the size of your tray based on the number of sausages you’re cooking)
• 1 chopped onion
• 70g Self raising flour
• 120ml Dairy free milk alternative (I’ve tried soya and almond and both have worked really well)
• 4 vegan sausages (Linda McCartney’s plain sausages are vegan – when I went into the supermarket the other day they were selling them for less than half price and I scooped about 12 packets into the trolley in one go – they are really versatile, make great sandwiches, and can be used as meatball alternatives for pasta sauces and stroganoff)
• Rosemary
• Salt & pepper

Method

Heat oven to 220 degrees, gas mark 7.

Chuck the onions, mushrooms and sausages into your baking tray, splash a good amount of oil over them and pop into the oven for about 10-15 minutes, until the oil is really hot.

While it’s cooking whisk the flour and milk together just like you’re making pancake mixture. The mixture should be quite thin and runny, so if it’s a bit gloopy keep adding milk until it’s the consistency of double cream.

Add some salt and pepper and chopped rosemary if you have it (I was given a rosemary plant as a Valentine’s present – way more useful than roses and hopefully shouldn’t die as quickly) to your taste.

When you think the oil is hot enough, pull the tray out the oven, pour the batter mixture over the sausages and veg, and get it back in the oven as quickly as possible.

Cook for about 25 minutes and don’t take it out of the oven during this time or it won’t rise. Check it at this point – I’ve had some trouble with the bottom not being cooked while the top is burning, and I think this might be because my oil wasn’t hot enough. However, it’s worth keeping in mind that even when the top has burnt it’s still completely yummy, so don’t stress too much.

—

The mushrooms and onions are a really nice non-traditional touch to this meal and are like little surprises when you get to the bottom. The meal is good with gravy but also on its own with some fresh veg.

I really recommend trying this recipe out – it’s one of those satisfying vegan AND indulgent meals that people not in the know don’t realise exist.

We finished this meal off with ripe mango and Alpro vanilla yoghurt!

Days 2 & 3

= what I am enjoying right now.

The pain of exams being over for another year, I can finally do what I want, which judging by today will probably involve a lot of baking and a lot of eating.

I walked in the door today, attempted to sate my hunger with an apple, only this satisfaction lasted about twenty seconds, by which time I was already on Google searching ‘VEGAN PUDDING’, aggressive capitals included. Normally after an exam I will console myself/celebrate with cake or chocolate, but neither of those being vegan, I was suffering.

So the internet gave me this recipe for bonfire biscuits, and off I popped to the supermarket to buy the ingredients. Other things I picked up while there include soya cream, quinoa and bulgur wheat, and vegan chocolate, although I think I’m right in saying that a lot of normal chocolate is vegan over something like 70 per cent cocoa content.

Yesterday I had a bit of a struggle when it came to breakfast. I was at the library really early and had forgotten to eat breakfast at home, but when I went to the cafe to find breakfasty things it seemed as though absolutely nothing was vegan. Porridge was made with milk, veggie sausages use egg as a binding agent, and after several minutes of feeling lost and confused I ended up asking for the only parts of a full English that are vegan: baked beans, hash browns, and tomatoes. I felt a bit weird asking for such a meagre selection, but I think that’s something I’ll have to get used to. Overall, my conclusion is the country really hasn’t caught up with veganism in the same way it has with vegetarianism.

I broke the “news” to my parents yesterday, with mixed reactions. It’s fair to say I’ll be doing a lot of cooking when visiting – not that I mind at all, part of the exciting thing about going vegan is being really experimental with food.

I ate a lot of pasta yesterday, and I think this might be a recurring theme.

Today I gave up on the embarrassing breakfast thing and just ordered two hash browns. Best breakfast ever.

This evening I was so excited with my newfound freedom that I wanted to experiment, so I made soy pancakes with a creamy mushroom and cherry tomato topping. Recipe here. The pancakes turned out really well, and I never knew you could get soya cream, so that was exciting.

So with the cookies I mentioned earlier, I really recommend having a go, as they were so simple to make! You literally just melt some butter and syrup, chuck in flour, sugar, oats and coconut and stick in the oven for 10 minutes. So so tasty. I meant to take photos but was too busy eating the mixture to bother.

Buenas noches!