This recipe was created for WWF by the food blogger Nikoleta Kováčová, author of vegan recipes and cookbooks Slovegán.
"This is my proven recipe, thanks to which you can prepare a Christmas feast without fish and mayonnaise, so the taste will fool even those who won’t give up Christmas fish. The typical fish taste is taken care of by nori seaweed. The texture of the fish is perfectly replaced by porcini mushroom, which is a great substitute for anyone looking for a vegan alternative, but do not want to give up this traditional Christmas dish. If you want to eat a more plant-based diet, mushrooms use up to a thousand times less water to grow than the same amount of meat. A great choice! And lentil mayonnaise will take your quest for a 100% plant-based Christmas to the next level."
Scrow down to check out the right ingredients and the recipe itself.
Photo: Nikoleta Kováčová
Amount: 4 servings
Time: 2 hours
Homemade lentil mayonnaise:
- 160 g of red lentils
- 400 ml of water
- 40 to 140 g of rapeseed oil
- ½ tsp of salt
- 1 tsp of mustard
- 6 tsp of apple cider vinegar/lemon juice
- ½ tsp of liquid sweetener (chicory syrup)
Salad:
- 2 kg of potatoes
- 300 - 400 g of lentil mayonnaise
- 200 g of peas
- 1 cup of pickled cucumbers
- 3 - 4 carrots
- 1 onion
- 2 - 3 tbsp of vinegar
- 1 tbsp of liquid sweetener (chicory syrup)
- salt
- pinch of black pepper
Mushroom Carp:
- 350 g of mushrooms
- 50 ml of olive oil
- 2 tsp of fish seasoning
- 200 g of plain flour
- 10 g of nutritional yeast
- ½ tsp of salt
- pinch of black pepper
- 250 ml of water
- 20 ml of vinegar
- nori riasa
- corn/panko breadcrumbs
- sunflower oil for frying
Homemade lentil mayonnaise. It's not just eggs that you can make mayonnaise from. With this recipe, you gain an extra portion of legumes in your diet, which you should not forget if you want to eat a full-fledged plant-based diet. Wash the lentils under running water. In a bowl, cover them with 400 ml of water and leave to stand overnight or for at least 3 hours before making the mayonnaise. Blend the softened lentils with the water in a blender until smooth. Strain the thicker lentil milk thus formed through a fine cheesecloth or a cheese or vegetable milk bag.
You should now have about 200 grams of pure lentil milk. Bring it to a boil in a saucepan and cook, stirring constantly, for at least 5 minutes until thickened. When it gets a thick, with almost custard-like consistency, stop cooking and let it rest in the fridge for 10 minutes.
Start blending the cooled lentil milk again in the blender on low speed. Add the oil gradually. I leave the exact weight up to you: for a lower calorie mayonnaise you can use only 40 grams of oil, for a smoother and creamier consistency use more oil. Salt the mayonnaise and season with mustard, apple cider vinegar and chicory syrup, which has a low glycemic index due to its high fiber content and only 5% sugar.
Salad. To prepare the salad, first boil the carrots and potatoes in their skin. Peel the potatoes once cooked and slice or press through a potato masher. Chop the cooked carrots and cucumbers as well, then add them to the potatoes in a bowl. Drain the peas in the same bowl.
Chop the onion finely and cook separately in about 200 ml of water. Add 2-3 tablespoons of vinegar, 2 tablespoons of sweetener and salt. Cook until the onions are soft, then you can strain the onions: you will be left with only "broth". If you don't mind onions in your salad, you don't need to strain the water. Add the brine to the potatoes and stir. Finally, add the lentil mayonnaise. Season with black pepper, salt and water from the pickled cucumbers. I recommend preparing the salad at least a day in advance and letting it sit in a cool place. You will give the flavors time to come together beautifully.
Mushroom Carp. Slice the mushroom, which will be the star of your all-plant Christmas, and wipe it thoroughly with a damp cloth. Place it in a bowl and add the olive oil and fish seasoning. Leave the mushrooms to marinate for an hour or ideally overnight.
In a bowl, mix together the flour, nutritional yeast, salt, black pepper, water and vinegar to form a dough for coating. You may not be familiar with nutritional yeast. It's a deactivated type of yeast that's celebrated for its great cheesy-umami flavor and high protein content, so it's not just a source of flavor, it's a secret source of protein that you'll love when eating a plant-based diet.
Roll each piece of mushroom in a moistened slice of nori seaweed, followed by the batter and breadcrumbs. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry each piece until golden. Serve this Christmas mushroom with a salad and a sprinkle of lemon, which goes as well with it as with the fish.
