01-11-2013

Autumn inspired World Vegan Day

We celebrate this occasion with a recipe with an intense root flavour

Roasted tempeh with roots, red cabbage sauce and c

Roasted tempeh with roots, red cabbage sauce and chips by Daniela Cicioni. Today is the twentieth World Vegan Day, the day founded in 1994 by Louise Wallis of the Vegan Society. From Tokyo to Melbourne, from Dublin to Montevideo every year the number of cities celebrating this occasion on All Saints’ day, increases

Today we celebrate the World Vegan Day, a special occasion to present a tasty totally vegetal main dish. The recipe we illustrate is dedicated to the autumn and is part of a menu created for a dinner which will take place on November 15th on the occasion of Ein Prosit in Tarvisio (Udine) from November 14-17th. The main ingredients are tempeh and roots. Tempeh is a fermented food, obtained from the seeds of yellow soy. It is traditionally and largely used by the people of South East Asia.

Thanks to the fermentation and to the absence of any external skin, it is much easier to digest than a dish of cooked legumes. The texture is solid and soft, while the coarse character of the beans remains. The flavour is intense and recalls mushrooms and walnuts, and it is perfectly matched by the sweet and bitter flavour of the roots, by the citrus aroma of bergamot and lemon, by the tart and spicy notes of the mustard and raw scallion.

Roasted tempeh with roots and red cabbage sauce and chips

Recipe for 3 people

INGREDIENTS
Bergamot tempeh
250 g tempeh au naturel
6 drops of bergamot oil
6 g mustard à l’ancienne
15 ml agave nectar
15 ml balsamic vinegar
30 ml shoyu (soy and wheat sauce)
30 ml extra virgin olive oil
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
Herb aromatised salt

Baked roots
150 g beetroot
150 g yam
60 g sweet scorzonera
150 g turnip
15 ml extra virgin olive oil
Herb aromatised salt

Red cabbage and apple sauce
30 g cashew nuts soaked for 4 hours and rinsed
30 g red cabbage
30 ml centrifuged apple juice
15 g cleaned scallion
8 caraway seeds
4 g mustard
Herb aromatised salt

Dried red cabbage chips
150 g red cabbage
Unrefined marine salt

Daniela Cicioni, vegan chef

Daniela Cicioni, vegan chef

METHOD
Bergamot tempeh
Trim the edges of the tempeh block and cut it into 12 cubes. Using the other ingredients, prepare a marinade, put the tempeh inside of it, cover it and leave it to rest for at least 5 hours turning it from time to time. After this, keep two tablespoons of marinade to a side and bake the rest at 180°C for 20 minutes. Once you have removed the tempeh from the oven, brush it with the marinade kept to a side and cover it.

Roasted roots
Cut the beetroot, the yam and the turnip into half a cm slices. Using a pastry cutter, cut respectively nine 2.5 cm disks, nine 3.5 cm disks and nine 4.5 cm disks. Cut the scorzonera into 9 diagonal 3 cm logs. Add salt and oil and bake the ingredients at 180°C for 15 minutes turning them over after half of the time has passed.

Red cabbage and apple sauce
Coarsely chop the cabbage and the scallion, blend them with the other ingredients so as to obtain a velvety texture.

Dried red cabbage chips
Using a mandoline, cut the red cabbage very thinly. Salt it and mix it delicately with your hands so as to help it absorb the salt. Place it inside the drier and dehydrate it at 42°C for 10 hours. As an alternative, you can use the oven at the lowest temperature with the door half closed.

COMPOSING THE DISH
Place a spoonful of red cabbage sauce on each dish and spread it using a silicone brush. Place four small leaves of red beets, four cubes of tempeh, the roots and the logs of scorzonera. Add the cabbage chips and serve straight away.


Naturalmente

Healthy, natural and vegetarian cuisine

by

Daniela Cicioni

Vegan and rawist chef based in Como

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