Vegan Bolognese

Over the last few years I have sarted to cut down the amount of meat that I have been eating but this winter I really turned towards a plant focused diet. Adding a lot more beans and grains to my diet helped in a large way by the addition of the Instant Pot to my kitchen at Christmas as this makes cooking beans soo much easier, although it is definitely not necesary to cook beans.

Another thing that I have been cooking in the instant pot is a vegan bolognese. This can easily be cooked on the hob I just like the fact that the sealing lid stops slow cooking from filing the kitchen with water vapour.
I have been looking for a really good non meat bolognese for a while now and have had some luck with decent lentil concoctions but I have always found that they have a bit of a sandy texture and the sauce splits really easily, or if you do end up cooking it long enough that the sauce is velvety the lentils have lost their texture and you just have a sauce…

Then I found a recipe on the wanderlust kitchen which when I tried it was so very near what I was looking for that I ended up making a second version of it a few days later, which is impressive considering how much this makes! Over a few renditions of the recipe, I have modified it to be what I want from a bolognese, although I have yet to try it with the addition of a gelling agent which I think will really help to stop the sauce from splitting which it does ever so slightly

Vegan Bolognese

Recipe by PippaCourse: MainCuisine: Italian, Vegan

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

1

hour 

30

minutes

Comfort food at its finest.

Ingredients

• 1 Medium Onion

• 1 Medium Carrot

• 3 Sticks Celery

• 3 + 2 tbps Olive Oil

• 50g Walnuts

• 200g Mushrooms

• 60g TVP

• 1tsp Oregano

• 1/2tsp Thyme

• 1tsp Paprika

• 1tsp Smoked Paprika

• 1/2tsp Chili Powder

• 3tsp Garlic Puree

• 175ml Red Wine

• 2tsp Red Miso Paste

• 1tbsp Soy Sauce

• 1tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

• 2 cans Chopped Tomatoes

• 1tbsp Tomato Puree

• 1/2 can of Water

Directions

• Using a food processor or blender, chop the walnuts and mushrooms down to a grainy texture. Depending on the size of your device you might need to do this in batches. Keep this mix in a bowl.
• Using a food processor or blender, dice the carrot, onion and celery. This can also be done using a grater if needed, or a grating plate on the food processor.
• Blend the two cans of tomatoes with the 1/2 can of water.
• Saute the Veg mix in the olive oil over a med/high heat until translucent
• Add mushroom walnut mix and cook for 5 minutes.
• Add TVP along with extra oil, stir while the TVP soaks up juices.
• Add spices, Cook for 5 minutes.
• Add red wine, cook for 5 minutes
• Add miso, soy and balsamic vinegar, stir through mix.
• Add the blended tomatoes.
• Bring to the boil, then turn down and cook for 1hour. (If cooking in the IP then just place the lid ontop with out sealing)

Notes

• This freezes really well so divide the excess into individual portions and pop in the freezer so that you can have a comforting bowl of bolgnese when ever you need it.