Mini vegan sausage rolls

Mini vegan sausage rolls

mini vegan sausage rolls

Have you woken up from your post-Christmas food coma yet? We returned to Bristol last night, definitely a little heavier and with a firm resolve to kick sweet things to the curb for the next two weeks at the very least. Christmas at my parents has definitely proven to me, once more, that a sweet tooth is something that runs in my family – the amount of sweet things my mum made has at least equalled the amount of savoury dishes on offer.

And the trouble is that every time you sit down at the kitchen table to have a coffee or tea, a platter full of all sorts of cakes and cookies turns up in an instant and you never find yourself having just one thing. It was delicious while it lasted but now that Xmas is over and we are at home, we have decided to try to curb our sweet tooth a little as it feels a bit out of control. Tough (withdrawal) times ahead!

We had a lovely time in Poland, enjoyed catching up with friends and family, delicious vegan food in Krakow and my mum’s food, but we did miss our little four pawed rascal – Tina – so we are happy to be home. She welcomed us last night with an obligatory sulk, but it didn’t last very long. After about 5 minutes, she rolled on her back as a sign that she is now ready to receive plenty of tummy rubs that she has missed out on. She then slept between us, her tiny little frame sprawled so far and wide that I nearly fell off the bed in the middle of the night. It’s always a special time after we return home to her, so it’s all forgiven.

Today’s recipe is a bit of a mash-up, it’s my take on a British classic – sausage rolls, made vegan. They are in part inspired by a Polish delicacy of ‘paszteciki’, which are bite-size savoury pastries filled with mushrooms and sauerkraut – doh, most things are filled with cabbage and mushrooms when it comes to Polish winter dishes! They are a bit of what I feel like inside, in part Polish and in part English 😛 – ‘immigration rolls’, if you like.

Having lived here for almost my entire adult life, I don’t feel 100% Polish anymore, I also do not feel (or am) British. I am a strange amalgamation of things with a bit of Greekness thrown in from our 4 years in that beautiful country. Having said that, these have been dutifully tested by Duncan’s workmates, most of whom are English BTW. He presented them as ‘vegan sausage rolls’ and they were very warmly received, apparently. No one made a peep about their dubious credentials… Jokes aside, they are really nice, savoury, smoky, a little spicy and easy to put together. They make a great New Year’s Eve snack so if you plan on hosting this year, make them, enjoy and Happy New Year!

mini vegan sausage rolls ingredients

mini vegan sausage rolls process

mini vegan sausage rolls tray

mini vegan sausage rolls plate

mini vegan sausage rolls close up

makes
21
PREP
30 min
COOKING
30 min
makes
21
PREPARATION
30 min
COOKING
30 min
INGREDIENTS
  • 250 g / 9 oz chestnut or portobello mushrooms (large if you can get them)
  • 225 g / 8 oz smoked firm cotton tofu OR 175 g / 1 packed cup cooked brown rice
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 large shallots, finely diced
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely diced
  • 8 fresh sage leaves and 4 thyme springs, leaves picked
  • 4 tsp vegan Worcester sauce
  • 2 tsp mushroom soy sauce or plain soy sauce / tamari (for GF version)
  • ¼-1/3 tsp salt, adjust to taste
  • generous grind of black pepper
  • 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 2 tsp tomato paste
  • 1½ tsp wholegrain mustard, more to taste
  • 1 tsp smoked sweet paprika (if using rice), more to taste
  • 1 sheet vegan puff pastry*
  • vegan egg wash: 2 tsp plant milk, 1 tsp olive oil + 1 tsp maple syrup or sugar
  • 1 tbsp sesame or poppy seeds, to decorate
METHOD
  1. Heat up the oven to 200° C / 390° F (180° C / 355° F fan) and line a baking tray with a piece of baking paper.
  2. Chop mushrooms into very small dice and mash drained (no need to press it) tofu with a fork. You can use a food processor for the mushrooms, but I don’t like doing that as it is too easy to overprocess them and lose all the texture.
  3. Heat up olive oil in a large frying pan. Add shallots and fry until translucent, stirring from time to time.
  4. Add garlic, chopped up sage and picked thyme leaves. Fry until garlic softens and becomes fragrant, stirring often.
  5. Add chopped up mushrooms and let them sauté until they are cooked and all the excess water cooks out.
  6. Add in mashed up tofu (or cooked, cooled-down rice), vegan Worcester sauce, mushroom soy sauce, salt, pepper, nutritional yeast, tomato paste and wholegrain mustard. Mix everything really well. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking (I used ½ tsp salt). If there is still some moisture in the pan, make sure you allow it to cook out before cooling the filling.
  7. Take the puff pastry out of the fridge for about 10 minutes before assembling the rolls so that it’s more pliable.
  8. If you are using a sheet of similar dimensions to mine (I used Jus Roll puff pastry), cut your pastry into 3 equal portions widthwise – you should end up with 3 rectangles of roughly the dimensions 23 cm / 9″ by 12 cm / 4.75″. If using a different size pastry sheet, decide what makes the most sense and divide the pastry and filling accordingly.
  9. Place one third of the filling in the middle of the first rectangle of pastry and shape it into a long sausage using your hands. Fold the pastry over the filling and seal it well using your fingers. Gently flip the roll so that the seam is at the bottom.
  10. Mark where you are going to cut this one long roll into smaller sausage rolls (mine were just under 3 cm / 1″) and using a sharp knife make little slits on the top of each individual sausage roll so that the steam has an opening to escape through during cooking.
  11. Glaze the roll with vegan egg wash and sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds.
  12. Using a sharp knife (I like to use a serrated knife for this), gently cut the roll into small portions according to the marks you’ve made earlier.
  13. Proceed in the same way with the two remaining sausages and leftover pastry.
  14. Arrange sausage rolls on a paper-lined baking tray (glazed side up) and bake for about 25 minutes, until the pastry has puffed up and become golden brown.

NOTES
 *Most shop-bought puff pastry is accidentally vegan unless the packaging clearly states ‘all butter’. I used Jus Roll puff pastry (which is also available in a gluten-free version in the UK). Please do check the packaging to be sure you are buying a vegan product.

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NUTRITIONAL INFO
calories
53
3%
sugars
1 g
1%
fats
4 g
6%
saturates
1 g
3%
proteins
2 g
4%
carbs
3 g
1%
*per sausage roll
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5.0
11 reviews, 17 comments
REVIEWS & QUESTIONS
Mitch:
I have made this many times but I am confused at the directions
Do you bake the roll before slicing or after
You directions seem to indicate before but then you say slits are designed to let steam escape as if it isn't cut
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Mitch,
    Both, I make slits in the middle as well as cut them to size before baking. Hope this helps! x Ania
Orsi:
Ania, an other beautiful and easy dish from you! Thank you so much to make our Christmas day special with this sausage roll. My daughter has enjoyed it so very much and watching her munching away made me feel so happy. Therefore I am ever so grateful to you. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
    Ania
    Ania:
    Aw thank you for your kind words and Christmas wishes, Orsi! I am so happy to hear that these were such a success with your daughter especially and that the recipe was easy to follow. Thank you for taking the time to review and I hope your Christmas was lovely too. x Ania
Becky:
My take on this recipe turned out great! I'm in the US and couldn't find smoked tofu, so I substituted TVP [I used a half cup dry] with a few added spices [tamari, liquid smoke, blackstrap molasses, ground fennel, and nutritional yeast], though the additional spices shouldn't be strictly necessary. I used Pepperidge Farm puff pastry, which is accidentally vegan. Even the non-vegans quite enjoyed them.
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks Becky! I'm glad you enjoyed these and good thinking on your feet - TVP definitely makes for a good replacement. Thanks for taking the time to review, I really appreciate it. x Ania
Emily:
Total winner of a recipe! I'm calling these "Self-saucing sausage rolls" as they were so moist and tasty I didn't need ketchup, and I am usually a ketchup fiend when it comes to these things.
I made this with half white rice, half tofu (cos I had 1/2 cup of cooked rice in the fridge needing using up) and it worked a charm. I used nearly 3 large portobello mushrooms (which came to 250g - wow they're heavy!)
I was worried the garlic would burn while I fried the mushrooms so I added it in just as soon as the water had come out of the mushrooms (assuming they will start to absorb flavours around at this point)
    Ania
    Ania:
    Great to hear that this was another winner in your books, Emily! Garlic won't burn if you use low heat and when you add the mushrooms they release water so the garlic is safe, but good thinking - burnt garlic tastes awful. x Ania
Sue:
Hi,
Could I use vegan sausages mashed instead of rice x
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Sue,
    I haven't tried myself but I don't see why not. I would recommend you cook the first though. Hope this helps! Ania
Eleanor:
Lovely recipe - I’ve made the rice version, and will be serving them tomorrow as part of a birthday buffet! Do you think they’ll be safe to reheat tomorrow (with the rice) or would it be safer to serve them cold? Thanks :)
    Ania
    Ania:
    Hi Eleanor,
    It's your call, but I have reheated rice so many times in the past (not knowing about this potential issue) and I have never been sick as a result. Also, isn't fried rice just that - reheated rice? I don't want to give you false assurances but I also think that this issue might have been a touch overblown. Ania
Pauline:
These are the most delicious vegan sausage rolls I've ever had. Wouldn't change a thing about them. Thanks for the recipe.
    Ania
    Ania:
    Yay! Thanks so much, Pauline! I am really delighted to hear that! So happy you enjoyed it so much and thanks for taking the time to let me know! Ania
Maddie:
These are so delicious! I made the rice version and the mix itself was super tasty, I could have eaten a lot of that by itself. I wasn't sure when to add the paprika, but added it with the worcestershire sauce/soy sauce etc. mix, hope that was right!
The rolls made a lovely dinner with roast potatoes and veg, and we were able to resist eating the lot, so we now have a perfect lunch addition or snack. I may make these for dinner parties/potlucks.
Thanks for the recipe, it has definitely lightened our lockdown :)
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks so much for your lovely feedback, Maddie! I'm delighted to hear that you enjoyed these and that they have made your lockdown experience a little bit nicer.x Ania
Jo Hall:
Thank you for this recipe, I have made these twice, not complicated to make and absolutely delicious . These will become a regular treat.
    Ania
    Ania:
    I am delighted to hear that you enjoyed these so much, Jo! And thank you for taking the time to let me know - much appreciated! Stay safe! x Ania
Caitlin:
Hi, do you know if these freeze OK after baking? I’m thinking these would be great for the kids lunch boxes and I like to cook ahead.
Thanks
    Ania
    Ania:
    I have not tried, Caitlin, but I don't see why not. I hope that your kids are going to enjoy them! x Ania
Sandra Lohmann:
I really loved them, as did my newly vegan husband and his colleagues at work! I would like to make them for friends who are visiting this weekend, but what else can you serve with them?
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks, Sandra! I am delighted to hear that! They are typically just served with ketchup, but a vibrant green salad and some other nibbles would definitely make them into more of a sit-down meal. x Ania
Hayley:
These are completely delicious! Thanks for sharing xxx
    Ania
    Ania:
    Yay, thank you, Hayley! I'm delighted to hear that! Ania
Pavlina:
Absolutely delicious and converted my very picky, meat-eater dad who even asked for a recipe! Thank you, Ania :)
    Ania
    Ania:
    That's awesome to hear, Pavlina. What a win! x Ania
Andy:
Great recipe. Thank you for sharing. I’ve made this a couple of times, playing with the ingredients here or there, but the base recipe is awesome!
    Ania
    Ania:
    Thanks, Andy! I am delighted to hear that you enjoyed them. Happy New Year! Ania
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