Vegetarian Haggis

Before all else, this is a delicious dish. It might not be haggis proper but it is very very good. Since a traditional style haggis sits outside modern sensibilities, and in the United States, outside available ingredients, the old-style lights, heart and tongue sausage is simply out of the question. Since tradition is out, might as well give vegetarian a shot.

Vegetarian Haggis Shopping List

Onion (medium)
Carrot (small)
Mushrooms ( ½ to ¾ cup)
Lentils (1/3 cup dry)
Kidney beans (2 tablespoons canned)
Pine nuts ( 1/4 cup)
Filberts (2 tablespoons)
Thyme (1 ½ teaspoons dried)
Rosemary (1 teaspoon dried)
Cayenne pepper (pinch)
Chicken and Fish BBQ Spice (1 ½ teaspoons)
Steel cut oats (1 1/3 cups)
Olive oil (as necessary)
Vegetable broth (1 cup)
Beer (¼ cup and 1/3 cup)
Egg (1)
Soy sauce (1 tablespoon)
Lemon juice (1 tablespoon)

Cooking the Vegetarian Haggis

Prepare the ingredients
Chop finely the onion, carrot and mushroom. Mash the drained kidney beans into a paste. Grind the filberts in a nut grinder. Beat the egg.

Preheat the oven to 370 degrees.

Saute the Vegetables
Heat 3 or 5 tablespoons of olive oil in your saute pan. Saute the onions until tender. When the onions are ready, add the carrot and mushroom. You may need to add a touch more olive oil as the mushrooms will soak up what is there. Cook the onion, carrot and mushroom mixture for about 5 minutes.

Bring in the liquids, spices, beans and nuts
Stir in the vegetable broth, ¼ cup beer, soy sauce, lemon juice and kidney bean paste. When the kidney bean paste has been well distributed, add the pine nuts, lentils and filberts. Season with the thyme, rosemary, Chicken and Fish spice and cayenne pepper. Bring this mixture to a boil. After reaching a boil, simmer the mixture for ten or twelve minutes.

Add and cook the Oats
Add the oats to the simmering mixture. Cover the works and let it simmer another 20 minutes or so. The mixture should be stiff.

Bake Your Haggis
Temper the egg by adding and mixing in 3 tablespoons of the oat mixture, one tablespoon at a time. When the egg has been tempered, mix the egg into the saute pan. When all is well mixed, pour the oats and veggies from your saute pan into a greased, 5 by 9 cake pan. Pour 1/3 cup beer over the mixture in the cake pan and put it in your 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. It should be firm enough to cut into squares for serving.

You can use this in your Burns Supper as a substitute for haggis. Some may not approve on principle but on taste, few will complain.

copyright 2006 Chromia Poetics