Vegan Sausage that Fills a Hot Dog Bun Nicely

As I write this, I'm munching on one of these homemade vegan sausages with dijon mustard and fresh onions on a soft bun and feeling thoroughly content. What I like most about this recipe is that you get a whole lot of lunches out of a relatively modest amount of work. And the hard work is done by the food processor anyway.

Ingredients

2/3 cup red lentils, rinsed

1/2 cup rice

1/2 tsp salt

1 3/4 cups water

227 g (8 oz) button mushrooms, cleaned and trimmed

3 Tbl canola oil

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp red chili flakes (optional, for spiciness)

2/3 cup Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP, small pieces—available in most bulk food stores)

1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp liquid smoke

1 Tbl tamari sauce

1/4 cup raw cashews (not soaked), ground fine in a food processor

1 tsp onion powder

2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 Tbl nutritional yeast

1/4 cup aquafaba (liquid from a can of chickpeas)

olive oil for brushing

Directions

Put water, rice, lentils and salt in a medium pot with a lid. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer, cover and let cook 15 minutes. Remove from heat, fluff with a fork, return cover and let cool.

While rice and lentils are cooking, clean, trim and coarsely grind the mushrooms in a food processor. Saute over medium heat with optional chili flakes in 3 Tbl canola oil and 1/4 tsp salt about 10 minutes until soft. Remove heat and let cool.

Put 1/2 cup of water on to boil in a small pot with a lid. Mix in soy sauce and liquid smoke. When boiling, turn off heat, mix in TVP, cover and let cool.

Once the rice mixture has cooled somewhat, process the rice and lentils in a food processor until fairly smooth (roughly the texture of mashed potatoes). It will be necessary to stop every so often and move things around with a spoon. Once roughly homogeneous, transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl.

Preheat oven to 375.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Fill a small bowl with water to keep your fingers wet because they will definitely get sticky as you mix everything together and form the sausages.

Place all ingredients in the large mixing bowl with the lentil mixture.

Mix all ingredients together with your hands until everything is very well incorporated.

Take a small handful of mixture with wet fingers and roll into a hotdog. (I rolled this batch into 6 large ones, but I think I prefer making 8 smaller ones—the texture of the finished product is just a little better if they're a little thinner.)

Once you have a rough tube shape in your hands, it helps to lay them on a moistened cutting board and roll them out further. Lay the finished hotdogs on the parchment paper.

Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt.

Bake at 375 for 25 minutes. Allow to cool a bit. This is one of those recipes where the flavour improves after a night in the fridge, permitting the flavours to blend and mellow.

If you want, the baked sausages can be reheated on a medium grill after a little brush with olive oil.

Serve with your favourite condiments—I like dijon mustard and chopped onions.

Makes 6-8 large sausages.

Want more like this? Please subscribe via the RSS Feed so you can read new posts on your favourite news reader.

Posted: Thursday, October 20, 2016