Vegan ‘turkey’

Serves 6

Preparation time: 15 minutes 
Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients
250g chickpeas 
250g vegetable stock 
2 tsp poultry seasoning 
2 tbsp nutritional yeast 
2 tbsp refined coconut oil melted 
2 tsp soy sauce 
½ teaspoon salt 
¼ tsp garlic powder 
¼ tsp onion powder 
160g vital wheat gluten 

Roasting Gravy
500g of leeks or mushrooms depending if you want a lighter or darker gravy 
2 onions 
2 carrots 
2 celery sticks 
200ml wine (Prosecco or white for leeks, red or Marsala for mushrooms) 
1 litre vegetable stock 

Method
Start with your roasting gravy.  Brown the leeks or mushrooms on a medium heat (this will take around 10 minutes). Add the chopped vegetables and cook for a further 5/10 minutes until soft. Add the alcohol and bring to the boil to burn off the alcohol. Add the stock, bring to the boil then lower the heat and cook for 1/1½ hours stirring occasionally until thick, reduced and full of flavour.  

Meanwhile start on your ‘Turkey’.  Put the chickpeas, stock, poultry seasoning, soy sauce, nutritional yeast, melted coconut oil, garlic powder, and onion powder to a food processor and blend for about 30 seconds.  Pour this into a glass bowl (don’t use plastic because the gluten powder will stick to plastic) and add half of the gluten flour and fold it in with a silicone spatula. 

Sprinkle the remaining gluten flour over it and continue to fold with the spatula.  Once the mixture firms up, knead for a minute, just the gluten is fully incorporated.  Form the dough into a large loaf and wrap it tightly and completely in grease proof paper, wrapping the ends tightly and tuck them under.  Put the wrapped "turkey" in a large steamer basket, cover, and steam for 1 hour.  Don’t forget to periodically check the water, you do not want it to run dry or the turkey will be tainted with a burnt taste. 

Preheat the oven to 180c.  Strain your roasting gravy against the vegetables to extract every bit of flavour you can.   

Place the “turkey” in a small dish and pour over the roasting gravy.  Cook for 25 mins, basting a couple of times. 

- “Turkey” part of this recipe taken from here.