Spicy Veg Strudel

Strudel – isn’t that a German dessert with spiced apple? Well, yes that’s true. However, I had the idea of making a savoury version with a vegetarian filling and, instead of a dusting of icing sugar, topping it with a sprinkling of nigella seeds.

Once you’ve made the filling and let it cool, it is fairly quick to put together, especially as I’ve used a pack of pre-made puff pastry. It’s fun to make, as you’ll see from the photos below, and looks great when it emerges from the oven.

Servings

A tea time meal for 2.

Timings

15 mins to make the filling, and 10 mins to roll it up. About 25 mins in the oven at 180C.

You Will Need

• drop of oil
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• half a red onion
• 4 – 5 mushrooms
• 1 celery stick
• 1 400g tin of kidney beans
• 1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• a handful of fresh coriander
• a few leaves of kale or spring greens
• half a 500g pack of puff pastry (i.e. 250g)
• a little milk for basting
• a handful of nigella seeds

Method

1. Put the onion, celery and mushrooms in a food processor with blade fitted and blitz until finely chopped (but not pureed).
2. Warm the oil, garlic, chilli powder and cumin seeds in a pan till sizzling. Add the blitzed vegetables and leave for a few minutes to soften.
3. In the meantime, put the kidney beans, tomatoes, coriander and kale/greens into the food processor and blitz again till finely chopped (but not pureed). Tip into the frying pan.
4. Give it all a good stir and leave to cook. You want the water to evaporate leaving a thick, mixed vegetable paste that will hold its shape and not be runny. Leave to cool, and turn the oven on to 180C.
5. Open the pack of puff pastry and cut in half, putting one half back in the fridge to use another time. Roll the other half out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface, to make a rectangle approx. 40cm x 20cm.
6. Cut a piece from each of the corners as shown in the first photo below. Make cuts in each side to about one third of the way across, again as shown in the first photo. It should look like a Christmas tree on it’s side, with a top and bottom, and branches about 1 – 2cm thick.
7. Place the cooled filling along the centre (the trunk of the tree). It is important that it has cooled, otherwise it will start to melt the uncooked pastry.
8. Tuck in the flaps at the top and the bottom, then fold in each of the arms alternately, as shown.
9. Baste with the milk, sprinkle over the nigella seeds.
10. Place in the oven for about 25 mins or until golden brown.
11. Serve by cutting off slices of your preferred size (see my main photo at the top of this post).

Customise It!

A food processor is ideal for making the mix, as it needs to be finely chopped to mesh and bind together to make the filling. However, you could chop the veg finely with a knife and mash it all with a masher while in the pan, if you need to.

Feel free to add or swap in other veg and spices. Peppers add colour, as will chopped or grated carrot, for example.

The pastry and the filling ingredients make this a self-contained, balanced meal in itself, perhaps just accompanied by some red or brown ketchup. You could serve with a salad if you wish.

This went down very well the first time I made it, to the extent that I have made it again with different fillings. It is easy once you’ve mastered the latticing technique shown in the photos. I will feature another of the fillings in my weekend post.

For choice of music, I think it’s time we added something by The Chemical Brothers to the ADK Playlist – here’s Let Forever Be.