Rich and Hearty Vegan Bolognese

Tattooed Tomato x Spice Way UK (@spicewayuk)

When it comes to vegan bolognese, there's a lot of ways you can tackle this Italian classic - and trust me, I've tried them all.

Having toyed with lentil, mushroom and vegan mince based sauces, I can assure you that this will be the best bolognese you'll ever make without meat.

The trick to this one? Soy Chunks. Whilst they don't have the nicest of names (who came up with that?), these dehydrated nuggets of soya goodness are the perfect meaty filling for this heartiest of sauces.

I've teamed up with Spice Way UK to come up with this amazing recipe using one of their flavourful spice blends. They were kind enough to gift me a selection of blends to experiment with, and this recipe uses the Ravishing Rosemary which goes great on potatoes, roasted veg and, well, this sauce.

I'd recommend checking them out as these blends are really to die for and they've even given 10% off for all my followers using code INF10 so what are you waiting for? (https://www.spicewayuk.com/)

What you need:

150 grams soy chunks

1 diced red onion

1 diced white onion

4 minced large cloves of garlic

1 can of whole plum tomatoes

1 tbsp Tomato paste

Garlic paste

2 bay leaves

1 tsp dried oregano

Pinch chili flakes

3 tsp Ravishing Rosemary spice blend

Pinch salt and pepper

1 tsp Marmite

1 vegan stock cube

Handful of chopped basil

Pasta of your choice

Method:

1. Start off by blitzing your soy chunks in a food processor using the pulse setting until they're coarse but not powdery. I have a Ninja Blender and it took 5 or 6 pulses to get them down to a good size.

2. Once blitzed, pour over boiling water and submerge them until they're covered. In the bowl, add the stock cube and the teaspoon of marmite (this might sound weird but the chunks absorb the liquid and the stock and marmite add a real meaty flavour).

3. Leave to rehydrate for about 30 minutes, and once most of the water has absorbed, drain them and give them a bit of a squeeze in a colander to remove any excess liquid.

4. Whilst the chunks are soaking, get started on the sauce by sweating off both onions in a deep pan until they become translucent.

5. Add the minced garlic cloves and cook for a few minutes.

6. Add the oregano and pinch of chilli flakes and stir through before adding your soy chunks.

7. Cook the chunks for a few minutes until they start to become slightly coloured from the heat of the pan then add a tablespoon of tomato paste and a good squeeze of garlic paste.

8. Pour in the can of tomatoes and cook down until they start to break up. You can also use chopped tomatoes but the whole plum tomatoes taste a lot better.

9. Once the sauce begins to thicken, add the bay leaves and 2 teaspoons of the Ravishing Rosemary spice blend.

10. Leave it to cook for at least 20 minutes - the longer the better. Once you put your pasta on to boil, add the basil to the sauce to infuse at the end.

11. Serve on top of pasta and sprinkle the last teaspoon of the Ravishing Rosemary spice blend and a dash of vegan parmesan.