Ingredients

Filling:

¹⁄³ cup each brown lentils and French green lentils (or ²⁄³ cup brown lentils), rinsed

3 cups vegetable or chicken-style stock (or use stock powder and water)

1 large onion, roughly chopped

2 stalks celery, roughly chopped

1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped

200g Portobello or shiitake mushrooms (or a mixture)

4 cloves garlic, crushed

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 tbsp tomato paste

½ cup walnuts, whizzed to a crumb

2 tsp vegetable or chicken-style stock powder

½ tsp fennel seeds

½ tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp soy sauce or tamari

1 tsp paprika

½ tsp curry powder

½ tsp finely ground black pepper

¼ cup plain flour

To assemble:

350g rolled dairy-free flaky puff pastry

¼ cup canned chickpea liquid (aquafaba)

1 tbsp sesame or poppy seeds

To make it gluten-free:

Use GF flour, pastry, stock and soy sauce.

Method

To make the filling, simmer the lentils in the stock until just tender — about 25 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Place the onion, celery, carrot, mushrooms and garlic in a food processor and pulse until chopped quite finely but not mushy.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the chopped veges and cook, stirring, for 15–20 minutes, until they have reduced right down to a soft golden mush.

Add the drained lentils and remaining filling ingredients except the flour, and stir to combine. Cook for another 5 minutes or so over a medium heat. If it seems a little dry, add more tomato paste and a little water and cook a bit more.

Add the flour and stir through. Remove from the heat and leave to cool down to room temperature (or put in a bowl in the fridge to speed it up).

Line a large baking tray with baking paper.

To assemble, lay the pastry sheet/s out on a clean floured benchtop (or roll your own to about 5mm thick). Arrange the cooled filling in a neat log (about 6cm wide) lengthways down the middle. Fold up both sides of the pastry snugly (you might have a big overlap, but that’s okay — pastry is yum). Brush a little water on both parts where the pastry joins. Place seam-side down on the lined baking tray and refrigerate for 20 minutes or so to firm up.

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan-bake (190°C regular bake).

Slice the chilled log into hearty chunks using a bread knife and a light sawing motion. Brush the rolls all over with the aquafaba and prick the tops a couple of times with a knife. Sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds.

Bake in the lower half of the oven for around 45 minutes, or until the pastry is dark golden brown and puffy. Serve with a dollop of tomato sauce, relish or chutney.

Extracted from Supergood by Chelsea Winter, published by Random House NZ, RRP $50.00.
Text © Chelsea Winter 2020. Photography © Tam West 2020