Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for celeriac sloppy joes

From theguardian.com

This vegan spin on the classic ground beef sandwich uses celeriac and mushrooms to provide texture and cider, mustard and tomatoes for depth of flavour

I feel conflicted when writing a vegan recipe and naming it after an original that contains meat. With this column, my aim is to show you how versatile and exciting vegetables can be, rather than how they can replace a cow-shaped hole in your life. But, as a take on the original goes, I think today’s dish really stands up. The roast celeriac and mushroom provide “meatiness”, while the cider, mustard, paprika and tomatoes give depth, heat and sweetness. And, besides, Sloppy Meera doesn’t have quite the same ring to it …

Celeriac sloppy joes

This is a great, feed-a-crowd number for a casual Easter gathering, and I’ve adapted it from a recipe I originally did for Ocado. You will need a food processor and a very big baking tray of about 40cm x 30cm. (If you don’t have one that large, use two smaller trays, though you may need to reduce the cooking time a little.) 

Prep 25 min
Cook 1 hr 45 min
Makes 6

2 brown onions, peeled and finely diced
4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 large celeriac (about 1kg), peeled, to get 900g
1 carrot (about 150g), peeled
300g chestnut mushrooms, cleaned
2 tsp sweet smoked paprika
1½ tsp hot smoked paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
2½ tbsp dijon mustard
1¾ tsp fine sea salt
150ml olive oil
500g passata
250ml medium-dry cider

To serve
6 sesame seeded buns
Vegan butter
Sliced sour gherkin pickles
Paprika crisps

Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Put the onion and garlic in a 40cm x 30cm baking tray (or two smaller trays). Roughly chop the celeriac, carrot and mushrooms, then put them all in a food processor and pulse, in batches if need be, to tiny, mince-sized pieces. Add these to the tray, then stir in the spices, mustard, salt and olive oil. Mix really well with your hands, until all the vegetables are coated, then add the passata and half the cider, and mix again.

Roast for 45 minutes, then pour in the remaining cider, mix really well again, and roast for another 45-55 minutes, until the vegetables are very tender and starting to caramelise and any liquid has evaporated. Remove from the oven and check the seasoning.

To assemble the sloppy joes, toast the buns, butter them on both cut sides, then pack the bottom half with the celeriac mixture. Lay some sliced gherkins over the top of the celeriac mix, close the lid of the bun and serve with crisps on the side.

Meera Sodha’s celeriac sloppy joes. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Susanna Unsworth

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/mar/18/vegan-recipe-celeriac-sloppy-joes-meera-sodha