We served this as the main at our vegan Dinner Club in January. It’s rich, packed full of flavour and the toasted herby breadcrumbs add a lovely unexpected crunch. A brilliant dinner party dish for when you’re looking for a meat-free option that doesn’t miss out on flavour. Black garlic can be found in most large supermarkets or bought online, it’s an incredibly versatile ingredient and by all accounts pretty good for you too!

Type of dish: Main
Cuisine: British
Serves: 4
Calories: 361 per portion

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour

Ingredients

1 packet dried porcini mushrooms
250 grams mixed mushrooms
2 King oyster mushrooms
120 grams green lentils
1 carrot
1 stick celery
1 large white onion
1 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine
1 tablespoon mirin
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs thyme
1 handful of flat leaf parsley
8 sage leaves
100 grams panko breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon vegan mayonnaise
1 bulb black garlic
Salt and pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 220 C / Gas 7. Place the dried mushrooms in a bowl and cover with 300 millilitres of boiling water, set aside for 15 minutes. Drain but reserve the liquid. Roughly chop the mushrooms and set aside.

Half the onion and roughly chop one of the halves. Place on a baking tray with a little oil and roast in the oven for 15 minutes until blackened and burnt. Place the burnt onion into a saucepan and cover with 500 millilitres of water, boil vigorously until reduced by half then drain reserving the liquid.

Grate the remaining onion, celery, carrot and garlic, and sweat down with a little oil, pepper and the chopped hydrated mushrooms in a saucepan over a medium heat until soft. Add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and cook for a further minute. Add the lentils and stir until they are coated. Add the reserved liquids and bay leaves and bring to the boil, simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or until tender but still with a little bite.

Take the lentils off the heat and stir in the thyme leaves and parsley, check the seasoning, cover and set aside to keep warm.

Add the black garlic cloves, vegan mayonnaise and 1 teaspoon water to a small blender and blend to a smooth puree, set aside.

Finely chop the sage leaves. Fry the panko breadcrumbs in a little oil over  a medium heat and when starting to brown, add the sage and continue to fry until the crumbs are golden, set aside.

Roughly chop the mixed the mushrooms and add to a frying pan with a good glug of oil and seasoning, turn up the heat, and fry until the mushrooms start to take on a little colour, add the remaining soy sauce, rice wine, mirin and sesame oil and cook for a further minute. Remove from the pan along with any glaze and keep warm.

In the same pan, add a little more oil, add the King Oysters halved, flat side down, and fry until golden brown, flip over and cook for a further 30 seconds until the mushrooms are cooked but still with a little bite.

Divide the lentils between four plates, add the glazed mushrooms, top with half a King Oyster, add a teaspoon of black garlic puree to the side and top all with a heaped tablespoon of the herb crumbs.

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