Loaded Tater Tots with Jackfruit, Red Cabbage Slaw, And Quick Vegan Gravy
When I think of Christmas dinner, I see my grandmother in the kitchen checking on the roast that has been cooking for ages. I see us, grandchildren, helping to form the potato dumplings – with homemade dough, of course. And even decades later, I see my friends – each of them with a side dish for the evening, and I know that everyone put a lot of work and effort in it to make it perfect. So what I always see behind every Christmas dinner is the love and effort that everyone put into it – and you can taste this, too.
But besides all the rather elaborate and tenderly prepared vegan Christmas dinners that we've posted on the blog so far, we also don't want to forget one thing: some people do not want to spend a lot of time cooking, not even on Christmas eve. But they still would like to eat a proper meal, right? So we thought about a culinary solution for this issue and came up with a deconstructed classic Christmas dinner as I know and love it. So we will have potato dumplings, red cabbage, and gravy – just in a slightly different way.
We present: loaded Christmas tater tots, a pile of crispy tater tots topped with different side dishes that hopefully remind you of Christmas, too. The "roast" turns into pulled jackfruit, the gravy into a quick brown sauce, and the red cabbage turns into a cabbage slaw. The potato dumplings are represented by tater tots, which are also something like the timekeeper for this dish. The time to preheat the oven and bake the tater tots should be enough to prepare all the other components of your... let's call it "Wonderful Lazy Christmas Dinner". Still, if you have friends and family over, it's still nice to come together in the kitchen and divide the work.
Loaded Tater Tots with Jackfruit, Red Cabbage Slaw, And Quick Vegan Gravy
Ingredients
For the quick brown sauce:
- 1 onion
- 2 tbsp (1 oz) vegan butter
- 0.5 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp (0.25 cup) wheat flour (type 405)
- 200 ml (0.75 cup) vegetable stock
- 150 ml (0.66 cup) water
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp mustard
- vegan red wine (optional)
- pepper
For the red cabbage salad:
- 200 g (7 oz) red cabbage
- 0.5 apple
- 1 red onion
- 4 tbsp (2 oz) vegan mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp (1 oz) apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp mustard
- salt
- pepper
- sugar
For the jackfruit:
- 280 g (10 oz) jackfruit from a can (drained weight)
- 2 tbsp (1 oz) BBQ sauce
- 1 tsp mustard
- 1 tsp agave syrup or maple syrup
- neutral vegetable oil for frying
For serving:
- parsley
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 200 °C/390 °F (fan). While the oven is preheating, start with the brown sauce. Peel and cut the onion into small cubes. Melt vegan butter in a small pot and first sauté the onion cubes together with dried thyme until the onion is translucent. Add tomato paste and roast for approx. 3 minutes over medium heat until the paste becomes slightly darker. Dust with flour and immediately pour in vegetable stock and water. Add soy sauce and mustard and stir. If you like, you can also add a good splash of vegan red wine at this point. Season the sauce with salt and pepper and simmer until the croquettes are ready.
The oven should now be preheated. Spread the croquettes on a baking sheet and prepare according to package instructions.
Drain the jackfruit. Heat vegetable oil in a pan and sear the jackfruit for 3–4 minutes so it browns slightly. Add 3–5 tablespoons of the brown sauce, as well as BBQ sauce, mustard, and agave syrup, and mix well. Cook the jackfruit covered for another approx. 5 minutes until it softens and you can pull it apart with two forks so it looks like a kind of "pulled jackfruit." Add more BBQ sauce, mustard, or agave syrup to taste and continue frying the jackfruit until the croquettes are ready.
For the red cabbage salad, cut the red cabbage, apple, and onion into paper-thin strips. Place the red cabbage and onion in a bowl and sprinkle with salt and a bit of sugar. Massage well for approx. 3 minutes so the red cabbage softens slightly. Then add the apple strips.
For the dressing, mix vegan mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, and mustard in a bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add as much water as needed if you want a slightly thinner consistency (but note that we'll also use the dressing as a dip later). Set aside half of the dressing, add the rest to the red cabbage salad, and mix well. Season the salad again with salt and pepper to taste.
For serving, spread the croquettes on a large platter and top with jackfruit, some of the brown sauce, and some of the red cabbage salad. Drizzle with some of the remaining dressing and sprinkle chopped parsley on top. Place the remaining amounts of brown sauce, red cabbage salad, and dressing on the side as "accompaniments."
