Vegan Christmas Recipe Booklet

Festive Blini with Carrot Lox and ‘Cream Cheese’ Blini make the perfect festive nibble. You’ve got to love these tiny, versatile buckwheat pancakes, which provide an excellent base for dips, vegan cheese, or sweet toppings.

Preparation time: 30 minutes • Cooking time: 30 minutes Makes 8–12 servings

Ingredients For the Carrot Lox: 2 large carrots Sea salt

Method To Make the Carrot Lox: l Preheat the oven to 180˚C.

l Peel the carrots and place on a baking tray with lots of salt. Bake for 40 minutes, turning occasionally, until soft. Set aside to cool. l Brush off the salt. Use a vegetable peeler to slice the carrots into ribbons. l Mix all the marinade ingredients in a jar. l Add the carrots to the jar and shake well. l Pop in the fridge overnight or for a minimum of 30 minutes. To Make the Blini: l Add all the blini ingredients to a bowl and mix thoroughly. l Set aside while preparing the toppings. l Heat a little oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. l Add 1 tablespoonful of the blini batter to the pan and flatten into a circle. l Add three or four more dollops of batter to the pan and repeat. l Allow to cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until bubbles form and the corners lift up. l Flip and cook for about 30 seconds. l Repeat until the batter is used up (adding more oil to the pan as needed).

For the Marinade: 2 Tbsp soy sauce or tamari 1 Tbsp olive oil 1 Tbsp smoked paprika

1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp maple syrup or golden syrup Juice of 1 ⁄ 4 lemon Pinch black pepper

For the Blini: 150 g buckwheat flour (or plain or gluten-free flour) 1 ⁄ 2 tsp sea salt 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar 2 Tbsp olive oil 225 ml water

For the Topping: Vegan cream cheese Fresh dill Sliced red onion Capers

To Serve: Spread cream cheese over the blini and top with the carrot lox, dill, red onion, and capers.