Vegan Sheppards Pie Recipe

Makes 2 450 Calories

Vegan Sheppards Pie

INGREDIENTS:

2 large sweet potatoes

2 large flat mushrooms, finely chopped

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 parsnips, peeled and finely chopped

1 tbsp Massel vegan beef stock

1 tsp-tbsp mint sauce, to taste

1 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 tbsp brown sauce

Gravy granules to thicken

1 large cup textured vegetable protein(tvp)

1 pint of water

Method

Cook sweet potato in microwave for 15 minutes.

Place chopped vegetables in pan with water.

Add tvp, ketchup, brown sauce, vegan beef stock and mix well and bring to boil.

Cover pan with lid and cook for 20 minutes.

Cut sweet potatoes in half and scoop out cooked flesh. Mash well.

Add gravy granules to tvp mix when cooked and stir until thickened. Now add mint sauce to taste and mix well.

Place shepherd’s pie mix into bowl and cover with mashed sweet potato.

My Chef Training

I found the academic side of school very hard. Suffering from dyslexia it became apparent that the vocational side of life was my calling. This is where my love of food took the next step.

At 15, I found my love for cooking. Immediately my confidence grew and I was finally good at something. Excelling my year group with my culinary skills, at 16 I enrolled at the most prestigious catering college in the country, Westminster.

This had to have been one of the most challenging, fun and eye-opening experiences I had in the real world. Commuting from Sevenoaks to London, Monday to Friday, at 16 was thrilling but tiring. Our days in the kitchen started at 9am and finished at 5pm each day. I would then go and work in a kitchen as a paid chef from 6pm-10pm.

Weekends were a no-go. I would then work from 6.30am to 10pm every other weekend and study on alternate weekends. Welcome to the real life of a chef. Or lack of.

During my time at Westminster, I had opportunities to work at the Dorchester Hotel, Hilton Park Lane, City Rhodes, Houses of Commons and Marco Pierre White’s, Belvedere.

This experience helped a team of 6 chefs win the country's biggest catering competition, Toque D’or.

Vegan Scrambled Tofu Breakfast Recipe

Daniel Welstead Plant Based Vegan Personal Trainer in Sevenoaks