Vegan sausage casserole

Ingredients

• 8 vegan sausages
• ½ tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 4 carrots, sliced or diced
• 4 tomatoes, quartered
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato purée
• 200ml vegetable stock
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 sprig of thyme, plus extra, fresh growing thyme, to garnish
• 400g can borlotti beans
• Boiled new potatoes, to serve

Method

I believe in cooking from scratch as much as possible, but now and then, a processed veggie sausage is your friend. Use your favourite brand – the sausages soak up the scrummy casserole juices nicely. (I’ve never used that word scrummy in my life, but it sums this up perfectly!)

Hearty fare, vegan style.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (Gas Mark 4).

Cook your vegan sausages according to the packet instructions. (While they are cooking you can prep your ingredients.)

Heat the oil in a casserole. Add your diced onion and fry over medium-low heat for 5–10 minutes, until soft and golden. Add the garlic, carrot, fresh and canned tomatoes and tomato purée, the veg stock, paprika and thyme and stir all the ingredients together well. Bring the cooked sausages out of the oven and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Add these to the casserole, too.

Place a lid on the casserole and transfer to the oven.

Cook for 15 minutes, then stir in the borlotti beans, replace the lid and return to the oven. Cook for another 15 minutes, until everything is cooked through and your house smells amazing! Serve with some boiled new potatoes.

Dirty Vegan by Matt Pritchard is published by Mitchell Beazley, £20. Photography by Jamie Orlando Smith and Chris Terry. Dirty Vegan is on BBC One Wales and available on BBC iPlayer in January 2019.

Visit our vegan recipe section for more delicious meat-free meal ideas