Yotam Ottolenghi’s vegan recipe for celebration sticky rice cake | Meals

All meals is a celebration of a little something, but some dishes are specially celebratory. What makes them so? For me, they have to have a constructed-in “ta-da!” variable, and something that you want to flip around, inverting it from a pan and on to a platter, allows no conclude with that. Savoury dishes with the phrase “cake” in their name also have a tendency to remember to, as do ones with layers. These are just some of the things that make a dish “celebratory” for me, and there will be more for some others still. A single point is a will have to, while: it really should be pretty difficult to wander into a place holding a celebratory dish without emitting a very little whoop.

Celebration sticky rice cake

May well I current what could possibly soon be the celebratory vegan centrepiece for your Christmas (or any other) table. It is influenced by lo mai gai, a basic Chinese dim sum built with steamed glutinous rice. My go-to model of sticky rice is Thai Flavor, which wants only 30 minutes of soaking if you use a different brand, verify the guidance, because it could possibly need to have an right away soak in chilly drinking water or a 3-hour soak in very hot drinking water.

Soak 30 min
Prep 5 min
Cook dinner 1 hr 30 min

400g Thai sticky rice – I use the Thai Flavor model (see introduction)
200g completely ready-cooked and peeled chestnuts, roughly chopped
Salt and black pepper

For the roast mushrooms
500g oyster mushrooms, approximately torn
250g chestnut mushrooms, around chopped into 3cm parts
90ml soy sauce
120ml olive oil
3 tbsp tomato paste
60ml maple syrup
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp floor allspice
½ tsp ground cumin

For the pine nut salsa
5½ tbsp (20g) picked parsley leaves
20g chives, around chopped
6 spring onions, trimmed and julienned
60g pine nuts, perfectly toasted
60ml olive oil
40ml lemon juice

Heat the oven to 240C (220C enthusiast)/475F/gasoline 9. Put the rice in a significant bowl of cold water and go away to soak for 30 minutes (or more time, relying on brand name – see introduction).

Set all the roast mushroom substances in a higher-sided, 30cm x 23cm baking tray, and period with a quarter-teaspoon of salt and a great deal of black pepper – about 40 twists of the grinder. The size of the tray is essential in this article, simply because the mushrooms will need to sit snugly so the liquid does not evaporate. Blend effectively to incorporate, then roast for 15 minutes.

Take out the mushrooms from the oven and pour all the liquid from the tray into a modest saucepan: this will be your gravy.

Give the mushrooms a good stir, then return them to the oven for a different 15-20 minutes, or till golden brown. Stir in the chopped chestnuts and established aside.

Line the base of a 20cm forged-iron pan for which you have a lid with a circle of greaseproof paper. Grease the paper and the sides of the pan with oil, then spoon in the roast mushrooms and flatten them out to create an even layer.

Drain the rice, then mix with 350ml space-temperature drinking water and a teaspoon and a quarter of salt, then put the rice on top rated of the mushrooms. Flatten the surface of the rice – it should really be just lined by h2o – then use a chopstick or skewer to poke 6 holes in the rice all the way to the base of the pan, to let steam escape when it is cooking.

Set the pan on a medium-large warmth until eventually the h2o begins to simmer, then decrease the heat to small, cover with a lid and cook for 35 minutes. Clear away from the warmth and, without lifting the lid, depart to rest for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, blend all the salsa ingredients in a smaller bowl with a 3rd of a teaspoon of salt, and established apart.

Include two tablespoons of water to the gravy pan, location on a medium-large heat and prepare dinner carefully for three minutes, whisking the mixture to integrate all the things, until finally heated as a result of.

As soon as the rice has rested for 10 minutes, run a knife all-around the edge of the pan to launch it from the sides. Position a massive, lipped platter on leading of the pan, then quickly flip the total point about to launch the cake from the pan and on to the platter. Remove and discard the greaseproof paper.

Major the rice cake with fifty percent the pine nut salsa, then pour the warm gravy all over the exterior, like a moat. Serve very hot with the remaining salsa alongside.

• This report was amended on 12 December 2020 because an mistake released in the course of enhancing led the subheading to refer to the dish as Thai-impressed, relatively than Chinese-inspired.