Any time I've made haggis for friends or folk that haven't ever tried it or are too put off with the idea of sheep's intestine and stomach, I always go for the veggie option - for some folk it's just easier to digest as the meat one is pretty full on.
That's not to say that a vegan alternative is any less delicious, if anything there's so much more going on in it. Oats, nuts, seeds, veg, peppery flavours and lots of different textures. It definitely holds its own up against the meat version.
It's super easy to make your own haggis but if you want to save a wee bit of time the ready available ones from supermarkets and local whole food stores are all great.
If it's a one off dinner you are making it might be cheaper also and leaves you more cash to spend on a nice bottle of malt whisky.
I'm old school when it comes to my haggis. I like Macsween and they have got the veggie one down.
Now here's where you out-do everyone else in the haggis dinner stakes, the whisky cream sauce and the neeps 'n' tatties.
Top tip is to make it as creamy, buttery and luxurious as you can, this is definitely not a dieter's dinner.
I love having any kind of green veg with my dinner especially my favourite veg, kale. Cooked with some olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, it's really simple but delicious.
There you go - everything you need to be someone's favourite person this Sunday.
Ingredients
Serves 4
500g Haggis (brand or supermarkets own)
400g Maris piper potatoes peeled and quartered
400g Turnip or Swedes peeled and cut into chunks
150g sunflower spread
2 heaped spoonfuls of wholegrain mustard
5 cloves of garlic crushed
3 250ml cartons of vegan cream
500g kale
Half a lemon
Salt
Black pepper
White pepper
Method
1 Follow the instructions for the haggis
2 You should have a pot of boiling salted water on for the potatoes and neeps. Add these to it and cook for about 30 min or until nice and soft.
3 Now your kale, destock and cut into nice chunks. Throw them in a baking tray and rub olive oil, garlic and a little bit of seasoning on them, I like to squeeze a bit of lemon juice on them also.
4 Gently roast them covered with foil in the oven for about 10 to 15 min. The lemon should keep the nice green colour to them also.
Back to the neeps and tatties.
1 Drain and let these dry a touch then whilst its still hot mash them till no lumps are left, then add your butter 100g and a splash of cream.
2 Taste and add a pinch of black pepper and if needed a little bit of salt.
Now for the whisky cream sauce.
1 In a nice big pan throw in your remaining butter, the garlic and the mustard and gently fry that off for about 5 minutes. Add the cream and stir whilst doing so.
2 Cook this off for a further 10 minutes; you can now add the whisky so it still has a bit of a kick when serving; remembering to stir and not boil then sit aside.
I like to use white pepper for the whisky sauce so throw in a pinch of that.
Now everything should be ready to serve up and still nice and warm.
To serve
Go for quenelles if you can or big-heaped spoons will do, you can also serve this in a stack if you're feeling fancy.
Doesn't matter really as once it's on the plate it's going to fly off it pretty quickly.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article