Vegan Haggis Neeps and Tatties

There will be a good number of people who will have just read the title “Vegan Haggis Neeps and Tatties” and only recognized one of those four words. That’s a good assortment of Scottish colloquialisms right there. Scotland is my wife’s home country, and this is a classic dish from her homeland.

I’ll translate for you what you’re cooking here. Traditionally Haggis contains sheep’s meat, onion, oatmeal, suet and an assortment of seasonings. Neeps is a name given to the Swedish Turnip, and in this case, describes the tasty combination of boiled turnip and carrot coarsely mashed together. And lastly the tatties. More widely known as potatoes, which for this dish, like the neeps will be boiled and then mashed.

This is a simple frugal vegan dish, which may not be exactly how the Scots intended it, but they are prudent people who have concocted many national dishes with this ethos. 

Vegan Haggis Neeps and Tatties Ingredients

500 g of haggis (MacSweens vegetarian haggis which is certified vegan)

1 kg of King Edward potatoes

2 Tbsp of vegan butter

2 large carrots

1 Swedish turnip

Vegan Haggis Neeps and Tatties Recipe

Start with the haggis, it’s going to take the longest time, one hour and ten minutes to be precise if you’ve bought the MacSween brand. Pre-heat your oven to the cooking instructions on the packaging, place your haggis onto a baking tray, set it on the middle rack and that’s it, easy.

Now it’s time to give the tatties some attention. You need to peel them, and then chop them into roughly one-inch cubes so that they boil up evenly in good time. While you have your peeler, chopping board and knife handy, you should go ahead and peel and then dice your turnips and carrots too. 

When your haggis timer tells you that there are about 40 minutes left of cooking time, prepare a pot large enough for the potatoes, slide them in and pour over enough water to cover completely and season with a few cracks of salt, then bring to a boil for 15 minutes. When ready the potatoes should be good and soft, and slide off a knife if you were to prod one of them, then drain them in a colander and set them aside to steam for 10 minutes.

Prepare a second pot for your turnips and carrots, fill it with water and bring this to a boil as well. You should let your carrots and turnips bubble away for 20 minutes until they’ve softened up nicely and would not stick to a fork if you poked a piece. Set this orange and yellow medley to the side with the potatoes to steam for a while as well.

The last step before serving up this Scottish delicacy is to mash all of your veggies. Starting with the tatties, return them to the pot you cooked them in with a heaped tablespoon of vegan butter (and if you feel like chasing an extra creamy mash with a slight tang, add a tablespoon of vegan mayo, or even a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard). With the pot over a really low heat, pick up your masher and work the potatoes until you have a creamy smooth consistency and then turn the stove off.

Next up, repeat this process with the neeps mix. Return the colourful blend of carrots and turnips to a pot over low heat, with a tablespoon of butter, and add a few cracks of salt salt and pepper too. Rinse your hand masher of potato, and crush to combine the orange and yellow veggies. Work them down to a smooth yet textured consistency though, bits are ok, this blend will not have the same consistency as the mashed potatoes.

Feel free to season further, and with that, warm up some plates and serve up your haggis, neeps and tatties. Easy. And if you have any leftover carrots check out our carrot and coriander recipe.

VEGAN HAGGIS NEEPS AND TATTIES

This is a plant-based version of a Celtic classic. It's an affordable meal with few ingredients that's easy to cook and full of flavour.

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Prep Time 0 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Scottish

Servings 4

Ingredients

  

• 500 g of veggie haggis
• 1 kg of King Edward potatoes
• 2 Tbsp of vegan butter
• 2 large carrots
• 1 Swedish turnip

Instructions

 

• Pre-heat your oven to the temperature stated on the packaging of your haggis. Set the timer and once your oven is up to temperature, place it inside
• Peel and chop the potatoes into quarters
• Peel and chop the carrots into no more than 2 cm cubes, making sure that all your vegetables can thoroughly soften up in good time when boiling
• When the haggis has 40 mins of cooking time remaining tip the potatoes into a pot with enough salt seasoned water to cover them, and then bring them to the boil and leave them bubbling for no more than 15 minutes
• Prepare another pan for the turnips and carrots, pour over enough water to cover them as well, and boil them for 20 mins until they have softened up
• Drain all of the veggies in a colander and then them all aside for 10 mins to steam
• Return the potatoes to the pot you boiled them in and over the lowest heat possible, with a tablespoon of vegan butter mash them until smooth (adding some vegan mayo or wholegrain mustard for and extra creamy texture and tang), then turn off the heat and leave them while you mash the neeps
• Returning the carrots and turnip to the pot you boiled them in, over a really low heat again, mash the vegetables together with a tablespoon of vegan butter and a few cracks of salt and pepper, they will not become creamy in consistency like the potatoes, they’ll be smooth but with texture
• Take the haggis out of the oven once the timer has sounded, and then plate everything up

Keyword carrot, haggis, potatoes, sweed

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