This recipe was actually inspired by Lana del Rey. As a big fan of Lana’s, I’ve listened a lot to her latest album Lust for Life and especially to one of my favourite tracks, Cherry.
In the chorus she mentions rosemary and thyme, which are two of my favourite spices – so this is how a song led me to create a dish where I could use them as seasoning!

So I took my favourite spices and made this plant-based version of souvlaki – an absolutely delicious dish, if I may say so myself. The traditional version of souvlaki is grilled meat on barbeque sticks served with chips and sauce, but in my animal- and climate-friendly version, I’ve used grilled Oumph instead of meat.

What is Oumph?

Simply put, Oumph is vegan heaven. Oumph is a soy-based product that you can buy seasoned or unseasoned, and I just love the texture. It’s available in supermarkets in Sweden and Finland, and in WholeFoods in the UK, but if you can’t buy Oumph, you can easily change it for another plant-based meat substitute.

Recipe, 4 portions:

For the barbeque sticks:
2 packages of Oumph/ 280 g each, seasoned or unseasoned (or use other veggie bits)
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp grinded thyme or other herb by choice
1/2 cup of olive oil
Freshly squeezed juice from half a lemon
1 tbs Chinese soy sauce
Salt and pepper

Tzatziki:
1 cup plant-based yoghurt
Salt and pepper
1/2 cucumber
1 garlic clove
1 tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice

Salad:
2 tomatoes
1/2 cucumber
1/2 red onion
Olives
Vegan feta cheese (find recipe here)

Serve with:
10 – 12 potatoes
1/2 tbs grinded rosemary
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Instructions:
If you buy the seasoned Oumph you can skip this step, but if you want to marinate the unseasoned version or other veggie bits, here is my suggestion: chop or press the garlic clove and mix with olive oil, lemon juice, soy, grinded thyme, salt and pepper. Let the mixture marinate for one hour.

Chop each potato in four wedges and mix in a bowl with olive oil, ground rosemary, salt and pepper. Put the potato wedges on a tray and let them grill in the oven for about
25 minutes at 200C.

When the potatoes have been in the oven for about 15 minutes, put the marinated bits on barbeque sticks, place them on a second tray and put them in the oven together with the potatoes for about 10 minutes (or until they get a golden colour).

While the potatoes and veggie bits are in the oven, chop the tomatoes, half a cucumber, onion and mix with olives, plant-based feta, olive oil and salt.

To make the plant-based tzatziki, dice the rest of the cucumber and mix in a bowl with plant-based yoghurt, pressed garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Depending on which yoghurt you are using, the sweetness can vary. If you find it too sweet, just add more lemon juice and salt.

Take out the potatoes and barbeque sticks from the oven and serve with the salad and tzatziki.

Enjoy!

 

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