Add 200ml boiling water to the stuffing mix in a bowl
Mix until consistent then add 1 tbsp of vegan spread (we use Violife)
Leave to stand whilst you make the dough, then add a little more water so the stuffing isn't dry. You want it to be a bit sticky.
Full method for dough
Put the 200ml of water, lemon juice and the tin of butter beans with all of the juice from the tin into a plastic jug
Using a stick blender blitz until it makes a completely smooth paste
(You can pop this all into a blender if you have one for a really smooth texture)
Grind the nutritional yeast, stock, onion and garlic granules using an electric herb mill or pestle and mortar until it makes a fine powder and add to the wet mixture, blitz until combined.
Now add the gluten to the food processor then pour in the wet mix whilst it's running then hold on as its going to get a bit active! Mix on full power for 2 minute
Leave to stand for 1 minute
Mix on full power again for 2 minutes or until a uniform stretchy consistency has been achieved.
Making the joint
Spread the dough flat and measure it to be as wide as your steamer and twice as long
Roll out the stuffing to match the width of the dough then place near the top of the dough
Roll up the stuffing with the dough and create the joint shape
Tuck in excess dough around the roll of the joint, try to make this as uniform as possible
Oil a sheet of aluminium foil then roll up the roast as tightly as you can, cover this with another layer of foil so it looks like the picture.
You'll need to gently force this into the steamer
Steam for 1 hour
Turn out the joint the pop it back in upside down and steam for a further hour.
Pop the joint out and flip it over then steam for a final 30 minutes.
When the joint has finished steaming, remove the foil, pop it on to a cooling rack and leave to stand for 30 minutes, this will let it tighten up and form an outer layer.
Carve in to slices and serve!
Ideally you want to make the joint the day before to let it rest and firm up completely. This makes it much easier to carve.
If you manage to keep this overnight in the fridge make sure you wrap it up, you'll be able to slice it much finer for that Christmas sandwich you've been dreaming of!
Notes
We really hope you enjoy eating our roast as much as we've enjoyed getting the recipe just right. It's a staple in our house when Sunday comes around and as for a Christmas joint it's second to none!If you're in a hurry then this is the quick method:- (it works just fine but will produce a joint with a slightly grainy texture due to the dried thyme and sage. If you've got the extra minutes then I urge you to make the longer method, its really just grinding the herbs and blitzing the liquid first but the results are so much smoother and more consistent.)Quick method- Put all of the wet and dry ingredients except the vital wheat gluten in to the food processor. Blitz on full till smooth.Now add the gluten and blitz on full power for 2 minutes.Leave to stand for 1 minute then proceed with constructing the joint.Do make sure to wrap the joint up tightly, this will give you your final roast shape so spend time getting this looking nice! Seitan and chickpeas together will expand during steaming which will result in an airier and breadier texture which for this recipe we don't want!Either way we believe that once you've made this for the first time you'll never go back to shop bought vegan joints again. For the icing on the cake (so to speak) roast onion gravy is the perfect accompaniment. How you do your roast potatoes is entirely up to you of course, but we've got some top tips for those too!