Three cosy Austrian autumn recipes to try at home

Vienna-based food stylist and blogger Melina Kutelas is regularly making her followers drool when posting her latest recipes on her insta’ feed, @aboutthatfood.

We asked her to put together 3 autumn-inspired Austrian recipes that even the clumsiest and clueless cooks amongst us can out together!

In 2011, Melina made the decision no longer to eat meat because of health and ethical reasons. Adapting the Vegan lifestyle inadvertantly led to her getting more creative in the kitchen, which was when she discovered her passion for creating her own recipes.
About That Food blog began and has been powered ever since by this passion that she looks to share with other. The blog also looks to help people on their Vegan journey –a journey Melina says can be very confusing and frustrating, as well as exciting.

Autumn Vegetable Stew

Ingredients

• 4 small pumpkins (you can use different varieties)
• 1 cauliflower
• 2 medium onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 4–6 tomatoes (depending on their size)
• 2 handfuls of fresh baby spinach
• 250g unsweetened soy joghurt
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1 tbsp of canola oil
• a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp dry coriander
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder
• 2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
• salt & pepper to taste

Method

1. Heat up the oven to 220°C. Put the pumpkins into the pre-heated oven and bake for 30–35 mins.
2. In the meantime, chop the onions into small cubes, the cauliflower into little florets and mince the garlic.
3. Heat up the oil in a large pot on medium heat and sauté the onions in the oil. Once the onions are translucent, add the cauliflower and the garlic, toss them in the oil and leave them to fry for about 3 mins.
4. Cube the tomatoes and add to the pot. Reduce the heat a little and stir the tomatoes as they dissolve in the pot for about 5 mins.
5. Add the coconut milk, the spices and the tamari to the pot and make sure everything is well mixed in together. Cover the pot and let everything simmer until the pumpkins are ready to take out of the oven.
6. Cut a hole in the top of the pumpkins using a good knife. Remove the seeds and carve out the flesh. Put the flesh on the chopping board and cut it into smaller pieces, if necessary. Then add it to the stew.
7. Let everything simmer for another 30 minutes to until the pumpkin is mushy and almost liquified.
8. Finally, add salt and pepper to taste, and add the stew into the hollow pumpkins. Garnish with the baby spinach and yoghurt – serve and enjoy!

Cranberry bread dumplings in mushroom sauce

Ingredients

for the dumplings

• 200g bread cubes (you can buy bags of it in most supermarkets)
• 1 onion
• 1 tbsp vegan butter
• 300ml soy milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• a handful of fresh parsley
• 100g fresh cranberries
• 100g chopped almonds
• 2 flax eggs

for the sauce

• 200g brown mushrooms
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 onion
• 2 tbsp vegan red wine
• 250 ml coconut milk
• 1 tbsp tamari
• 1 tsp soup stock powder
• 1 tsp dry sage
• 1 tsp dry thyme
• 1 tbsp almond butter
• black fresh cracked pepper to taste

Method

1. To make the dumplings: make the flax eggs by whisking together 2 tbsp of flax seed with 6 tbsp of water, then set aside to allow it to thicken.
2. Then, chop up the onion and heat up the vegan butter in a skillet. Add the onions and cook until the onions are translucent. Put the onions in a large bowl with the bread cubes, salt, chopped parsley, cranberries and almonds. Mix well, then add the soy milk and the flax eggs.
3. Start massaging the soy milk into the mix until it gets soggy and a it forms a dough like texture. Knead a little bit with your hands to ensure it comes together properly. Divide the dough into 6 parts and form the dumplings, with your hands. Wrap each individual dumpling up in aluminium foil and put them in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
4. When your ready to cook them, add them to your steam cooker, or steam pot and cook for 20 mins.
5. To make the sauce: heat up some oil in a skillet on medium/high heat, chop the onion and cook until translucent. Chop the garlic and the mushrooms, and add them to the skillet. Once the mushrooms are cooked, deglaze with the red wine.
6. Then add the coconut milk and the remaining ingredients. Stir well and let it simmer and reduce. Continue simmering until the sauce becomes your preferred texture.

Vegan Austrian Gugelhupf

Ingredients

• 125g coconut sugar or raw cane sugar
• 125g vegan butter + some extra to grease the baking tin
• 3 flax eggs (3 tbsp ground flax + 9 tbsp of cold water)
• 30g chopped hazelnuts
• 30g vegan chocolate chips
• 150g wholegrain flour + some extra for the baking tin
• 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
• a pinch of salt
• 60g vegan sour cream
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder

Method

1. Preheat the oven at 160°C. Make the flax eggs by whisking together the ground flax and the water and letting it sit for about 7 mins.
2. In your mixer bowl, combine the sugar, butter and flax eggs and beat until creamy (you can also use a hand held mixer)
3. In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, except for the cocoa.
4. Mix the flour mixture and the sour cream into the butter, sugar and flax egg, mixing each in a little bit at a time.
5. Once everything is mixed in together, fold in the chopped hazelnuts and chocolate chips and divide the dough evenly into 2 parts.
6. Mix the cocoa powder in with one of the 2 parts.
7. Grease (with the butter) and flour the cake tin. Then pour the light batter into the tin, followed by the dark batter. Using a fork, mix the two carefully (Make sure you don’t mix them in too much!)
8. Bake in the oven for about 35–50 mins. You should be able to poke a wooden skewer into your Gugelhupf-y without any batter sticking to it. Let the cake cool before turning the tin upside down and carefully shaking the cake out of the tin.
9. You can choose to decorate the cake however you want, with powdered sugar for example, or the more decadent version, with melted chocolate and blueberries. Or just leave it plain. Up to you!