Vegan Waterzooi, a warming Belgian stew made with tofu and celeriac in a creamy sauce. Delicious on its own or served with some fresh crusty bread.
Veganizing Belgian Waterzooi
This Belgian dish sits somewhere between a stew and a soup. Waterzooi is traditionally made with fish or chicken, we used firm tofu as our vegan protein replacement and it tastes amazing. Just as delicious as the original and quicker and easier to make.
Waterzooi Ingredients & Cooking Tips
Vegan cooking creams are perfect for this dish and give the stew a wonderful creamy taste and texture. We use soy-based cooking cream when making Waterzooi.
We believe Celeriac is an essential ingredient in Waterzooi that’s missed out from many recipes. Cooked celeriac has a subtle celery flavour with earthy overtones. A slight sweetness comes out when cooked which works wonderfully in a Waterzooi.
We add white wine to this vegan waterzooi recipe to give the dish a richer more complex flavour. However, if you don’t want to add alcohol then it can just be left out of the recipe. The stew will still taste amazing.
Vegan Waterzooi
Ingredients
- 300 g firm tofu
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large leek sliced
- 1 large onion diced
- 1 large carrot diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 200 ml white wine* optional
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 clove
- Pinch nutmeg
- 500 ml vegan chicken stock
- 1 celeriac
- 1 large potato
- 250 ml vegan cream
- 1 tablespoon chopped curly leaf parsley
- 2 teaspoons cornflour optional
Instructions
- Drain the tofu of any excess water and cut it into 2cm cubes. Coat the tofu with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and season well with salt and pepper.
- Heat a large, heavy-based pot over medium heat. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil and fry the tofu cubes on all sides until lightly golden all over. Remove from the pan and set aside until later.
- Peel and cut the celeriac and potatoes into small bite-sized pieces. Set aside for later.
- Add the sliced leek with the diced onion and carrot to the same pan. Add a pinch of salt then gently sauté until the leeks and onions are soft, around 6 minutes.
- Add the minced garlic and continue to sauté gently for a further 2 minutes. You don’t want too much colour on the onions or garlic just for them to be soft.
- Now add the white wine, bay leaf, clove and pinch of nutmeg. Bring to a simmer and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until most of the wine has cooked off. This will take around 10 minutes.
- Add the vegan chicken stock and the celeriac and potatoes. The stock should cover the celeriac and potatoes. If it doesn’t, top up with water until they are fully submerged.
- Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook until the celeriac and potatoes are fork tender, around 15 minutes.
- Add the vegan cooking cream and continue to cook for a further 2 minutes.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning. The amount of salt needed will depend on the amount of salt in the stock. We added ½ teaspoon of salt and a good pinch of freshly cracked black pepper.
- Optionally you can make a cornflour slurry to slightly thicken the stew. Add 2 teaspoons of cornflour and 2 tablespoons cold water to a small bowl and mix together before pouring into the pot. Bring the stew to a boil for 1 minute to thicken.
- Serve your Vegan Waterzooi in a bowl with plenty of warm bread.
