Veggie Pâté

This recipe for veggie pâté (végé-pâté) is tasty, moist and so easy to make. I first published it in 2013 and you can find a new variation of it here: Vegan Sweet Potato & Turmeric Pâté. I’m updating the original version below with simpler instructions.

Veggie Pâté

• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 medium potato
• 1 large carrot
• 1 small onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp celery seeds (optional)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a small baking dish with olive oil (the one I use is approximately 9 inches long and 5 inches wide).

Toast the sunflower seeds in a skillet for a few minutes, until they are aromatic and a bit darker in colour. Coarsely grind with a food processor or mortar & pestle*. Transfer the ground sunflower seeds to a separate bowl for now.

Chop the potato, carrot and onion into chunks, and mince the garlic. Add the vegetables to the food processor and process until grated. Add all remaining ingredients (ground sunflower seeds, olive oil, water, whole-wheat flour, nutritional yeast, herbs, salt and pepper). Pulse until just combined*.

*I like some texture to my pâté so I grind the sunflower seeds coarsely and I don’t over-process the vegetables. If you prefer a smoother pâté, process until you get a finer/smoother texture.

Press into the greased dish.

Cover with foil and bake in preheated 350F oven for 40 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking until golden and cooked through, another 10-15 minutes. Cooking time varies from batch to batch based on size of vegetables, so use this as a guide. The pâté holds best if it’s left to cool for 30 minutes to one hour before you dig in.

Serves 8-10. Recipe adapted from my mother.