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Vegetarian kapsalon ("Dutch loaded fries") aka "knolsalon"

Kapsalon is a famous kebab-shop meal in the Netherlands. We've had a really nice vegan version where the kebab meat is replaced by braised celeriac, so here's our home made version! Very nice for a Friday night dinner.

Takes 40 minutes, serves 2.

  • 600g celeriac (it's one small, or half a large one)
  • About 50g vegan butter
  • 30g sachet of shawarma spice mix (to make your own, you could combine: onion powder, garlic powder, sugar, paprika powder, dried oregano, salt and pepper, and maybe some other spices)
  • Oven chips (i.e. french fries)
  • A small handful of grated cheese (mature gouda) or grillable vegan cheese
  • A small head of lettuce
  • 1 ripe tomato
  • Garlic sauce (you can make this e.g. from vegan mayonnaise, some garlic, chopped parsley and a bit of lemon juice)
  • Chilli sauce (such as sambal oelek, an Indonesian chilli sauce popular in the Netherlands)
  • Cucumber (approx 1/3 of one)

Peel the celeriac, and cut it into "doner kebab" slices about 2mm thick. The easiest way to do this is to cut it into big "steaks" of celeriac each about 2cm thick, and then slice those steaks into the strips.

Boil a kettle. Start the oven preheating for the chips.

Melt the vegan butter in a deep and large frying pan, and saute the celeriac strips for about 5 minutes over a hot heat, until they start to take on some brown colour.

Then sprinkle over the spice mix, add enough boiled water to only-just-cover the celeriac, and give it all a good stir to mix. Now turn the heat down, and let it cook gently for about 25 to 30 minutes, mostly undisturbed. You're braising the celeriac here, so you want a gentle boil and not too much disturbance, since you don't want to break up the pieces.

While that's cooking, put the chips in the oven to cook, according to the packet instructions (e.g. 20 to 25 minutes).

Now you've got plenty of time to prepare the toppings. Wash and finely slice the salad (tomato, lettuce, cucumber). Grate the cheese.

When the chips are done and the celeriac is cooked "al dente" and the water is mostly gone, you're ready to assemble. Put the chips into heatproof dishes (one per person), put the celeriac over the top, and sprinkle with cheese. Put this back in the oven for 3 or 4 minutes to melt. Take it out, spread the salad pieces over the top, then garnish with as much garlic sauce and chilli sauce as you wish! Eat messily, with a cold beer.

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