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Southland Cheese Rolls
PARTY FOOD!
NEW ZEALAND
Southland cheese roll is a traditional New Zealand dish and one of its sacred treasures. Also called Southland sushi or roll-up cheese, it is a roll of white, sandwich bread slice on which a mixture of cheese, milk and onion soup is spread before it is toasted.
As its name suggests, cheese rolls originated from Southland, the most southern region of New Zealand. This recipe was first mentioned in the New Zealand newspaper New Zealand Truth in 1935. As the popularity of white sliced bread in the early 1950s grew, so did the interest in this dish. Cheese rolls were first known under the name Rat Trap, because of their cylindrical shape resembling commercial rodent traps of that time which also used cheese on toast as bait.
According to the legend, Southland cheese rolls were invented in 1912 by a woman named Dorothy McInnes. She was struggling to feed her 12 children one day while her husband was looking for work. So she sliced the bread very thinly, mixed cheese, remaining onion soup and egg together, and spread the mixture over the bread. She then rolled the bread slices, so she could cook them all at the same time.
Through time a lot of variations of the recipe were developed with various ingredients and types of cheese such as cheese roll with crayfish, stuffed with chorizo, made with sheep cheese or spicy cheese, but the most famous type is with cheddar cheese. We used a vegan version of cheddar cheese and self-made onion soup powder.
Southland cheese rolls are usually served with soup or alone as a starter. It is one of our favorite party foods of which our guests never can get enough.
RECIPE FOR 20 ROLLS
// a bit tricky // €€€
Preparation: 10 min // Cooking: 30 min // Total: 40 min
INGRIDIENTS
20 slices of vegan white toast bread
1 onion, roughly diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup of plant-based milk*
300g vegan cheddar cheese, grated
4 tsp of onion soup powder or DIY mixture**
150g vegan butter
salt and pepper to taste
- In a large saucepan melt half of the vegan butter over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add onion soup powder or DIY mixture, plant-based milk and vegan cheese and cook for up to 10 minutes, until the cheese has melted. Set aside for a few minutes to cool down a bit.
- Heat the oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Take a slice of white toast bread, spread a generous layer of the cheese mixture over the slice, roll it and place it on a baking tray. Repeat the process with all the slices.
- Melt the remaining butter and brush each roll with it. Bake it for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the rolls turn golden.
- Serve hot or warm, with soup or on its own.
- Kia pai to kai!
NOTE!
* We recommend using soy or oats milk, as these are less sweet.
** If you are making onion soup powder by yourself, mix 1tsp of onion powder, 1tsp of garlic powder, 1tsp of dry parsley, 1 tsp of red pepper powder and 1 vegetable stock cube.
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Keep it Vegan!
Thank you for taking your time and exploring our recipes! We hope that we have inspired you to try out some dishes.