Austrian Vegetable Strudel

For this month's International Food Challenge, our host Briju Parthasarathy is taking us on a culinary tour of Austria. She gave us 4 Lower Austrian dishes to choose from and I picked the Austrian Vegetable Strudel.

Some wiki gyan about Strudel: Strudel is a type layered pastry with a -- most often -- sweet filling. Strudel is most often associated with Austrian cuisine but is also a traditional pastry in the whole area of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The savory strudel is filled with crisp tender vegetables and cheese. It almost sounded like the veggie pastry we used to get back home at the bakeries. Original recipe had rutabaga, parsnip etc, but I used vegetables I had on hand; sweet potato, carrots, green beans and red pepper. Also to add some protein, I added some soy granules as well.

Ingredients:

Phyllo dough - 6 sheets, thawed
Unsalted Butter - ¼cup/ 4tbsp, melted
Grated Parmesan - 1tbsp

For the Filling:

Sweet Potato - 1 medium, diced

Carrots - 2 medium, diced

Green beans - 1cup diced

Red pepper - 1 medium, chopped

Onion - 1 large, thinly sliced

Garlic - 2 cloves, minced

Soy Granules (TVP) - 1 cup

Dry Basil - 1tsp

Red chili flakes - 1tsp
Grated Mozzarella or Swiss or Monterey Jack - 1cup

Salt & Pepper - to taste

Method:

• Prepare the Filling: To speed up the cooking process, veggies can be boiled/ steamed or microwaved until crisp tender before adding to the skillet. I microwaved sweet potato, carrots and green beans separately and kept them ready before starting on the rest of the filling.
• Soak soy granules in hot water for 10 minutes. Drain and squeeze out the excess water and set aside.
• Heat 1tbsp olive oil in a large skillet; add red chili flakes, chopped onion, red pepper and minced garlic. Cook on medium flame until the onions are translucent and peppers are crisp tender, about 5 minutes.
• Next add the reconstituted soy granules, cook for 2~3 minutes, stirring frequently.
• Finally add the cooked veggies, basil, salt and pepper. Cook for another 3~4minutes. Remove from flame and let cool.
• Add grated cheese and mix well.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• For the Phyllo pastry: Keep the phyllo covered with a damp cloth at all times to avoid drying out. Brush each phyllo sheet with melted butter and layer them one on top of the other.
• Spoon vegetable mixture lengthwise down the center of phyllo, spreading it to within 1 inch of edges. Fold in short edges about 1 inch; roll dough from long side, jelly-roll style.
• Place the roll, seam side down in a baking sheet. Brush the roll with the remaining melted butter and sprinkle the grated parmesan. Use a sharp knife to make 4~5 slits on the top.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until Phyllo is golden all over.