Recipe: Haggis, neeps and tatties (Scottish)

Inarguably one of the most famous Scottish dishes is haggis. It is usually served with neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes). Hubby volunteered to cook this for us for dinner one evening during our holiday.

Haggis, neeps and tatties and a dram

Haggis is a savoury pudding, traditionally made from sheep's pluck (heart, liver and lungs) which is minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock and encased in the animal's stomach and simmered for approximately three hours. However, most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a sausage casing rather than an actual stomach. Its Scottish tag came about as a result of Robert Burns' "Address to a Haggis" and is considered the national dish of Scotland, usually served as a main course during Burns supper.

Most families would buy haggis from a reputable butcher or the supermarket. Every year, there would be competitions to find the "best haggis" and the winning butchers will proudly display their win on their shop window. Haggis can also be easily bought in any supermarkets all year round (in Scotland), and we chose Simon Howie's original haggis. Looking at the ingredients, they use lamb lungs along with beef liver and heart.

Haggis, before cooking

Since we did not do any research before shopping for the ingredients, we used turnips since it is directly translated to neeps in Scottish, but turns out the swede is also called neeps. Swede is orange in colour, so it gives a nice colour contrast to the tatties. We will just have to remember to get swede instead of turnips in future, however the mistake wasn't all that bad as the turnips have a subtle sweetness that went very well with the haggis.

Good job, Hubby!

The neeps and tatties are simply boiled and mashed separately. To cook the haggis, you can either cook in the oven for 90 minutes, boil for 45 minutes or put in the microwave for 5 minutes. Guess which option we went for? The easiest and fastest one of course :) The cooked haggis is served with a mound of neeps and tatties as well as a dram (a glass of Scotch whisky). To enjoy, simply mix everything on the plate together for a hearty Scottish meal. This particular haggis was quite peppery and moist, which I enjoyed.

Ended the meal with a very British dessert, also made by Hubby - stewed rhubarb with vanilla ice cream (recipe here). 

Haggis, neeps and tatties
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Serves 4


Ingredients
1 pack (454g) original haggis
2 turnips, peeled and cut into big chunks
5-6 boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into big chunks
50g butter
Salt and pepper
A dash of milk

1. Bring two pots of salted water to the boil, and cook the turnips and potatoes separately. Boil until soft, about 15 minutes.

2. Mash separately. For the mashed potatoes, add the butter, milk and season with salt and pepper.

3. For the haggis, remove haggis from all packaging. Place in a microwave dish, cover and place in the microwave. Cook on full power (800W) for 3 minutes. Remove and gently break up haggis with a fork then cook for a further 2 minutes. It should look like mince meat when done.

4. To serve, place haggis on plate, followed by a mound of neeps and a mound of tatties. Enjoy!

Haggis (check!), whisky (check!), Scottie Dog (check!) - for the full Scottish experience :D

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