Vegan Cannelloni

Vegan Cannelloni

Pasta is so vegan friendly that it is a joy to convert vegetarian recipes to totally plant based versions. I absolutely love cannelloni and this vegan dish hits all the spots as far as taste, luxury and comfort go.

The dish does take time to prepare, but it’s really worth the bother and much easier if you’ve pre-made the white sauce and precooked the lentils. For me, I always find myself relying on this dish for entertaining guests (both vegan and non-vegan), because everyone seems to like it - it doesn’t last long on the table. Haha 😆

You don’t need specialized noodles for this and lasagna noodles work very well as long as you make them pliable enough to roll up by boiling them for a few minutes.

Fresh tomatoes can be used instead of canned, but then they must be super ripe and you’d need to stew them over low heat for at least an hour. For most Italian dishes, I find that canned tomatoes actually work better than fresh ones.

Spinach, Tomatoes & Lentils

Ingredients Lentil & Spinach Filling _ ⅓ bunch of spinach (20 small- medium leaves) _ ½ cup brown lentils _ 1 red onion _ 4-5 cloves of garlic (according to preference) _ ½ tablespoon chilli flakes _ 1 vegan stock cube _ ½ tablespoon dried origanum _ oil for sautéing _ water for boiling lentils and 2 tablespoons for combining mixture _ ¼ tin of diced tomatoes _ salt & pepper

White Sauce _ 3 tablespoons all purpose flour _ 3 tablespoons margarine _ 1 ¾ cup of almond milk _ salt & freshly ground black pepper Tomato Sauce _ ¾ can of diced tomatoes _ salt & freshly ground black pepper

Method

Filling

Wash and rib the spinach. Add the lentils to a pot of water. Set the spinach over the pot in a colander to steam. Cook the lentils. When the Spinach has wilted, remove from the heat. (Do not overcook the spinach)
Dice the onion, garlic & the wilted spinach.
Add the onion to a pan with a little vegetable oil and sauté until translucent.
Add the garlic and sauté for another minute.
Remove from the heat.
Add the spinach, cooked and drained lentils to the pan. Add chilli flakes, a crumbled stock cube, origanum, salt and pepper to the pan.
Add 2 tablespoons of water and ⅓ of a can of diced tomatoes. Return to the heat and stir until the stock cube has dissolved.
Set aside and make the white sauce.

White Sauce

Add 3 tablespoons of margarine to a saucepan and melt. Remove from the heat.
Add 3 tablespoons of flour to the melted margarine and stir well to combine (until there are no lumps). This must be done off the heat.

Add a little almond milk to the pan (still off the heat) and stir well.
Return to the heat and gradually add the balance of the milk, stirring all the while.
When the sauce reaches boiling point and thickens, remove from the heat. Continue to stir for a minute while it cools to prevent lumps forming.

In a baking dish, add the balance of the can of tomatoes (¾ of the can). Add salt and pepper to the tomatoes and stir to combine.
Soften 8 lasagna noodles in boiling water until pliable (not totally cooked).
Add the 2 tablespoons of filling to the edge of the noodle and roll. Cut away excess pasta from the edge. Continue rolling to fill the baking dish.
Add salt and pepper to the white sauce.
Cover the noodles with the white sauce.
Add vegan cheese on top and bake for 35-40 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius until the topping is golden brown and the noodles are soft.
Enjoy with a green salad.

All images and the video are my own. Shot with my iPad and manipulated using Video Shop and Art Studio
The recipe was developed by me.