The other day I had a plan to make vegan lasagna so I purchased a pack of noodles after looking at the ingredients which seemed to check out. I got home, double checked the ingredients then saw that there were eggs in them. Uggh! There was no way I was going back to get the right ones.
Fortunately I had a large eggplant in the fridge that I had intended on making an eggplant dip with, so plans would change. The eggplant would become the lasagna noodles.
I like to make my own tomato sauce although there are decent store bought ones out there for convenience.
Sauce
One can tomatoes, two or three fresh tomatoes, 2 or 3 cups chopped mushrooms, 1 diced onion, 3 or 4 cloves garlic, 1 stalk celery diced or minced, 1 carrot diced or minced 2 bay leaves, 1 handful parsley 1 tablespoon tomato paste 1 teaspoon oregano, 1 teaspoon sweetener, salt and pepper.
Saute onions, garlic, carrots and celery with bay leaves, then add mushrooms, parsley and tomatoes. After simmering for a while until everything is soft, remove bay leaves and blend to a sauce. I got rid of the chunks but didn't make it too smooth.
For the layers I used minced tofu and brown lentils, cashew cream and zucchini.
Cashew cream
2 cups soaked cashews, juice of half a lemon, salt to taste, 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast.
Add to a blender and add slowly the juice from the soaked cashew, blending until smooth. Only add the liquid so it can blend. If you have a food processor you won't need so much liquid.
The lentils were cooked until soft first and the tofu was minced after marinating over night.
Eggplant lasagna
1 large eggplant, 1 zucchini, 1/2 brick tofu, 2 cups cooked lentils, cashew cream, tomato sauce.
Thinly slice eggplant. Cover the bottom of a pan or casserole dish with the slices. spread cashew cream over the layer. Spoon on the lentil tofu mixture then cover with zucchini. Put some tomato sauce on top then repeat the layering.
I kept going with the layers until I used all of the eggplant.
On the final layer I added red onion which I had intended to put in between the layers. It was put in a 350 F degree preheated oven. I used a covered casserole dish instead of a lasagna pan. I don't have a lasagna pan yet.
I checked it periodically instead of timing it, and when it was browned it was cooked inside. It was approximately 45 minutes.
I knew I needed something to go with it so I chose Parisienne potatoes which I scooped out with a melon baller. I haven't done this in over twenty five years. It's a fun way to eat potatoes but if you want convenience you could just buy them already made into balls. I cooked them in vegetable broth until they were tender. They could be tossed with olive oil or butter but I didn't bother.
I added an additional splash of cashew cream and balsamic glaze which I love on almost everything.
I decorated with purple yam puree which I made from a small lonely purple yam left alone in the fridge. I simply boiled and pureed for decoration only.
Before we ate I searched for something to put the leftovers in. It was clear to me by looking at this lasagna that it would be way too much for two people to eat.
I couldn't believe it when I had nothing left but a casserole dish to clean. It was a good thing I messed up on buying the noodles. This was satisfying without making us feel too full. I do wish I had left overs though.
Hope you are having a lovely weekend!