Are you familiar with soul food? Lasagne is definitely food for the soul because hardly any other dish is so inviting, so awesomely delicious and makes everyone so happy! My recipe for a vegan lasagne with lentils and zucchini is soul food of the finest and deliciously healthy.
Vegan food for the soul
Soul food has its roots in African-American cuisine. Today, it is understood as a meal that makes you happy and satisfied. A dish that is nutritious, luscious and delicious and caresses your soul. Unlike traditional soul food, the contemporary version is much healthier and lighter but never misses to make diners happy.
My vegan lasagne with lentils looks inviting, tastes wonderful, is rich in protein thanks to the lentils and is less heavy with zucchini instead of pasta. You can prepare the vegan lasagne with lentils and zucchini in your own time. Put it into the oven a good half an hour before you like to eat. After a little cooling, it goes straight onto the table. A dish of finest soul food, which non-vegans will also enjoy with pleasure.
My recipe shows that vegan cuisine can do everything: my lasagne is creamy, tasty, rich in protein, low in carbs and calories.
Layer by layer of pure indulgence!
The lentil tomato layer is aromatic, flavorful full and with the lentils an ideal source of protein. Up to a third of the calories from lentils come from protein. Start with the preparation of the tomato lentil sauce. Once it cooks, you move over to the preparation of the béchamel sauce. The creamy sauce adds another dimension to the wonderful taste of your lasagne.
I use zucchini for the layer in-between the two sauces. Zucchini make the whole dish much lighter and are a fantastic low-carb option. Should you however prefer a dish with carbs, use vegan lasagne pasta.
If you like to watch the individual steps of the preparation of my vegan lentil lasagne with zucchini, here you are. This video does not only helps you with the various preparation steps but also gives useful information about vegan cooking. On youtube, you find many more of my Don’t Waste Your Taste videos with fantastic recipes and full of information on vegan cuisine.
To keep up-to-date with tasty vegan recipes, my classes and food for thoughts for better living, visit my Instagram account Rahel Lutz.
Enjoy – and make sure you prepare plenty, your lasagne might disappear faster than you think!
Vegan Lasagna With Lentils and Zucchini
Equipment
- 1x rectangular baking dish
Ingredients
For the tomato sauce
- 200 g lentils brown or green
- 1 gr onions 120 g
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 50 ml vegan red wine alternatively vegetable broth
- 350 ml vegetable broth
- 1 can of chopped tomatoes 400 g
- 1 tsp dried Italian herbs
- 2 twig thyme pick the leaves off
- 1 tsp paprika powder sweet
- 1 tsp smoked paprika powder
- salt and pepper
For the béchamel sauce
- 3 tbsp canola oil with butter taste
- 1 heaped tbsp whole grain spelt flour 25 g
- 400 ml plant based drink ideally mixed oat and soy drink
- 2 tbsp fine east flakes
- 1 tsp white almond butter
- ½ tsp mustard
- 2 pinches nutmeg powder
Additionally
- 3 small zucchini 750 g*
- ½ bunch fresh basil
Instructions
- It is best to soak the lentils overnight. This makes them a little easier to digest. You can also skip this step without any problems.
- Finely dice the onions and garlic.
- Heat some olive oil in a wide pan or pot and sauté pieces of onion and garlic in it for 5 minutes.
- Pour the soaked lentils in a sieve and rinse thoroughly. Roast together with the tomato paste in a pot / pan with the onions and garlic for about 3 minutes.
- Deglaze with red wine, add vegetable stock and simmer for 10 minutes
- Then add the chopped tomatoes, the fresh thyme leaves, the dried herbs, the two paprika powders, a little salt and pepper and simmer for another 15 minutes.
- In the meantime, heat the canola oil in a large pot for the vegan bechamel sauce. As soon as it is hot, add the flour, stir well with a whisk and sauté briefly. Then deglaze with the plant drink and bring the sauce to the boil, stirring constantly, until the sauce is creamy. Remove from heat, add the remaining ingredients, stir well and season with salt and pepper.
- Preheat the oven to 180 ° C convection.
- Cut the zuchhini lengthways into thin slices approx. 3 mm thick.*
- Spread a portion of the tomato and lentil filling/sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. Cover completely with zucchini slices. Spread some more of the tomato and lentil filling on top. Spread some of the béchamel sauce on top and add zucchini slices. Repeat the process until the edge of the baking dish is reached or the fillings are used up. (If you have too much filling for your casserole dish, just take an additional small dish and cover it with the rest of the filling and the zucchini slices.
- Bake the lasagne in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes.
- Let cool slightly before serving and serve sprinkled with chopped basil or basil leaves.
Notes
Definitely yes! However, this lasagne tastes so very yummy, there are hardly ever any leftovers – you definitely need to wait until after the meal!
