If you love lasagne but want a plant based version, this vegan lasagna is really tasty. You can use any vegetables so it’s a great way to use up odds and ends of veggies. This also makes it super easy to get in you five veg per day without too much effort!

This version of a vegan lasagna is based on a recipe I first saw in the Engine 2 recipe book , but I have tweaked it to my own version and use the vegetables I have to hand or want to use up.

It takes about an hour all up to make, and is well worth the effort.

You can put as many different  veggies as you want, but I find its good to have about 6 or 7 different ones which gives a good flavour.  You can make a different version every time. I make enough to freeze as its great to take to work for lunch, or to have after a busy day when you cant be bothered to cook. Its also a great dish to serve if you are having guests and can be paired with a green salad and garlic bread.

It has tofu in there, but you cant taste it so no need to worry about non vegan family and friends who may say they hate tofu.. they don’t need to know!! It just gives the lasagna a nice creamy texture.

Ingredients:

For the lasagna:

• 1 box large lasagna sheets
• 1 bottle passata (pasta sauce)
• 1 large white onion diced
• 1 cup button mushrooms sliced
• 1 red capsicum (bell pepper)
• 300gms silken tofu
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon coconut or olive oil
• chilli flakes or ground chilli – ¼ to ½ teaspoon- adjust to taste- should have a nice zing without too much heat.
• Cumin – 1 teaspoon
• Garam Masala – 1 teaspoon
• 2 cups red kidney beans
• 2 cups pumpkin
• 1 swede

For the topping:

• 4 medium tomatoes – thinly sliced
• Nutritional yeast or crushed cashews (use a food processor for the raw cashews to make a sprinkle for the top if preferred to nutritional yeast)
• Baby leaf spinach

To make:

Peel and thinly slice the pumpkin and swede

Steam until partially cooked but still a bit firm

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C /350 F

Place one layer of the lasagna sheets on the bottom of a large casserole dish – oblong or square works best. Break the sheets as needed to fill in gaps – it doesn’t need  to be precise.

Cover the bottom sheets with a generous amount of passata and spread over the sheets evenly. A pastry brush works well to do this.

Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the capsicum, onion, garlic and mushrooms until soft and slightly brown. Add a splash of soy sauce while cooking. Add in the tofu and kidney beans and stir to mix.

Remove from the heat and spread the mixture over the bottom layer of lasagna sheets

Add another layer of lasagna sheets and passata.

Lay the pumpkin and swede evenly over the sheets and then top with an last layer of lasagna sheets and passata. Cover the top baby spinach and sliced tomatoes.

Sprinkle a generous amount of nutritional yeast or the cashew nuts if preferred.

Cook uncovered in a moderate oven for 40 – 50 minutes. Check to see if cooked with a knife or skewer. The consistency should be uniformly soft

Serve immediately or cool and freeze for later. This will also keep well in the fridge for a few days.

Serves 6-8.

Enjoy!!

If you liked this recipe, try out a great cauliflower recipe here…