Eggplant, spinach and tofu lasagne Ⓥ

One evening we were having friends over for dinner and I actually wanted to make my delicious eggplant tempeh gnocchi recipe, but I couldn’t find any vegan gnocchi (and didn’t feel like making them myself) whereas I had all the other ingredients. After some quick searching online I improvised and came up with a parmigiana alla melanzana/ lasagne combo. It was relatively quick.

Ingredients (6 servings)

• 1 block of firm tofu (400 g)
• 2 large or 4 small eggplants
• 400 g spinach (frozen)
• 400 ml tomato sauce
• 200 ml soy (or other plant based) cream
• Vegan mozzarella (I used “Mozzarisella”)
• 2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
• Handful of fresh basil
• 2-3 tsp. asafetida
• 1-2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1-2 tsp. Cayenne pepper
• Salt
• Pepper
• Unscented coconut oil (or olive oil)

Preparation

1. Wash then cut the eggplant in slices (lenghtwise) of about 1 cm thick.
2. Generously sprinkle salt on each layer and leave in a strainer (with a plate underneath) to ‘sweat’ for about 15 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
4. Drain the tofu (using plates method OR squeeze using your hands in the sink).
5. Press the tofu into tiny bits (using a kitchen machine OR a potato masher).
6. Season the tofu with the spices and mix well, add some olive oil so the spices absorb nicely (don’t use the nutritional yeast yet).
7. Heat some coconut oil and stir fry the tofu until slightly crispy.
8. Add the frozen spinach (or fresh if you prefer but then you’ll need a lot more) and leave to simmer until the spinach is done.
9. In the meantime, rinse the eggplant, then dry with a clean kitchen towel and slice the flesh a few times diagonally.
10. Place the eggplants onto a baking sheet. Brush each slice with olive oil and season with a little bit of salt and pepper, both sides and place in the oven for about 20 minutes, turn them after 10 minutes (or until nicely cooked).
11. Add the tomato sauce to the tofu/ eggplant mixture and let it simmer.
12. Mix in the cream, nutritional yeast and fresh basil, season with salt & pepper if necessary.
13. Slice the mozzarella.
14. Take 1 big or 2 medium sized oven plates and place a thin layer of the tomato sauce, add slices of eggplant, repeat until done, ending with a layer of tomato sauce and cover with mozzarella.
15. Add foil and place in the oven for about 20 minutes, take away the foil after 15 minutes.
16. Serve with simple green seasonal salad (purslane, lettuce, dandelion, …) and a lemon-olive oil dressing.

By now you must be wondering what happened to the tempeh? I seasoned the slices with sesame oil and Tamari & baked them about 15 minutes in the oven and served them with a tahini sauce as an appetizer. The one year old that was visiting with her parents LOVED the tempeh. A vegan in the making 😉

Om shanti -ॐ शान्ति

 

 

Vegan thai vegetable and tempeh curry Ⓥ

I love Thai food and especially everything with coconut and curry. I’ve made a vegan, gluten free curry with seasonable vegetables. Curries can be made with just about any vegetable or plant-based protein source (tofu, tempeh, seitan, pulses). It’s important to cut the vegetables in more or less the same size and to first add the ‘harder’ vegetables so they have more time to get tender. This is not a sattvic recipe as I’ve added some onion and garlic, but you can obviously leave that out. This recipe was inspired by the book Coco by Marie Laforet vegan cook, blogger, photographer and writer of cookbooks.

Ingredients (2 people)

• Soba noodles (example: brown rice noodles)
• 1 can of coconut cream (400 ml)
• 200 g tempeh (I used smoked tempeh for added flavour)
• 1 red bell pepper
• 0,5 zucchini
• 1 small broccoli
• 0,5 a red onion (optional, not sattvic)
• 2 cm of fresh ginger
• 1 garlic clove (optional, not sattvic)
• 3 tbsp of tamari sauce
• 2 tbsp of vegan thai red curry paste (I love the GEO organic vegan brand)
• 1 tbsp of peanut butter
• 2 tsp of turmeric powder
• 1 tsp of cumin powder
• 1 tsp of asafoetida
• Pinch of Cayenne pepper
• Salt & pepper
• Some unsalted, raw cashew nuts
• Coconut oil (for frying)

Preparation

1. Clean and wash the vegetables and cut in similar sized pieces.
2. Boil water and poor over the broccoli florets and allow to soak for 5 minutes.
3. Peal and slice the ginger in small bits.
4. Cut the tempeh in 1 cm squares.
5. Heat up the coconut oil in a frying pan (wok) and add the onion, stir fry for 2 minutes and add the ginger and the garlic , fry for 1 more minute before adding the tempeh. Fry for 3 minutes, or until the tempeh is golden.
6. Add the red bell pepper, stir fry for 2 minutes.
7. Add the broccoli, stir fry for 2 minutes.
8. Add the zucchini, stir fry for 2 minutes.
9. Add the turmeric, cumin and asafoetida and mix with the vegetables.
10. Add the tamari sauce, the curry paste and the peanut butter and allow the vegetables and tempeh to be coated with the mixture.
11. Finally add the coconut milk, bring to boil and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes or until the broccoli is done but not too cooked.
12. In the meantime bring enough water to boil for the soba noodles, add the noodles, bring to boil and lower to medium heat for about 5 minutes (see package instructions).
13. Check the flavour of the sauce and season with salt, pepper and Cayenne to your taste.
14. Once the noodles are done, rinse them under cold running water for a moment and directly serve with the curry sauce and garnish with some cashew nuts.

Amaizin coconut milk (organic and without any additives)

&

Thai Red Curry Paste (certified organic & vegan)  

Yogi recipe: gnocchi with tempeh, eggplant and tomato sauce

Last year I went to Frankfurt for the first time in my life and it was such an amazing city to discover, especially since it was super easy to find delicious vegan food ! In the Veganz supermarket there is this small café (Sesamo) where you can get delicious food to take away or eat there (there are some high chairs with high tables against the windows), they sell pastries too, all vegan! I love gnocchi, but it’s not easy to find a vegan version, at least not in Belgium. Hence I was super happy to find a gnocchi recipe with eggplant, tempeh, mozzarella and tomato/ basil sauce. I ate it twice that weekend …

Back home I’ve tried to recreate the recipe, hereby my version:

Ingredients*

• 1 block of tempeh
• 1 large or 2 small eggplants
• 1 portion tomato sauce (home-made or bought)
• Gnocchi (I buy a vegan version at an organic supermarket)
• Fresh basil
• Vegan mozzarella cheese, i.e. Daiya, Tofutti or Cheezly (so far, I’ve only found it in Ekoplaza, in the Netherlands)

*I use mostly organic, unless impossible to find.

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Cut the tempeh in 1 or 2 cm pieces or strips. Marinate it for at least 30 minutes in a mix of shoyu or tamari sauce mixed with some olive oil and black pepper. Wash and cut the eggplant in cubes, add salt, leave it for about 30 minutes until the water comes out of the eggplant, use paper towels or a clean kitchen towel to wipe off the excess water.
Sprinkle olive oil and black pepper on the eggplant cubes, spread out on an oven plate, in one layer and put in the oven. (You can add garlic if you like that’s not a sattvic ingredient, so I don’t use it in my yogi recipes). Add the tempeh in an oven plate and put in the oven as well. After about 10 or 15 minutes, turn the eggplant (or when well baked), idem for the tempeh. Cut the mozzarella cheese in thin slices. Wash the basil and shred the leaves. Boil a big pot of water for the gnocchi. When the tempeh and eggplant are well baked, transfer them to a big pot, add the tomato sauce, fresh basil and mozzarella cheese, add salt and pepper to your taste. You might want to add some fresh cherry tomatoes (when in season) and leave the sauce for an additional 5 to 10 minutes. Prepare the gnocchi according to the instructions. Serve the sauce on top of the gnocchi and serve directly. Garnish with some freshly washed basil leaves. You can serve the gnocchi with a seasonal salad.