Monday, June 21, 2010

Vegan Eggplant Lasagna Recipe

My grandma bought me the recipe book 500 Vegan Recipes by Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman.  The book has so many recipes I want to try. I have never made traditional lasagna, but I don't think I'll ever need to. This vegan eggplant lasagna recipe was surprisingly good....ridiculously good!
This recipe has NO noodles and is completely gluten-free.

We picked fresh basil from the backyard kitchen garden...Lala helped.
 

I realized I didn't buy any tofu at the grocery store, but luckily I had some firm tofu in the freezer. I slowly thawed the tofu in the microwave. We cut the tofu out of the packaging and put it into a bowl. I put the tofu on defrost for about 2 minutes, then chiseled off the frozen liquid around the tofu. I defrosted for another 4 minutes and it came out perfect for crumbing into "tofu ricotta cheese".

Eggplant Lasagna
2 1/4 Cups marinara sauce
2 eggplants, sliced 1/8" thick
40 large-sized leaves fresh basil
1 recipe tofu ricotta (See below for recipe)
6 roma tomatoes, sliced 1/8" thick

Tofu Ricotta "Cheese"
14 ounces extra-firm tofu, drained and pressed
1/4 cup raw cashews, ground into a fine powder
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped basil
salt and pepper to taste
 
 


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Have ready a 9 x 13-inch baking dish
A quick note before assembling the lasagna: you will have 4 layers in all, so divide each ingredient accordingly.
Place a very thin layer of sauce in the bottom of the dish.


Place a thin layer of eggplant slices over the sauce.



Place a thin layer of sauce over the eggplant.
Place about 10 leaves of basil on top of the sauce.
Sprinkle with a layer of ricotta



Add a single layer of tomatoes over the ricotta.

 

Repeat until you have 4 complete layers.
Bake, covered with aluminum foil, for 30 minutes.
Remove the foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes.
Let stand for at least 15 minutes before serving, so that the portions don't fall apart when cut.
 
Sprinkle with from "rice parmesan" and viola....heaven!

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