I invented this vegan version of moussaka and it turned out really well; even meat-eaters loved it. I would normally use red wine in a recipe like this; but I didn't have any, and the wine vinegar worked well. If you want to use home-cooked lentils instead of the canned ones, use 65g (2oz) dry weight, or 125g (4oz) cooked weight. When I wrote this recipe back in 1998, soya yogurt wasn't readily available, so I used tofu in the topping instead of the more traditional yogurt. An alternative to the topping described below is to replace the tofu with 1 Tbsp soya flour and 5 Tbsp plain soya yogurt.
Serves 2-3
1. Peel and finely chop the onion and carrot. Saute in stock made with the cube (or use oil if you prefer) until vegetables are softened.
2. Meanwhile, grate or finely chop the drained and rinsed tofu. Drain and rinse the lentils.
3. Add the tofu to the pan with the vinegar and stir for another 5 minutes. Add the drained lentils and the tomato puree, and about 250ml (8fl oz, 1 cup) water. Stir well, lower heat and simmer uncovered for at least 20 minutes, adding more water if necessary. Season to taste.
4. Meanwhile, to prepare the creamy topping, liquidise together the soya milk, nutritional yeast and the tofu. Season to taste. For the aubergine layer, slice the aubergine in ½ cm (¼ inch) round slices.
5. To assemble, use a square baking dish, about 20cm x 20cm. Put half the tomato sauce in the bottom and cover with half the aubergine slices. Repeat these 2 layers and finally pour the creamy topping over.
6. Bake at Gas 6 (200° C, 400° F) for about 1 hour until topping is set and aubergines are soft. Leave it in a little longer if you like the top to be browned.
Kake's (Vegan) Cookery Site - http://www.earth.li/~kake/cookery/
This page added 9 Mar 1998
(last altered 16 Apr 2001)
- comments and questions to
Kake L Pugh (kake@earth.li).