Description
Superbly flavourful vegan tomato zucchini casserole with mozzarella that is oil-free and gluten-free. Excellent Mediterranean vegan recipe for side dish or main meal.
Ingredients
For tomato sauce:
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 680g (24oz) pureed tomatoes
- 2 tsps. dried oregano
- ½ tsp. garlic powder
- ½ cup additive-free tomato paste
- Handful of fresh basil, chopped
- Black pepper to taste
For vegan Parmesan:
- 50g cashews
- ¼ tsp Himalayan salt
- 2 tbsps. nutritional yeast
Other ingredients:
- 3 medium summer squashes
- 1 eggplant
- ½ of my vegan mozzarella recipe
- Fresh basil
*Serve with ½ cup cooked quinoa per portion.
Instructions
- Start by preparing vegan mozzarella (or use store bought).
- Then, slice up 3 medium summer squashes and one eggplant lengthwise. Place them on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper and sprinkle with Himalayan salt. Let sit for 15 minutes until water tears appear. Pat the excess water off with kitchen paper and bake at 190C (375F) for 15 minutes. Let cool.
- While the veggies are baking, make tomato sauce (in case you decide to make one yourself) and vegan Parmesan.
- For tomato sauce: first, sauté the chopped onion with 2 tablespoons of water for 5 minutes. Then, add tomato puree, oregano, garlic powder, and stir well. Let simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Finally, mix in the tomato paste.
- For vegan Parmesan: grind all ingredients in a spice/coffee grinder.
- Next up is layering. Take a baking dish (I used this 23x23x6cm dish) and start with store-bought or homemade tomato sauce, then a layer of zucchini slices, vegan parmesan, mozzarella slices and fresh chopped basil. Repeat with tomato sauce and follow the pattern leaving one layer to baked eggplant. Note: add only a thin layer of tomato sauce, otherwise your casserole could become too liquid, i.e. there would be too much excess water.
- Finish off with mozzarella strips and vegan parmesan. Bake at 190C (375F) for 35 minutes. Let cool almost completely before you try to slice it.
Notes
Storing: cover the baking dish with cling film or wax cloth and store in fridge for up to 3 days.
By the way, you’ll have some tomato sauce left over. Store it in a jar in fridge and use on any savoury meals as sauce or dressing.
Should you be in a hurry, feel free to use store-bought unsalted tomato paste instead of cooking tomato sauce from scratch. You’ll use up about 500g (17.6oz).
In case you still end up with too much liquid after baking, wait for the casserole to cool down. Then, simply take a straw and suck it out. I guarantee you a flavourful experience 🙂
You can substitute almonds for cashews in vegan Parmesan recipe.
In case you would like to use almonds instead of cashews in vegan mozzarella recipe, I’d recommend peeling them after soaking to avoid the peel pieces scattered all over the cheese. The latter is not obligatory of course – you would have more nutrition leaving the peels on.
Finally, if you you wish the meal to be lower in fat, simply don’t use up all of the vegan Parmesan and/or mozzarella. Store any leftovers in a sealed container in fridge.
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 of the recipe
- Calories: 325 kcal
- Sodium: 253mg
- Fat: 10.5g
- Carbohydrates: 39g
- Fiber: 11g
- Protein: 14.3g
