NEVER ENOUGH GARLIC

Since childhood, lasagna has been one of our favourite foods, and now it's time to share with you the perfect vegan lasagna recipe. A vegan lasagna thats tastes incredibly close to the real thing.

Vegan lasagna is an artform since almost every single ingredient in a lasagna is based on animal products. This recipe has no meat, beef stock, milk, eggs, cheese, or anything else that comes from an animal.

Many traditional pasta recipes have eggs in them, but it's definitely not necessary, and you can easily get pasta without eggs. You can also make your own delicious, egg-free pasta if you have the time. 

A vegan lasagne doesn't necessarily have to be healthier than a traditional Italian lasagna, but this one actually is. To replace the meat, we use green lentils, and instead of milk, we use soy milk. To add umami taste and a lovely cheesy flavour, we use Marmite and nutritional yeast. It simply tastes amazing!

Let's get cooking!

Ingredients for the Ragù / "Meat" Sauce:

• 1 large onion
• 4 cloves of garlic (at least)
• 1 large carrot
• 2 dl (0.85 cups) cups of green lentils*
  
• 700 ml (3 cups) tomato passata
• 500 ml (1.3 cups) water
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 2 tbsp. Marmite
• 3 tbsp. tamari or soy sauce
• 1.5 tsp. ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp. dried oregano
• 1 tbsp. dried thyme
• 1 tbsp. dried basil

* If you aren't a fan of lentils, you can use a minced meat replacement, for instance Beyond Meat, Like Meat, or Naturli' Minced instead.

Ingredients for the Bechamel Sauce:

• 600 ml (2.5 cups) unsweetened plant milk (we used soy)
• 200 ml (0.85 cups) vegan cream (we used Organic Oat Cusine from The Bridge)
• 4 tbsp. nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• Salt and pepper to taste

Other ingredients:

• Pasta sheets - enough to cover a medium-sized oven-proof tray 3 times (we made our own spinach-flavoured pasta sheets for extra flavour, but you can easily use store-bought pasta sheets)

Instructions for the Ragù / "Meat" Sauce:

1. Chop the onion and crush the garlic. Toss in a pot with olive oil and sautée on medium heat for about 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, peel and grate the carrot, and toss it in the pot.
3. Add the oregano, thyme, pepper, and basil to the pot and sautée for a minute.
4. Add the tomato passata, water, and vegetable stock cube, along with the tamari/soy sauce.
5. Bring it to a boil, and dissolve the Marmite in the sauce.
6. Add the lentils and bring to a boil again. Boil for at least 20 minutes - test to check when the lentils are soft enough.
7. Stir every few minutes, and make the bechamel sauce in the meantime.

Instructions for the Bechamel Sauce:

1. Toss/pour all the ingredients in a pot.
2. Bring to a boil, and let it simmer for a bit until it's creamy but not thick. (If you've used a non-creamy plant milk, you might want to thicken the bechamel with some corn starch or similar). 
3. Your bechamel sauce is ready 
   

The Assembly:

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C (390°F).
2. Add 1/5 of the bechamel sauce to a medium-sized oven-proof tray.
3. Add 1/4 of the ragu on top of the bechamel.
4. Add a layer of pasta sheets on top of the bechamel and ragu. Cover it all.
5. Add 1/5 of the bechamel and 1/4 of the ragu on top of the pasta.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5. 
7. Add a final layer of pasta sheets, then the rest of the ragu.
8. Now you have 2/5 of the bechamel left for the top. Cover the ragu completely with the rest of the bechamel so that the lasagna is covered with a thick layer of bechamel.
9. Optional: drizzle some nutritional yeast on the bechamel to make the top layer extra cheesy .
10. Bake for half an hour or until crispy on top but not burned.
11. Enjoy!