This lasagna recipe replaces dairy with nutrient dense cashews, making this meal dairy free! This meal is full of nutrients as it also contains various vegetables, nuts and beans which contains many micronutrients such as magnesium, folate and iron. This recipe can also be made vegan by replacing the mince with plant based mince options available from supermarkets or by replacing the 300g mince with 300g of brown lentils (ensure they are canned or pre-soaked and cooked brown lentils).
Ingredients For the Bolognese:
- 1 brown onion
- 3 mushrooms
- 1 carrot
- Olive oil
- 1.5 cups of red kidney beans (pre-cooked and soaked or canned).
- 300g beef mince (or substitute for plant based mince or brown lentils).
- Herbs: cumin, pepper, salt, thyme, 2 cloves of garlic.
- 400g of crushed tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons of tomato paste
- Lasagna sheets
For the sauce:
- Food processor
- 1 cup of cashews
- 2 tablespoons of maple syrup
- ½ cup of nutritional yeast
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 tablespoons of apple cided vinegar
- 1 cup of water
- 2 tablespoons of hot sauce (I use vegan sirarcha mayo)
- 1/3 cup of olive oil
Method
1. Firstly soak 1 cup of cashews in boiling water for an hour.
2. Cut up onion, mushrooms, carrot and cook on medium heat with some olive oil. Add red kidney beans, mince, cumin, pepper, salt, mixed herbs and thyme to the vegetables that have now browned. Add tomato paste and crushed tomatoes and leave to simmer for an hour.
3. In the meantime preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
4. Drain cashews and add to processor. Add in maple syrup, nutritional yeast, garlic, apple cider vinegar, hot sauce and 1/3rd cup of olive oil and blend on high for 1 minute. Add in water depending on desired consistency of the sauce.
5. Layer the dish starting from Bolognese to lasagna sheets then the sauce and repeat.
6. Cook the lasagna in the oven for 30-40 minutes until crispy brown