To prepare this vegan bolognese sauce you have several options, you can buy a vegan sausage that you like or also textured soy, with either of these two options it is good.
When I tried textured soy for the first time, I was not convinced. A few months ago I decided to give it another try and I didn't like it too much either, I went back to make a new attempt and this time I was completely captivated. The same thing happened to me with tofu, at first I couldn't even see it and now I love it.
The key is to brown the textured soy a little bit in a little oil or at least toast it in the pan, add tamari or soy sauce (although you can also use salt), spices and / or herbs and cook it with vegetable broth or water (it is tastier with the broth) until it is completely hydrated. In addition, it is very practical because it can be preserved dry and cooks in no time.
Vegan Bolognese Sauce Recipe
- One kilo of crushed tomato
- 75 grams of fine textured soy
- A large onion
- A medium carrot
- Three cloves of garlic
- 50 ml of red wine
- A tablespoon of oregano
- A tablespoon of sweet paprika
- Salt
- ground black pepper
- Virgin olive oil
To prepare this vegan Bolognese sauce we are going to use a fine textured soybean, although if you prefer to use a thicker soybean you can do it, it is a matter of taste. We will soak our textured soybeans for about 15 minutes, in a container with plenty of water and a tablespoon of sweet paprika. After this time we put the soy in a colander so that it drains well, and during that time we will prepare the rest of the ingredients of the recipe.
Peel the onion and chop it into small pieces with a sharp knife. We peel the garlic and hit them with the blade of the knife or with the hand to slightly crush them. And finally we peel a carrot and cut it into not too large pieces. In a deep frying pan or in a saucepan we are going to pour a drizzle of virgin olive oil and in it we are going to start frying the chopped onion, carrot and garlic, over medium heat so that they do not burn, and stirring from time to time so that they are well fried on all sides.
Once we have these ingredients with good color, add the drained textured soybeans, the red wine and the oregano, stir well to mix everything and then pour the crushed tomato into the pan or saucepan, being able to use crushed tomato from a can or tomatoes that we have previously crushed. We will keep over low heat for about 25 minutes, so that the tomato takes shape as the water they contain evaporates, until it is at the desired thickness.
When we have managed to leave the sauce with the density we want, we are going to season it to taste and if necessary we add a little sugar if it has been very acidic, and we can now serve our wonderful vegan Bolognese sauce next to the pasta dish. that we are going to accompany, or we can also use it to make a Bolognese pizza, some Bolognese cannelloni or a Bolognese lasagna. We hope you like this variant of the traditional recipe. It is rich, cheap, easy to make and has much fewer calories than the traditional one.
Servings / Units: 1
Approximate Preparation Time: 45M
Approximate Calories: 70
For the lasagna: 16 precooked lasagna sheets
For the bechamel: 600 ml of whole milk
25g butter
25 g of wheat flour
Optional: a touch of nutmeg a la béchamel
To gratin: 80 g of melting grated cheese, type Gouda or Emmental
Preparation of the bechamel sauce
While the textured soy bolognese sauce is cooking, prepare a béchamel sauce to mix with the filling and cover the lasagna.
To do this we heat the butter in a pan and, when it is melted, we add the flour.
Stir for one or two minutes to form a roux and lightly brown the flour. With this, the raw flavor is lost.
Add the milk little by little, stirring constantly so that lumps do not form or dissolve those that we cannot avoid.
We can use some rods and make sure that the béchamel is very fine.
Season to taste and cook for 15-20 minutes over low heat. We remove from the heat and reserve.
Assembling the lasagna. Baking and final presentation
Cover the base of a rectangular or square baking dish with a little bechamel sauce, approximately 22 x 22 cm.
We place sheets of pasta for lasagna on it and begin to layer: textured soy filling, a couple of tablespoons of béchamel sauce, pasta, textured soy filling, etc. In total, four layers of pasta and three layers of filling, ending with pasta.
We cover with the rest of the bechamel sauce and grated cheese in abundance.
Put in the oven, preheated to 200º C (with heat up and down), and cook for the time indicated by the pasta manufacturer. About 20-30 minutes.
If necessary, we switch the oven to the gratin function and brown the surface for 5 more minutes.
Remove from the oven and let it warm for a couple of minutes before serving.
As we are using lasagna sheets that are cooked in the oven, it is important that the béchamel sauce has a light consistency and is almost liquid. It will serve to hydrate the pasta, as well as the textured soy sauce and tomato in the filling.
Textured soy is bland and acquires its flavor from the broth in which it is hydrated and the seasonings that are added. We must be generous with the amount and variety of herbs and spices that we use.
If the lasagna is not golden enough, we can grill it for five minutes before taking it out of the oven.
Vegetarian lasagna with textured soy