Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Vegan potato and aubergine bake

I don't know my own taste buds at the moment. After loving lasagna with hummous and aubergine last week, I have discovered potato bake made with tahini and aubergine. This version is veganised and cheese free, but there is a definite nod to that cheesey creaminess I profess to dislike. It seems I can profess that no longer, at least when tahini (or hummous) is involved...


In contrast to the lasagna, this is a side dish rather than a main. It pairs well with bean / legume dishes and I imagine some veggie sausages would be a good match too.

There is a surprising amount of overlap with my recent lasagna recipe. This wasn't intentional, but ingredients and methods do have a tendency to enter my imagination and permeate my cooking for a while. I think the aubergine pairs particularly well with the potato here, and it gives a lighter outcome than using just potato.



Potato and aubergine bake
A slightly creamy, fully flavoured side dish that showcases potatoes and aubergines beautifully
Vegan
Serves 4 as a side

Author: Bite-sized thoughts


Ingredients
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp + 1 tsp nutritional yeast, divided
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk or milk of choice
1 tbsp dried oregano
Decent pinch salt
Few decent cracks black pepper
2 large potatoes, thinly sliced (I didn't peel mine)
3 large aubergine (eggplant), thinly sliced
1 tin (425g) tinned crushed tomatoes
1 small pepper, chopped

Method
Preheat your oven to 175'C / 350'F. 

Make the sauce by whisking together the tahini, 1 tbsp nutritional yeast, milk, oregano, salt and pepper in a small bowl or jug.

In a large casserole or baking dish, alternate layers of potatoes and aubergine, spreading some of the tahini sauce and crushed tomatoes between each layer (retain some of each for the top of the dish). Add the chopped pepper randomly into the mix as you go.

To finish, spread the last of the crushed tomatoes and tahini sauce over the top of the dish. Sprinkle with the extra nutritional yeast and then bake for 30 minutes uncovered, and then 30 minutes covered (60 minutes total).


Have you surprised yourself by enjoying any new foods / dishes lately?

11 comments:

  1. Recently I made a tahini bake (quite different to this) that made me feel I should bake with tahini more so I must try this. I remember a friend saying that tahini and tomatoes is quite a meaty combination and I can imagine this is quite substantial - I would probably just add a tin of chickpeas to make it a one pot meal. and it is interesting seeing how your meals develop incrementally - it is one of the great aspects of blogging!

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    1. Your idea of adding chickpeas is spot on - that is all it needs to become a meal and I will adopt the idea when I next make this! Thanks for the suggestion :)

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  2. This sounds quite good - I must remember some of these recipes to try out.

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  3. What a great idea Kari to bake with Tahini. I never thought of that. I have some amazing Italian oregano that would go so well with this.

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    1. Italian oregano would be just the thing!

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  4. My guess is that the tahini flavor is just so fabulous you can't resist! I understand that.

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  5. That's a really lovely looking bake with great flavours. Perfect for our winter conditions too. I think eggplant and tahini go really well together xx

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