Mexican Lasagne with Chunky Salsa and Vegan 'Sour Cream'
 
 
Raw Vegan Culinary Course
Author:
Ingredients
Lasagne
  • ½ Butternut Pumpkin, top half with no seeds
  • 1 TBSP Fresh Coriander
  • 1½ TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1 tsp Lime Juice
  • 1¼ tsp Ground Cumin
  • ½ tsp Ground Coriander
  • ¼ tsp Ground Chili (less if you don't like spicy)
  • 2 Ripe Tomatoes, diced into 1 cm
  • 1 Large Zucchini, sliced longway 1 cm thick
  • 2 Cloves of Garlic, peeled
  • 1 Small Red Onion, peeled & quartered
  • ½ Red Capsicum, seeds removed
  • ½ Kernels from ½ Cob of Sweet Corn
  • Pinch of Salt and Pepper
  • 20 g Baby Spinach, washed (for plating)
Chunky Salsa
  • 1 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 2 TBSP Pinenuts
  • 2 TBSP Fresh Mint, roughly chopped
  • 2 TBSP Fresh Coriander, roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp Lime Juice
  • 1 Tomato, diced into 1 cm
  • ½ Lebanese Cucumber, diced into 1 cm
  • 2 Lime Wedges, for serving
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
'Sour Cream'
  • 6 TBSP Coconut Yogurt
  • 2 tsp Lime Juice, no pulp
Instructions
Lasagne Sheets
  1. Peel the pumpkin.
  2. Slice the pumpkin into 3 mm rounds, you will need 4 rounds.
  3. Lightly toss in extra oil and bake in 190°C (374°F) oven for 20 to 30 min. Pumpkin is cooked when golden outside and soft inside, don't let it get crispy.
  4. Cut the rounds in halves.
Lasagne Filling
  1. Pre-heat oven to 190°C (374°F).
  2. In a small bowl, mix together 1 TBSP EVO oil, ¼ tsp cumin, ¼ tsp coriander, and ⅛ tsp chili powder.
  3. In a large bowl, combine the tomato, zucchini, garlic, onion and capsicum.
  4. Toss the vegetables in the spiced oil.
  5. Pour into a large baking dish and bake for 20-30 min at 190°C (374°F), or until golden outside and soft inside.
  6. Allow to cool slightly.
  7. Puree baked vegetables in a food processor until you have a chunky puree.
  8. In a medium saucepan, add the remaining oil and spices and cook on low heat for 1 min, be careful not to burn.
  9. Add the puree vegetable mixture and corn to the saucepan.
  10. Cook for about 10 minutes, until mixture begins to thicken and dry out, stir regularly.
  11. Add the chopped coriander and lime juice, stir into the mixture and take off the heat.
Chunky Salsa
  1. In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients and toss well.
  2. When plating, place a lime wedge on top of each portion. Salsa can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge for a couple of hours. If you want to keep it longer, do not add the lime juice and EVO oil till the last minute. It will keep for 24 hours without this dressing.
'Sour Cream'
  1. In a small bowl, combine the ingredients and whisk until creamy. Make this at the last minute or it will separate.
Assembly
  1. Place a dessertspoon full on the filling on the plate.
  2. Top with 3 baby spinach leaves and a slice of pumpkin.
  3. Repeat for 4 layers, and finish with the slice of pumpkin.
  4. Top with a dollop of sour cream, freshly cracked pepper and a sprig of coriander to garnish.
  5. Serve with Chunky Salsa and extra sour cream.
Notes
This dish is a fusion of Mexican and Italian cuisine. It consists of a lasagne-style, stack with a tomato based sauce filling. However, the ingredients and flavours have a Mexican twist.

For this lasagne, I used roasted, pumpkin as a vegan alternative to lasagne sheets. Using Mexican flavoured spices and 'sour cream' instead of béchamel transforms this dish into a type of stacked taco.

The dish tasted great, if a little on the spicy side. Next time I would probably use a bit less chili powder. The most outstanding part of the dish was the vegan 'sour cream', which is made of coconut yogurt and tastes exactly like its dairy based namesake. I was very pleased and pleasantly surprised with how well this dish worked out.
Recipe by The Raw Food Institute of Australia at https://therawfoodinstituteofaustralia.com/mexican-lasagne-salsa-sour-cream/