Since eating mainly a plant-based diet, I try to invent a vegan variant for all my favorite dishes. Of course, a classic Bolognese sauce could not be missed in my repertoire. The kids and Andrew are love this classic dish so the pressure was quite high. Initially, I started making my default recipe for Bolognese minus the minced meat. But that was a little too easy and the sauce missed a substance being meatless. In different vegan cookbooks, I saw that the meat was replaced with lentils or chickpeas. How genius!
In this recipe, I replaced the meat with lentils and added more vegetables. The best way to get the kids to eat vegetables is by putting them in soup, smoothies, and sauces. Lately, I also have a great love for bay leaves, which I have added to the Bolognese sauce too. It really makes a difference and gives the sauce more body. Try it out yourself and I hope you and your family enjoy it as much as we did.
Amazing Vegan Pasta Bolognese
Ingredients
- 400-Gram spaghetti (choose whole wheat or gluten-free options)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil + 1/4 cup water to deglaze the pan a little bit at a time
- 1 Yellow onion, medium, diced small
- 5 Garlic cloves, chopped finely
- 1 Carrot, large, finely chopped
- 3 Stalks of celery sticks, finely sliced
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 2 Bay leaves
- 2 Tsp oregano, dried
- 1 Tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup milk of choice (I used soy milk)
- 1 cup orange lentils or du puy lentils (rinsed and soaked for minimum of 2 hours)
- 1 can of peeled chopped tomatoes (400 gram)
- 1/4 Tsp black pepper, ground
- 1.5 Tsp Himalayan salt or more to taste
- 1/4 Tsp Red pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup Red wine (optional, but oh so good)
- 10 Sprigs of fresh basil + extra for garnish (shredded)
Instructions
- In a big pot cook the pasta according to pack with a big pinch of salt.
- In a large frying pan saute the onions in olive oil until brown and fragrant on high heat.
- Add garlic and saute until fragrant and golden brown.
- Add the chopped carrots, celery, bay leaves, tomato paste, oregano, and nutmeg and stir well and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add water, milk, lentils, tomatoes, the rest of the spices and cook for 15 minutes on low heat.
- When all is well incorporated and cooked through start adding wine, shredded basil, and add more salt and pepper to taste.
- Cook for another 5 minutes, just enough time to evaporate the alcohol from the wine.
- In the last step, you can either cook the pasta together in the sauce or keep them separate.
- My personal preference is to cook them together.
- Enjoy!
