Cannelloni is a traditional Italian food, which thanks to its uniqueness, has fans all over the world!
We love them because they are offered for endless vegan recipes. We can fill them with vegetables, mushrooms, legumes, but also enrich them with nuts and nutritional yeast. Here are some ideas:
- With spinach, herbs, and walnuts in almond milk sauce
- With mixed mushrooms and rosemary in tomato sauce
- With black lentils in pesto sauce
- With fried soy minced meat and nutritional yeast.
Here's one of our simplest and favorite recipes. Cannelloni with lentils and vegetables in red sauce, topped with tomato sauce and almond milk, flavored with nutmeg. The recipe is super flavorful, simple and within budget, and is a food that can be served as a pleasant surprise at our daily table as well as when we have guests coming over.
When you make it, tell us what you think in the comments below!
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Cannelloni with lentils and vegetables
Ingredients
Ingredients for the lentils (if you use canned, skip this step)
- 1 cup lentils (uncooked)
- ¼ tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp curry
- 2 bay leaves
Ingredients for cannelloni and filling
- 1 package cannelloni (250 g/8.8 oz)
- 4 Tbsp olive oil for sautéing
- 4 tomatoes grated or blended
- 3 carrots roughly chopped
- 1 onion finely chopped
- ½ cup celery finely chopped (preferably ribs)
- 1 clove garlic finely chopped
- 1 tsp sugar unprocessed or other vegan sweetener
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- ⅛ tsp ground clove
- salt and pepper
Ingredients for the sauce they'll boil in
- 1 tomato grated
- 1 cup almond milk or another grated tomato
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp sugar unprocessed or other vegan sweetener
- salt and pepper
Instructions
Lentils (if you use canned ones, skip this step)
- Remove any stones from the lentils, and rinse them thoroughly in a strainer under the water.
- Boil the lentils with the rest of the lentils ingredients (¼ tsp cumin, ¼ tsp curry, and 2 bay leaves) for 20 minutes. Take them out, strain them and keep them aside.
Cannelloni
- In a large pan, heat 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil with spices for filling (½ cup nutmeg, κανέ cup cinnamon, ¼ cup spice, ⅛ cup cloves), at medium to high temperature.
- Once hot, sauté the onion for 2 minutes.
- Then, add the carrots, celery, and garlic and sauté for another 2 minutes.
- Next, add the tomatoes and sugar (or sweetener) and simmer for 5 minutes. Don't let the sauce get completely dry. It'll be ready as soon as it starts to thicken.
- Put the sauce from the pan, and all the filling ingredients in a blender (or food processor- if necessary, do it in 2 batches), and half the lentils.
- In a bowl, combine the mix from the blender and the rest (whole) lentils and stir gently with a large spoon.
Heat the oven to 200°C/392°F. Fill the cannelloni with a small spoon and line them up in a medium baking pan (37x30x5,5 cm/14,5x12x2 in). - Finally, mix all the ingredients for the sauce and pour over the cannelloni.
- Bake for 40 minutes or until the top is golden.
- Enjoy! 🙂
Notes
- If you want to have a crunchier cannelloni crust, and a more intense flavor, before putting them in the oven, sprinkle them with one of the following toppings:
- Nutritional yeast
- Rusks or toasted bread crushed in a mortar
- Vegan topping: In a food processor (or blender), mix ½ cup of cashews, 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast, salt and pepper, and ¼ tsp nutmeg
- If you want a more intense flavor and color in your sauce, add 1 Tbsp tomato paste.
- In the stuffing, you can also add chopped nuts, such as walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts, but also dried fruits, such as raisins, and cranberries.
Nutrition
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Thanks! We look forward to trying them out and tell us what you think!
They look great!
I'll make it!
Well done!