I have always enjoyed eating potatoes in any form (grilled, baked, steamed, boiled, fried) and I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t like them. I think this love comes from my childhood. We used to grow a lot of potatoes in the past and we like to use them as a side dish in my home country. Since I’ve been vegan I started to use potatoes as one of the main components of my meals. Not as a side dish but part of the main meal.
Just think about baked potatoes, soups, stews, grilled veggies AND casseroles. From time to time I also make fries in my air fryer.
I enjoy preparing casseroles in autumn and winter. It’s such a comforting dish and you feel much better after eating it. It feels like it was not only good for your stomach but for your soul too.
I like to keep my recipes easy and try to use as few ingredients as possible because I believe in the pure taste of vegetables. However, I haven’t been always like this. I liked a lot of seasoning and artificial flavors. Yes, shame on me…
A few years ago I started to explore plant-based meals and I learned how to make food that is truly good for me. I struggled with my digestion for years, constantly afraid to eat at restaurants as I knew that I will have to run to the toilet in the middle of my meal.
I couldn’t understand why it was happening to me. How come that I was the only one having such issues? What was I doing wrong?
My GP did various examinations but couldn’t find anything. I was healthy! Nobody cared that I couldn’t keep food inside me for more than 5 minutes. I had constant diarrhea, was nauseous all the time, shivering because I didn’t get enough calories and I also couldn’t sleep at night.
Since traditional medicine couldn’t help me I did my own research. I read a lot about animal foods and impact that dairy has on our bodies. Honestly, I have never eaten too many dairy products anyway but my coffee creamer was ‘saving my life’ with every cup of coffee.
And so, I removed all dairy products from my life, even my coffee creamer. It didn’t come instantly but after a while I started to feel much better. Now, I have no issues at all and I know that removing dairy and later all animal products from my life was the best decision that I have ever made.
And from that time I started to enjoy cooking much more. I spend hours and hours in my kitchen, creating new recipes and discovering new ingredients and flavors. Usually, I do keep it simple but I also enjoy cooking 5 course dinners for my friends.
I prepare this casserole when I feel down as I know that I will feel much better after eating it. It’s comforting, warm, full of flavor, and simply perfect for cold days as I mentioned before.
I hope that you will give it a go and let me know how you liked it.
Thank you for reading!
Cheers!
Martina
Vegetable casserole
Ingredients
- 6 medium sized potatoes
- 4 baby eggplant
- 400 g tomatoes
- 4 rainbow peppers
- 2 medium sized onions
- 1 cup cooked chickpeas
- 1 handful fresh thyme
- 1 handful fresh oregano
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 tbsp himalaya salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- Soak chickpeas one day before you want to prepare your meal. I soak them for about 8 to 12 hours. Once soaked, cook it on medium heat for at least one hour and check if it's soft or not. You might need to cook it longer than an hour. If you don't want to spend so much time soaking and cooking chickpeas you can use the canned one as well.
- Preheat the oven to 230° Celsius.
- Wash your veggies properly. I like to use a special brush for potatoes to get rid of all dirt as I don't peel them.
- Cut potatoes into smaller chunks, onions, tomatoes and rainbow peppers into wedges and baby eggplant into round slices.
- Put all veggies in a big mixing bowl and add rinsed chickpeas, tomato puree, olive oil, salt, pepper, ground cumin and water. Chop thyme and oregano in very small pieces and add them to the bowl as well. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.
- Place your mixture in a big baking dish and bake it covered with tin foil for 50 minutes. Then remove the tin foil and bake for another 10 minutes.
- Remove the baking dish from the oven and serve the casserole warm.