Keshi Yena vegan

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 400g tofu
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 bell pepper(s), red
• 1 onion(s)
• 2 stalks celery
• 5 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp paprika powder, smoked
• 1 tsp pepper
• ½ tsp cumin
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 can of tomatoes, chopped, approx. 400 g
• 60 g olives
• 85 g prunes
• ½ lemon(s), juice
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce, vegan
• 120 ml white wine
• Cheese substitute, vegan, 100 – 200 g depending on the size of the casserole dish
• 70 g cashew nuts, roasted

Instructions

Working time approx. 10 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 45 minutes; Total time approx. 55 minutes

Aruba’s national dish

First, squeeze out the water from the tofu. Then chop the vegetables. Dice the onion and celery and chop the garlic. Slice the olives into rings and slice the prunes and bell pepper. Dice the squeezed tofu. Briefly fry the onion in the oil until translucent. Then add the celery and bell pepper and continue frying briefly. Add the garlic and mix everything together. Add all the spices and fold in. Deglaze everything with white wine, let it simmer briefly, and then add the chopped tomatoes. Add the prunes, olives, and Worcestershire sauce to the simmering pan contents and stir to combine. Now add the tofu and lemon juice and mix everything together again. Simmer the dish for about ten minutes. In the meantime, cover the bottom of the baking dish with the vegan cheese. After ten minutes, add the cashews to the pan and fold in. Pour the contents of the pan into the baking dish and cover with the remaining cheese. Bake the casserole in the oven at 180°C (top/bottom heat) for 25 minutes. Then serve with Keshi Yena. For the really creative, I recommend making your own vegan cheese, as this better conveys the cheese flavor. There’s a recipe for this in my recipes.