This recipe has French roots. Since this is a Vegan (and healthy) one, I did not use the traditional ingredients of heavy cream, milk and a variety of cheeses, but I tried to create a dish that is pretty close! I sneaked in some sweet potatoes since I love the combination of white and sweet.
You won’t be missing the use of dairy in this creamy dish. I have managed to achieve that same crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside experience but using plants instead.
This dish is hearty, nutritious, flavorful, gluten-free, sugar-free and dairy-free!
I accompanied these scalloped potatoes with spinach. Spinach is known to be a very good source of iron for us vegans (and also non-vegans). 100 grams of spinach contains 2.7 mg of iron. It also contains 28 mg of vitamin C. Vitamin C also helps iron to be absorbed better in our body. I added more vitamin C by squeezing some fresh lemon over my spinach.
Mild iron deficiency may go unnoticed, so it’s crucial to get your levels checked routinely. As the body becomes more deficient, the signs and symptoms intensify. Iron-deficiency can result in extreme fatigue, pale skin, chest pain, accelerated heartbeat, or shortness of breath, headache or dizziness, lack of circulation in body extremities and brittle nails and hair.
You can use other greens of course, such as broccoli or kale.
You can serve this as a side dish to a tofu scramble or eat as it is—a scrumptious, warm and tasty meal.
YIELDS
6
PREP TIME
COOK TIME
TOTAL TIME
- 1 can (385ml) Unsweetened coconut milk
- 600g Potatoes (a mix of white and sweet)
- 1 teaspoon Sea salt
- 1 teaspoon Smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Ginger powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon Chili flakes
- 500g Spinach, frozen
- 1 Lemon, freshly squeezed
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Mix the coconut milk, garlic powder, sea salt, turmeric, ginger, black pepper and paprika with a whisker or a fork together in a bowl.
3. Wash, drain and slice the potatoes into about ⅛-inch (3 mm) thick slices, then fan them out in a baking dish. I never peel the potatoes for extra fibre. Pour the coconut milk mixture over the sliced potatoes. Add more seasoning if needed.
4. Cover the dish with foil and bake until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 35 minutes.
5. Remove the foil cover and continue to bake until the potatoes are browned for around another 10 minutes.
6. In the meantime, thaw the spinach (takes about 2 hours from a fully frozen state).
7. Once your spinach is thawed, squeeze all of the water you can out of the spinach, discard the water, set spinach aside.
8. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, add the spinach and cook, stirring intermittently to avoid sticking. Continue to sauté for 5 minutes.
9. Turn off heat and place the spinach on a serving plate. Freshly squeeze some lemon over the spinach for some Vitamin C.
10. Once the scalloped potatoes are nice and smelling divine, serve them over the spinach and sprinkle with some chili flakes.
11. Savor all the amazing flavors. Enjoy!
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Photo: Roberta Farrugia
