Introduction
We recently started tackling a few Jewish recipes to make them egg-free and vegan, like the krantz cake (chocolate babka). What an exciting and historical cuisine! Today, we are making vegan kugel with potatoes and other yummy veggies, without using eggs. It's great for folks allergic to eggs or folks that want to try a delicious plant-based casserole bursting with Middle-Eastern flavours.
There are two major variations of the kugel casserole—those made with noodles, and those with potatoes. We opted for the latter and added in zucchini and carrots for extra nutrients and flavour.
Kugel is pareve, which roughly means "made without dairy, meat, or their derivatives" in Jewish dietary laws (kashrut). Eggs are allowed though, so pareve and vegan aren't the same thing. In other terms, pareve is close to the ovo-pescatarian diet.
To make this kugel vegan, we replaced eggs with tofu. Note: we aren't kashrut experts, but based on our research Tofu is not allowed during the Passover (Pesach) festivity. Soybeans are permitted, but tofu isn't. If you follow this festivity and adhere to kashrut to the letter, then you'll know what to do.
A portion of this potato casserole will provide you with 240 calories, 25% RDI for proteins, 20% RDI for fibres, and only 7% RDI for carbs. It's a balanced meal that will keep hunger at bay for hours.
We loved this recipe. We made so much we ate with it for a full week! That's one of the advantages of making kugel without eggs. The lack of animal products means that it can keep in the fridge well up to a week — perfect batch-cooking material or great for a big family!