Cumin Eggplant Edamame Rice

Adapted from a recipe on Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

My children don’t love this (well, the younger 3 don’t) but I don’t care, because that means more leftovers for me. I made a double batch today. I’ll be eating for days!

  • 1 1/2 cups brown rice
  • 2 T olive oil
  • 1 medium eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes
  • 2 T ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne or red chilli pepper
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen edamame beans (not pods)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Put the rice in a bowl and cover it with water and set aside.

Put olive oil in large skillet.  Begin to heat on medium-high, adding onion , eggplant, and peppers.  While cooking, add the spices.  Cook until eggplant begins to soften.  Add tomatoes and cook another 1-2 minutes. Drain the water from the rice and add the rice to the pan along with 3 cups water. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil.

When the rice combination reaches a boil, add the edamame and stir to combine.  Transfer it into a large baking dish.  I use a full sized Pampered Chef casserole.  Cover tightly with foil (if rice is near the top of the dish, place a parchment sheet over before foil).

Bake until the rice is basically tender, about 50-55 minutes. Remove and allow to sit for 10 minutes (still covered) before serving.

Eat leftovers for days. Be gleeful about it.

Easy Baba Ganoush

My kids vary on their willingness to eat eggplants, but more of them will consume baba ganoush (though fewer than will eat humus), so it’s something I tend to make a few times each summer.  It’s not a  hard dish to prepare if you have a little time to let the eggplant roast.

1 large eggplant
1/2 bulb garlic
2-3 T sesame tahini
1 t lemon juice
1/3 cup flat parsley

Cut off top of eggplant and slice vertically in half.  Place on baking sheet with flat sides down and pierce each half 3-4 times with a sharp knife.  Place 1/2 bulb of garlic (or whole if you really love garlic) on the sheet.  Put sheet in oven at 400*.  Allow to cook 45 minutes to 1 hour (until the eggplant begins to collapse).  Remove and allow to cool.  Using a spoon, scoop insides out into your food processor or blender.  It should be pretty easy to remove everything but the skins.  Add the garlic from the roasted bulb and the reminder of the ingredients.  Pulse until everything is chopped and mixed.  You can continue to mix if you like a smoother baba ganoush.  Add sea salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with your favorite veggies, pitas, bagel chips, or bread, cold or room temperature.

Vegan Eggplant "Non-Parmesan"

We’ve had more than our share of eggplant this summer, so I’ve tried to come up with things the kids will eat.  This went over ok with some people, but some of them ate it right up.  So, here goes:

Vegan Eggplant “Non-Parmesan”

Ingredients

1-2 eggplants (medium to large), sliced thinly
2 sleeves of saltines, blended to a fine powder (pretzels or will work)
3 cups flour
4 tsp salt
4 tsp ground pepper
1/2 cup vegan non-parmesan (or regular if you aren’t a vegan)
4 cups soy milk (unsweetened, unflavored or milk if you aren’t a vegan)
1/2 cup white vinegar
olive oil (NOT EVO – it smokes too fast)

(note – depending on how big your eggplants are, you may need to do a second batch of the wet and dry mixes)

Process

Place soymilk in a shallow bowl and add vinegar.  Whisk until the milk thickens.

Place dry ingredients in larger shallow bowl and mix well.

Individually, dip slices of eggplant in the milk mix (both sides) and then press firmly into the dry mix (both sides)

AGAIN, dip in milk mix on both sides and repress in dry mix (yes, you DO want them double coated, believe me)

Cooking can be done in a pan on the stove (coat with olive oil, fry on a medium-high temp) or in the oven (oil a bar pan or cookie sheet, bake at 425*).  Flip tomatoes when bottom is browned and cook on second side.

Pat dry if needed with paper towels before serving.

These are great the next day cold on a sandwich too.  Or, layer in a casserole with marinara sauce (and mozz if desired).