oilfree vegan eggplant recipes

[habitat-gardener]

Someone asked about eggplant recipes. I grew more than 500 eggplants this summer, and aside from giving some away to friends and neighbors, I dehydrated a lot, and played around with lots of oilfree vegan recipes. I've never salted or peeled my homegrown eggplants. In fact, not only are they not bitter, but some are actually sweet when you taste them raw!! (Mitoyo, Aswad, Green Dragon, and Xi'an Green were sweet this year.) I'm planning to do a lot of experimenting with my jars of dehydrated eggplant after we use up the few containers of roasted eggplant in the freezer!!

Baba ganoush (aka baba ganouj): one of my favorite foods! It's a dip made from roasted eggplant, tahini, lemon juice, and garlic, sometimes with other spices such as smoked paprika or cumin. It's easy to find recipes. I've used both raw garlic and roasted garlic.

Roasted eggplant pesto, with basil and almonds, is now my favorite pesto.
https://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2010/06/r ... pesto.html

Eggplant lasagna. So many recipes! Either eggplant as an ingredient in the tomato sauce layer, or eggplant slices as an addition to or replacement for pasta.

Turkish-style stuffed eggplant with walnut sauce. The recipe we use comes originally from One-Dish Vegan by Robin Robertson. We serendipitously found a Greek restaurant while traveling in Southern California, and stuffed eggplant with walnut sauce was one of the dishes we had. We looked for a recipe to replicate it and have been making it regularly ever since, but we've reduced the amount of pomegranate molasses. The eggplants are stuffed with bulgur, but the recipe also suggests basmati rice or quinoa.

Small roasted eggplant pieces added to our homemade vegan pizza. I sliced the eggplants and cut them into 1" pieces, precooked them in the oven for 15 minutes, and then added them as a pizza topping, along with sliced poblanos, sweet peppers, artichoke hearts, red onions, mushrooms.

Provencal Tian or ratatouille, a beautiful roasted-vegetable dish with alternating slices of tomato, summer squash, and eggplant (and sweet peppers), arranged on end, with water-sautéed onions, garlic, and spicy peppers as a base with oregano, thyme, and basil.
https://www.myparisiankitchen.com/en/su ... ncal-tian/

Roasted eggplant slices for sandwiches with tomato, avocado, greens, and red onion on toasted sourdough. I slice the eggplants, put them on parchment or silicone baking sheet, and roast until soft. I don't add anything to them.

Stir-fried tofu, eggplant, and basil with garlic sauce. Here are two versions.
https://cleanfooddirtygirl.com/wprm_print/38374
https://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/08/e ... arlic.html

Marinated eggplant chips.
Other people raved about them when I brought them to a snack potluck last year. I was inspired by this recipe but substituted tahini for the oil.
https://localkitchenblog.com/2012/08/27 ... -eggplant/

recipes I didn't get around to (if they're not already vegan and oilfree, I either leave out ingredients I don't want to use or have easy substitutions)

"Tomato soup" is not appealing to me at all, nor is "eggplant soup," but the ingredients look great in this one
https://localkitchenblog.com/2010/09/20 ... lant-soup/

Easy Instant Pot Eggplant Marinara Sauce
https://cleanfooddirtygirl.com/wprm_print/48138

Crispy Breaded Eggplant (slices, chunks, fries)
https://monkeyandmekitchenadventures.co ... -parmesan/
https://inlovewithbliss.com/roasted-eggplant-crispies/
https://simplefitvegan.com/baked-eggplant-fries/

Vegan Eggplant Meatballs
https://sweetsimplevegan.com/2017/01/eg ... meatballs/

spiced mashed eggplant
https://www.veganricha.com/instant-pot- ... ta-recipe/

[bower]

What an impressive list of things to do with eggplant! We had such poor luck trying to grow any, have pretty much given up on it.
I'm curious about 'oil free' - is this something in the vegan food trends that I haven't heard about?

[habitat-gardener]

What an impressive list of things to do with eggplant! We had such poor luck trying to grow any, have pretty much given up on it.
I'm curious about 'oil free' - is this something in the vegan food trends that I haven't heard about?

Eggplant and okra are the upside of living in a climate with what feels like months of 90F+ days!

I just don't like greasy foods, and I found out I could stir-fry and cook without oil, and get better-tasting food! I've been vegetarian almost all my life and vegan for over 30 years. Nowadays it's called whole-food plant-based (WFPB) and there is also SOS-free (salt oil sugar).
Certainly there are health benefits as well. The MDs who pioneered heart-disease reversal based on food choices also emphasize that oils increase inflammation throughout the body (Esselstyn: https://www.chicagotribune.com/business ... story.html ).

[bower]

Yes, I googled afterwards and read about it.
I have a young vegan friend who's home for holidays but quarantining away from family over christmas, so I was just thinking about the usual treats and which ones are vegan, there are a few. Would involve oil and (some) sugar though.
Do you have a favorite recipe for a vegan holiday treat?

[root_grow]

This is amazing, thank you so much for sharing!! I’ll never get to 500 eggplants in my heatless garden, but they are my favorite so I stubbornly insist on growing them. They are treated like royalty in both garden and kitchen.

I’m surprised to see so many recipes that recommend roasting them. Whole is fine. When I’ve cut them and roasted without oil, they’ve dried out and become unpleasantly tough. I guess you don’t have that problem? I wonder what I’m doing wrong…

I’m drooling over the eggplant pesto, how have I lived without that? And why do I always forget about baingan bharta when it’s eggplant season??

To add to the eggplant recipe collection here:

This is my absolute favorite thing to eat
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/201 ... ecipe.html
I skip the pine nuts, or sometimes replace them with walnuts.

imam bayildi is incredible too. There are a lot of recipes for it, I adjust this one by using more parsley instead of mint, no sugar, and adding 1/2t cinnamon
https://www.food.com/recipe/imam-bayild ... inor-84776
… and then ignore all the instructions. Roast halved eggplants until tender, scoop out the insides to add to the sauteed onions, tomatoes and herbs, stuff that mixture into the eggplant shells, then roast for another 20 minutes. This is most like what I ate in Turkey years ago, it got me hooked.

Another favorite:
https://www.theppk.com/2008/10/spicy-pe ... llot-stew/

Smoky Vegetable Sauce from Big Vegan by Robin Asbell:
1 large red pepper
1 red onion
1 med zucchini
1/2 med eggplant
8oz tomato
1 jalapeno
3 cloves garlic
1/2c cilantro or parsley
1/2 coconut milk
3/4t salt
1lb penne
Chop everything from pepper-garlic into large chunks and roast until tender. Blend the roasted veggies with the other ingredients until smooth.
I always use cilantro, the whole eggplant, double the tomatoes, and a handful of cashews + 1/2c water instead of coconut milk.

Thanks again for sharing these, I’m saving them all in a dedicated eggplant folder in hopes of a better harvest next year

[root_grow]

[mention]Bower[/mention] This my go-to for a crowd pleasing dessert
http://www.theppk.com/2011/09/old-fashi ... dding-pie/

No doubt that recipe is delicious as-is, but I can't help but tinker... so I usually use fancy chocolate, probably a bit more than 3tbsp worth, and I skip the purchased pie crust. Toss 1 cup of nuts and/or sunflower seeds into a food proccessor with 6 dates and pulse until it's all crumbly. You'll be able to press it into the pie pan and the sticky dates bind it nicely. Then it's gluten free too

But my favorite is gingerbread, I don't understand why everyone puts the gingerbread recipes away the rest of the year. Here's my blueberry gingerbread cake recipe:

1 2/3 cups whole wheat or spelt flour (or gf flour mix)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon dried ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons flax seeds blended with 3/4 cup water
1/2 cup unsulphured molasses
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Combine dry ingredients. Pour the flax mixture, molasses and oil on top and stir to combine. Then add the vinegar and blueberries and mix to incorporate. Pour/scoop batter into a 9 inch baking pan. Bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes.

The Fat Free Vegan blog linked above also has plenty of dessert recipes! (if you want an oil-free one)

Ohhh or pumpkin custard. So. Good. https://dreenaburton.com/pumpkin-pie-cu ... egan-mofo/

Back to eggplants though, have you tried Diamond or Astrakom? Those are the most cold-tolerant I've found so far, with some pampering (rock mulch).

[bower]

Oh wow [mention]root_grow[/mention] .... how did you guess I've been trolling for gingerbread recipes for days now. That sounds awesome! Thanks so much.

TBH there's a group of spices I only drag out once a year when it's time to make Christmas cake. This year I bought a fresh pack of ground ginger and tossed what was left of the old one (oh I do mean old!). And the new one smells so good I started jonesin for gingerbread....

I don't know Diamond or Astrakom, but I'll take a look for them. Thanks for the tip!

[habitat-gardener]

@Bower: Two of my favorite vegan treats, both of which I made in the last couple weeks, are pumpkin squares and dark chocolate chipotle sweet potato fudge.

For the fudge, I use a double boiler (pot inside a pot) where it recommends microwaving. Also, this last time I didn't chop the chocolate, just broke it into 1" pieces. It doesn't take long for all of it to melt.
https://thevegan8.com/dark-chocolate-ch ... ato-fudge/
I've played around with the recipe and also made a mint version and a ginger-orange version.

https://www.straightupfood.com/blog/201 ... e-squares/
I've used winter squash as well as canned pumpkin. Most of the year it's hard to find canned pumpkin! I stocked up when my cat was eating it (and then he stopped liking it so much). I made this three times in 2 weeks!

We made the macadamia vanilla frosting once.
https://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes ... -frosting/
There is also a lemon/vanilla frosting link in the original recipe, if you need fosting.

@root_grow: Wow, those eggplant recipes look wonderful!
I've roasted my eggplants either whole, or cut-side down on a silicone baking mat. Are you using eggplants from the grocery store? I remember making an eggplant dish some years ago, before I moved to infernoland, that looked great (a whole eggplant partly sliced, so the pieces fan out, with a flavorful marinade and iirc garlic tucked between the slices) but did not cook properly. I think homegrown eggplants make a big difference.

The desserts also look scrumptious! I never thought of putting blueberries in gingerbread. Now I have to make some tomorrow!!! I have a gingerbread recipe that uses lots of grated ginger.

[root_grow]

Oh. Fresh ginger in gingerbread. Of course. Silly me, I'm going to need some extra gingery gingerbread today! Maybe with apple...

[mention]habitat-gardener[/mention] It was eggplants from my garden that dried out. I halved them and put them cut side down on parchment paper on a metal baking sheet. I probably only tried it twice before I gave up and used some oil. I wonder if it's because mine are small? Diamond is the largest eggplant I've been able to grow, they're maybe 2.5"x5"? Otherwise it's oversized egg-like eggplants, 4" max, usually more like 3". Or maybe a lower temperature would help?

I suppose I could buy some eggplants to experiment with.

[MissS]

Oh how wonderful! Thanks so much for starting this thread. I have been thinking about what to serve for Christmas dinner. My daughter is vegan and I have had my fill of vegan Shepherd's Pie since we just had it at Thanksgiving. I was thinking about a vegan Eggplant Parmesan and if it was doable. These recipes sound great and I can even make a dessert. Thanks again!