Recipe: Easy Eggplant Recipe

That is actually what this recipe from Alyona's Cooking is called. I know my last post was about eggplants, and this one is, too, for the same reason: I bought some eggplants but didn't know what to do with them. Thank goodness the internet has so many ideas!

Ingredients

• 1 ½ lbs eggplants (3 small eggplants, cut into chunks)
• 1 ½ lbs tomatoes (4 medium sized, diced)
• 1 onion (diced)
• 1 clove garlic (crushed)
• 2 large red bell peppers (cut into chunks)
• 2 carrots (grated)
• 1 ½ TBSP white distilled vinegar
• 1 ½ TBSP salt
• 1 ½ TBSP granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2/3 cup white rice (jasmine rice or short-grain white rice)

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients into a deep non-stick skillet or pot. Bring to a boil over high heat and boil 8 minutes, stirring often.
2. Reduce heat to low, cover with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes mixing occasionally. The mixture should darken in color and veggies should be very soft.
3. Serve warm or cold. Keep refrigerated.

Pretty simple recipe, right? I can't remember the last time I made a recipe with only three steps! (Although, I did make pumpkin spice overnight oats recently, and that was pretty much just two steps of mixing everything together and refrigerating it overnight.)

I didn't have regular white rice; I had instant rice, and I wasn't sure if that would work for this recipe, since it simmers for a while. Instead I used a brown and wild rice mixture. I am not sure if it's because this rice mixture is pretty old (does rice go stale?), or if it needs more liquid to cook properly, but it was really crunchy. In the end, I think this dish tasted fine (despite the crunchy texture), but I wouldn't consider it a meal on its own. I ended up pouring it over tortellini and adding red pasta sauce, and that tasted pretty good. I'm not sure I would bother making this recipe again, but it was worth a try, and it helped me use one of my eggplants!

Recipe: Easy Eggplant Casserole Recipe

 

Image found here

I found a HUGE eggplant at Target the other day, and it was so tempting I had to have it (*resisting the urge to put in an eggplant emoji joke here...). I wanted to make another casserole, so when I found this recipe on the Cook with Kushi blog, I thought it would be a good one to try.

Equipment

• 1 Baking pan
• 1 Casserole dish

Ingredients

• 2 Large Eggplant, unpeeled (approx, 1 kg or 2 pounds)
• ¼ teaspoon Salt
• Olive oil, just to drizzle
• ½ teaspoon Italian Pizza seasoning
• ¼ teaspoon Red pepper flakes or black pepper powder
• 1 cup Marinara sauce (pizza sauce)
• 1 cup Mozzarella cheese (can add little extra if desired)

Instructions

Roast the eggplant

1. Preheat the oven to 425° F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and keep it ready.
2. Nicely wash the eggplants and cut them into rounds of ¼ to ½ inch thick slices. No need to peel the skin of the eggplants.
3. Arrange these slices in the prepared baking pan, brush with olive oil, and sprinkle salt. Roast it for 10 to 12 minutes.
4. Remove it from the oven. Flip all the slices - drizzle oil and salt, and roast for another 10 to 12 minutes.

Arrange eggplant casserole:

1. Reduce the oven temperature to 350° F.
2. Lightly spread one or 2 tablespoon of marinara sauce in your casserole dish. Arrange half of the roasted eggplant slices. Spread half portion of the sauce and cheese on top of the eggplant slices. If desired, season it with pizza seasoning and pepper flakes. 
3. Arrange the remaining eggplant slices, followed by the remaining marinara sauce and cheese.
4. Bake until the top becomes golden and bubbly for 10 to 15 minutes.
5. Let it cool for 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with herbs of your choice or simply with spring onions.

Even while calling out the equipment necessary for this recipe, I still messed that part up. I roasted the eggplant in the casserole dish instead of a baking dish. Once I realized I mistake, I took out a different casserole dish for the actual assembly part later. I only had the one big eggplant, but I figured the recipe would still work, albeit a little smaller. And I didn't have pizza sauce, but I had plain tomato sauce; I used that with extra spices like oregano, basil, and parsley. I might not have cooked it long enough in the end (the cheese did not become golden), but since I was mainly making this recipe for lunches this week, I figured I'd be reheating/recooking it a little bit anyway.

I thought it was really yummy! I would definitely use two eggplants next time; it just seems like a small stack of eggplant when it's only two layers instead of four. But this recipe is easy to make, and I would do it again!