Delectables with Dan Presents: Vegan Eggplant Parmesan

 It's time for another Delectables with Dan that's as suggestive as it is delicious; well, actually it may be more delicious than it is suggestive, but we'll see in the end. I'm whipping up some flavourful eggplant Parmesan with homemade tomato sauce and chickpea noodles! You can use any pasta that you want and even a jarred sauce, but we're going fresh and homemade here. If I have enough time I'll make a faccachia bread to go with it. God, it's been so long since I made that, but since we're already about to go on a carb overload here, might as well through in a slice of the bread to go with it. Pairs great with wine for a lovely night in or a treat for yourself. Romance yourself.

You Will Need: 

1 medium-sized, narrow eggplant

35g all-purpose flour (or desired flour)

68g vegan Italian style breadcrumbs

10g vegan Parmesan 

5g nutritional yeast 

2 tsp dried basil

2 tsp dried oregano 

1/4 tsp sea salt

140 ml almond milk

1 tsp cornstarch 

50g vegan mozzarella cheese

480ml tomato sauce (homemade)

Slice eggplant into thin rounds 1/2 inch thick and sprinkle each one liberally with salt.nge in a circular pattern on a clean kitchen towel to draw out bitterness and moisture. Place another kitchen towel on top with something over the top to press down on your eggplant to get out all the extra moisture for 30 minutes. During this time, you're going to want to pre-heat your oven to 300C (400F) and line a baking sheet with aluminium foil. Spay with non-stick cooking spray; be careful not to use too much or too little.

Now the fun part. We're going to prepare the dipping stations! You're going to need three different bowls, one for the flour, one for the breadcrumbs, sea salt, Parmesan cheese & Italian seasoning mic and one for the almond milk. Start by dipping the eggplant into the almond milk, carefully coating each slice of eggplant, place the eggplant slices in the middle of the flour bowl and coat it with a thin, but a decent coating of flour; repeat the step but with the breadcrumb rub. You may need to repeat the dipping steps twice before the eggplant slices are evenly coated.  Sprinkle any left off breadcrumb mixture on top of the eggplant. Place them evenly on a baking sheet and put them in to cook for 30-40 minutes. The eggplant should be crisp on the outside and golden brown. Sometimes I like to add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. 

While the eggplant is cooking, you're going to want to cook your chickpea pasta. Make sure that the pasta is fully cooked before straining it. Rinse pasta with cold water, drain and set to the side. If you're not using a tinned tomato sauce, while the pasta and eggplant are cooking, you can quickly whip up your own homemade thick and chunky marinara sauce.  You might be going, "But Dan, how do I do that?" Well, Daddy Danny has an answer for all your thirsty cu-chefs! 

DANNY'S THICC & CHUNKY MARINARA SAUCE 

I've made it on other blogs before, but I wanted to put it here as a kind of all-inclusive thing. I'm going to be mixing some fresh tomatoes with some tinned tomatoes, so keep that in mind as you begin to prepare the sauce. 

1-2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 clove fresh garlic

1 1/2 tsp sea salt 

1 tin Italian Style Tomatoes
1 small tin tomato puree
5-6 cherry tomatoes
2-3  tsp of basil & oregano 

1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper

In a medium-sized saucepan, you're going to combine all the ingredients together. Make sure that you crush and slice the garlic before adding it to the sauce. Blend well, stirring occasionally over low heat. You want the sauce to heat up slowly.



About 5-6 minutes before the eggplant is due to come out of the oven, top the eggplant slices with a bit of your favourite vegan mozzarella cheese and allow the cheese to melt before removing them from the oven. Allow the eggplant to sit for a minute or two while you drain your pasta. Plate or bowl your pasta, add a liberal amount of sauce and top with the cheesey eggplant! If you desire add a pint of basil for colour and decoration; if you didn't notice, I'm a huge basil fan. You can adapt the recipe to meet your tastes. 

Finish your dish by adding any side of your choice; I have a bit of fresh spinach and two small slices of focaccia bread. Serve hot.

This was my first time ever making eggplant and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out or how well all the flavours blend together! I'm going to be making this more in the future! I think I'll experiment a bit with eggplant. Have suggestions? Tweet me them! Thanks!