Eggplant in Tomato Sauce with Chickpeas
Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian Recipes Vegetable Dishes Gluten-Free Recipes Greek
Today is eggplant day! I made a kind of deconstructed lacto-vegetarian moussaka. I 'lightened' the moussaka of many calories, which usually leads to diluted flavor, so I compensated with many aromas (the aromatic tomato sauce, added coriander and finished everything with an intensely flavored oil with green pepper and mint).
Ingredients
3 medium eggplants
500 g Greek-style tomato sauce (approx. 1/2 portion of the recipe given here)
150 g cooked chickpeas
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
salt, black pepper, dried oregano
300 g Greek yogurt
Bell Pepper and Mint Oil
1/2 bell pepper
50 ml extra virgin olive oil
7 large mint leaves
salt
Servings: 3-4
How to prepare eggplant in tomato sauce with chickpeas
- The tomato sauce can be prepared a few days in advance, following the recipe here.
- The eggplants are roasted whole on the grill or in the oven following the instructions here. Roast until they collapse when pressed with a fork.
- Remove to a bowl and let cool. When they can be handled, peel them and if you wish you can leave them attached to the stem, but it's not necessary. Score them in 3 lengthwise (if you haven't left the stem, cut them into 3 separate strips lengthwise). If there are many seeds in the scores, remove them with a spoon. Sprinkle with salt and let sit until needed, they will release more juice.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a wide pan and add the chickpeas. Sprinkle with salt, grind in black pepper and sauté over medium heat until browned, stirring frequently. Towards the end add the ground coriander. Taste at the end, the chickpeas should be well seasoned and aromatic.
You can skip this browning step (in that case just season the cooked chickpeas), but browned chickpeas taste better to me than just boiled. - Add the chickpeas to the tomato sauce.
- In the pan where you browned the chickpeas, drizzle a little oil and quickly brown the eggplant pieces on all sides.
- In a heat-resistant dish, pour tomato sauce with chickpeas, enough to completely cover the bottom. Arrange the eggplants (or eggplant strips) next to each other. Pour another layer of tomatoes with chickpeas.
- The prepared casserole can be baked in the oven at 200°C for 15 minutes, just enough for the sauce to caramelize a bit on top and the flavors to blend. I put the casserole on the heated terrace grill at 200°C and left the lid down.
- When ready, sprinkle dried oregano crumbled between your fingers.
- Stir the yogurt with a little salt until creamy.
- For the flavored oil, blend the oil with the pepper in a food processor/stick blender. Add a little salt and mint and blend just until the mint is slightly chopped.
- Serve the eggplants with Greek yogurt drizzled with pepper and mint oil. It's good warm or at room temperature.
Version with eggplant strips in tomato sauce
