Vegan Mediterranean Stuffed Quinoa Eggplant

It’s funny... we hear the word Vegan and right away we assume the dish will have no flavour. And yet some of my favorite dishes are vegan, without trying!

I’ve given myself the challenge to try and cook 1 vegan dish a week. Not for socio-political reasons... but more to encourage myself to cook with more produce that I would normally not turn to. 

This stuffed eggplant has got to be one of my favorite dishes I’ve made in awhile... it’s flavourful, slow cooked and so filling. I challenge you to give it a try, and maybe start thinking of looking at other ways you can add more produce in your dishes this week.

What you'll need: 

• 1 cups of cooked quinoa

• 2 large or 4 medium eggplants

• 1 cup of chickpeas

• 1 cup of slices cherry tomatoes

• 1/2 tbsp of smoked paprika

• 1 cup of mushroom broth

• 3 tbsp of breadcrumbs (take your favorite)

• 1 tbsp of dried chives

• 1 cup of sliced tofu

• 1/2 tbsp of dried mustard powder

• 2 pickled chopped artichoke hearts

• 4 tbsp of sliced green olives

• 1/2 tbsp of coriander

• 1/2 tsp of powdered ginger

• 1 tsp of dried chilli

• 1 tsp of cardamon

What you'll do: (serves 4)

Slice the eggplants in half and remove the inside. Drizzle the skin of the eggplant with olive oil and set aside. Chop the inside of the eggplant into small pieces.

On your stove top, heat your mushroom broth, and add the eggplant to the broth. Cook the eggplant until it becomes very soft. About 8-10 mins.

In a small skillet, drizzled with a bit of olive oil, sear you slices of tofu, let stand, and chop them up, set aside.

When the eggplant has cooked down, add cherry tomatoes, paprika, chives, mustard powder, coriander, ginger, dried chilli and cardamon. Cook everything down, until the cherry tomatoes are soft. About 5-7 mins.

Once the mixture is done, turn off the heat, add the quinoa, chickpeas, tofu and green olives.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Drizzle a dutch oven or roasting pan with olive oil, and add the eggplant halves. Take the emptied halves of the eggplants, and stuff the eggplant with the mixture.

Once they are all stuffed, sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top of each eggplant, and drizzle them with a bit of olive oil.

Roast the eggplants for 20-30 mins, depending the size. They should look slightly lighter in coluor and soft to the touch.

Let stand for at least 5 mins before serving.

Enjoy!!