EASTER YEGG(plants)

In my family we called eggs “yeggs” and in the Spring time we dyed them, hunted them, bought them in decorated hollow sugar fantasias, and peeled coloured tin-foil off of them in chocolate form. I never liked chicken eggs, my boiled eggs were for decorating, not eating! (I gave them to my friends or parents). Now that we are celebrating the rites of Spring, it’s time to come up with vegan yeggs.

Who doesn’t love aubergines? Apparently lots of folks don’t love ‘em. I know grown adults who gag at the very mention of eggplants. And I don’t know why, what is lovelier and tastier than this delicious violet egg-shaped member of the nightshade family? I’ll tell you why: cooked improperly, eggplant is bitter, slimy or both.

The good news is that it’s easy to cook aubergines. One of the tastiest versions is the breaded cutlet. Beyond the YEGGY goodness:

Breaded EGGPLANT Cutlets (or Zucchini, or squash, etc.)

1 aubergine (eggplant)

1 c whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 c wheat germ (may omit)
1/2 c corn meal
1/2 c nutritional yeast flakes

OR

Whole wheat breadcumbs

1t each;salt, garlic powder, onion powder.

Dish of soya milk (I prefer UNSWEETENED for this recipe)

For Best Results SALT YOUR EGGLANTS: Before cooking, sprinkle salt over your eggplant slices, dices or chops and let it drain in a colander for about an hour. Then carefully rinse the salt off and gently squeeze/dry the eggplant with a kitchen or paper towel. Why do this? - It will remove some of the water from the eggplant along with the bitter compounds most people don’t like. Salting your eggplant also creates a denser fruit which means it won’t be an oily sponge should you fry it.

BATTER UP:
Slice your eggplant (leave the peel on) into thin slices no more than ¼ inches thick. Dip your eggplant slices first into your dish of soy milk, then into dry batter above, repeat.

FRY METHOD: Fry your breaded cutlets up in olive oil, or canola until golden brown (** if you’re feeling really unhealthy you can deep fry in your Fry Daddy)

Broiler method: batter your eggplants as in the fry method and then place your slices on a cookie sheet in a single layer under the “broiler” setting of your oven for about 5 minutes. You might flip them over half-way through – they’re done when browned by not burned and tender.

**NOTE : if you don’t want to go to all this trouble, a great low-fat and delicious ready made eggplant cutlets are also available by DOMINEX Eggplant Cutlets Italian Style (vegan) in freezer section. These ARE DELICOUS! They also reputedly make a BANGIN’ eggplant burger!

For Parmesan: add prepared or homemade tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce spiked with Italian seasonings, vegan parmesan/mozzarella, and basil to each cutlet and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until “cheese” melts

For ELT (these are one of my all time favourite sammies!): To whole grain, toasted bread add red, green, yellow or purple heirloom or fresh tomatoes, lettuce, eggplant cutlets, vegan mayo. Try sprinkling a little “bacon salt” (it’s vegan!) on the eggplant cutlets or mix a bit into the batter. Be careful, it’s quite bacon-y.

Enjoy those yeggs,

Love,

B. 

(picture is Dominex "Parmesan" with veggie pasta :)   yum!)