I remember coming home a couple of Easter breaks ago to a fridge full of cherry tomatoes, and not much else.
The not much else part I was expecting – my brother was away at college and my mom had become accustomed to cooking sporadically/eating out/living off low-fat yoghurt, apples and cheese sandwiches. When I inquired about the tomato situation, my mom informed me that one of her old work acquaintances had been growing them in his garden and had more than enough to go around.
Since then I’m happy to report I now come home to a fully stocked kitchen and fridge – chia seeds, almond milk and quinoa included.
And it appears the tomato-growing friend is as generous as ever, because I also came home to find our kitchen is crazy with tomatoes. So when my mom called from the office inquiring about lunch today I told her to give me an hour, and got to work.
Inspired by the blood red tomatoes that have been sitting on the kitchen counter, I decided something with a thick, rich tomato sauce would be in order.
Lentil and Aubergine Moussaka
Serves 4
- 1 large aubergine, thickly sliced and grilled (see below method)
- 1 large onion, chopped and divided
- 4 medium tomatoes ( OR a packet of passata / ready made tomato sauce)
- 1 tsp tomato paste
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tbsp of fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 tsp oregano
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed and divided
- 1 cup of brown or green lentils, pre-cooked
- 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk (or anything other than rice milk)
- 1 tbsp wholewheat pastry flour
- salt and pepper to taste
- canola oil (or cooking oil of choice)
- Preheat your oven to 350 F/180 C
- Start with the tomato sauce if you’re making it from scratch. Quarter and blend the tomatoes with a splash of water until pureed. Lightly sautee half the chopped onions in some cooking oil or vegetable stock. Once the onions are translucent, pour in half the blended tomatoes. Leave to thicken and reduce for about 5 minutes until the colour changes to bright red/orange. Then pour in the remainder of tomatoes along with a 1/4 cup of water, the tomato paste and salt and pepper to taste. Lower the heat and let simmer for an additional 10 minutes or so until the sauce is cooked through. Set aside.
- Grill eggplant slices, as per method below.
- Prepare the almond milk bechamel. Whisk flour with almond milk, salt and pepper to taste then heat in a sauce pan over a high flame until boiling. Reduce the heat to a simmer and stir frequently until sufficiently thickened. This may take a while but it is my fail safe, no hassle and low-fat bechamel recipe. If your almond milk is thin try adding a little more flour or a pinch of arrowroot/cornstarch to help with the thickening.
- In a separate pan heat a little cooking oil or stock and sautee the rest of the onions and one clove of crushed garlic for 2-3 minutes till onions start to soften. Add the lentils, fresh parsley, oregano and stir through before adding your tomato sauce. Season with salt and pepper and let simmer for an additional 3-4 minutes.
- Now to assemble. Spoon the lentil and tomato mixture into a medium casserole dish, and top with the second clove of crushed garlic then with aubergine slices (you can do alternating layers if you so wish but I just did one of each). Pour bechamel sauce over the top and pop into your oven for about 8-10 minutes or until the mixture bubbles (which shouldn’t be long considering everything is already pre-cooked and heated). Optional: If you have any tomato sauce left over, use a small spoon to marble some of it into the bechamel topping.
- Put under a grill/broiler for a few minutes until the top is nicely browned (but not burnt).
- Serve, and marvel at your ability to put together a meal that looks like you’ve slaved over it for hours on end in just under 45 minutes.
Grilled/pan-fried aubergine is one of those things that has always eluded me. Unless you deep-fry it, you constantly feel the need to add more and more oil and are often left with one of two things:
a) a soggy, greasy mess.
b) burnt, spongy aubergine because you refused to add any more oil
So I took to consulting the internet for some sage aubergine cooking advice and was presented with this great article from the Washington Post, which suggested a couple of methods. I tried out the first one today and can safely say I’m never going back. Here’s how I did it.
So I took to consulting the internet for some sage aubergine cooking advice and was presented with this great article from the Washington Post, which suggested a couple of methods. I tried out the first one today and can safely say I’m never going back. Here’s how I did it.
You will need:
- 1 aubergine
- Sea salt
- canola oil (or cooking oil of choice)
- A heavy-bottomed grill pan
- A pastry brush
- A spatula/fork/flipping apparatus
- Slice and salt your aubergine. This means take a small amount of sea salt and rub on both sides. Some people claim this does absolutely nothing in terms of extracting moisture, but I (and the generations of women in my family that have been cooking aubergine for centuries) choose to believe otherwise. If nothing else, as the above article mentions, it adds seasoning.
- Heat grill pan on a medium-high flame.
- Acquire pastry brush and cooking oil. Pour 2 tbsp or so into a small bowl – you can replenish as necessary later.
- Brush a small amount of oil on one side of your aubergine slice, then place in the pan. Repeat with remainder of slices.
- After two minutes (or when the slices have nice dark grill lines on them), brush the oil on the other side of your slices (which are face up), and flip.
- Cook for an additional two minutes before using your fork or spatula to gently press down on the slices to drain some moisture. Flip and repeat if desired.
The result is perfectly cooked aubergine – slightly crisp and smoky on the outside but wonderfully soft and creamy on the inside.
My mom even commented that the aubergine didn’t seem as greasy, but still tasted great.
I have to say, this meal was a personal triumph for me. Not only is it quick, simple and free of obscure ingredients (don’t get me wrong, some nooch in the bechamel would’ve been great) – but it marks the first time I cooked an all vegan meal that my entire family loved.
I could hardly believe my eyes when my brother scarfed it down and asked for seconds. My brother, who practically lives on junk food and has no qualms ordering a McDonalds home delivery for breakfast.
Perhaps all is not lost, after all.
Keep your eyes peeled for more tomato-riffic recipes!
Maggie says
Aubergine and tomato part was lovely … But the bechamel sauce was an unmitigated disaster. I followed your instruction so have NO idea why it just WOULD not thicken. Eaten with tortilla wraps and salad it was reasonably filling but doubled the amount of aubergine, lentils and tomato passata and only just fed 4 of us. Disappointed 🙁
Maya Willcocks says
I made this yesterday and oh my gosh was it tasty…everyone came back for second and even third helpings! I made slight changes- like adding chilli to the tomato sauce and cumin to the lentils- I thought the crushed garlic was a great touch too! Also loved that the ingredients were easy to source (that’s sometimes something that’s put me off vegan food) definitely recommend this! Cheers Neda 😊