eggplant

Ajvar (Roasted Red Pepper and Eggplant Relish)

March 8, 2013
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Someone once wrote that every good novel must contain at least one recipe. Although I wouldn’t go quite that far, I agree that food can be a window into a novel’s world and its characters’ culture. I always pay particular attention to what characters are eating, especially when a book is set in another part [...]

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Skillet Eggplant and Lentils with Almond Parmesan

August 25, 2011
Skillet Eggplant and Lentils

I’m packing my bags and getting ready to fly to Portland early tomorrow morning for Vida Vegan Con, the largest gathering of vegan bloggers ever to invade a conference center. I’m so excited to get to teach a photography workshop with two of my idols, Isa and Hannah, and to sit on a panel of [...]

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Eggplant and Chickpea Curry

January 28, 2011
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Sometimes when a recipe is truly great, I find I have little to say other than “Make this.”  So, if you like Indian food in general and Baingan Bharta in particular, make this.  It’s as good as or better than what you’ll find in a restaurant but without a lot of oil or, possibly, butter [...]

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Curried Eggplant, Lentil, and Quinoa Burgers with Onion-Pepper Relish

September 2, 2010
Curried Eggplant, Lentil, and Quinoa Burgers with Onion-Pepper Relish

Leftovers give you two separate good feelings. When you first put them away, you feel really intelligent–”I’m saving food!” And then, after a month, when hair is growing out of them and you throw them away you feel…really intelligent–”I’m saving my life!” –George Carlin I often think of eggplants like George Carlin’s leftovers.  When you [...]

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Roasted Eggplant Pesto

June 30, 2010
Roasted Eggplant Pesto

This week on the FatFreeVegan Facebook page, I’ve been offering my suggestions for Fourth of July dishes–salads that transport well, veggie burgers you can make ahead and heat on the grill, etc.  You can add a pasta salad tossed with this aromatic pesto to the list of foods you can bring and that everyone–vegan and [...]

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Creamy Creole Eggplant Casserole

December 28, 2009
Creamy Creole Eggplant Casserole

There are certain recipes that fall into a category I call “Louisiana Church Potluck Dishes.” These are dishes that I grew up eating regularly because they were staples at the monthly “Family Night Suppers” at the church of my youth. I remember sampling delicacies like baked cushaw, mirliton supreme, and eggplant casserole without knowing what [...]

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Iraqi-Inspired Seitan and Eggplant Stew

August 25, 2009
Iraqi-Inspired Seitan and Eggplant Stew

I first made this stew a week ago, when I was looking for something to do with the small Thai Eggplants that were going to waste in my refrigerator. Aromatic and warmly spiced, this Iraqi-inspired recipe was so delectable that I was actually happy that I was going to have to make the whole meal [...]

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Italian Layered Vegetable Casserole

May 3, 2009
Italian Layered Vegetable Casserole

I’m happy to announce that FatFree Vegan Kitchen has been chosen as the featured blog in this month’s Tried & Tasted, a blog event started by Zlamushka’s Spicy Kitchen and hosted this month by Vaishali at Holy Cow! The idea is simple: For the month of May, any interested blogger can choose a recipe from [...]

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Tunisian Vegetable Ragout with Quinoa

March 25, 2009
Tunisian Vegetable Ragout with Quinoa

Eggplant. For a long time it seemed to me as if being vegetarian meant eating eggplant. I’d go into a restaurant and the one vegetarian item on the menu would be ratatouille, eggplant Parmesan, or pasta with eggplant. Though currently the ubiquitous vegetarian item seems to be hummus, there are still restaurants I visit where [...]

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Roasted Vegetables with Tomato Charmoula and Quinoa

September 18, 2008
Roasted Vegetables with Tomato Charmoula

After months of oppressive, energy-sapping, hot dogbreath-in-your-face heat and humidity, it’s an absolute joy to be able to throw open the windows to the outside air or take a walk around the neighborhood. And it’s such a surprise; normally, Mississippi doesn’t experience fall weather until sometime around…oh…winter. Comfortable, sunny yet cool weather is not something [...]

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Vadouvan: A Delectable Seasoning and Two Recipes

August 22, 2008
Red Lentil Soup with Vadouvan

You may not have heard of vadouvan, but I’m predicting it will be the next trendy ingredient. It’s been popping up on restaurant menus a lot lately and caused a bit of web chatter when Ruth Reichl, editor of Gourmet, mentioned trying it a few months ago, but now that Gourmet has published a recipe [...]

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Roasted Eggplant-Almond Dip

August 15, 2008
Roasted Eggplant-Almond Dip

I’d like to take all the credit for this interesting version of eggplant dip, but I can’t; it’s minimally adapted from Paul Gayler’s A Passion for Vegetables where its called Bhurtho (Smoked Eggplant Dip). From the name he gives it, I suspect Gayler was going for an Indian-style dish, yet the almonds and the lack [...]

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Spicy Roasted Eggplant Spread

June 18, 2008
Spicy Roasted Eggplant Spread

Middle East meets Southwest in this wrap I concocted on the spur of the moment last night. I’d thrown an eggplant into the toaster oven to roast, intending to make my standard baba ganoush, but just before it was done I realized that I was all out of pita bread. Since our hearts were set [...]

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Turkish Pilaf with Pistachios and Chickpeas

May 28, 2008
Turkish Pilaf

With the emerald green of the pistachios, the red of the tomatoes (which would resemble rubies if they were riper, summer tomatoes), and the purple eggplant, which if I squint my eyes up just right I can imagine are amethysts, I was tempted to call this cinnamon-infused rice “Jewel Tone Pilaf.” The recipe is adapted [...]

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Curried Eggplant Soup

April 13, 2008
Curried Eggplant Soup

Things are getting back to normal here, at least in my house, after last week’s storm. Though I’ve been slow in returning your emails, I want you to know that each one was read, sometimes several times, and appreciated. I feel very lucky not only to have survived the storm with so little damage but [...]

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Red Lentil Sambar from Vegan Fire and Spice

February 18, 2008
Red Lentil Sambar from Vegan Fire and Spice

Robin Robertson, the prolific author of Vegan Planet and over a dozen other cookbooks, has just come out with a new one, and boy is it hot–literally. She recently contacted me to ask if she could send me a review copy of Vegan Fire & Spice, and being the heat-seeking eater that I am, I [...]

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Tofu and Vegetable Cacciatore on Roasted Spaghetti Squash

October 21, 2007
Tofu and Vegetable Cacciatore on Roasted Spaghetti Squash

Last night I made a dish with two ingredients that I don’t like very much, and it turned out so delicious that my husband is insisting that I make it every week, and my daughter, who doesn’t like three-fourths of the ingredients, ate every bite. If you take a look at the title up there, [...]

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Whole Wheat Pasta with Roasted Vegetables and Olives from Nava Atlas

September 8, 2007
Whole Wheat Pasta with Roasted Vegetables and Olives from Nava Atlas

Wow! I’m overwhelmed by the number of people who left a comment in hopes of winning a copy of Vegan Express! In all, there were 231 guesses, 67 of which were correct. Congratulations to those of you who recognized my style (or possibly the serving dish, which has appeared here before holding Spicy Grapefruit Coleslaw). [...]

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Grilled Baby Eggplants with Korean Barbecue Sauce

August 14, 2007
Grilled Baby Eggplants with Korean Barbecue Sauce

Blame my husband. Normally I wouldn’t post back-to-back eggplant recipes, but while visiting his family in New Orleans, D took a shopping trip to the Hong Kong Market and brought home the last thing we needed, more eggplant. But he knows how much I love baby eggplants, so he and E couldn’t resist buying them [...]

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Garden Gumbo

August 12, 2007
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Even the best cooks can’t work their magic without good ingredients. I like to think I know my way around a kitchen, but I can say with certainty that without fresh ingredients, my cooking would be pretty blah. In the summer, cooking becomes very simple for me: walk outside, see what’s ripe, and combine it [...]

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Roasted Ratatouille

July 19, 2007

Ratatouille is all the rage among food bloggers lately, thanks to the Pixar movie of the same name. The movie sounds interesting, but I have to admit to being a little blasé about ratatouille the dish; it’s sort of old news to vegans, who often find it’s the only thing vegetarian on a menu (beware [...]

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Mussaka

July 14, 2007
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When I moved to Jackson about 6 1/2 years ago, there was only one real Middle Eastern restaurant, and it was actually a grocery store with a few tables where people could eat the hummus, tabouli, and other delicacies available in take-out containers. It was a small place, but their baba ganoush and tabouli were [...]

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Nasu Dengaku (Japanese Eggplants Broiled with Miso)

June 25, 2007
Nasu Dengaku

E. holding this summer’s first eggplants Over the weekend, we harvested the first of our Japanese eggplants, and I knew immediately what I wanted to do with them. Our favorite sushi restaurant used to have this eggplant appetizer that I loved until they slowly stopped serving it. I say “slowly” because at first it was [...]

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Roasted Vegetable Napoleons

June 3, 2007
Roasted Vegetable Napoleans

The logo that you see to the left comes courtesy of Alanna of A Veggie Venture, who invites all of us bloggers to use it whenever writing about fresh produce. Hopefully it’ll encourage everyone to seek out local sources of produce, wherever you live. Click on the blushing tomato to find your local farmers’ market. [...]

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Eggplant Pancakes Florentine

May 4, 2007
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Mothers and fathers, you know how it is. You rarely get that time alone together that all couples crave. Most every night, your children are right there with you, so you have to behave yourself. You can’t break loose and do anything that might offend their delicate sensibilities or expose them to something that they’d [...]

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Unstuffed Baby Eggplants

April 19, 2007
Unstuffed Baby Eggplants

I’m a lazy cook. I’m constantly combining steps so that I can get dinner on the table in as little time and with as few pots and pans dirtied as possible (though D, our resident dishwasher, would tell you that I don’t always do a good job at that last goal). Last night I started [...]

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Baba Ganoush Vegetable Plate

March 22, 2007
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I absolutely love baba ganoush. I often say that I could live on it, and believe me, if it were eggplant season right now, I would have it almost every day. It wasn’t always so. In the past I had to ration my beloved baba, saving it up for an occasional treat. My self-denial wasn’t [...]

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Cumin Rice with Eggplant and Peas

March 6, 2007
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Well, it may not be the most beautiful dish in the world, but my whole family liked this cumin-filled rice, adapted from a recipe by Deborah Madison. It even had E. eating eggplant without even realizing it! It’s based on the recipe “Cumin Rice with Eggplant and Peppers” in The Savory Way. Since it’s not [...]

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Thai Eggplants and Chickpeas in Peanut Masala

February 22, 2007
Thai Eggplants and Chickpeas in Peanut Masala

Whenever I’m in New Orleans, there’s one thing I have to do. Is it visit the French Quarter? Eat a vegan Muffaletta? Catch a jazz performance? No, though those are all high on my “love to do” list, the one thing I have to do is visit the Hong Kong Market. It’s a huge Asian [...]

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Cambodian Vegetarian Stew

October 27, 2006

I don’t remember exactly what it was that got me searching for Cambodian recipes–some restaurant menu I saw on the internet for a dish that looked good. I no longer remember anything about that recipe, but while I was searching for information that might help me recreate it, I stumbled upon this recipe and made [...]

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Moroccan Eggplant Salad with Preserved Lemon

October 4, 2006
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I went in search of a North African side dish to serve with the Tunisian Bean and Chickpea Stew, and I found this Moroccan salad that interested me because it contains preserved lemons. A couple of months ago, I bought a jar of preserved lemons since I knew that I had seen recipes calling for [...]

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Vegan Eggplant “Parmesan”

September 17, 2006
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I haven’t had eggplant parmesan in so many years that I’ve literally forgotten what it tastes like, so I can’t promise that this tastes like the “real thing,” but I can promise that it is delicious–rich and creamy inside and a little crunchy outside. The method I used is taken from a recipe by Bryanna [...]

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Eggplant Paprikash

August 29, 2006
Eggplant Paprikash

Yes, it’s my weekly eggplant recipe! I know you’re as excited as I am. After all, you can never have too much eggplant. As part of my agenda to convert everyone into Eggplant Lovers (aka Aubergine Admirers and Brinjal Buddies), I’ve transformed the traditional Hungarian chicken paprikash into a vegan dish worthy of an eggplant. [...]

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Eggplant and Tofu in Spicy Garlic Sauce

August 17, 2006
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I know some of you are probably tired of seeing eggplant here. Eggplant recipes appear on this blog so often that I could probably change the name to FatFree Eggplant Recipes. But there’s a reason for that: I love eggplant! I think it’s one of the most versatile vegetables around. If you’ve been avoiding it [...]

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Pasta with Roasted Vegetables and White Bean Pesto

August 5, 2006
Pasta with Roasted Vegetables and White Bean Pesto

I was out of town for a few days this week, visiting my family in steamy southeastern Louisiana, and when I got home, I had a bunch of vegetables I’d bought before I left that were in danger of going bad if not cooked quickly. (My husband, apparently, did not cook one vegetable while I [...]

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Stuffed Eggplants and Not-So-Dirty Rice

August 2, 2006
Stuffed Eggplants

I bought some baby eggplants last week and spent several days agonizing over what to do with them. I wanted to keep them whole because to me it totally defeats the point of having little eggplants if you chop them up into pieces that could be any old eggplant. If you’re not familiar with baby [...]

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Eggplant Creole

July 18, 2006
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I needed a vegetable dish to go along with the Okara “Crab” Cakes, so Sunday’s dinner included this vegan version of the traditional Louisiana dish Shrimp Creole. I chose eggplant to replace the shrimp, not because it tastes anything like shrimp but because, unlike most vegetables, it holds its shape without becoming mushy and it [...]

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Pinakbet

July 10, 2006

When I first started this blog, I vowed that I was going to write about the failures as well as the successes. I’ve been lucky. There have been some recipes that I would tweak here and there to improve them, but I haven’t had any out and out failures–recipes that I just couldn’t recommend. Until [...]

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Farmers’ Market Quinoa

June 16, 2006
Farmers' Market Quinoa

I love this recipe because it’s full of vegetables. It started life as a pasta recipe in Robin Robertson’s book 366 Simply Delicious Dairy-Free Recipes. I’ve kept her technique of adding soy milk to the sauce, but in addition to substituting the very healthy quinoa for pasta, I’ve increased the amount of eggplant and herbs [...]

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Zucchini Spirals with Fresh Vegetable Sauce

May 18, 2006

I love fresh tomato sauce with vine-ripened tomatoes that are cooked for only a short time. But, until the tomatoes in my garden ripen, I’ll make do with canned. My favorite canned tomatoes are Muir Glen Fire-Roasted, the sweetest canned tomatoes I’ve found. They’re more expensive than the store brand, but when you’re cooking something [...]

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Almost-Instant Hummus Ghanoush

May 12, 2006
Almost-Instant Hummus Gannoush

I had a sudden craving for baba ghanoush, but it was much too late to roast an eggplant. So I decided on an unorthodox method of cooking it, in the pressure cooker. Within about 5 minutes, I had completely cooked eggplant and also a problem: The eggplant was hot, and whoever heard of eating hot [...]

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Chickpeas and Barley in Red Lentil and Eggplant Sauce

April 28, 2006
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Today’s recipe is based on a recipe in Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian, Anatolian Red Lentil Stew with Wheat Berries and Chickpeas, which I wound up adapting more than I meant to. The first adaptation was out of necessity: I didn’t have wheat berries so I used barley instead, and I served it over rice (jasmine [...]

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Rigatoni with Zucchini and Eggplant

January 29, 2006
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If you’re a vegan and you’re invited to a dinner, banquet, or other large party involving food, you usually have two choices: either eat before you go and find a lettuce leaf to nibble on or offer to bring some of the food. Last night I attended a dinner at our local Unitarian Universalist church, [...]

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Crockpot Eggplant and Tomato Stew with Garbanzo Beans

January 12, 2006
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I don’t use the crockpot as often as I probably should, but it came in handy last night when I had a meeting around the time I’d normally be making dinner. Around 3:30 in the afternoon, I started chopping vegetables, and by 3:45, Crockpot Eggplant and Tomato Stew with Garbanzo Beans was in the crockpot [...]

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