This vegan baked eggplant recipe with a creamy avocado spread makes the perfect dinner combo.
Baked, broken, and beautifully mushy aubergines, or eggplant, with a smoky twist and a mind-blowing creamy avocado spread with a surprising spin. (Spoiler: it’s the tahini!)
We devoured every bite of these aubergine boats, it truly tasted like a recipe with loads of oil—yet we didn’t add a single drop of it. (Only a dash of healthy tahini paste, but that’s obligatory with aubergine!)
The creamy avocado spread is easy to make. You will only need a handful of ingredients. These include avocados, of course, tahini, lemon juice and zest, garlic, and salt and pepper. To make the tahini dressing, you’ll need tahini, dijon mustard, lemon juice, water, liquid smoke, and salt. The baked eggplant also features a tomato salsa made with date tomatoes, parsley, apple cider vinegar, garlic, and salt and pepper. And the spiced chickpea mixture is made with chickpeas, cumin seeds, paprika, black pepper, jalapeno, water, and salt and pepper. To make this recipe, you will also need a food processor.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. Let’s cook!
Ingredients
- BAKED AUBERGINES
- 2 aubergines
- 4 whole grain pita breads
- SPICED CHICKPEAS
- 240 grams canned chickpeas
- ¾ tsp cumin seeds
- ¾ tsp paprika
- 5 grains black pepper
- ½ jalapeño
- ½ cup water
- salt, pepper
- TOMATO SALSA
- 300 grams date tomatoes
- ½ bunch flat-leaf parsley
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 clove garlic
- salt, pepper
- AVOCADO SPREAD
- 1 whole avocado
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- ½ clove garlic
- salt, pepper
- SMOKED THAINI DRESSING
- 1 tsp tahini
- 3/4 tsp dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp water
- 4 drops liquid smoke
- salt
Instructions
- BAKED AUBERGINES
- Preheat the over to 220˚C (440˚F)
- Cut the aubergines in half and bake them flat in the oven for 30 min, or until soft.
- CHICKPEAS
- On a stainless steel pan, toast the cumin seeds, the paprika and the black pepper grains for two to three minutes until brown. Remove from the heat and crush them in a mortar, food processor or with a knife.
- On the same pan, mix the crushed spices with the rinsed chickpeas and add thinly sliced jalapeño to the mix. Add water and salt when spices and chickpeas start clinging to pan.
- Let simmer on medium heat (while stirring) for three to four minutes. Set aside once chickpeas have "absorbed" the spices.
- TOMATO SALSA
- Rinse tomatoes and chop into fine dices. Set aside.
- Rinse parsley and chop it finely. Add chopped parsley into the tomato mix.
- Add salt, pepper, apple cider vinegar and 1 clove of roughly chopped garlic. Mix well with a spoon and let rest for at least 15 mins at room temperature.
- AVOCADO SPREAD
- In a food processor, mix avocado, tahini, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix for one minute on low speed, and avoid high speed blender such as "vitamix" as the heat of this may turn the avocado bitter in taste. Set aside.
- SMOKED THAINI DRESSING
- In a bowl, whisk tahini, dijon mustard, water, lemon juice, salt, and liquid smoke.
- BUILD THE DISH
- Once the aubergines are baked, take them out of the oven and let cool for five minutes. Warm up pita bread in the oven for about five minutes.
- To assemble the dish, distribute avocado spread on top of the aubergines. Top with a generous amount of chickpeas and tomato-mix. Finish with tahini dressing and drizzle with chopped parsley on top. Serve with warm pita bread.
Additional Recipes
Loved my baked eggplant with fresh tomato salsa and creamy avocado spread? Then how about making this vegan sesame and umami miso-glazed eggplant. This recipe is oh-so-simple to make. The ingredients list includes white miso, mirin, coconut sugar, rice vinegar, eggplants, sesame oil, sesame seeds, tahini, and chopped onions.
Or, you can try your hand at making this nutty vegan Asian-style avocado and cucumber salad. Everyone enjoys a refreshing, light, and healthy salad. You can whip up this Asian-inspired cucumber salad in under 20 minutes. It’s the perfect vegan salad recipe! According to the recipe’s author: “This avocado cucumber salad with a chili soy sauce is fresh, tasty, and so aromatic. Besides being flavorful and full of texture, it’s also packed with nutrients and so simple to make. The cucumbers, radishes, peanuts, and avocado create a beautiful mix of flavor. And the chili soy sauce brings everything together for a delicious salad you’d make time and time again!”
This recipe was republished with permission from The Plant-Based School.
