Marinated No-Oil Eggplants

This is roasted and marinated eggplant recipe, without using any oil. For now it is my favorite recipe. It is the way my lovely late aunt Marusya made them. I tweaked the recipe to cook eggplants without any oil and was pleasantly surprised. Try this recipe, I'm sure you will like it a lot.

Blog's Category: Whole Food Plant Based No Oil, Vegan, Vegetarian, Healthy, Effortless

What not to love about this recipe? For now it is my favorite way to prepare eggplants. Here are the advantages of this recipe:

- It uses no oil, no any other fat. I know, I know, we need fat. But we have it so much eating  nuts, seeds, avocado, not to mention meat, dairy and eggs (for those still eating it).

- Very easy recipe. Just slice eggplants, pop in an oven and then drizzle with a marinate.

- Extremely delicious and versatile as condiment, side dish or addition to sandwich, taco or wrap.

- The jar with eggplants can be kept in a fridge for a few weeks. It is usually disappearing pretty quickly in a my house, so it's hard to say exactly for how long it can be kept, but similar native recipes with marinated eggplants often kept in a fridge over whole winter period.

- Did I mention it's very healthy? But I'm sure you have figured it out already :)   

Marinated No-Oil Eggplants

• 2 medium eggplants
• 1 cup finely chopped fresh dill
• 1 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley 
• 5 garlic clove, finely minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 fresh hot red pepper, such as chili or fresno, very finely chopped
• 3 tbsp red wine vinegar

- Preheat oven to 420F
- Slice eggplant (don't peel it, just cut off the ends) into 1/2 inch rounds and then cut rounds into quarters.
- Place eggplant onto baking sheet covered with parchment paper and bake in preheat to 420F oven until it starts to get golden brown and soft throughout when pierced with tooth pick. It will take about 30 minutes. As all ovens (and eggplants!) different, this time is approximate.
- To prepare herb marinade, just mix together all remaining ingredients.
- When eggplant is ready, remove it from an oven and let it cool completely.
- Take a clean dry 1-liter glass jar and start laying roasted eggplant slices, drizzling it over with herb mix and slightly pressing layers down with a spoon. Don't pack too tight, just tight enough to avoid air pockets.
- Keep jar in a fridge. Eggplants are ready to eat right away, but will be even better after being in a fridge for a few days.
- Enjoy!

Notes:

- This recipe is low in salt. It also can be completely salt free and still delicious.

- You can use any other fresh herbs you like such as basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme or sage. Just keep in mind that some of them are very potent and should be used sparingly. Sage, rosemary among them.

- My favorite way to enjoy these eggplants is open-face sandwich: toast a thick slice of multigrain bread, let it cool down, then spread a little mayo and place a several pieces of eggplant from a jar. It's heavenly delicious.



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IN PICTURES

Just from the oven. Just right - golden brown patches and creamy soft inside.

 Quarter rounds are more manageable than whole rounds when it come to packing it in a jar and later on retrieving :)

 I really like that eggplant in this recipe doesn't get dark and keeps it's initial white flash.

 After being in a fridge for about 2 weeks. I put a jar in a garage fridge and quite frankly forgot about it. Otherwise it would be gone much earlier :)

 Red pepper lost its pristine spice level. So if you like it really spicy, at least double hot pepper quantity.

 Oh. This is god's breakfast sandwiches indeed ;)