Did you know you can use the liquid from canned chickpeas, aka aquafaba, as you would use eggs in many applications? Apparently, they resemble egg whites and can even be used to make meringue. We thought we’d test it out in a breading for eggplant parm, and it worked perfectly (it might put some hens out of business, which isn’t a bad thing at all).
Eggplant Parm
Ingredients
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1 or 2 Eggplants, cut into 1/4 inch rounds
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Flour for coating
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Liquid from a can of chickpeas
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Breadcrumbs, plain or seasoned with parsley and/or nutritional yeast
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Tomato sauce
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Mozzarella style vegan cheese, shredded (we use an enhanced version of the America's Test Kitchen cauliflower/cashew for the version pictured here)
Instructions
- Set the eggplant in a colander or a cooling rack, salt with kosher salt, and let drain for about 40 minutes. This will make the texture denser.
- Dry the eggplant by laying it out on kitchen towels and pressing a second towel on top.
- Dredge the eggplant in flour, shaking or tapping off the excess, then dip into the chickpea liquid to coat, and then coat with breadcrumbs. Lay eggplant on parchment paper to set until ready to bake.
- Heat oven to 425 degrees. Preheat one or two baking sheets for a few minutes. Line the baking sheets with parchment paper and lay on the breaded eggplant. Bake for 20 minutes, flip eggplant, then bake for 10 minutes.
- In a baking pan, layer tomato sauce, eggplant, tomato sauce, cheese, eggplant, tomato sauce, cheese. Bake for about 10 minutes (or until cheese is melted).
- Serve with pasta.
Nutrition Information:
Serving Size: 1 grams
Amount Per Serving:
Unsaturated Fat: 0g
Eggplant isn’t one of my favorites, but breaded and baked they were awesome, so awesome I was eating them right off the pan before we even assembled the parm. Paired with pasta, a salad, and garlic bread, it was like eating at a local Italian restaurant!
We hope you give this recipe a try! Comment below or tag us on social media #veginspiredfoodie
Live VegInspired!
XO,
Kathy & John
