Cheesy Eggplant Parmigiana

Extracted from Vegan Junk Food by Zacchary Bird

The most delicious versions of this dish are born from hours of slowly simmering the sauce and cooking the eggplant until golden. Cooking with love is optional as you can easily substitute cooking with hatred, due to the length of time this recipe takes; just make sure you’re cooking with passion.

Serves 6

Ingredients

sea salt
3 eggplants (aubergines), peeled and cut lengthways into 1⁄2 cm (1⁄4 in) thick slices
cooking oil spray
210 g (71⁄2 oz) shredded dairy-free cheese chopped basil leaves, to serve

Tomato sauce

15 ripe tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 onions, finely chopped
10 garlic cloves, finely chopped
95 g (31⁄4 oz) tomato paste (concentrated purée)
11/2 teaspoons dried basil
11/2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Italian crumb

185 ml (61/2 fl oz/3/4 cup) aquafaba
75 g (23⁄4 oz/1⁄2 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour 120 g (41⁄2 oz/2 cups) panko breadcrumbs 30 g (1 oz/1⁄2 cup) nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

To make the tomato sauce, place the tomatoes in a food processor and blend to a purée.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 10–15 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for 2–3 minutes, then add the tomato paste and dried herbs and stir through. Add the puréed tomatoes and sugar, then bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for at least 1 hour – pay attention to the raw smell of the tomatoes, this will be replaced with a rich scent, telling you the sauce is ready. You can get on with the rest of the recipe while this bubbles away.

Liberally salt the surface of the eggplant, then wrap in paper towel and place a heavy object on top for 20 minutes to release their moisture. Unwrap the eggplant, wipe away the salt and moisture and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 220°C (430°F) and line two baking trays with baking paper.

To make the Italian crumb, place the aquafaba and flour in separate shallow bowls. In a third shallow bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, half the nutritional yeast, the salt, basil and pepper.

Working with one slice at a time, dip the eggplant into the aquafaba before coating in the flour. Dip back into the aquafaba and then coat in the breadcrumb mixture, using your hands to firmly press the breadcrumbs into the eggplant until they hold, creating a consistent coating. Set aside on the prepared trays. Spray the eggplant on both sides with cooking oil spray, then bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until crispy and golden. If you’ve got the time, you may instead like to pan-fry these until golden on both sides to add extra calories (flavour). Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C (350°F).

Generously spread one quarter of the tomato sauce over the base of a large baking dish. Sprinkle two teaspoons of the remaining nutritional yeast over the top and cover with a layer of baked eggplant and a good scattering of shredded cheese. Repeat this layering, finishing with a final layer of tomato sauce, shredded cheese and any left-over breadcrumb mixture. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until heated through and the cheese has melted.

Scatter a few chopped basil leaves over the top and serve.