Oatmeal Breaded Eggplant with Tomato Mint Salsa

 

A tomato, an eggplant, and a head of bok choy walk into a bar...


Ok, no, this is not a bad joke. Although, I'm sure those veggies could get themselves into a bit of trouble if left to their own devices. But no, these were actually this week's remaining vegetables I had sitting patiently in my refrigerator waiting to be consumed. It was a bit of a struggle to come up with a recipe that combined them into one scrumptious dish. Honestly, I still had the bok choy mainly because I had no idea how to fix it. So I had to buckle down, push up my sleeves, and open a few cook books. Luckily, I'm the kinda girl that has plenty of cook books lying around, can you imagine?


As it turns out bok choy isn't that difficult to make at all. Roasting it with a little bit of olive oil and lemon juice takes about five minutes and has a delicious result. As for the the tomato mint salsa, thanks to my food processor, it was even easier to make. If you don't own a food processor, I highly suggest picking one up.


The oatmeal breaded eggplant was a no brainer for me. I serve breaded eggplant around here at least a couple times a month. It's a vegetarian dish Ed actually really enjoys. This is the first time I blended almond flour and oatmeal to create a breading. It ended up pretty good. Tonight I also tried using water instead of egg to bread the oatmeal in order to keep the whole dinner vegan ;) So, in the end the joke was on me. This actually turned out to be quite a tasty meal!

Oatmeal Breaded Eggplant Ingredients
1 small Eggplant, thinly sliced
1 cup of Almond Flour
1 cup of Oatmeal
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper
Olive Oil

Oatmeal Breaded Eggplant Directions
To create the breading, mix together the oatmeal, almond flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Next, wash and slice a small eggplant. Instead of dipping the eggplant in egg before breading it, I just used water. You could also use milk, almond milk, or soy milk instead of egg. Coat the slice of eggplant in the oatmeal breading until both sides are well covered. Drizzle a bit of olive oil in a large saute pan. Once it is hot, carefully place the breaded eggplant slices. Cook for a few minutes on each side until they start getting brown and crispy. Remove from the pan and place on a thin towel or paper towel to soak up any extra olive oil. Serve with Tomato Mint Salsa.

Tomato Mint Salsa Ingredients
1 large tomato, diced
1 bunch of fresh mint
Juice from 1/2 of a Lemon
2 stalks of green onion, chopped
Pinch of Salt

Tomato Mint Salsa Directions
Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and pulse for just a few seconds or until the mixture becomes "salsa-like'. Serve over the Oatmeal Breaded Eggplant.

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Roasted Bok Choy Ingredients
1 head of Bok Choy
Drizzle of Olive Oil
Juice from 1/2 of a Lemon
Pinch of Salt and Pepper

Roasted Bok Choy Directions
Preheat oven to 450°F. Cut and clean bok choy and place the leaves on a cookie sheet. Drizzle bok choy with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and papper. Roast until While roasting slightly wilted and tender, approximately five minutes. Serve with Oatmeal Breaded Eggplant and Tomato Mint Salsa.

 

Ed's Verdict: He really liked it. He especially thought that the tomato mint salsa was good.