Mujadara in a Pita with Spicy Eggplant Sauce

I saw mujadara over at The Vegan Mouse, and my first thought was why have I never made this?? Lentils.......onions....rice??? This is cheap, this is easy, this is flavorful........it will help if you like the flavor of onions, and I really really do. You will find recipes for mujadara all over the web, I chose a simple one that involved only rice, lentils, salt, pepper, cumin, and onions...I added a bay leaf while it all cooked up, but other than that I followed the recipe pretty closely....I wish I could find that recipe now. It is bookmarked on my other computer. I will add it when I get the chance.

Mujadara is very tasty on it's own, but I wanted a little zing to make it into a pita sandwich the next day for lunch. I thinly sliced an eggplant and pan fried it in about 1tbs of oil over medium heat, along with one onion also thinly sliced and 1/2 tsp of salt. I cooked the eggplant for ten minutes, then flipped and cooked for ten more minutes. Then I added a jar of tomato paste mixed with one cup of water (make sure you lower the heat before you add this as it will splatter a good bit). I simmered this covered for about 20 minutes until the eggplant cooked into a mush (mmmmmmm eggplant mush). I removed it from the heat and added about 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream, more salt, and a generous amount of cayenne. I actually think this sauce would be quite good on it's own as a dip for pita bread, or over rice. I was inspired by a Persian eggplant dish that I have been wanting to make for a while. However I was missing some key ingredients, so this was my compromise. You can use 1/2 cup of coconut milk to replace the heavy whipping cream.

In short this dish will be making the rotation, it is warm and comforting and I imagine it would be quite good in the summer months with some sort of cucumber yogurt sauce. Most of the onions are on the side, which appealed to my daughter, and it's super cheap which appeals to all of us. I heart lentils, how about you?

Roasted Eggplant Un-meatballs

Sorry about the picture quality (not that you aren't used to it by now). For one my camera is broken and two...........



These went REALLY fast! Note the little hand grabbing for more. I had hardly enough time to take a picture before I was swarmed by my little man asking for "more, more, peeeeese". I think I am really getting the hang of un-meatballs, and vegetarian burgers. These held their shape and totally passed the toddler test. There are two main tricks, a food processor, and chilling the dough, (or whatever you call it) before cooking. I actually managed to make these on one of the busiest weeks we've had in a while. I was in need of one of my favorite comfort foods...spaghetti and meatballs.....err....rather brown rice pasta and roasted eggplant un-meatballs. I don't know that this would fool a carnivore, but I think it was pretty tasty in it's own right. It was received well by all the family members, even my eggplant hating husband. Be leanient with the amounts in this recipe, depending on the size of the veggies you may need more or less bread crumbs, sauce, etc. The most important thing is that the dough can be shaped easily, and holds together well.

Ingredients:
1 eggplant
2 onions
6 cloves of garlic (divided)
olive oil
Salt
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 block of cream cheese
1 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste

I chopped up the eggplant and onion, peeled and crushed 4 cloves of garlic. I then mixed the veggies in a big bowl with a little olive oil and salt, and roasted them in a baking pan at 375 degrees (my oven runs hot) for about 20 minutes, stirring half way through. After they had cooled, I threw them in the food processor with the cream cheese, sauce, and two remaining peeled cloves of garlic. I added bread crumbs until the dough was thick and easy to shape (about 1 1/2 cups) . You could add salt at this point if you feel it needs it, I didn't. I shaped all the dough into balls and put them in the fridge. Then I went to sleep, got up, red my bible, went to the gym, came home, showered, went to the doctor, went to the lab, back to the doctor, over to medical records, back to the lab......well...anyway...I got home at 6 and fried these up for a quick dinner over brown rice noodles. They paired perfectly with my after dinner bowl of mint chip ice cream too.