Creamy Creole Eggplant Casserole

Ingredients

• Eggplant

  Raw

  2 eggplant, peeled (yield from 1-1/4 lb) or 916g

• Onions

  Raw

  1 medium or 110g

• Green bell pepper

  Sweet, green, raw

  1 large (2-1/4 per lb, approx 3-3/4" long, or 164g

• Celery

  Raw

  2 stalk, medium or 80g

• Garlic

  Raw

  2 cloves, minced or 6g

• Mushrooms

  White, raw

  2 cup, pieces or slices or 140g

• Chickpeas

  (garbanzo beans, bengal gram), mature seeds, canned

  1 ½ cup or 360g

• Parsley

  Raw

  2 tbsp or 8g

• Thyme

  Spices, dried

  ½ tsp, ground or 0.7g

• Cayenne pepper

  Spices, red or cayenne

  ¼ tsp or 0.5g

• Paprika

  Spices

  1 tsp or 2g

• Pepper

  Spices, black

  ¼ tsp or 0.5g

• Tofu

  Silken, firm, Mori-nu, soy

  6 oz or 170g

• Cashew nuts

  Nuts, raw

  ¼ cup or 34g

• Onion powder

  Spices

  ½ tsp or 1g

• Water

  Plain, clean water

  2 tbsp or 30g

• Salt

  Table

  2 tsp or 12g

• Nutritional Yeast

  Vegan - Whole Foods Market

  1 tbsp or 8g

• Bread crumbs

  Dry, grated, seasoned

  1 cup or 120g

• Basil

  Spices, dried

  ⅛ tsp, ground or 0.2g

• Oregano

  Spices, dried

  ⅛ tsp, ground or 0.2g

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Prick eggplants several times each with a fork and place them on a baking sheet. Bake until they are both completely soft (skin will be blackened in places and collapsed in the middle)–30 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Scoop the flesh from the skin, discarding any liquid. (You can do this step a day ahead and refrigerate the eggplant pulp until ready to use.) Set aside until ready to use.
2. Chop all vegetables (you can do each one separately in the food processor). Rub a non-stick pot with olive oil (optional, depending on the non-stickiness of your pan) and place over medium-high heat. Add the onions, green pepper, and celery and cook, stirring, until the vegetables soften, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic and mushrooms and continue to cook on medium-low heat, stirring and scraping the pan’s bottom, until the mushrooms soften, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the reserved eggplant, chickpeas, parsley, thyme, cayenne, paprika, and black pepper. Cook, breaking up any large pieces of the eggplant with the edge of a spoon, on medium heat while you prepare the tofu mixture.
4. Place the tofu, cashews, onion powder, and water in a blender and process at high speed until cashews are blended and mixture is smooth. You may have to stop the machine and scrape down the sides several times and, if you’re using a Vita-Mix, use the pusher to push the mixture into the blades. Scrape the mixture out of the blender and into the pot with the eggplant-chickpea mixture. Stir well, add nutritional yeast, and salt to taste.
5. Preheat oven to 375F. Oil a shallow baking dish and pour the eggplant mixture into it, smoothing the top. Mix the breadcrumbs with the basil and oregano and sprinkle them over the top of the casserole. Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until top is browned and casserole is hot. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before serving. Enjoy!

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