Lemony Eggplant w Artichoke & Kale Sauce on Adzuki Bean Spaghetti

Lemony Eggplant w Artichoke & Kale Sauce on Adzuki Bean Spaghetti
I love eggplant, but at times I have a problem with it absorbing oil like crazy; while that tastes really nice, it doesn't make for the healthiest food. So in this recipe I use lemon juice and smoked paprika to flavour the eggplant and the only oil I use is spray oil, to keep the eggplant (with a thin batter) from sticking to the pan. The sauce has a mild tartness due to the artichokes, but blends lovely with the pasta. I used Adzuki bean pasta in this case, which provides us with proteins and carbs nicely, plus is gluten free 🙂
Cuisine: vegan, cooked
Recipe type: Dinner
Serves: 2
Cook/wait time: 
Total time: 
You need
  • 60gr of Adzuki bean pasta (or more, if this is too modest for you)
  • 2 eggplants of abt 200g (1 per person)
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • ½ cup non dairy milk
  • 4 tbsp (gluten free or spelt) flour
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika powder
  • 2 pinches of salt
  • a generous grind of pepper
  • spray oil
  • fresh coriander
for the sauce:
  • 2 stalks of curly kale (about 60grams without stem)
  • 160gr of marinated artichoke (about 8 pieces, and mine were store bought)
  • ½ avocado (about 50gr)
  • ½ cup of non dairy milk (I used homemade almond & hazelnut milk)
  • ¼ tsp Himalayan rock salt
To do
  1. rip leaves of the kale and mix with the artichoke, salt, avocado and the milk in a blender or with a stick blender. Add more milk if you like. Pour into a small pot and set aside.
  2. mix the lemon juice, non dairy milk, paprika powder, salt and pepper - keep the flour on the side for now
  3. slice the eggplant (slices of about ⅓cm thick), and dip them in the lemon mixture
  4. when done, whisk in the flour in to the lemon juice, bit by bit
  5. heat a skillet (medium to hot), spray with oil
  6. now dip the eggplant slices in the batter, cover both sides, and place in the skillet
  7. bake for a couple of minutes before turning them over (try not to check too early if they are brown, as then the batter may stick to the pan despite the oil. If you do, spray some more oil and place the slice back)
  8. turn over and repeat with all slices (you could use a small skillet to keep the finished eggplant slices warm)
  9. during this process, cook the pasta
  10. when you're almost finished with the eggplant, heat the sauce
  11. serve eggplant with a few coriander sprigs or leaves, spaghetti plus sauce on the side
Notes
2 Skillets will make a nice difference in prep time 🙂
Nutritional Information
Serving size: (with 30gr of pasta) Calories: 415 Fat: 17gr Saturated fat: 2gr Unsaturated fat: 2gr Trans fat: 0 Carbohydrates: 49gr Sugar: 16gr Sodium: 306mg Fiber: 17gr Protein: 20gr Cholesterol: 0mg