Melt in your mouth vegan eggplant slices stewed in a full-flavored tomato sauce.
Romanians like stews, we pretty much stew anything in the kitchen, I don’t think there is any vegetable sort or meat cut that hasn’t been stewed at one point or another. I could not really say why, but I suppose it has to do with the convenience of stewing. First of all most of the time you only need one pot and one source of heat and that might be a reason why stewing has become the number one way of preparing food in Romania over the centuries or thousands of years. Secondly, stewing is cheap and quick, you can throw just about anything you have in one pot, stir a little and get a delicious meal made out of very few ingredients, things that are in season or you happen to have in your house or garden, without the need of going out shopping for anything special.
I don’t do that much stewing nowadays, at least not as much as my grandmother used to do, but still I make more stews than any other person I know in Germany. The Germans have a quite different way of approaching food. While the Romanians tend to stew, in one pot, anything in their range, the Germans like to have the food separated on their plates, so they typically would cook one piece of meat or fish accompanied by separately cooked vegetables and separately cooked potatoes. I am a food lover, so I like both approaches, just as much as I like the way Italian people cook or Indian, Chinese or whatever.
Today’s stew features eggplants or aubergines, which are one of my favorite vegetable sorts. I like them so much, I could honestly eat them at least once a week, cooked in one way or another, unfortunately I am pretty much the only one in the house who likes them. The kids have their veggie problem like most of the children of their age (and eggplants are particularly intimidating) and my husband seems unable to appreciate the delicacy, flavor and melt in your mouth consistency that properly cooked eggplants have. He would eat them (most of the times) but rather grudgingly or because he doesn’t want to set a bad example to the kids. One eggplant recipe he enjoys is Romanian Aubergine Salad – Vinete and I am happy to say that he did take seconds from this dish.
These Vegan Eggplants Slices in Homemade Tomato Garlic Sauce are a typical Romanian vegetable stew, eaten a lot not only during the fasting times, but mostly in summer when the eggplants fill the markets. I stewed them in the Basic Tomato Sauce from Thursday, but if you choose not to make your own tomato sauce, you can use your favorite brand of tomato sauce.
Eggplants in Tomato Sauce
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Ingredients
- 2 eggplants, 200 g/ 7 oz each
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large garlic cloves
- 200 ml/ 6.7 fl.oz tomato sauce
- 150 - 200 ml/ 5-6.7 fl.oz water, depending on the thickness of your tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 small bunch parsley
Instructions
Slice the eggplants into 1.5 cm/ 0.6 inches. Place them in a colander and sprinkle them with salt. Leave to stand for half an hour, rinse shortly and dry thoroughly on kitchen paper.
Heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a large cast iron skillet or a large non-stick pan. Fry half of the eggplants, in one layer, about 3 minutes on each side or until nicely golden and pretty soft. Remove from the pan. Add the other 3 tablespoons oil to the pan and fry the second batch of eggplant slices. Remove from the pan as well.
Grate the garlic cloves. Give them to the pan, stir once quickly. They will not need more time as the pan is already so hot, you don’t want to burn them. Immediately add the tomato sauce, water, tomato paste and some salt and pepper to taste. Stir well to dissolve the tomato paste and arrange the eggplants slices back into the pan.
Spoon some of the sauce over them, very gently, so that they are covered in sauce. Take care not to break them. Turn the heat down to medium low and cover the pan with a lid. Cook gently for about 10 minutes, remove the lid and continue cooking for another 5 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken a little. Stir a couple of times in between, but very gently.
Sprinkle the dish with the chopped parsley and serve with bread or potatoes.
Others you might like:
Pasta with Eggplant Tomato Sauce
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13 comments
Eggplant is one vegetable I must to use to. I eat this but this is not my favorite. Now I am looking your photos and seems that eggplant gave a second chance 🙂
This is definitely something I would enjoy for the dinner! Love the simplicity and flavour.
It looks delicious, I love aubergines and tomatoes, so I know I would like this stew too. x
Always looking for a recipe for eggplant because it’s such a tricky vegetable in both texture and flavor. I love this recipe and will be making it soon! Thanks!
Maybe I’m part Romanian, because I will seriously devour anything stewed. 🙂 Like this fabulous eggplant dish, It would be gone in .2 seconds if I was around! Looks absolutely cozy and delicious, girlfriend!! Cheers!
what a satisfying stew! it’s the kind of dinner i like to take a hunk of bread to and chow down!
Tomato sauce is such a magical ingredient to use in so many ways. I love eggplant now as an adult and would love to have this for dinner, any night! I just want to have this with some crusty, warm bread, and a small glass of wine.
As Italian, I love eggplant, or maybe adore this vegetable! We cook it often, more than any Canadian, here. So many are intimidated by this amazing vegetable, I cannot understand why. Love how you stewed them in tomato sauce!
I love stews, too, even though I don’t make them too often. They’re perfect for a cold-weather night!
I like stewing meats and vegetables, too. When I first got married, I found that the easiest and most flavorful way to make dinner was to cook it in a full-flavored tomato sauce just like you did here. I love the meaty texture of eggplant and how it soaks up sauce and flavors. This is a knock-out dish, Adina!
Stunning dish! Two of my favorite foods combined together… perfect match!!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
This came out very tasty but I think I did it wrong… when I was frying the eggplant in the pan, I started out with the 3 tablespoons of olive oil you put here, but the second I put the eggplant in the pan it sucked up all of the olive oil and the pan was so dry. So when I flipped the eggplant over to fry the other side I added more olive oil and the dish turned out really tasty but a little bit greasy from the extra olive oil. Should I have just left the pan dry when doing the eggplant??
You weren’t wrong, Amy. That’s the problem with eggplants, they suck up the oil like a sponge. I like them when fried in oil, they are creamier than when grilled or baked, but I always worry about the calories, so I try to use as little oil as possible. Try using a non-stick pan and maybe start with one or two tablespoons oil, adding more only when adding the next batch. If the non-stick pan is a bit dry when you flip the eggplants over is not so bad. If you keep an eye on them, they will not burn.