Hello, and
thank you to any of my faithful followers checking in, and likely wondering if
I was ever coming back. I’ve not given up on the blog, there has just been a
lot of living life and shifting priorities. I do plan to keep working through
the book, one recipe at a time, and hopefully I’ll pick up the pace a bit! I
couldn’t have been more pleased with my come-back selection of “Eggplant
Paprikash”, (page 321). I admit to not always being a fan of eggplant, but over
time I have come to enjoy it more, finding particular recipes where this humble
vegetable really shines. This recipe is definitely one of those. According to
the headnotes, this Hungarian dish is traditionally made with chicken, sour
cream, and bacon drippings. In this rendition, the eggplant stands in for the
chicken, vegan sour cream easily replaces the dairy version, and liquid smoke
provides the bacon flavor. I have actually been making my own soy-based yogurt
using the yogurt setting on my Instant Pot (see
one here) and a vegan starter from Cultures For Health (find
them here), which stands in perfectly for sour cream, and is free from
additives and oils. Today there are several vegan sour cream and yogurt products
commercially available as well, so you shouldn’t have any problem finding that.
If you’re like
me, you might have thought the only way to make eggplant palatable was to drown
it in oil, but this dish definitely proves that isn’t the case. Even though the
recipe calls for two tablespoons of olive oil for sautéing the veggies, I just
used a little extra broth instead and had excellent results. The dish consists of sautéed
onion, garlic, eggplant, and bell pepper, simmered in a mixture of vegetable
broth, paprika, and canned diced tomatoes, until the eggplant is tender. The
sour cream and liquid smoke are added at the end, just before serving. If you
like your food a bit more garlicky, as I do, you can add the garlic towards the
end of the cooking time to preserve the flavor.
The end result
was delectable! I thought that the
combination of such basic ingredients would be more pedestrian, but the complexity
of textures and flavors definitely elevate this to a cut above the ordinary. I
served it with a simple couscous pilaf and steamed kale.
Keeping it
“McDougall Friendly” checklist:
Replace the 2
tablespoons of olive oil with a small amount of broth.