Quite often we find recipes for stuffed tomatoes or peppers, so we decided it would be fun to stuff an eggplant instead. This quinoa stuffed eggplant actually turned out delicious! The truth is, if you aren’t a big fan of eggplant, you can use this same filling to stuff a pepper or any other vegetable of your choice. In fact, you can simply keep this filling as a side dish for whatever meal you’re preparing.
Ingredients:
- 3 medium sized Italian eggplants
- 3 cups of cooked quinoa
- 2 onions, diced
- 1 red pepper, diced (or any colour you choose)
- 4 cloves of garlic, pressed
- 2 Tbsp olive oil (optional)
- 1 tsp sesame seed oil (optional)
- 5 Tbsp coconut aminos (or tamari)
- 4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- salt & pepper, to taste
Directions:
- Boil quinoa according to directions or use leftover quinoa from another meal.
- Pre-heat oven to 350°.
- Cut off the green top of eggplants and cut in half, lengthwise.
- Scoop or cut out a whole in the eggplant halves.
- Brush the open part of the eggplant with some olive oil (optional) and sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper and set aside on a baking sheet. Add a few tablespoons of water to the baking sheet. (You may need to gently slice off a small part of the skin from underneath the eggplant to allow it to sit flush on the baking sheet. This way it will not tip over.)
- Heat the frying pan and add some water.
- Gently saute the onions for about 4 minutes.
- Add the garlic and red pepper and saute for about 3-4 minutes more until peppers are tender. If you’d rather not cook the peppers, just add them later as a topping.
- Add in quinoa and sesame seed oil (optional) and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in the coconut aminos, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.
- Spoon in about ½ cup of the quinoa mixture into each eggplant half.
- Bake at 350° for about 25-30 minutes or until eggplant is at desired tenderness.
Enjoy!
~ Plant Trainers
