Awesome Aubergines

Believe it or not, but this is a great  low kcalorie pizza substitute for those who can't or don't want to eat flour. It is also extremely easy to prepare. The only drawback is the waiting time. But the outcome is worth the wait.


It is very low-kcal and suprisingly rewarding and filling! One portion (half aubergine prepared this way) has about 100 kcal.





Ingredients:

Aubergines (!!!)
Mozarella cheese
Garlic
Vegetable seasoning/stock cube/salt
Tomato passata (optional)



Procedure:

1) Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius

2) Wash the aubergines and cut them in halves along the lenght. Then cut a 'grid' in the aubergine's meat.


3) Put about 1/2 teaspoon of the vegetable seasoning per half aubergine. Rub it in by rubbing the two halves of the aubergine against each other.

4) Cut the garlic in slices, and stick the slices in the aubergine (the grid helps). I recommend using 1 clove per one aubergine.

5) Put the aubergines in the lower part of the oven if using the grill function. Wait approx 30 min- until the aubergines 'wilt' (the time depends on the size of the aubergine).

6) Put the mozarella on (optionally you can put some tomato passata before the mozarella, for more pizza-like taste). One 125g ball of mozarella should be enough to cover four aubergine halves. Put back in the oven, this time on the highest shelf, just under the grill. The dish is ready when the cheese melts and becomes golden on the top.

Enjoy!

Tips:

Watch out not to burn yourself eating: aubergines have an amazing capacity to retain the heat!


Make sure you cook the aubergines well.  Under-cooked aubergines might make you sleepy: like potatos, they contain solanine, which in low doses (as in the veg) might have such an effect. It degrades in the process of cooking. Rubbing salt in, before cooking helps to make this process faster. More on solanine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanine.

To avoid the long wait when hungry (and ease the fear of solanine), I sometimes roast the aubergines the day before, and keep in the fridge. Then when I want to eat, I only put the cheese on the pre-roasted aubergines, and put on the highest shelf in the oven for circa 5 minutes.

You can also rub some olive oil in the aubergines before cooking. It works well for the taste, but defeats the purpose of it being a low-kcal dish.

The recipe as presented here is not vegan/lactose-free, but it can be easily modified to be so. I am planning to make another post about a vegan-friendly variations of the dish, but for now you can just skip the cheese/replace it with vegan cheese.