This isn’t the most visually pleasing dish even with the decorative sprig of rosemary, but the taste will more than compensate for the plain looks. Heikki took his half to work on the next day, and says it was very good re-heated as well. Cooking this took me about 25 minutes from start to finish, including the cooking time for lentils.

The Ingredients (serves 2):

• 5 dl whole wheat fusilli
• 300 g eggplant (1 medium)
• 1 and 1/2 dl green lentils (plus 1 bay leaf for cooking)
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 dl fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons capers
• salt and pepper to taste
• nutritional yeast for sprinkling (optional)

The first thing I did was to rinse the lentils. Then I placed them in a small sauce pan with plenty of cooking water and a bay leaf, and let them simmer until soft but still firm.

Now, I cut the eggplant in small cubes, and heated a non-stick frying pan with about half a tablespoon of the olive oil. Eggplant will absorb any amount of olive oil, so there’s no point adding too much. Then I started frying the eggplant, on medium-high heat, stirring every now and then to ensure even browning.

I chopped the rosemary, squeezed the lemon juice, and grated the garlic, and mixed all these together. Then I cooked a large pot of water for the pasta, and added it in the pot when the lentils had cooked for about 10 minutes so that they’d be ready at about the same time.

When the lentils were done (which only took 15 minutes to my surprise), I rinsed them, removed the bay leaf, and added them to the frying pan with about two thirds of the lemon-garlic-rosemary mix. I added some salt at this point as well, and continued frying for about 3 minutes, stirring all the time. Finally, I added the capers, and removed the pan from heat.

When the pasta was cooked, I drained it, and combined it in the cooking pot with the rest of the lemon, garlic, and rosemary, and half a tablespoon of olive oil. After I plated the dish I sprinkled it with some nutritional yeast, and ground a healthy amount of black pepper over my portion.

We served these eggplants with brown rice and a simple soy yogurt sauce seasoned with garlic.

The ingredients:

• 1 eggplant (about 350 g)
• 1 dl bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon each: chili flakes, paprika, garam masala, coriander powder, and turmeric
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 dl oat cream (or another vegan cream, or vegan milk)
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil

I sliced the eggplant in relatively thin slices, then rubbed the slices with some salt, and let them sit for about a half an hour in a colander over the kitchen sink. Then I rinsed the eggplant slices and patted them dry with a kitchen towel. (Some say this salting thing isn’t really necessary, but this is the way I’ve learnt to cook my eggplant.)

Then I took two plates, poured the oat cream in another, and mixed the bread crumbs with the spices in the other. I covered a baking sheet with baking parchment, and brushed it with the peanut oil. Now, I dipped the eggplant slices in the oat cream, and then in the bread crumb mixture, until all the sides were more or less covered with the crumbs, and placed the slices snuggly on the baking sheet.

I first baked the eggplants for 10 minutes in 225 degrees Celsius, then flipped them over with a thin spatula, and baked for another 10 minutes, or until they were crispy and slightly browned.

Eggplants pre-baking.

Curry paste:

• 2 tablespoons grated coconut
• 1 teaspoon each: mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds
• 2 teaspoons curry leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom seeds (without pods)
• 2 small stalks cinnamon
• 2 fresh green chilies
• 3 big cloves garlic
• 3 teaspoon fresh ginger
• 2 teaspoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons canola oil

I toasted coconut on a dry frying pan until it was nicely browned. Then I toasted all the dry spices: mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, curry leaves, cardamom seeds, and cinnamon, until an exquisite scent appeared, after about 3 minutes. Then I ground all of the ingredients together, until a smooth paste resulted.

Toasting spices and coconut.

Eggplant and Split Chick Pea Curry:

• 1 small eggplant (350 g)
• 1 onion, cubed
• 2 dl chana dal (dried split chickpeas)
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 4 dl + 2 dl water
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons cilantro (fresh coriander leaves), finely chopped

First, I cut the eggplant in cubes, drizzled with salt, and put in a colander. Then, I rinsed the chana dal, and let it soak in a bowl filled with cold water while I was doing other things.

Now, I heated a frying pan with the oil in it, and then fried the onion until browned. I now added the eggplants and fried them for a few minutes until they started to turn brown and get soft. Now, I moved onion and eggplant toward the sides of the frying pan, added the curry paste in the middle of the pan, and fried it for a few minutes.

After frying the curry paste for a while, I rinsed the chana dal once again, and added that to the pan. Then I added a teaspoon of turmeric for color, and stirred the curry to cover chana dal and eggplant with the curry paste.

Now, I added 4 dl water, lowered the heat, covered the pan, and let it simmer for 40 minutes. Then I added the rest of the water and let the curry simmer until chana dal was soft, about 30 minutes.

Before serving, I mixed in the lemon juice, and sprinkled on the cilantro.

Cucumber Mint Yogurt Sauce:

• 1,5 dl plain soy yogurt
• 1 dl grated cucumber
• 1 teaspoon dried mint
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

I grated the cucumber, and squeezed it in my fist to get rid of some moisture. Then I mixed everything together and served immediately. For a mintier taste, I would refrigerate the yogurt sauce for an hour or so, and use fresh mint leaves if they are available.