Auberginenröllchen | Eggplant Rolls

English version below!

Wie versprochen kommt hier das Rezept für die Auberginenröllchen. Die passen super auf Buffets, als Vorspeise, in Lunchboxen... eigentlich überall. :)

Auberginenröllchen mit Coeur de Boeuf Tomate und Moxxarella
beim 1. Squirreldinner!

Summer Food: Roasted Eggplant and Zucchini with Fresh Tomatoes, and Tomato Sauce

On some days it's just too hot to eat something that is above body temperature. Today is one of these days.
So I decided to go with tons of veggies that could in the end be eaten hot or cold.

Antipasti I: Marinated Veggies

Die deutsche Übersetzung findet ihr unter dem englischen Rezept!

We had an Italian themed dinner party last week and made a nice little plate of antipasti as appetizers. It's June, so we wanted to stick to as many cold dishes as possible. Antipasti proved to be easily prepared in advance and a great way to start out the dinner. There are three main components to the dish on the picture above: (1) Marinated veggies, (2) baked bellpeppers with shaved almonds, and (3) the tomato that's filled with pesto cream cheese. I'll explain how they were made in the following blog posts.

So here is how you can make the marinated veggies:

For this starter plate for six people (each person got their own ;) No sharing necessary), I used the following:

Ingredients:

• 1 medium eggplant
• 2 small zucchinis
• 250g of meadow mushrooms 
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 150ml olive oil (plus some for frying)
• 1½ tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• some fresh basil, thyme, and rosemary
• salt

Filled Eggplants

For some reason I used to be intimidated by eggplants, didn't know what exactly to do with them. But that has fortunately changed. This is one of my favorite recipe. Originally by Attila Hildmann from his Vegan for Fit book, it's a nice low carb recipe... unless you eat it with potatoes like I do! I made this as a lunch that I took to work for a friend and me: Tuesday is homecooked work lunch day - although we even have a vegan section in our university canteen! (So progressive!) I made baked potatoes and herb cream cheese/Quark [Recipe!] to go with the egg plant.

Ingredients:

for two meals:

• 2 eggplants
• a few tablespoons of olive oil
• 8 dried tomatoes (in oil)
• 2 onions
• 1 clove of garlic
• 100g of tomato paste
• 180g of precooked kidney beans (canned)
• salt
• 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons of oregano
• 1 tea spoon of agave syrup

For the cream on top:

• 60g of almond butter (almond butter is fairly pricey. Unseasoned cashew or peanut butter works, too!)
• some water
• 50g of tomato paste
• salt

Green Thai Curry with Rice

Again, as with most more exotic recipes, I am claiming no authenticity for my green Thai curry. I am just claiming that it tastes great! :)

I made a big batch of green curry tonight because I made lunch for myself, a friend, and the boyfriend for tomorrow. And for dinner tonight. And whatever is left over won't survive for too long either. Here is a recipe for a normal batch.

Ingredients:

• 600ml of veggi stock
• 400ml of coconut milk (1 can)
• green curry paste - how much depends on how hot you like your food and on the curry paste itself. Also: Make sure you check your curry paste for non-vegan ingredients. Some are made with shrimp etc.
• 2 small zucchinis
• 1 eggplant
• 1 small broccoli
• 3 lime leaves (optional)
• a little bit of salt
• 1 cup of rice (I used red and white rice)
• 2 cups of water
• 1 tsp of sugar

Veggi Galore: Massaman Curry

Have a few Euros to spare? Help my friends at the Café Mousebear (vegan guerilla living room café) open a real café to spread the vegan love! Check out their crowd funding campaign. Every Euro helps!

How do you put as many different vegetables as possible in one pot? Curry is definitely a good option here!

The last leftovers that I could save for the photo before the
boyfriend devoured it all!

Disclaimer: This is most likely not a traditional Indian curry. That's ok. I just don't know any better. So far everyone who has tried this curry, though, said that it was good. Still - I'm not claiming any sort of authenticity.

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons of coconut oil
• 8 tablespoons of curry paste
• 1 l of veggi stock
• 1 l of tomatoes
• 1 pineapple
• 5-6 small onions
• 250g spinach (I used frozen)
• 300g peas (I used frozen)
• 5 carrots
• 1 eggplant
• 2 large bell peppers
• 1 can of coconut milk

• As much rice as you want - we ended up not making any rice in order to keep this a low carb dish.
• This is also a dish in which you can nicely add a couple of TSP (texturized soy protein) chunks. Cook a handful or two in salt water, press out the excess water and add them to the pot.