Vegan (and Gluten Free!) for a Day: Fried Eggplant

Hey guys--Jayme here!  Amanda is at the beach this week so I thought I'd take over her Meatless Monday post and share my own recipe.  I do not follow a vegan diet (or even a vegetarian diet) but I do have my own dietary restrictions.  I have been eating gluten free for almost 2 years now (I wrote a little about it HERE).  So I'm sure you can imagine, when Amanda and I get together it becomes a bit of challenge to find foods that work for both of us.  Recently I made this recipe for fried eggplant (you can also use zucchini--which I actually prefer!  But I just happened to get out the camera when I made the eggplant version...).  It calls for egg, but just as a way to make the breading stick--so go ahead and use vegan egg replacement (suggestions below) and the final product will taste just the same!

Gluten Free Fried Eggplant

Ingredients:
1 medium sized eggplant  (zucchini also works well!)
1/4 cup rice flour
1/4 corn meal
1 tsp. garlic powder
*1 egg, beaten (this is for egg wash before dipping eggplant flour/corn meal coating.  For VEGAN version-- replace egg coating by a simply dipping eggplant in soy milk or blended silken tofu)
4 tbsp. margarine
salt (to taste)
*parmesan (for VEGAN version sub with nutritional yeast)

1. Combine rice flour, corn meal and garlic powder in shallow dish.
2.  Put egg or egg replacement in separate small bowl.
3.  Slice eggplant or zucchini into 1/4 inch slices.
4.  Heat margarine in large, deep pan and keep at medium-high heat.
5.  Dip eggplant slices in egg/egg replacement wash, coat in flour mixture then drop into hot margarine.  Cover entire bottom of pan with your eggplant slices.
6.  Fry for 3-4 minutes or until lightly browned, then flip over and brown other side.
7.  Remove slices from pan as they are ready and lay on napkin (to absorb extra margarine).  While still hot, sprinkle with salt and parmesan/nutritional yeast to taste.

I served my eggplant slices alongside a fresh organic heirloom tomato (woohoo...fancy schmancy).  If I didn't have fresh tomato on hand I would serve with a side of marinara sauce for dipping!

I love this recipe!  It is fried food but the batter is super light and you can still taste the veggies through it.
Bon appetit!

Jayme