Well, today wasn’t one of those awkward days. Today I knew, the very moment I opened my eyes,  exactly what I wanted to eat, what I had to eat, and that would be: eggplant.

A funny name for something that isn’t even remotely eggy, hmm? In South Africa eggplant is also known as brinjal or aubergine, and is a very popular ingredient in the local Malay and Indian cuisines. The ‘egg’ part of its moniker probably derives from its oval, teardrop shape, and some early creamy white varieties. According to Wikipedia, eggplants are native to Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, but are widely cultivated and used in many other Oriental and Asian countries too. It’s part of the Solanacea, or nightshade family, which makes it a first cousin of potatoes and tomatoes – which happen to match eggplant very well when cooked in combination.

Eggplant seeds were first taken to America by Thomas Jefferson, that most epicurean of  American presidents. Before him, Arab traders took eggplant seeds home with them from India, and to this day eggplants are a hugely popular ingredient in all the countries along the former spice routes.

Tiny Thai baby eggplants make an occasional appearance in the fresh goods markets here, and I  invariably snap some up to cook in delectable Thai curries with my home-made curry pastes, some coconut milk, lime and coriander, or to turn into pretty Italian pickles and preserves. The baby eggplants are sometimes deep black purple like the adult versions, sometimes festively striped in pale green and light purple. Just know the baby eggplants cook in mere seconds, though, so if you’re adding them to a stew or curry remember to do so close to the end of your cooking time, to avoid horrible mushy eggplants.

It’s precisely this overcooked texture that has ruined eggplant for so many eaters, and more’s the pity, since if treated with care and respect, it’s one of the tastiest and most versatile vegetables around.

Middle Eastern cuisine abounds with quintessential eggplant dishes, most with sweetly seductive names like ‘baba ghanoush’ or ‘imam bayildi’. When I lived in London in the early eighties, Westbourne Grove was still a haven for Middle Eastern, Oriental and Asian immigrants who plied their trade mostly as grocers, spice merchants, restauranteurs and cafè owners. I discovered many (at that time) mysterious and exotic ingredients which influenced my palate for life – like tahini, cumin, fresh coriander, sumac, peppery green extra virgin olive oil, smoked paprika, ras el-hanout and, of course, the delightful eggplant. As with lamb, Arab cooks are past masters at the art of preparing eggplant. In fact, it is said that in Turkish cuisine alone there are more than forty separate eggplant dishes!

To say that I love eggplant is a bit of an understatement. In fact, I’m sure I’ve elicited a few sideways glances at the vegetable barrows in the supermarket, with my wistful gazing and fondling of the lusciously plump and gleaming, dark purple orbs. During one happy time my kitchen was an homage to this magnificent fruit, with the walls painted a deep glossy aubergine and the shelves and fittings a refreshing lime green, to match the stem end. And oh! what fine cooking was done within those walls…

Charred over the coals, the soft pulpy inside scraped out and mashed with garlic, olive oli, a dash of red wine vinegar, seasonings  and tahini, turns eggplant  into delicious Greek melitsanosalata. The addition of chickpea puree makes it baba ghanoush, both popular dips to serve with pita chips or chunks of bread. Eggplant is notoriously oil-aholic, which problem I avoid by lightly spritzing the slices with an oil spritzer (using a pastry brush and working with a light hand is also OK) and roasting in a high oven until done.

For Japanese Nasu dengaku, a criss-cross pattern is scored into the fleshy sides of halved eggplants before grilling and basting with a sweet miso-sesame sauce. I like stacking grilled eggplant slices with rounds of mozzarella and grilled field mushrooms, dot with basil pesto and serve as a vegetarian barbecue main. Smokily charred eggplant steaks also make delicious burgers.

Moussaka is a lovely comforting Greek taverna dish, with layers of fried eggplant, cheese sauce and seasoned mince baked until golden on top. An alternative version substitutes potato slices for the eggplant, and for a vegetarian version I’ve used either both eggplant and potato without the meat, or substituted cooked brown lentils for the mince. Either version is tasty and appetizing, but perhaps best suited to wintry times when one needs something to stick to the ribs.

For summer suppers I’ve devised a light yet satisfyingly filling eggplant involtini – baked eggplant slices rolled around a filling of ricotta seasoned with fried diced pepper and onion, basil, pine kernels, Parmesan and origanum before being baked in a rich tomato sauce. A sprinkling of golden breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan makes a gorgeously crunchy topping. Serve with a glass or two of chilled chardonnay and a nice herby garden salad alongside.

Roasting the aubergine slices in a very hot oven eliminates the need for frying and that loathsome end result of oil-sodden vegetable. Light yet filling, it’s one of my favourite vegetarian suppers and quite classy enough to serve at a dinner party. Can be made hours ahead and baked just before serving.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1/3 cup (80ml) olive oil

2 large aubergines

Salt

4 T (60ml) olive oil

1 large sweet pepper, pith and pips cut away and flesh chopped into dice

1 medium onion, finely minced

1 can (410g) chopped tomatoes in juice

2 T (30ml) fresh or 2 t (10ml) dried oregano

Salt and pepper

1 1/3 cup (350g) fresh ricotta

1 cup (250ml) grated Parmesan

1 egg, beaten

2 T (30ml) toasted pine kernels

½ cup (125ml) fresh breadcrumbs

2 T (30ml) olive oil

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Slice aubergines about 6mm thick, sprinkle lightly with salt and leave for 30 minutes on a wire rack to drain. Brush lightly with oil on both sides and roast in the oven until golden brown. Remove and leave to cool.
2. Next make first the filling and then the sauce: cook half the onion with the diced pepper in half the oil until soft and translucent. Stir into the ricotta with the grated Parmesan, 1 T (15ml) oregano, beaten egg and pine kernels. Season well and set aside until needed.
3. Make the sauce by cooking the remaining diced onion in the remaining oil with the rest of the oregano and the canned tomatoes until nice and thick, Season with salt and pepper.
4. Roll a slice of aubergine around a dessertspoonful of ricotta filling and place, seam side down, in an oven proof dish. Repeat until done.
5. Spoon the sauce around the aubergine rolls, sprinkle breadcrumbs over and drizzle over a little olive oil. Bake in the middle of the oven at 200 degrees for 10 minutes. Turn heat down to 180 degrees and bake a further 20 minutes until a golden brown crust has formed. Serve hot or at room temperature with a lovely garden salad and some cheese.

(PS – today I couldn’t find ricotta for love or money anywhere in the shops, and I HAD to have this for lunch. Now, I can make ricotta and I have made ricotta and I will make ricotta again, but today ain’t the day to do it. So I used an equal amount of cooked barley instead of ricotta and although less cheesy, it was still lovely.)

This recipe is in the third chapter of my cookbook Easy: simple and delicious, published by Random House Struik 2010.

You know…roughage.

No, now is not the time to be sensitive and shy away from weighty, or should I say, bulky matters, we need to address this and we will do so as responsible adults.

I’ve encountered the side effects of vegetarian eating before. Apart from the iron-and-other deficiencies that might accompany prolonged abstinence from nutrient and amino acid-packed animal protein, especially red meat, heavy reliance on grains and pulses as dietary mainstay brings about a certain amount of gastric discomfort.

Adding a strip of kombu seaweed for a few minutes to a pot of beans before the lengthy tenderising simmer certainly assists in alleviating the customary bloatedness.  Bicarbonate of soda is an old-fashioned trick to achieve the same results, but impacts on the vitamin quotient. With most pulses, lengthy soaking and slow simmering (without added salt, this toughens pulses and should only be added at the end as seasoning) might lessen bloatedness, but with grains and especially wholegrains there seems to be precious little one can do to avoid…well, you know what.

Blessed, or cursed, depending which way you look at it, with an extremely efficient metabolism, my body processes food very rapidly and as a result I usually experience the side-effects of whatever I have ingested within a few hours of consumption.

Suffice to say, then, that after a scant 5 days of vegetarian eating I am feeling (no doubt looking) like a blimp. Bloated, uncomfortable and definitely not yearning for another bowl of lentil dhal, however delicious it might be.

Bring on the custard and cream!

Citrus zinger salad with mint and pomegranate

A sparkling citrus treat to brighten up winter-dulled palates.  The recipe is in the first chapter of my latest cookbook, Easy: Simple and Delicious, published by Random House Struik.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 ruby grapefruit, 2 oranges and 2 tangerines, all with pith and peel trimmed away and sliced horizontally. Work over a bowl so you catch any juices that run free.

Handful of fresh mint leaves

2-4 T (30-60ml) pomegranate kernels

Method:

1. Save the juices that run out during slicing the fruit.
2. Chop the flesh roughly and tear in the mint leaves. Add the reserved juice and pomegranate kernels and serve cold. Some seedless green grapes or sliced ripe strawberries are a good addition.

Sesame-marinated crispy tofu with broccoli and noodles

Tofu is a pretty tasteless yet high-protein substance which promiscuously soaks up the flavour of whatever it’s marinated in. Grilling shaves the fat content to practically zero. This recipe is in the first chapter of my latest cookbook, Easy: Simple and Delicious

Serves 4

Ingredients:

500 g firm tofu, drained

2 T (30ml) sesame oil

1 t (5ml) grated fresh ginger

4 T (60ml) light soy sauce

3 T (45ml) sesame seeds

450g broccoli florets

1 small red chilli, deseeded and minced

1 t (5ml) crushed garlic

2 t (10ml) sesame oil

250 g Chinese egg noodles, prepared according to packet instructions

1 T (15ml) peanut butter

¼ cup (60ml) boiling water

1 T (15ml) soy sauce

Handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped

Method:

1. Cut the tofu into 1 cm thick slices. Mix the sesame oil, ginger, soy sauce and sesame seeds and pour over tofu, making sure it’s coated on all sides. Leave to stand on a baking tray for at least 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, steam the broccoli in a sieve over a pot of boiling water until just tender – about 3-4 minutes.
3. Drain the broccoli and sauté for about three minutes with the chilli, garlic and remaining sesame oil. Keep aside.
4. Cook the noodles according to packet instructions and keep aside.
5. Whisk the peanut butter, boiling water and soy sauce until smooth and toss with the noodles and broccoli.
6. Heat the grill and grill the tofu on both sides until golden brown and crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and arrange on top of the noodles. Drizzle over any remaining marinade, scatter with coriander and serve straightaway.

Tofu can be tricky. While it’s a most convenient and versatile source of protein for vegetarians and vegans, it can also be tasteless and spongy unless prepared correctly.  A creamy white curd made from cooked soymilk, it is sold in blocks as firm or silken varieties. Firm tofu is generally preferred for frying, baking or grilling, while the silken variety lends itself beautifully to creamy mousses, sauces, dips, mayonnaise and scrambles.

Freshly made, plain or smoked tofu are sold for a few rands a block in oriental or health food shops, so avoid if you can the eye-searingly expensive imported stuff in upscale supermarkets. (You don’t really want all those food miles, do you?) Fresh tofu doesn’t freeze well, and once bought you’re best advised to used it quickly or keep it refrigerated, covered in fresh water in an airtight container. However, deepfried tofu squares freeze just fine, since the spongy texture of the cubes is desired in stirfries and soups anyway, and make a handy last minute addition to an aromatic bowl of brothy noodles.

According to a friend of mine, making tofu at home isn’t all that difficult, yet time-consuming. So if you’ve got the patience, why not give it a bash?

Marinating tofu prior to cooking is the best way to make it palatable. Once cooked, you can return it to the marinade if you don’t intend eating it straightaway. On its own, tofu has a bland, slightly tangy taste, but greedily sops up whatever flavouring medium it’s surrounded by. Be careful, though, with soy sauce-based marinades, as I find it can make the tofu too salty. A splash of sesame oil, some oyster or mushroom sauce and a little grated fresh ginger is a simple but successful basic marinade.

One of my favourite companions with tofu is a peanutty version of Indonesian sate sauce, with generous sploshes of sesame oil added to bring nutty warmth to the dish.

I’ve used silken tofu to make a very creditable mayonnaise, and even salad cream, and some die-hard vegans swear it makes a delicious scrambled ‘egg’ – but since I’m not that mad about eggs anyway, I’ve never seen the point in attempting the recipe.

My favourite way to eat tofu is in agedashi tofu. Traditionally served in a lidded soupbowl, it’s a square of deepfried tofu, quivering and barely set,  nestled in a pool of warm, sweet fish stock (dashi), garnished with bonito flakes . The bonito flakes ‘dance’ above the tofu once the lid is removed, a thermal trick that lends great charm to what is essentially a very simple dish.

To prevent spoiling I usually marinate a whole sliced block of tofu for anything between 1 hour and a day, then panfry or grill the slices until nicely caramelised on both sides. Once cooled, I keep it in the fridge in an airtight container, ready for a quick snack.

And today was just such a day. Waking with a ravenous appetite but not in the mood for any of the usual breakfasty things, I assembled a fine,  hearty sandwich. There are some beautifully juicy, crimson beefsteak tomatoes to be had now, so a few slices went into the sandwich, drizzled with lemon-infused olive oil and scattered with shredded fresh basil. On top of that went the sliced marinated tofu, topped off with a few slivers of home-made preserved lemon and thin slices of cucumber. The preserved lemon turned out to be an inspired addition, and somehow the juiciness of the tomato and cucumber made the tofu taste more succulent. Texture and contrast is important when composing a dish, and in this regard my simple sandwich scored high with its basily-lemony-sweet-and-sour-smoky-tofu crunchy nutty summery goodness. The tofu tasted suprisingly like chicken this way, which immediately made me think the next Tofu Experiment will be along the mayonnaise line…Could grilled marinated tofu in tofu mayonnaise ever emulate chicken mayonnaise? I guess we’ll have to try and find out!

Rosy C-soother

A refreshing tonic against summer blazes – chill the fruit and semi-freeze the juice for a slushy effect.

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

Juice of two limes or 1 lemon

2 cups (500ml) cubed watermelon, seeds and all

1 x 400g punnet strawberries, hulled

2 cups (500ml) diced fresh pineapple

3 cups (750ml) cranberry juice

2 t (10ml) grated fresh ginger

Method:

1. Liquidize the fruit, juice and ginger together until smooth and serve chilled.

Yogi honey-nana smoothie

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

250ml cold low-fat or soy milk

250ml cold Bulgarian or flavoured yoghurt

200ml cold orange or apple juice

2 small ripe bananas

1 T (15ml) honey

1 T (15ml) wheat germ

2 t (10ml) carob powder (optional)

Method:

1. Put all the ingredients into a blender and whiz until smooth. Serve in tall glasses and drink while frothy.

Energy muffins with apple, carrot and raisins

Muffins are the ultimate no-fuss bake. Dry and moist should just meet before baking – overstirring makes for heavy muffins. Pop a few in your lunchbox to stave off mid-morning pangs.

Makes twelve

250g self raising flour

1 ml each of cinnamon, mixed spice or grated nutmeg

½ t (2,5ml) salt

2 t (10ml) baking powder

1 T (15ml) wheat germ or bran

5 T (60ml) soft brown sugar or 2 T (30ml) molasses

1 small apple, peeled and grated

1 small carrot, peeled and grated

½ cup (75g) sultanas or seedless raisins

2 large eggs

1 cup (250ml) buttermilk, Bulgarian yoghurt or milk

1/3 cup (80ml) oil

Handful of oats for topping

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Line the hollows of a muffin tin with paper cases and spray with nonstick spray.
3. Sift the flour, spices, salt and baking powder into a large bowl and stir through the bran.
4. Mix the grated apple, carrot and sultanas or raisins with the flour.
5. Whisk the sugar or molasses, eggs, milk and oil until smooth and stir into the dry ingredients until just blended – the mixture should be lumpy.
6. Fill the cases ¾ full with the batter and sprinkle some oats over each.
7. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 25 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a metal rack until ready to serve.

Rosemary baked mushrooms on wholewheat toast

Baking at high heat really intensifies the flavour of mushrooms. This makes a brilliant filling for omelettes, or with a bit of mascarpone and parmesan, melted into hot pasta.
Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 T (30ml) olive oil
1 T (15ml) chopped fresh rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste
4 large field mushrooms
10 oyster mushrooms
8-10 portabellini mushrooms
10-12 button mushrooms
4 slices buttered wholewheat toast

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Mix the olive oil, rosemary and seasoning in a bowl.
3. Slice all the mushrooms and stir lightly through the oil.
4. Spread the mushrooms in a single layer on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes. Serve immediately on hot buttered toast.

I beg to differ! Besides providing fuel for energy, food should be good, and every mealtime a celebration.

Little adjustments along the way mean more in the long run than radical regimes, and you’re more likely to stick to the changes if you enjoy your food.

Try to lessen your dependency on animal protein, and cut back on saturated fats, refined sugars and salt. I use lavish amounts of fresh and dried herbs and spices to flavour my cooking, plenty of olive oil, ginger, chilli and garlic, and try to make the most of colour and texture to add plate-appeal.

Grains are good for you, as are fibre-rich beans, juicy fruits and vegetables, with plenty of leafy greens, nuts and seeds for necessary mineral content.

Alcohol and caffeine give false energy, so you’re better off without them.

Pretty soon you’ll discover that without artificial additives, colourants and preservatives your food tastes like never before: fresher, lighter and positively sparkling with vitality.

It’s worth the expense of investing in a juice extractor and food processor, some non-stick pans and natural, organic produce where at all possible. The time saved leaves you free to use your new-found energy elsewhere!

Read all about it in my new cookbook Easy: Simple and Delicious, just published by Random House Struik