Middle Eastern-Style Eggplant & Zucchini Bake

Inspiration: One Green Planet | Serves: 6 | Time: 1.5 hrs

Changes: skipped fake meat; used fresh mint; used infused EVOs; used water instead of broth

Ingredients

Tomato Sauce

2 tbsp Tubby Olive Baklouti Pepper infused EVO

3 spring onions, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 15 oz can diced #tomatoes

8 sundried tomato halves, chopped

¼ tsp red pepper chopped

2 tbsp tomato paste

½ tsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 tbsp fresh mint

1 tsp cumin powder

¼ cup water

Salt, to taste

Additional drizzle of olive oil

Cheese Sauce

2 cups cashew milk

1 tbsp all-purpose plain flour

3 tbsp nutritional yeast

2 tbsp Tubby Olive Garlic Infused EVO

Salt, to taste

3 tbsp vegan butter

¼ tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp water

Vegetable Layers

1 large #eggplant, cut lengthways fried in a griddle pan and set aside

2 medium #zucchini cut lengthways fried in a griddle pan and set aside

Extras

Olive oil, for greasing

Ground paprika, for dusting the top

Instructions

Tomato Sauce

Heat up the oil in your frying pan, and fry your spring onions until slightly golden.

Next, stir in your garlic, and mix until it is slightly golden.

Then add your red pepper and tomato puree, and mix for a couple of minutes.

Then add the remaining ingredients, and simmer gently for 20 minutes until the sauce thickens.

Taste for salt, and set aside.

Cheese Sauce

Place all the ingredients in a ‘milk’ pan and whisk.

Heat the mixture up, mixing virtually non-stop, until you have a thickish consistency.

Lower the heat, and continue cooking for a further minute or so.

To Assemble

Pre-heat your oven to 375ºF.

Grease a suitable Pyrex (or similar) oven dish then place the eggplant slices across the base and sides of the dish, so that they overlap one another. Then add half your tomato sauce to the base, followed by the zucchini slices, and half of the cheese sauce (try to even the ingredients out with the back of a large spoon).

Next, add the rest of the tomato sauce, then cover with a mixture of the remaining eggplant and zucchini slices.

Then add the remaining cheese sauce and finally sprinkle on some paprika with a drizzle of olive oil.

Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, and remove when it’s really golden. Allow to cool down for 20 minutes before serving, as it will be piping hot. This can also be made a day ahead.