Think Vegan food isn't tasty? Try my STICKY EGGPLANT recipe and have your mind blown!

This is one of my most popular posts on Instagram and I don't blame them! It's super easy to make, quick and packed full of flavour! It's also quite failproof as I managed to teach my partner how to make it through FaceTime and it turned out great! (his idea of dinner is a can of chickpeas with some steamed veggies so believe me when I say this means a lot!) What more could you want in a dish? It also uses a lot less oil than the restaurants do so it's really a win-win-win here.

A lot of Vegan food can be quite bland and boring because people are often left uninspired by their restrictions. As I have mentioned in my introduction post, my goal is to prove that it can be tasty as hell and this is the recipe to prove it! I also thought it would be fitting to kick off my recipes with something Asian inspired to hold true to my roots.

All you need to make this recipe is....

1 medium eggplant, chopped in bite sized pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup corn flour for eggplant, 1 tsp for sauce
1 tbs sesame oil
2-3 cm chopped ginger
2 chopped garlic cloves
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs rice wine vinegar
2-3 tbs maple syrup/coconut nectar
1 tbs sriracha (optional)
1 tsp thai chilli flakes (optional, only if you like it hot!)
Sesame seeds to garnish

Method:

1. In a bowl, coat eggplant evenly with corn flour
2. Heat up oil in pan on medium-high heat and then pan fry eggplant until it starts to brown (about 6-8 mins). Remove and set aside.
3. In the same pan add sesame oil, ginger and garlic and cook until garlic browns. Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, maple syrup, sriracha and corn flour and stir.
4. When the sauce thickens and starts to bubble, add the eggplant back in and mix the sauce in.
5. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve with rice and steamed greens. It goes perfectly with some edamame and broccoli!

The best thing about this sauce is how versatile it is! You can literally toss any type of vegetable in it and it still tastes amazing so get creative and play around with combos! My favourite combination so far is eggplant, pan fried tofu and mushrooms (pictured below)!

For anyone going Vegan for Veganuary I hope this recipe helps make it easier for you! I will be submitting this to the #veganuarycontest as I am always for helping and encouraging others to go vegan!

If you do give this recipe a go please let me know how it turned out! I would love to hear your feedback :)

xx Ana

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