Feelin crummy

Some of you may remember that Andy and I went on a schnitzelling adventure shortly after christmas last year. Since schnitzelling is still fun to say and good to eat, we haven’t stopped with tofu schnitzels.

One of our new favourite meals, since we’ve been getting giant eggplants for $1 at the markets, is eggplant schnitzels. We decided to experiment with baking them, rather than frying, and it was a success.

It’s really easy. Dip eggplant slices in a batter of soy flour and water (pancake batter thickness) and then dredge in crumbs. We use crushed up cornflakes, which are nice and crunchy. Then bake them in a lightly oiled pan for about 30 minutes. These are great topped with anything from a tomato-ey sauce to aioli.

Here are some served up with roasted beetroot wedges and sautéed radish greens.

Why let the crumbs stop there? At the shop the other day, Andy picked up a few big jalapeno peppers. We couldn’t decide what to do with them until I realised we had tofutti cream cheese in the fridge (a rarity in our house). I immediately thought of jalapeno poppers. But I wanted them to be a bit less greasy than the ones I used to eat in my pregan days...

For the filling, I toasted some cumin seeds and sautéed some spinach, and then mixed this up with a few tablespoons of tofutti cream cheese. I filled up the jalapeno halves with this mixture, and then dipped it into some crushed rice crispies and baked them.

The result was yummy. Fairly spicy, but the heat was offset by the cream cheese. The cumin seeds comfortably took the place of the cheddar cheese and gave the filling a smoky flavour, and the crumbs on top were crunchy without being completely greasy. All up, a success!

In the background of the poppers is a salad, a few radishes from the garden, and a new favourite—cauliflower popcorn. Small bits of cauliflower roasted until browned in just oil and salt... it sounds simple, but it’s one of those dishes where the whole is greater than the parts.