Eggplant and potato roast

Foodie excerpt - Chapter 18 - When bound by fate, paths will always cross again.

On the Midsummer Comet, Kai was getting ready to take off. The diagnostic scan had finished running, indicating that everything was in order. Kai still couldn’t believe what she had just experienced, from pulling off a heist on a Scarlet Eclipse cruiser to obtaining her very own kyber crystal. Part of her was impatient to get back to her usual ways on Coruscant, but another part felt like her story had just begun.

Kai settled down cross-legged in her captain’s chair and stared out in front of her as the day shifted to dusk on the landscape of Jakku, committing it to memory. She grabbed the bag she had placed on the floor next to her and took out a container and a spoon, courtesy of Aine. It had been intended for her trip, but Kai wasn’t ready to leave just yet. She opened the container with care, relishing the smell of the warm tomatoes and the mix of oregano, coriander and cumin that filled the air. A sense of nostalgia swept over her as she took her first bite of the dish, a large spoonful of comforting flavours, the eggplant and the potato slices melting in her mouth with a hint of sweetness. She thought about the kyber crystal now resting securely in the interior pocket of her jacket, to Aine and to her parting words: “May it guide your way out of the shadows.” Kai thought that it just might.

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Eggplant and potato roast

Serves 4

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Cooking time: 60 minutes

Total time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 medium eggplants (around 600 g)

• 6 medium potatoes (around 600 g)

• 1 onion

• 2 cloves of garlic

• 1 green pepper

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp dried oregano

• 1/2 tsp coriander

• 1/2 tsp cumin

• 1/2 tsp paprika

• 1/4 tsp black pepper

• 4 tomatoes (or 200 g canned tomatoes)

• 1 tbsp tomato paste

• 1 tbsp agave syrup

• 500 g seitan

• 2 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

Cut the eggplants in round slices of about 1 cm wide and place them in a colander. Sprinkle salt evenly on the eggplant slices and leave them to sit for 30 minutes. Salting the eggplants will remove some of the extra moisture and help the eggplant become tender rather than watery when cooked.

Heat the oven to 200 C. Peel the potatoes and cut them into slices of about 1/5 cm wide. Put the potato slices in a bowl, add a tablespoon of olive oil and mix to evenly coat the potatoes. Place the potato slices on a lined baking sheet and cook in the oven for 15 minutes or until tender. Once done, leave the oven on for the roast.

Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Chop the green pepper into small cubes and the tomatoes into large cubes. Set each aside separately. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a pot on medium heat and cook the onions for a few minutes or until they become translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes. Add the green pepper cubes to the pot and continue to cook for another few minutes. Add the spices and cook for another couple of minutes, mixing well. Finally, add the tomatoes (fresh or canned) to the pot along with the tomato paste and agave syrup. Cook for 10 minutes or until reduced to a sauce.

Grind the seitan into small pieces and set aside.

Once the eggplants are ready, rinse them and dry them by patting them on a clean kitchen towel. Place the eggplant slices on a lined baking sheet and cook in the oven for 15 minutes.

After everything is ready, it’s time to assemble. Take a deep baking dish around 23 x 33 cm and start by placing a layer of potatoes at the bottom, followed by half of the seitan and a layer of eggplants. Repeat for a second layer of potatoes, seitan and eggplants and finish by covering the top with the sauce evenly. Place in the oven for 20 minutes or until the eggplants are cooked throughout.