Steamed Eggplant, a Tofu-Pecan Crumble

Hanging in there

I feel strange sending this without an acknowledgment of what’s transpired this week. Nothing makes this work of sharing recipes feel more frivolous than a seismic historical event, and I won’t lie, I have been really struggling to process this one. But after a few days spent scrolling election postmortems, last night I got out of the house and made a trip to one of my favorite bookstores. I didn’t necessarily want to buy books; I just wanted to be around a bunch of them. And it really helped with my headspace. I love books so much, what they represent as proof of deep thinking, hard work, and invitations to escape, and I love the whole industry that makes them available to us. So this is just a quick, unsolicited reminder that even in moments like this, you can (and should) grant yourself a moment to take in and remind yourself of something you deeply love. —Lukas

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Since this summer I’ve been playing around with a steamed eggplant recipe. Not being such a huge eggplant person, steaming is fairly new to me. I’d mostly enjoyed it in well roasted formats, where the flesh becomes limp and silky mush.

Steaming lets the eggplant’s light sweetness come through, and gives it a lovely, delicate texture that isn’t mush. And because of its mild flavor, it functions like a sponge for assertive dressings, drizzles, and sauces. It also only takes 5 minutes to achieve this tenderness.

I stumbled on an Ottolenghi recipe recently where ground and seasoned pork is served on top of steamed eggplant, and that gave me the direction I was looking for. I opted for super/extra firm tofu and a small portion of nuts to make something of a mince, which is spooned over the steamed eggplant and is most delicious with a nice scoop of freshly cooked rice, too.

It may seem fussy, but in classic stir-fry fashion, most of the time will be spent preparing the vegetables. Things will then come together very quickly.

Recipe Video

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Tofu & Pecan Stir-Fry with Steamed Eggplant