Chimichurri salad bowl with eggplant, tofu and oyster mushrooms

(serves 4)

Adapted from Neighbourhood, by Hetty McKinnon

I received this book over a year and a half ago, not realising that it was a vegetarian book at the time and haven't really had the headspace or the time to browse through it and try anything yet. However, the time has come, and it has some beautiful vegetarian recipes, though some of them are a bit more complex than I would usually do, well at least with a toddler now. Nonetheless, this recipe is a nice fusion recipe and feels like a very balanced vegetarian dish (protein, calcium, high in fibre etc). The fennel adds a nice crunch and I added some broccoli for colour and some extra nutrition.

Getting some goodies from our garden; parsley, shallots, chilli and eggplant!

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 60 minutes

Ingredients
2 eggplants (approx 800g)
400g firm tofu, cut into 1cm cubes
400 g Asian mushrooms (oyster, king oyster or shiitake)
1 bulb fennel
1 broccoli
3/4 cup Greek yoghurt
2 1/2 cups brown rice, uncooked
white sesame seeds, toasted
olive oil

Chimichurri (makes 1 cup):
2 garlic cloves
2 tsp salt
1/2 - 1 chilli
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
80 mL red wine vinegar
1 cup flat leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
2 Tbsp oregano, dried
1 stem Chinese shallot, finely chopped
250 mL extra virgin olive oil

Method
1. Make the Chimichurri by placing all the ingredients into a food processor and blend together until smooth.

2. Peel strips of skin from the eggplant from top to bottom, to leave a stripy pattern. Cut the flesh into 1cm cubes. Shave or finely slice the fennel. Cut the tofu and mushrooms into 1cm cubes, placing each ingredient into a separate bowl. Marinate each ingredient in Chimichurri  until well-coated and leave for at least 30 minutes, or a few hours.

3. When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 180 C and place the eggplant in a tray to roast for 45 minutes.
NB. The original recipe suggests pan frying in small batches but this was quite time-consuming and labour intensive, so this is a bit of a cheat version.
4. Start cooking the brown rice according to the instructions, this usually takes about 45 minutes in the rice cooker.
5. Place a tablespoon of oil in a fry pan on medium heat and cook the mushrooms until golden, approximately 7 minutes. Remove then pan fry the tofu for 5 minutes or until it starts to brown.
NB. You may want to drain any excess water from the tofu first, either by dabbing or pouring into a colander as this will help it brown.

6. Chop the broccoli into bite-sized florets and steam the broccoli for 7 minutes or until just soft.
7. To serve, place two tablespoons of yoghurt in the middle of the plate, then surround with rice, eggplant, tofu, mushrooms, broccoli and fennel. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and drizzle with a generous spread of the remaining Chimichurri on top.

Adult version

Toddler version (no Chimichurri)