Nearly a pound of miniature eggplants baked in a sauce of tomato paste, two tomatoes, herb seasonings, spinach, and 1.5 pots of basmati rice = a very low fat, low sodium, high nutrient, watery and fibrous cooked dinner for one vegan. And people don't believe me when I say I eat a lot. 




This pasta/rice/eggplant/tomato/spinach dish is one that is very satisfying, healthy, nutrient and water dense, low glycemic, gluten-free, oil-free- just all around a great high carbohydrate meal. This dish is a good source of Iron, Potassium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Magnesium, Manganses, Selenium, and many B-complex Vitamins! The nutritional information is at the bottom of this post if you're curious to see what I mean.





Ingredients

• 1 can - organic tomato paste*
• 1/3 cup, 1/2 cup, or less - turbinado sugar
• Seasonings**

*tomato as only ingredient
**Used onion powder, some garlic powder, parsley, black pepper, Italian seasonings, crushed rosemary leaves

Eggplant

• I used a pound of miniature eggplant // the second time I used half a large, regular eggplant
• Add spinach and tomatoes, other veggies for toppings if you want

Pasta/Rice

• Basmati rice
• Rice pasta (I really like rice pasta in place of other types of pastas, it tastes great)
• Vegetable noodles- I recommend zucchini squash (I think zucchini makes for the best pasta subsitiute!)
• Rice, quinoa, or corn pasta - low-glycemic, gluten-free, better for digestion just like the basmati, rice pasta, and vegetable-noodle options.

Also- I used a 9x8 or 8x8 inch glass pan to bake/broil/fit everything together




Methods

Sauce
Put a can of the tomato puree/paste into saucepan, add about a 1/3 or 1/2 cup turbinado/organic sugar (because I like things sweet, if you don't like sweet pasta sauce use less turbinado sugar), and dash in the seasonings- **we used (Salt-free) Spike, parsley or basil leaves, black pepper, chopped rosemary leaves, and onion powder. Stir and let this mixture simmer in the pan for a few minutes..

Eggplant
Wash and chop Eggplant, place chopped eggplant into baking pan or any pan that will do well in the oven, and add heated sauce to the pan with the eggplant. Bake in the oven on 350 F for 20-30 minutes.

Spinach
You can add the spinach whatever way/whenever you want- in the sauce, on top of the eggplant and sauce in the pan (this is what I did) and bake or add it when you add in the tomatoes..

Tomatoes
In thick slices, cut the two-to-three tomatoes and place at the top of the half-baked baking pan and broil high for about five or ten minutes.

***The cooking time for baking and broiling all depends on how soft or tough you want the eggplant to be. I like mine soft so broiling everything until the sauce begins to boil will really soften the eggplants. Not to forget the eggplant will absorb a lot of the water and sauce -- which makes it even more delicious!

Rice
I really like Basmati rice, it is my favorite rice that I can, and do, eat plain. I do not add salt or vegan butter or anything like that anymore to my meals.
But to make the Basmati, follow cooking directions (Mahatma brand comes with a few different cooking methods for Basmati).

Instead of using rice... you could do this with rice pasta. Wheat isn't the best for health nor digestion (from what I have personally experienced and the information I have researched) so I'd recommend a nice rice pasta, it's gluten-free and low-glycemic (if you are concerned about those types of things).

After the rice is finished and the eggplant is soft, combine the two on a plate and it will look like this:


Pastas
Rice pasta is my favorite type of non-wheat pasta. I tried corn pasta for this recipe and it tasted similar to wheat. But if you like something that tastes very light and refreshing, raw veggie noodles can be made from squash, carrots, or any other vegetables. To do this, all you need is a potato peeler, grater, or spiralizer.


Corn pasta with sauce


zucchini pasta




Basmati rice with sauce




Chronometer nutritional breakdown for

Description	Amount	Unit	Calories
Eggplant, raw	454	g	113.5
Spinach, raw	1	cup	6.9
Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average	1.75	medium whole (2-3/5" dia)	38.7
			0.0
Tomato products, canned, paste, without salt added	1	can (6 oz)	139.4
			268.7