Grilled Aubergine Roll Ups
With the hot season around what I personally enjoy eating easy, refreshing and flavourful foods.
These Grilled Aubergine Roll Ups are the perfect summer treat that ticks all the boxes in terms of simplicity, flavour and preparing time.
They’re just so lovely and dead easy to make and only require 4 ingredients:
- Aubergines
- Tofu
- Sun Dried Tomatoes
- Fresh Mint
The aubergines (or eggplant for my American friends) are nicely grilled on a hot skillet or a barbecue and filled with a super easy sun dried tomato paste and crumbles of fresh tofu heavily presses with a pinch of salt to resemble a soft and fluffy ricotta cheese.
For an extra zing of freshness fresh mint leaves are the finishing touch to these summery roll ups and you’re good to go!
… A Few More Tips
How to make tofu ricotta
You can use any tofu you like or already have in the house, but if you want to achieve the most authentic ricotta-style feel you may want to use firm fresh tofu available in all Asian shops, simply pressed for 10-15 minutes under a very heavy weight (I wrap the tofu block in kitchen paper and place a cast iron dutch oven on top). A dish with few cans or books will work fine as well.
After this small amount of time with a very heavy weight on top you’ll notice that the consistency of your tofu turns into a soft and fluffy block, easy to crumble just with our bare hands.
Since tofu by itself can be really bland all we need to do to transform its plain taste is to add a pinch of sea salt and voilà! You’ll end up with a product with a taste and texture pretty similar to the dairy ricotta cheese and that can be use in all sort of preparations that call for ricotta.
Pretty awesome and easy, isn’t it?
The Aubergines
You can grill the aubergines in advance or straight away. All you need to do is to cut the vegetable around 1/2 centimetre lengthwise to have more surface to work with and grill each slice on a very hot skillet for around 2-3 minutes on each side.
You don’t need to season the slices as the rest of the ingredients will provide enough condiment and flavour to them. Just imagine our grilled slices as the element that will encase the yummy tomato and tofu filling.
The Tomatoes
To make your life simple you can use jarred sun dried tomatoes preserved in oil. Place the desired amount in a stick blender glass and blend into a paste. If you’re having trouble blending them just add a few drops of their oil and try blending again. Preserved sun dried tomatoes are naturally soft so this step should not cause you any trouble.
Alternatively if you have a bunch of tomatoes that need to be used up you can use those as well. Simply re-idrate the sun dried tomatoes in a bit of warm water for at least half an hour or until soft, rinse and squeeze well the water then add to a stick blender glass along with some extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic (or granules), salt, pepper and herbs of your choice (oregano, mint, parsley and basil are recommended) and blend into a paste.
The Mint
I personally like the addition of fresh mint leaves to this preparation. However, if you’re not a fan of this herb, you can use one of those that I quoted previously (oregano, mint, parsley and basil) or any other herb of your choice.
I’ve tried this also with fresh spinach leaves and it works like a treat too!
We can prepare them in advance and they will last for days to have as a quick snack, appetiser or, as we normally have, a tasty aperitivo spread.
If you want to make these vegan Grilled Aubergine Roll Ups another time PIN it for later!
For other summery ideas try these:
Borlotti Beans and Sundried Tomato Salad
Tofu “Ribs” in Homemade BBQ Sauce
Mushroom Souvlaki
Vegan Ratatouille Pizza Bites
Mediterranean Veggies
Vegan Russian Salad
2 Ways Vegan Deviled Potatoes
Cous Cous Stuffed Peppers
Potato, Rice and Nori Bake
Stuffed Aubergine Parmigiana
Italian Style Potato Salad
Courgette and Smoked Paprika Pastry Rolls
Light Coleslaw Salad
Grilled Aubergine Roll Ups Recipe
Ingredients:
2 Medium Aubergines
150 g Sun Dried Tomatoes
130 g Fresh Tofu (pressed, see notes)
Fresh Mint
Method:
1. Slice the aubergines lengthwise to 1/2 cm and grill each slice on a very hot skillet for around 2-3 minutes on each side.
2. Place the sun dried tomatoes in a stick blender glass and blend into a paste.
3. Arrange a slice of grilled aubergine on a plate, spread around 1/2 tablespoon of tomato paste, crumble some pressed tofu on top and finish with fresh mint leaves.
4. Roll the aubergine and serve topped with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and few more mint leaves if you like.
For the tofu: Drain the water, wrap the tofu block in kitchen paper or a clean cloth and put under a very heavy weight (I use a cast iron dutch oven). Press for 10 to 15 minutes, then season with some sea salt to taste.
You can also chill the roll ups for a cold appetizer.
You can prepare these roll ups in advance and store in the fridge for a few days – the more they are stored the more the aubergine flesh soaks in all the flavours.
