Wash the eggplants well, prick the skin with a fork in few places, place in the air fryer basket and cook for 20 minutes at 200° C (390°F). Alternatively, you can always cook the pricked eggplants in a skillet or pan over medium-high heat, taking care to constantly turn them until they become soft, or you can bake them in a preheated oven at 200° C (390°F) for about 40/45 minutes.

Once cooked, allow the eggplant to cool down until you can handle them easily, then, with the help of a knife, remove the peel and fillet the pulp. The eggplants will be soft enough that you can do this completely by hand; this will also allow you to easily remove any seeds that are too large.

Transfer the eggplants fillets into a colander and squeeze them as much as possible with your hands to remove excess water.

Place the drained eggplant fillets in a large bowl, then add: flour, chopped parsley, garlic and grated vegan cheese, along with salt and pepper to taste.

Mix everything until you get a dough that can be easily worked by hand; if it is still too wet, add more flour. The dough should be firm but still a little sticky at the same time. Don't worry about meatballs as they will thicken during cooking.

Take about a tablespoon of dough and form the meatballs with the palms of your hands.

Bread each meatball in the panko and transfer it to the basket of the air fryer, previously sprayed with vegetable oil.

Spay or drizzle some additional vegetable oil on the meatballs, then cook them for 15 minutes at 200° C (390°F), turning them halfway through cooking. The addition of a drizzle of oil when cooking with air is important a) to avoid the meatballs sticking to the basket, b) to simulate the effect of fried-not-fried. Any excess fat will go to the bottom of the fryer, so the meatballs will absorb the bare minimum during cooking, giving you the taste but not the excess fat.

Serve the vegan eggplant meatballs immediately with a pinch of salt, or even warm or cold, depending on your taste.