Citrusy Millet-Crusted Aubergine

This was sort of an experiment; I've used couscous as a crust for aubergine (aka, eggplant) before, but never millet. As with my previous experiences with couscous, I found it difficult to get the millet to stick to the aubergine--but the stuff that did stick made a nice crispy coating. Personally, I prefer millet over couscous any day.

For the millet mixture, I pre-cooked about 1 cup of millet in lightly salted water until just cooked, but still firm and toothsome. Then I drained the millet and mixed in the zest of 1 large orange and about 4 tablespoons of fresh orange juice, drizzled some olive oil through, and let the warm millet soak up the flavors. The mixture looked like this:

For the aubergine, I sliced one large aubergine into 1/2 inch slices, dredged them in some flour, then dipped them in prepared Ener-G egg replacer and water (double recipe prepared per package instructions), and finally the millet. As I mentioned, it didn't stick very well, so I'll have to work on that in future.




I baked the aubergine on a lightly greased baking sheet in a 375 F oven for about 20 - 25 minutes until the millet was golden and the aubergine was tender.

In my book, aubergine always goes well served with a simple tomato sauce:

3 cups pureed tomato (I pureed a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes)
3 garlic cloves, slivered
1 teaspoon good quality dried oregano (or use a few generous sprigs of fresh and add it with the parsley)
pinch of red pepper flakes
handful of fresh parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Gently saute the garlic, chili pepper and oregano in some olive oil over medium-low heat, when the garlic and herbs are fragrant (but not browned) add the tomato sauce and bring to simmer. Toss in the parsley and salt and pepper and let it cook gently for as long as you like, (at least 45 minutes - 1 hour). Add water as needed to maintain desired consistency.

On the side, we had a dandelion and parsley salad with warmed orange slices and walnuts, which complemented the orange millet crust.

As an extra experiment, I also made a couple little "sandwiches" with hummus spread in between two aubergine slices:

I'll definitely make this sort of thing again, if anyone has any tips on getting the millet to stick to the aubergine, let me know;)

Ad Hoc Note:
Alicia from Vegan Epicurean made a great observation in her comment...the millet would work just as well used dry (not pre-cooked) and would stick better as a coating...it makes sense, and I think that the dry millet would toast up nicely in the oven.