Our countdown to Food Day continues (Day 3) with another real food recipe from my book, The Essential Guide to Healthy Healing Foods.  Today’s feature is an eggplant dish that is reminiscent of Middle Eastern-style culinary endeavors.  This dish will ignite a fire in your belly and help to fend off inflammation with the interplay of the scientfically-praised spice, turmeric (with it’s active compound curcumin), that has been come to mean heart healthy by keeping cholesterol levels in check, and smokey paprika –  the red  hot sister to the subtle ruby pepper powder that garnishes many dishes all over the world.

Fire-Roasted Turmeric Eggplant Bake

Serve this dish with grilled salmon, chicken breast, or baked tofu. A dollop of plain yogurt will cut the spice if the spiciness is too intense. You can also put all of these ingredients in a food processor and make a tasty dip.

Yield:  2 servings     Serving size: 1/2 cup

Prep time: 5 minutes   Cook time:  30 minutes

 

1 medium eggplant, diced

3 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon smokey paprika

2 tsp. turmeric

A pinch of salt

1.   Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2.   Place eggplant and garlic in a baking dish, toss with olive oil, paprika, turmeric, and salt. Bake until eggplant begins to brown and get crisp; check and toss every 10 minutes.

Nutrition Information:

198 calories

14 g total fat

2 g saturated fat

0 trans fat

0 cholesterol

19 mg sodium

18 carbohydrates

10 g fiber

7 g sugars

3 g protein

8 percent iron

Enjoy this delightful eggplant bake and let me know if you do…

-VSR