This recipe is actually quite simple to make, totally gluten free and vegan. The hardest part about working with eggplant is making sure it is cooked all the way through. Note if the eggplant is not totally soft after you first bake it, when you do the second bake you can cook longer.

Ingredients:

• 4 large eggplant
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 cayenne pepper
• 1 serrano pepper
• 2 large yellow, orange or red sweet peppers
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup Chinese cooking wine
• 1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Bake eggplants whole on a roasting pan about 40 minutes.
2. While eggplant is baking prepare the filling. In a pan over medium heat, add 2 tbsp oil, and garlic, onion, and peppers. Cook stirring occasionally until onions are soft and translucent.
3. Add the soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine and cornstarch mixture to the pan. Cook stirring occasionally for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is thickened. Then turn off the heat.
4. Remove the eggplant from the oven. Allow to cool a little bit, then slice the eggplant in the middle but not all the way through so that you can “open up” the eggplant. Score the inside of the eggplant with your knife in a grid like pattern, this will allow the sauce to penetrate and flavor the eggplant. Repeat for all of the eggplant and lay them all out flat.
5. Spoon the sauce mixture over the interior of the eggplants, completely covering them with sauce and filling. Return them to the oven and bake an additional 10-15 minutes.
6. Serve eggplant with steamed rice.