Herby Pine Nut Eggplant Rolls

One of my favourite kitchen creations are rolls. I love how satisfying and easy it is to make them with simple plant ingredients. These Herby Pine Nut Eggplant Rolls are so flavourful and filling, wonderful served as a light lunch or for dinner with a green salad on the side. These rolls are plant-based, paleo, grain-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free!

The combination of baked eggplant, creamy tahini sauce, and zesty cauliflower rice that’s packed with fresh mint, parsley, and crushed pine nuts is so tasty. This is a perfect meal to prepare when you want something a little different, but healthy. These rolls provide plenty of flavour, spice, and plant power🌱🌈

I chose to use blitzed-up cauliflower instead of a grain, and I find it is actually just as filling, whilst being light. The cauliflower ‘rice’ is quickly sautéed until tender and then mixed with a blend of parsley, mint, pine nuts, lemon juice, red onion, and garlic. The result is a refreshing salad similar to middle eastern couscous. Baked slices of eggplant are the perfect encasing for the salad, wrapping everything together into pretty serving-sized portions. I absolutely love its tender texture and the way it absorbs other flavours!

The creamy tahini sauce poured on top features a hint of sweetness from raw honey and adds a nice touch to the dish. You can also serve any extra sauce alongside the dish to spoon over because it’s so good, people always end up wanting more. I find that the texture and quality of the rolls don’t change once made, so you could prepare the rolls up to a day in advance, but would recommend only topping with the tahini sauce right before serving.

Continue reading for the recipe!

Ingredients

Eggplant Slices

• 1 large eggplant

• 1 tbsp coconut oil

• 1 tbsp Celtic sea salt

Cauliflower Rice Filling

• 2 cups cauliflower rice (approximately half a head of cauliflower)

• 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

• 1/3 cup chopped fresh mint

• 1/4 cup pine nuts

• 1/2 red onion finely chopped

• 1 clove of garlic finely grated

• Juice of half a lemon

• 1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar

• 1/2 tsp black pepper

• 1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt

• Optional - 1/2 tsp olive oil

Creamy Tahini Sauce

• 1 heaped tsp of hulled tahini

• Juice of half a lemon

• 1 tsp raw honey or other sweetener

• 1 clove garlic finely grated

• water

Method

1. Heat an oven to 200 degrees Celcius (400 degrees Fahrenheit).

2. Slice the eggplants lengthwise into 1cm thick slices. Brush each slice with coconut oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake the slices for approximately 5 minutes per side until golden in colour and tender.

3. While the eggplant is cooking, heat a pan on a low-medium heat. Add in the cauliflower rice and sauté and stir for 5 minutes until softened and aromatic. Transfer the cauliflower rice to a bowl and put it in the fridge to cool.

4. Once the cauliflower rice is cool, stir in the parsley, mint, pine nuts, garlic, and onion. Then squeeze over the lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar, and add in the salt and pepper. Stir everything until well combined. (Optional - add olive oil if you wish).

5. In a small bowl whisk together the tahini, lemon juice, raw honey (or maple syrup), and finely grated garlic. Add approximately 1 tbsp of water and continue to whisk until a smooth sauce forms.

6. To assemble the rolls place 2 tbsp of the cauliflower salad at the wider end of the eggplant slice and roll up. Repeat with the remaining slices.

7. To serve, drizzle the rolls with the tahini & lemon sauce and sprinkle with any additional parsley or pine nuts.

8. Enjoy!

Thank you for reading!

If you make this recipe let me know in the comment section below, I would love to hear what you think, or take a photo and tag me @olivia.harper on Instagram, I love seeing your photos!

Feel free to share this blog post with someone you know who would love this recipe or who is trying to get more healthy, gluten-free, plant-based meals in their diet. 🌱

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With love,

Liv x