First, preheat your oven to 180°C.
Cut the eggplants into cubes, then layer them on an oven tray lined with baking paper. Generously drizzle olive oil and sprinkle some salt. Bake until the eggplants are softened and lightly browned, for approx. 30 to 45 minutes, mixing up halfway to bake heavenly.
In the meantime, place the olives and capers into an oven-safe dish and mix in 1 tbsp of olive oil. Place in the oven and bake until the capers have turned crispy, for 10 to 15 minutes. Then, set aside.
In a large pan over medium heat, add 2 tbsp of olive oil and cook the onions until softened, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and lemon zest and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of water if the contents start sticking to the pan.
Add the lemon juice, vinegar and olives with capers. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Pour the chickpeas with their stock, give it a good stir and let it simmer again for another 5 to 10 minutes until the mixture thickens. Pour in the baked aubergines and top with parsley, stirring to combine.
Serve in bowls with a drizzle of olive and the remaining parsley. Salt and pepper to taste.
Store Caponata leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge, they will keep for up to 3 days.
This vegan eggplant version of an Italian Caponata garnished with chickpeas is the dish you were looking for—rich, flavorful and substantial. This Caponata is the perfect meal for when you need something simple yet nutritious. It is sweet and tangy. I’ve been craving eggplants a lot lately. Offering endless inspiration, it was a Pinterest deep dive that led me to an alternative version of a Caponata, imagined by British chef Susie Flory for pulses brand Bold Bean Co. I didn’t know either of them prior. Anyway, it looked delicious, so when Trace asked if I had any ideas for a meal with eggplants, I immediately thought of a colourful Caponata, and here we are. Alcohol-free and stripped down from its sugar content, our version kept the chickpeas, as they bring protein and fibre to the load. But you could replace those with any Mediterranean pulses, really. I love a good recipe that is easy to pass, to modify and adapt to our taste and food preferences, or instead, according to what we have available in our pantry, without losing its core flavours.
If you don’t know it yet (I didn’t), a Caponata is an Italian dish that finds its roots in Sicilia as an antipasti, the equivalent of an entree or appetiser. Caponata is made with eggplants and onions and seasoned with olive oil and capers. It also contains tomatoes and celery, according to Wikipedia. It is similar to a ratatouille when you think about it, with less simmering. Caponata is traditionally eaten with bread, which makes it perfect nowadays for eating on toast or bread dipping. The following won’t come as a surprise, but Caponata is also best the day after, as all good stews usually are.
If you would like to make a more traditional and substantial version of this Caponata, here are a few suggestions for additional ingredients. Keep in mind that this dish is easy to make, and you can’t really go wrong in building up on the base recipe.
1 tbsp of sugar or your preferred sweetener. Incorporate with the olives, capers, and olive oil, and toss to coat before baking in the oven. Sugar helps caramelise the capers and, to some degree, the olives. It will amplify the sweet and sour contrast of the dish.
450 g of cherry tomatoes (approx.) with 1 tbsp of Mediterranean mix herbs (dried or fresh). Add the tomatoes and herbs with the garlic and zest. Both will bring additional flavours to the Caponata. The tomatoes will wilt down while cooking, transforming into a saucy texture and deepening the sweetness of the dish.
50 ml of water with 1 tbsp of vegetable stock. Add the liquid with the vinegar. In agreement with the dish, stock offers an additional layer of savoury flavour and a runnier texture, ideal for dipping bread. If you find the Caponata is too runny, sprinkle some corn flour and stir through. It’s a tip that Benoit taught me, and it works for all your liquidy dishes.
Benoit and I like to prep-meal. For us, it means cooking larger volumes to have pre-prepared food available in the fridge for another day. It helps to spend less time in the kitchen on busy weeks. So what we do as well with this vegan eggplant Caponata with chickpeas is to substantiate the dish with pasta and additional protein. We like smoked tofu or tempeh. With the latter, some might say we are going away from traditional Italian cuisine, but the Caponata is excellent as a veggie-based side and pairs very well with those low-processed proteins.
