Eggplant Meatballs

Prepare Eggplant Meat Balls

1. Preheat oven at 190 °C.
2. Place eggplant slices in a large bowl and sprinkle salt. Set it aside for half an hour.
3. Rinse eggplants and drain excess water. Squeeze dry and pat with paper towels to get rid of moisture.
4. Spread 1 1/3 cups breadcrumbs in a baking sheet. Bake it in the oven for 5 minutes until they turn golden. Let them cool.
5. Meanwhile, heat olive in a cooking pot atmedium heat.
6. Add eggplantsand cook for 5 minutes, flipping just once. Set eggplants aside for 5 minutes.
7. Next, transfer eggplants, breadcrumbs, cheese, and garlic in a food processor and pulse.
8. Take the mixture in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
9. Stir in egg and chill it in a refrigerator for half an hour.
10. Form the mixture into small balls and coat with the remaining breadcrumbs.

Bake Eggplant Meat Balls

11. Preheat oven at 210 °C.
12. Line a baking sheet with an aluminum foil and apply olive oil.
13. Place eggplant balls in the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
14. Apply olive oil, garlic, and tomatoes and sprinkle red pepper flakes.
15. Bake for another 15 minutes until they turn golden.
16. Transfer eggplant meat balls in a serving dish.
17. Top with cheese and basil leaves. Serve when warm!

Trivia

• Unlike the popular belief, eggplants are berries and not vegetables.
• Eggplants originate from British-colonized India where they’re still referred to as “The King of Vegetables”.
• Eggplant seeds contain nicotine.
• The nicotine element of a cigarette is equivalent to that of 20 pounds of eggplants.