Eggplant Cream or Eggplant Salad for FRUITS AND VEGGIES MONDAY COMPETITION

Eggplant (Solanum melongena) or aubergine. Eggplant is the common name in North America, Australia and New Zealand. In British English, it is aubergine, in South Asia and South Africa it's called brinjal. Padlizsán in Hungarian, vinete in Romanian, aubergine in German, melanzana in Italian, baklažán in Slovakian, bakłażan in Polish and μελιτζάνα Greek.

This is something in Romania you never miss. It's a well known, very common vegetable. You can find it at the market during summer. Many people store it in the freezer for winter times, or can it.

Eggplants contain many vitamins and minerals, such as excellent amounts of fiber, folate, potassium and manganese, as well as vitamins C, K, and B6, phosphorus, copper, thiamin, niacin, magnesium, and pantothenic acid.

There are many recipes available, you just have to do a search and you'll be amazed how many way this amazing vegetable can be prepared. I'm not going to insist on this because I like it only one way, as cream or salad. I can't decide which word is better because in Hungarian we call it cream, while it's called salad in Romanian and it's the same thing.

Let's see how you can prepare a delicious eggplant cream.

Wash the eggplant, dry it and grill it. Peal it (take down the black, burned skin) and wash it gently. Place the cleaned onions in the blender, blend it. Add the onion to the eggplant, add some salt. Now comes the funny part, the mayo :D. I grew up always having homemade mayo which is made of egg yolks, oil and mustard. Now because this is a plant based contest, I made a "fake" mayo :) (I know, probably could have bought some from the store but why buys it when you can make your own?). So take two teaspoon of mustard, mix it with extra virgin olive oil and you have your veggie mayo, perfect for the eggplant cream. Add the mayo to the mix, mix it together with a mixer, add some lemon juice, black pepper and there you go, you have a healthy meal! It can be served with vegetables, I guess tomatoes is a must for this :).

I'd really like to know if you know this vegetable and if you do, hos do you prepare it?

This is my entry to FRUITS AND VEGGIES MONDAY COMPETITION hosted by our dear friend, @lenasveganliving.

I'm also supporting the "Make It Healthy Project" run by @woman-onthe-wing, read more about it here: "The Make It Healthy Project" - How YOU Can Get Involved and here is the latest issue, The Make It Healthy Project MAGAZINE: Issue #8 - Tips and Tricks for Good Health!.