Gluten-Free Eggplant Parmesan

Last day of the Quantum Wellness cleanse and if you're paying any attention to me at all you know that the caffeine was the hardest part. I steered completely clear of alcohol, caffeine, and meat and dairy (I still want credit!) for 21 days, and I rarely had anything with gluten or added sugar.

Here's my gluten-free eggplant parm that I just had for lunch.

1 large eggplant sliced into 1/4 inch slices (I did lengthwise, but you could make circles.
1/3 cup Chick Pea Flour (garbanzo bean flour, besan)
1/3 cup soy milk
1/2 cup polenta (coarse cornmeal, grits, whatever you've got. Polenta just sounds more Italian.)
salt
pepper
1 cup vegan cheese (or cheese sauce)-I used the cheese sauce from the Eggplant Parm in the Uncheese cookbook, but some shredded vegan mozzarella would work just as well.
2 cups marinara sauce (I used yesterday's eggplant sauce)

I salted, then rinsed the eggplant slices, but you don't really need to. It supposedly gets rid of the bitterness, but I'm not sure it actually tastes any different.

Heat a 10 inch skillet with 1/4 inch cooking oil (I use canola.)

Season each of the breading parts with a little salt and pepper. There's lots of flavor in the sauce, so I don't usually bother with a lot of seasonings in the breading for this. You could add Italian Seasoning if you like. Coat each slice in chickpea flour, then soymilk, then polenta.

Fry slices in batches until golden brown. Remove and let cool on a baking sheet.

Put 1/2 cup sauce in the bottom of a loaf pan. Add eggplant to cover (if you sliced lengthwise, 2 pieces will usually fit in a layer.) Add cheese, then sauce and repeat until you run out of ingredients (about 4 layers.) Top with some vegan parmesan. Bake 375 for about 1/2 hour. I refuse to have a microwave at home, but this reheats really well in the microwave at work.