Eggplant Gyro with Arugula & Tofu Feta

Eggplant Gyro with Arugula & Tofu Feta

Serves 1

• 1/2 a large pita pocket (I used Trader Joe's soy pitas for extra protein!)
• Four large eggplant slices
• 2 tablespoons of my kalamata olive and sun dried tomato hummus, or your favorite variety
• 1 large bunch of fresh arugula (however much you can stuff into a pita pocket)
• 1.5 oz extra firm tofu
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
• liberal amounts of sea salt, black pepper, onion and garlic powders
• olive oil or cooking spray

 First you need to sweat the eggplant. Sweating the slices will draw out the bitterness and enhance flavor. To do this, salt both sides of eggplant slices and let them rest on a plate for at least 15 minutes. You should begin to see beads of moisture on the eggplant. After the 15 minutes is up, thoroughly rinse the slices and pat dry with a paper towel. You can either remove the skin, keep it on, or carve little strips out like I did (for aesthetic value I guess). Place eggplant slices in a frying pan over medium heat with a little olive oil or cooking spray. Sprinkle with garlic powder, sea salt, and pepper. Press tofu well to release extra water and crumble into feta-sized pieces with your hands. Combine vinegars and a a dash each of onion powder, garlic powder, sea salt, and black pepper in a separate container and whisk. Drizzle the mixture over the tofu and set it aside to soak. As the eggplant is frying, taste test your tofu feta and add ingredients as needed. (I realize that there are more sophisticated tofu feta recipes out there, but I did the best with what I had and it came out pretty good.) At this point, the eggplant should be ready to be flipped. Flip the slices, add more cooking oil as needed and more spices. It should be soft but not soggy and browned but not burned on the flip side. While the other side's a-frying, microwave your pita pocket for about 40 seconds, or until warm and soft. Coat the inside with hummus. Once the eggplant is done, place the slices inside the pita pocket and top with fresh arugula and tofu feta.