Toasties not for vegans? Think again, my friends! Toasties are THE BEST for vegans. When we are on a toastie-roll, we like to grill the ingredients for our toasties on the same grill that we’ll use for the toastie itself. This saves us doing more dishes and makes everything double-delicious.
Because when you got things between bread in your head…
Recipe Inspiration
We love vegetables and especially when they’re grilled. We could eat them all day, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Oh yes, and for snack-time! This trio of vegetables is such a golden match! It brings you straight to Mediterranean places and they’re easy to clean, cut and prepare.
Why We Love It
Let’s see… eggplant is a favorite… zucchini is a favorite… and bell pepper… is a favorite, too! Like I said, easy to clean, easy to cut, and easy to prepare. Especially on the grill they do very well. And of course, we like the vitamin kick that you get from these veggies!
Equipment
For this toastie you really want to have a grill. We will experiment occasionally to see which toastie-maker makes better toasties, but today we’re going all in on the grill, which we will use for the vegetables first, and later to make the toastie.
- Tefal: Inicio Grill (Awesome for Toasties and All Grilling Needs)
- Tefal: Infiny Force Premium (Hand Mixer Set)
- Spatula (Any Brand is Fine)
- Oil Brush (Any Brand is Fine)
The Cheesy Option
Do you feel like you’re cheating on cheese by eating a vegan toastie? OK… Here’s an idea: add some feta cheese to this toastie and you will get your creamy kick. Best is to sprinkle some feta on top of the layers of vegetables, with the second slice of bread directly on top of it.
The Meaty Option
You might be pushing it, here! But if you really want to go for the full experience, I guess you could add some slices of chicken fillet (deli meat) on the toastie.
Veggie Variations
There must be billions of other combinations of vegetables that you could use on a toastie.
Whatever your choice is, make sure that the vegetables or not too watery (like tomato and cucumber), not too hard to grill (like sweet potato), or too difficult to assemble on a toastie (like cauliflower and broccoli)
Hummmmmmmmmmmmus
This homemade hummus recipe that is included with this toastie, is super easy to make and pretty yummy!
With just some chickpeas, garlic, olive oil and tahini, you will have yourself a beautiful hummus. Today, we’ll keep it simple and neutral, so that we can fully focus on the flavors of the grilled vegetables.
Deli Veggie
The trick to make this toastie a “real” toastie, is to cut the vegetables in such a way that they replace slices of cheese and deli meats. Yes, nice and thin.
However, if you cut the eggplant and zucchini too thin, they will disappear on the grill. However, however, if you cut them too thick, it will take ages for them to cook. It literally is a fine line.
Aim for slices of about 0.4 mm thick and you should have a perfect vegetable deli slice for on the toastie.
Don’t Sweat It
Eggplants need to sweat to get the best of them. Immediately after cutting, you need to sprinkle some salt on the cut eggplant and rub it in.
Let the eggplant sit for about 10 minutes, or until it starts to sweat (which you will recognize as soon as you see it!).
When you think the eggplant has been sweating enough, you can rinse it in water, and dry with paper towels. Your eggplant should be ready to rumble!
YouTube Video
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Let Us Know What You Think
Tried this recipe? Let us know what you think!
Suggestions, variations, or any other things that you would like us to try, are more than welcome. Here at the Toastie Lab, we love to experiment!
Print
Grilled Zucchini, Eggplant, Red Pepper and Hummus Toastie
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 2 1x
Description
Toasties not for vegans? Think again, my friends! Toasties are THE BEST for vegans. When we are on a toastie-roll, we like to grill the ingredients for our toasties on the same grill that we’ll use for the toastie itself. This saves us doing more dishes and makes everything double-delicious.
Ingredients
- 4 slices of multigrain bread
- 1/2 eggplant (cut in slices)
- 1/2 zucchini (cut in slices)
- 1 red (bell) pepper (cut in slices)
- 100 grams of chickpeas (drained and washed)
- Two tablespoons of tahini
- 2 (small) cloves of garlic
- 20 ml of olive oil (extra virgin)
- Pinch of salt
- Extra olive oil to grease up the grill
Instructions
- Start by making the hummus. Add the chickpeas, tahini, garlic and olive oil in a (small) blender. Blend until smooth, take out and set aside.
- Then, cut the eggplant in slices of about 0.4 mm thick. Rub some salt in them and set aside. Let the eggplants rest for about ten minutes, or until they start to “sweat”. Rinse off the sweatiness and place the eggplants on paper towel to dry.
- Cut the zucchini in similar slices and set aside.
- Cut the red pepper in chunks. The “flatter” they are, the easier it will be to grill them.
- After cutting all the vegetables, go to the grill, and place the red pepper on it. The red pepper needs about 10 minutes on the grill.
- When the red pepper is done (or on the side of it), spray/sprinkle/brush some oil on the grill and place the eggplant and zucchini on the grill for about 5 minutes.
- When all the vegetables look nicely grilled, take them off the grill and set aside.
- Assemble time! First, start with two thick layers of hummus on both slices of bread. Then, on one slice, add the chunks of red pepper, zucchini and eggplant. Put the second slice on top and ta-dah!
- Spray/sprinkle/brush some olive oil on the grill and place the toastie on the grill. Some more oil on the other side and you can bring down the lit. Since all ingredients have already been prepared, only the bread needs enough time to get crispy which shouldn’t take more than five minutes.
- When done, take out the toastie (carefully!) and cut diagonally. Eat with some extra hummus and grilled veggies on the side and enjoy!
- Category: Vegan, Lunch, Dinner
- Method: Toasted Sandwich
- Cuisine: Vegan
Keywords: Vegan, Grilled Veggies, Zucchini, Eggplant, Red Pepper, Hummus