Stepped-Up Street Food: Healthy Flatbread Wrap with Fried Eggplant

Get a taste of the Middle East with this food truck-inspired dish.

Live Love Lux
Share

We’re celebrating spring by exploring some of the delicious, seasonal trends showing up in our kitchens. We partnered with Madeline Lu to share insights and a recipe on street food.

Food trucks are an increasingly popular trend, and for good reason. These mobile kitchens allow foodies to discover new flavors and textures from around the world while on the go.

Popular food blogger Madeline Lu shares why she’s always been a fan of street food.

“It is authentic, flavorful, quick, and a great way to experience local culture,” Lu says. “In the past decade, the street food scene has changed dramatically, from the traditional food carts to mobile vans, from simple hot dogs to sophisticated flatbread wraps, and it continues to evolve.”

“More and more, chefs from high-end restaurants are leaving their kitchens and taking their food to the street. And now, I am taking this trend one step further by cooking street food in my own kitchen.”

Madeline Lu’s recipe is for the ever-popular flatbread wrap. From the Middle East to the West, from London to San Francisco, homemade flatbread wraps stuffed with fresh, organic, thoughtfully sourced ingredients are tempting taste buds in the street food scene.

Live.Love.Lux. Tip: Fry your eggplant to golden perfection with the precise heat controls of the Electrolux Gas Range.

Healthy Flatbread Wrap with Fried Eggplant

In this recipe, flatbread is layered with hummus, red cabbage, rocket leaves, toasted nuts, and lightly fried eggplant slices, making it better for you than typical street food. Lu brushes a layer of egg white on both sides of the eggplant before frying to make sure they don’t absorb too much oil.

Servings: 2

Print

Ingredients

1 medium-size eggplant

2 tablespoons salt

Egg white from 1 egg

2 pieces of flatbread

6 tablespoons hummus

2 figs, cleaned and cut into quarters

Small handful of arugula

Small handful of shredded purpl cabbage

1 tablespoon pine nuts, lightly roasted

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 175°F (75° C). Cut the eggplant into 1-inch thick slices. In a large mixing bowl, add the eggplant slices and two tablespoons of salt. Rub the eggplant slices with the salt by hand so it’s evenly distributed. Set the slices aside for 10 minutes. This will help to remove the bitterness of the eggplant.

Gently beat the egg white for about three minutes. On a parchment paper, space out the eggplant and brush each side of all the slices with egg white.

Wrap the two flatbreads in foil and put them in the oven to warm them up before assembling your sandwich.

Heat three tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add three eggplant slices to the pan. Do not add more than three slices at a time, as this will reduce the temperature of the pan significantly. Watch the eggplant slices carefully to make sure the bottoms do not burn. When the bottom sides turn golden brown, flip the slices.

Remove the eggplant once both sides are golden and soft. Put them on a heatproof plate and place them in the oven to keep them warm. Repeat this step until all the eggplant slices are fried.

Now, assemble the wraps. Remove the flatbread from the oven and spread it out on a work surface. Spread two to three tablespoons of hummus in the middle of each piece of bread. Remove the eggplant from the oven, and divide it among each piece of bread. Add shredded cabbage, arugula, pine nuts, and figs to each wrap. Salt and pepper to taste.

Fold the flatbread into a wrap, and enjoy!

More Recipes