Impress your dinner guests with this simple, yet delicious recipe which is vegetarian, dairy free, gluten free, and suitable for just about anyone to eat.
Filled with fibre and plenty of fresh herbs and spices it will nourish your body and make you feel good about what you are eating.
I strive to make recipes which are easy and minimal in process, sometimes I get daunted by looking at recipes that have a mountain of foreign ingredients and a long list of processes to follow. By keeping it simply I hope to encourage you to try something new and be rewarded for your efforts with a delicious meal. Happy cooking!
Mediterranean Stuffed Eggplant
Ingredients
- 3 large eggplant.
- 2 large tomatoes diced.
- 1 onion finely diced.
- 3 cloves garlic crushed or grated.
- 1/4 cup fresh mint finely chopped.
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley finely chopped.
- 1 tsp sweet paprika.
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander.
- 1 teaspoon cumin.
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon.
- 1 tsp toasted caraway seeds ground.
- 1 tsp salt.
- 1/2 tsp pepper.
- 1/2 tsp chilli flakes optional.
- 3 Tbsp olive oil.
- 1 can organic chickpeas drained (210g).
- Optional dressing.
- Juice of 1 large lemon.
- 1 Tbsp tahini.
- 2 cloves garlic grated or crushed.
- salt and pepper to season.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C.
- Toast your caraway seeds, if you have a spice grinder or mortar and pestle grind up the caraway seeds, then add them to a small mixing bowl along with the rest of the dry spices, stir them together. You can get away with not toasting or grinding the caraway seeds, but it really brings on a lovely depth of flavour.
- Cut eggplant in 1/2 lengthways and score. Arrange them on a large stainless steel baking tray and drizzle over 2 Tbsp of olive oil, then sprinkle over half the spice mix. Bake for 35-40 mins or until centre is soft.
- While the eggplants are cooking prepare your onion, garlic and tomatoes.
- Add the remaining Tbsp of olive oil to a frypan and gently sauté the onion and garlic until translucent. Add leftover spice mix and stir until fragrant. Add your diced tomatoes and cook until reduced down.
- Stir through your chickpeas and fresh herbs, turn off heat and set aside until your eggplants are ready.
- Once the eggplants are soft in the centre, you can scoop out the flesh of the eggplant and add it to your tomato mixture. Stir it through and then fill up the hollow eggplants with the mix. Alternately, you could actually leave the flesh in the eggplant and simply spoon the tomato mixture over the top, it doesn’t really make much difference, but each person has their own preference of how they’d like to do it.
- Return to the oven to bake for a further 15 mins.
- Serve while hot, alongside a greek salad and some cous cous, rice, polenta, mash potato, cauliflower rice or on its own.
- OPTIONAL DRESSING.
- If making the optional dressing, place all the ingredients into a small bowl and whisk to incorporate, adding some water until your desired thickness is achieved. The sauce will actually thicken quite a bit while resting so I always like to make it just a little runnier than I would like.
- Make the dressing while waiting for the eggplants to finish cooking, stir in the fridge until ready to use. Dressing will keep well in the fridge for 5-7 days.
Notes:
This recipe was adapted from the Cozy Apron. I created it whilst on the Whole 30 by simply removing the grains and legumes and playing around with extra spices. It’s actually very nice without the chickpeas but I’m striving to follow a more mediterranean approach to eating and legumes are a vital part of the diet.
These freeze very well and will also keep well in the fridge for up to 5 days.
You too can make these Whole 30 compliant by omitting the Chickpeas, i simply add some extra tomatoes. Or you can use some cauliflower rice.
