There have been several aubergine themed recipes on the meal plan and blog recently, I just can’t seem to eat enough of them! The combination of aubergine and tomatoes is a hard one to beat, it’s one of my absolute favourites. Even better when the veggies are roasted to intensify the flavour and served with cheese. My roasted aubergine and tomato pasta is the culmination of many attempts to get it just right. Dicing the aubergine up like this not only means a quicker cooking time but more aubergine surface area to soak up all that olive oil.
Miso Glazed Aubergine with Pickled Cucumber Salad
I’m not ashamed. I will admit it. I am an aubergine-aholic. Babaganoush, parmigiana, in a curry, moussaka, stirred through pasta there isn’t any meal I don’t love which has aubergines in. This recipe may sound familiar, as I have made something similar before, but this miso glazed aubergine when combined with a quick pickled cucumber salad really is a match made in heaven. Depending on the size of your aubergines this takes around half an hour to make, a little longer if they are large and need more time in the oven.
Baked Aubergine, Halloumi and Tomato Mashed Potato
Sundried tomatoes, paste and pesto always hang around for a bit in my kitchen. I never seem to use a whole tub or jar so am left with trying to find different ways to use them up. And why not mix them with mashed potato! This Baked Aubergine, Halloumi and Tomato Mashed Potato is really rather very good; especially when you get a forkful of everything at once. Great for using up a few odds and ends too and you could easily stretch this to feed four people just by adding an extra aubergine and a few more potatoes.
Aubergine Curry
Ingredients
You will need (for five to six large portions):
- 1/2 a teaspoon each of cardamom, mustard seeds, cumin and turmeric
- 1 teaspoon of coriander seeds
- salt and pepper
- 2 large aubergines, in roughly chopped
- 4 onions, sliced
- 4 large garlic cloves
- Oil for frying
- 4 tomatoes, seeds removed and quartered
- 1 tin tomatoes
- 2 chillies, sliced (add more or less depending on how hot you like it)
- 1 tin coconut milk
- 300ml vegetable stock
- Large handful coriander, roughly chopped
Method
Add all the spices and salt and pepper to a pestle and mortar and grind them up. The smell is so fresh.I have a real aversion to soggy, slimy, sloppy aubergines and so to prevent my distress I always cook them separately first. In this case I griddled them to give them a characteristic smoky flavour. Don’t add oil to the aubergine, I find the oil soaks in too much. I have found that for some recipes soaking the aubergines in salt is absolutely necessary but in this recipe, not so much.
Sweat the onion and garlic in a little oil until they look fairly sumptuous and then add the spices. Stir until your nostrils are dancing.