Aubergenius and delicious!

Behi -

Rich in dietary fibres, potassium, magnesium, Vitamin C and B and possessing a spongy but light texture, aubergines are one of the healthiest ingredients you can add to your recipes. 100 grams of this vegetable will only amount to 25 calories. Not only healthy, but it also tastes delicious if cooked right!

"So, what can I make with it" you ask?

This vegetable is super versatile (can be eaten peeled or not peeled, as a dip or whole). Personally, I am a big fan of making 2 types of dips with aubergines (one umami flavour based using a certain ingredient called Kashk - yoghurt derivative, and the other is tomato-based).

But today, I'm here to tell you about my favourite aubergine dish of all time, which is a tomato-based aubergine stew (you can have this as a vegetarian dish or with meat at your discretion).

How to make:

  • In order to serve 6 people, you will need roughly 6 slim aubergines or 3 fat aubergines as well as 400-500g of lamb cubes (if non-vegetarian)
  • First, you need to peel the aubergines (I personally don't because the skin adds more flavour, but this is up to you!)
  • If you have the 'slim jim' aubergines only cut in half along the length, but if you have the black beauty type (typically fatter) cut each along the length with a thickness of 1 cm
  • Before frying them in the pan, prepare a bowl of saline water to soak them in for a few hours (there needs to be a decent amount of salt in the water) - this will help reduce the amount of oil needed later down the line to cook them
  • Pass the aubergines through a sieve once taken out of the water solution - leave to dry before proceeding to fry them
  • Use a cup of oil to fry the aubergines on medium heat, ensuring that you turn the aubergines halfway through to cover both sides
Fried aubergines
  • Lay the fried aubergines on kitchen towels to get rid of excess oil
  • In the meantime, chop onions and fry them in a pan until golden
  • Once golden, we add the lamb chops to the onions in the pan along with salt, pepper and turmeric and leave on low heat for a short while
  • Add a cup of boiling water to the pan and let the stew simmer on medium heat
  • Once the meat is cooked, add previously fried tomato paste along with the aubergines to the stew in the pan (making sure you lay the aubergines on top of the meat)
  • Once the liquid in the pan reduces slightly, add a 1/2 cup of grapevine along with 2-3 tbsp of grapevine juice (this depends on your taste, if you want more sweet than sour, then reduce the amount of grapevine juice you add)
  • Leave for another 20 mins on medium heat ensuring you don't squash the aubergines
  • You can add a few salad tomatoes to the stew 10 minutes before the end of your cooking

Et voila! The stew can now be simply served with rice!