Roast Stuffed Aubergines with Cauli Couscous
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Prep: 20 mins
Cook: 1 hr
Bzzzzzt - that's the sound of your cauli being blitzed into couscous. It's brilliant flavoured with cumin, lemon and pine nuts and served with lightly spiced stuffed aubergines.
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370 kcal
(per portion)
Ingredients you'll need
  • 2 aubergines
  • 1 large onion
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • A tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 cauliflower
  • 1 lemon
  • A bag of pine nuts
From your kitchen
  • 3 tsp olive oil
  • Sea salt
  • Freshly ground pepper
You'll need
  • Roasting tin
  • Pan with a lid
  • Food processor or grater
  • Frying pan
Step by step this way
  • 1.

    Heat your oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4. Halve the aubergines. Slice a criss-cross pattern into the cut sides of the aubergines. Pop them in a roasting tin. Brush each half with 1/2 tsp olive oil. Bake for 30 mins till they are brown and tender.

  • 2.

    Peel and finely chop the onion. Peel and grate or crush the garlic. Warm 1 tsp olive oil in a pan. Add the onion. Fry over a medium heat for 5 mins till the onion is glossy and soft. Stir now and then.

  • 3.

    Stir the garlic into the onion. Measure out 1 tsp of the cinnamon and add that to the pan. Add the tin of chopped tomatoes and the bay leaf with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cover. Bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for 15 mins till the sauce is thick. Stir every so often to stop it sticking and burning.

  • 4.

    When the aubergines are tender, take them out of the oven. Scoop out the flesh from the middle of the aubergines, leaving a shell around ½ cm thick. Roughly chop the aubergine flesh. Stir it into the tomato sauce. Taste and add more salt and pepper if you think it needs it.

  • 5.

    Spoon the tomato sauce into the aubergine shells. Bake for 30 mins till they are lightly browned. Heat a dry frying pan. Add 1 tsp of the cumin seeds. Toast for 1-2 mins till they smell fragrant. Pop to one side.

  • 6.

    While the aubergines bake, pull the leaves off the cauliflower. Break it into florets. Roughly chop the stalk. Rinse and pat dry. Pop the florets and stalk into a food processor. Blitz for 1-2 mins to make fine ‘grains’. If you don’t have the processor, use a grater to coarsely grate it.

  • 7.

    Pop the cauliflower into a bowl. Pare or grate the zest from the lemon. Juice it. Stir tin he lemon zest and juice. Stir the toasted cumin seeds into the cauliflower. Season.

  • 8.

    Warm the frying pan again. Add the pine nuts. Toast over a medium heat for 1-2 mins till golden brown. Serve the baked aubergines with the cauliflower couscous topped with the pine nuts.

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