Rice-Stuffed Aubergines

As a vegetarian, everyone tends to assume you love two things: mushrooms and aubergines. Up until about a year and a half ago I HATED both of them. Ughhh, I thought they were slimy and rubbery and just hated the texture and didn't think they had much flavour. 

This was around the time I started cooking more and also around the time I stopped eating fish. Following the latter I really started to realise how limited vegetarians can be in some restaurants where sometimes the only veggie dish is full of mushrooms. I decided I was being too fussy and not giving mushrooms and aubergines a fair try (I think I'd only ever really had mushroom soup and some dodgy moussaka...). 

To try and change this I started to sneak them into curries - covering them with strong herbs and spices and mixing them up with other vegetables was a good way to ease myself into them. Soon I was obsessed. Garlic mushrooms became one of my favourite treats (I say treats 'cos I like to use LOADS of garlic butter which probably isn't something you should eat every day!). Aubergines were a bit trickier, until recently I've still only really liked them disguised in a curry. Then a few weeks ago I went to the amazing Pomegranate restaurant in Edinburgh and had the Bayengaan (rice stuffed roasted baby aubergines with yoghurt and spices) and now I am HOOKED (I've been back since and had two more of their aubergine dishes: Bayengaan Surocrau - marinated and fried aubergine - and Baba Ghanoush - pureed aubergine with tahini, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil)! Since then I have been experimenting with the mighty aubergine, here is my first dish:

Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a side dish

Ingredients:

75g rice (I used basmati, not sure if it matters too much what type)

2 aubergines

1 red onion

½ red pepper

½ courgette

2 crushed cloves of garlic

10g fresh chopped coriander

4 tbsp tomato puree

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp coriander seeds

½ tsp salt plus an extra pinch for rubbing on the aubergine

a pinch chilli powder/flakes

200ml vegetable stock

5 tbsp oil (I used a mix of rapeseed and olive)

1 tbsp lemon juice

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6 and finely chop the pepper, courgette and onion. Cut the aubergines in half lengthways and scoop out most of the flesh – chop it up and put to one side. Lay the aubergine halves back down on a baking tray and rub in 1 tbsp of oil, 1 tbsp lemon juice and a bit of salt. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

2. Start cooking the rice (boil in a pan with plenty of boiled water then drain and rinse with more boiled water – cooking times differ depending on type of rice).

3. While the aubergine and rice are cooking, lightly fry the onion in a medium pan using 2 tbsp of the oil. Add the garlic, red pepper, courgette and aubergine flesh and mix together. Stir in 100ml of the veg stock and leave to absorb for a minute or so. Next stir in the oregano, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, chilli powder and 3 tbsp of tomato puree. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring every now and again.

4. Stir the rice into the vegetable mixture until it is all coated. Cook for a further few minutes. Turn the heat off then mix in the salt and fresh coriander. By now the aubergine skins should be cooked, remove them from the oven and spoon in the vegetable and rice mixture.

5. Make up a dressing by mixing together 1 tbsp of oil, 1 tbsp of tomato puree and 100 ml of veg stock. Pour over the aubergines then return them to the oven or a medium grill for 5-10 minutes.

Notes:

• Try sprinkling parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs on top of the aubergines before returning to the oven/grill.
• Cous cous or any similar grain could be used instead of rice.
• I think some sort of yoghurt-y dressing would go well with them too – if you have a recipe try it out and let me know!
• Oh and make sure you eat the skins!