I found some enormous eggplants at Dave’s SuperDuper Market this week. I don’t really like this eggplant size; I’d rather the smaller Japanese variety or a small to medium young, domestic eggplant. If you make this recipe, I’d suggest 4 small to medium eggplants, if you can find them. I’ve made a variation of this recipe with a medium sized, round Italian eggplant. Very pretty 🙂
Anyway. I cut about a fourth of each eggplant half per serving with a salad of lettuce and some very tired tomatoes 😀
Lamb and Chickpea Stuffed Aubergine
4 medium size eggplants
1 lb ground lamb
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
4 basil leaves, chopped
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp Mexican chili powder
Salt and pepper
1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
Olive oil
Crumbled feta
Fresh basil leaves, snipped
Cut the eggplants in half horizontally and hollow out both sides. Chop the eggplant flesh and reserve.
Quickly cook the ground lamb in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add the other tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and saute the onion, pepper and garlic until the onion is almost soft. Add the reserved, chopped eggplant and continue to saute the mixture for 2-3 minutes. Add the basil, sugar and tomatoes, chili powder and season with salt and pepper then simmer for about 20 minutes.
Spread half the sauce on the bottom of a baking pan. Mix the other half with the ground lamb and chick peas, then stuff into the eggplant halves. Put the stuffed halves in the baking pan on top of the sauce, brushing the cut edges with olive oil, cover with aluminum foil and bake in a 350 F oven for 40 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil and continue to bake for another 15-20 minutes.
Top each serving with feta cheese and basil.
They look quite tasty. I often stuff peppers, but hadn’t thought about doing eggplant before.
Although my post wasn’t that enthusiastic, stuffed eggplant is delicious. Try the mini, round, green ones. Chinese?
OK, I will. I don’t know where they come from either, but I’m sure they’ll have them in one of the China Town supermarkets.
Yum yum yum!
Thank you Utkarshini 🙂
Some of my favourite flavours. Like Mad Dog, I often do peppers or round courgettes but have not stuffed an aubergine before.
Thank you Nadia.
I love this. Never thought to stuff aubergines before.
Thank you Virginia.
There are still plenty of aubergines on the plants in the garden, I’ll make that tomorrow, when my butcher is open again!! Great recipe, as always, Rosemary!
Loving the flavour combination, a must try!
A must try. Love the aubergines as the dish. Thanks for sharing and you now have a new follower