Harissa Roasted Eggplant

This Harissa Roasted Eggplant recipe is from Jamie Oliver’s Everyday Superfoods cookbook. It is just so amazingly delicious and a wonderful plant-based meal that I just had to share it with you. I’d love to say that I’d grown the eggplants myself but I only managed to grow smaller sized ones this year. I’ve made lots of recipes with my eggplants but this one uses them as the centrepiece so it is good to use the larger sized ones (but you don’t have to).

1 red onion
2 cloves garlic
Olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
150g brown rice
800ml vegetable stock
1 large eggplant (aubergine)
2 tsp harissa*
1 tsp rose water

6 olives
200g ripe cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp natural yoghurt
1/2 pomegranate
30g shelled pistachios
4 sprigs fresh coriander

*Harissa is a North African paste that is a mixture of peppers, dried red chillies, garlic, caraway seeds, ground cumin and coriander, tomato purée, salt and olive oil.

Peel and finely slice onion and garlic. Place in a large shallow casserole pan on medium-high heat with 1 tbsp oil, cumin seeds and a splash of water. Cook for 5 minutes, or until softened, stirring regularly.
Stir in the rice, pour in the stock, bring to the boil then cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Halve the eggplant lengthways, lightly score a Criss-cross pattern into each side and sprinkle with a pinch of salt.
Loosen the harissa with the rose water then spread over each scored eggplant half.
Lay eggplant halves on the rice, harissa side up.
Cover the pan again and simmer on a medium-low heat for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 180C.

Destone olives and chop or tear into a bowl.
Halve and add cherry tomatoes.
Toss both with balsamic vinegar.

When time is up for the eggplant, remove the cover and sprinkle the olives and cherry tomatoes in and around the pan.
Transfer to the oven, uncovered, and cook for 30 minutes or until the rice is cooked through, the liquid has evaporated and the eggplant ‘looks knarly and delicious’.

To serve, spoon over the yoghurt. Sprinkle pomegranate seeds, chopped pistachios and coriander over the top. I didn’t have pomegranate seeds or coriander but I used pistachios and flat leafed parsley and it was still delicious.