Stuffed Eggplant

Stuffed Eggplant and Vegetable Byrani Rice

     Today was a cloudy day with wind and a little rain, the beginning of a tropical storm approaching. We are on tropical storm alert so things are feeling restless. Although it isn't cold, the grey sky inspired me to make this spicy, sweet and sour stuffed eggplant infused with aromatic spices.
    

     The ingredient list looks long but really most of it is spices. Cooking the sauce is simple and is done in less than 10 minutes. The rest of the cooking is done in the oven. Put on some music and enjoy your time cooking! :-) 

Stuffed Eggplant

Serves 4

printable recipe

Ingredients:

8 small eggplants, washed and dried*

2 T. coconut oil

1 T. finely chopped ginger

1 t. cumin seeds

1 t. coriander powder

½ t. turmeric

½ t. garam masala

1 T. tomato paste

½ cup water

1 roman tomato, small diced

½ t. salt

1 T. Sucanant sugar or brown sugar

1 t. apple cider vinegar

1 c. garbanzo beans, mash with fork

*I used our local Filipino eggplant. Other small eggplants like the Japanese, Thai or Indian varieties would work nice. If you can only get the large eggplant, common in the US, then I would slice the eggplant and layer it with the garbanzo beans. You may also need to double the sauce if using the large eggplant. Zucchini would make a nice substitute vegetable.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Heat coconut oil on medium heat. Add the ginger and sauté for 2 minutes. Add cumin seed, sauté about 1 minute. Stir in tomato paste, coriander powder, turmeric, and garam masala. Add ¼ c. of water. When water and tomato paste are combined stir in another ¼ c. of water. Stir in tomato, salt, sugar and vinegar. Simmer for a few minutes. Sauce should be consistency of gravy. If it is thick, add a small amount of water.  

Cut a slit in each eggplant length wise, stop cutting just before you get to the end. Pull the eggplant apart with your fingers and spoon in the mashed garbanzo beans. Place the filled eggplants in a baking dish. Pour the tomato gravy on top of the eggplants. Cover the baking dish with foil and cook for about 30 minutes or until eggplants are soft.