Couscous Stuffed Aubergine With Coriander Yogurt Dressing

I serve this dish as an accompaniment to lots of other little dishes along with humus, pittas and olives but it would be perfect as a main dish serving half an aubergine per person with a few salad leaves on the side.

I love aubergine because it is cheap, tasty and incredibly filling. It’s also really versatile and is perfect for all sorts of vegetarian dishes as well as being fabulous with meat. Stuffed aubergine is quite a popular choice for this veggie and there are loads of different recipes for it; this is how I do mine, it’s adapted and changed from a similar recipe I found on line but I think my version is better!

Ingredients:

1 medium aubergine, cut in half with the flesh deeply criss crossed using a knife

Salt and pepper

A teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Olivie oil

A handful of pine nuts

The juice and zest of a lemon

A handful of sundried tomatoes, chopped

A handful of dried apricots, chopped

100g of dried couscous

300ml of boiling stock made with a vegetarian stock cube

4 spring onions finely chopped

A handful of sultanas

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

A teaspoon of fresh ginger, finely chopped

Half a big tub of Greek yogurt

A bunch of fresh coriander, finely chopped

Method:

Bake the scored Aubergine halves in the oven (at 200 for half an hour) with a drizzle of olive oil and a seasoning of salt and pepper.

Pour the boiling stock over the couscous, cover and leave for ten minutes. Fluff up using a fork and add the cinnamon, pine nuts (you can toast them or not, I don’t but toasting gives a slightly different flavour so whatever you prefer), sultanas, apricots, sundried tomatoes, lemon zest and spring onions then mix in evenly.

Remove the aubergines from the oven and carefully remove the flesh leaving the skins in tact. Add the flesh to the couscous mixture and mix before stuffing the mixture back into the skins of the aubergines and popping back into the oven to bake for 20 minutes.

While the stuffed aubergines are baking mix up the coriander yogurt with the garlic, ginger and lemon juice. I used Greek natural yogurt but for a slightly healthier option try using plain yogurt instead.

Serve in a dish with the dressing on the side and to make it look really pretty you could always tap out some pomegranate seeds over the top.

As I mentioned, this could be a dish for a main course serving half an aubergine per person with some salad leaves but I serve mine in a buffet with a few other dishes like my King prawns with mango, chilli and lime salsa and my roasted butternut squash and feta salad with a honey and mustard dressing. To accompany the dishes I add pots of olives, humus, tzatziki and strips of toasted pitta breads. It makes a really lovely alfresco meal for the summer!