Stuffed Aubergines

Stuffed Aubergines

This simple stuffed aubergines recipe is a delicious and tasty way to enjoy this often purple fruit. The aubergine, or ‘eggplant’ as it is known in the USA, is actually a berry, though many people consider it a vegetable. In some other countries, it is known as ‘brinjal’.

This fruit is not always purple in colour and can be white, yellow, green or even black. Nice if you are trying to provide some colour at the dinner table 🙂

The eggplant is a cheap and healthy alternative to some of the other vegetables we eat in our normal diet. It is high fibre and low calorie and is full of nutrients.

I may even be adding them to my weekly grocery shop.

My stuffed eggplant recipe uses some basic ingredients, all of which are present in my fridge/freezer, apart from the eggplants which I bought especially. The optional HP sauce is really just a nice little twang I added just to give a little bit more oomph to the taste of the stuffing.

Really this recipe is so good that I shall be making it more regularly now. I hope you will try it too! If you do, remember you can eat the skins 🙂

I hope you enjoy this. Please let me know how you get on in the comments section below.

How to make stuffed eggplant

Stuffed Aubergines

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Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 aubergines (eggplants)
• 300g ground beef
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped
• 100g button mushrooms, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 1 tbsp HP sauce (optional)
• 50 g grated cheddar cheese
• 1 cup water
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
   
2. Cut the aubergines lengthways into two pieces. Scoop out the flesh, leaving about 1 cm in the skin. Chop the aubergine flesh and set it aside on a plate.
   
3. Place the aubergine skins on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper and put in the oven for about 30 minutes.
   
4. Meanwhile cook the aubergine flesh in a wok with some olive oil until it is soft. Then add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes before setting aside.
   
5. In the same pan cook the onion for two minutes then add the minced beef and cook until browned all over.
6. Then add the mushrooms, chilli, red wine vinegar, cumin, nutmeg, tomato puree, ketchup, and HP sauce and cook for a further 5 minutes. If the mixture is too dry then slowly add some water to loosen it up.
   
7. Then finally add the cooked aubergine back to the pan and mix well. Season to taste. Cook for a further minute then remove from heat.
   
8. Remove the aubergine skins from the oven and carefully fill them with the stuffing mix. Then add the cheddar cheese to the top and return to the oven for 20 minutes.
   

Notes

Serve with some green salad.

If you enjoyed this recipe you may also enjoy this traditional cottage pie recipe.