Eggplant Roasted with Spiced Lamb and Pine Nuts

• 份量: 8

食材

**Eggplants:**

Medium eggplants, halved lengthways - 4

Vegetable oil, for frying

**Spice Mix:**

Ground cumin - 2 tsp

Smoked paprika -2 tbs

Ground cinnamon - 1 tbsp

Fennel seeds - 2 tsp

**Lamb Mince:**

Onion, finely diced in food processor - 340g

Parsley, roughly chopped - 20g

Tomato purée - 2-3 tsp

Brown sugar - 1 tsp

Minced lamb - 500g

Chicken stock - 400g

Pine nuts - 50g

**Sauce:**

Chicken stock - 200ml

Spice mix - 1 tbsp

Lemon juice - 30

Tamarind concentrate - small dash ~2 tsp

Ground cinnamon - 1 tbsp

Brown sugar - 1 tsp

Date syrup - small drizzle ~1tsp

Salt and pepper, for seasoning

Parsley, coarsely chopped - 5g

步驟

**Eggplants:**

1 Cut the eggplant as shown in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUGpbx5DXoM

Cutting the flesh of the eggplant this way is to score the eggplant, and so is called scoring.

**Roasting Eggplant:**

1 Preheat the oven to 220°C.

2 Meanwhile, bring a frypan to a high heat.

3 Add a generous amount of vegetable oil to the pan. Place the eggplants flesh side down and fry for 2-3 minutes to brown. Turn the eggplants over and fry for 2-3 minutes. We do not want to cook the eggplants fully, just brown them slightly. Frying like this will shorten the roasting time and ensure they are fully cooked.

4 When finished, place the eggplant halves, flesh side up so skin-side down, on a roasting tray.

5 Brush the eggplant flesh generously with olive oil , and season with salt and pepper.

6 Roast for about 20-30 minutes, until golden brown. The eggplants should be soft when tested with a knife. If needed, continue roasting until the eggplant is fully cooked.

5 Remove from the oven and allow the eggplant to cool slightly. When cool enough, using a spoon and/or small knife, scoop a small amount of the cooked eggplant out of the flesh and set aside. This hole in the eggplant allows the mince to fit snugly in the eggplant, rather than just being on top.

6 Cut the scooped eggplant flesh into a fine dice, then set aside.

**Spice Mix:**

Mix all the spices in a bowl or jar and set aside.

**Lamb Mince:**

1 Bring a large pan to a high heat.

2 Add a small amount of oil, then a portion of lamb mince so that you do not crowd the pan. Break it up continuously with a wooden spoon into smaller pieces. The lamb will release its juices. Keep cooking on a high heat until all the juices evaporate and the lamb's oil begins to render and brown the lamb mince. This browning is creating very strong 'meaty' or umami flavours which adds incredible flavour to the overall dish. Once brown, remove from the heat and set aside. Repeat with the rest of the lamb and set aside.

3 Add more oil to the same pan. We want to use the flavours we have developed from cooking the lamb. We should have brown, but not burnt bits in the pan from cooking the lamb. The onion when added as it releases its water will remove these and incorporate them in the onion mix.

4 Add the Spice Mix to the oil in the pan, then the onion. Cook on a medium–high heat for about 6-8 minutes, stirring often.

5 Add the cooked lamb, diced cooked eggplant (previously set aside), parsley, tomato purée, 1 teaspoon of brown sugar. Season with salt and pepper.

6 Cook for 2-3 minutes until the tomato paste begins to brown. Add about HALF the chicken stock and continue to cook, stirring and breaking up the lamb mince into smaller, crumbly pieces for another 8 minutes. Add more chicken stock if needed to allow the lamb to break up better. Continue to cook until the chicken stock has reduced to a wet sauce in the lamb. The lamb should be moist, not dry. More sauce is better than less.

7 Test the lamb mince and season as required. It should be very flavoursome. When seasoning think beyond just salt and pepper and whether more spice mix, lemon juice, tamarind concentrate or date syrup is required. If more spices are required are required bloom them first ie. fry in oil in a frypan for 1 minute. Do not add raw spices to the lamb mince at this stage.

8 Add the pine nuts and parsley, stir through the meat mix and set aside.

**Roasting:**

1 Cover the stuffed eggplants and the tray with foil, return to the oven and roast for 1 hour, by which point the eggplants should be completely soft. If the eggplants need longer leave them in the oven until fully cooked.,

2 During the cooking, every 30 minutes take the eggplants out, remove the foil and baste (pour over) the eggplants with the roasting sauce, adding some water to the sauce if it is drying out.

3 When cooked, remove the eggplants from the oven and set aside to cool.

4 Pour the roasting juices in the bottom of the tray into a bowl for serving.

**Sauce:**

1 Add all of the ingredients except the parsley to a bowl and mix well.

2 Bring a small frypan to a high heat, add the sauce and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and allow to a simmer until the sauce has thickened.

3 Add the parsley and mix through then remove the sauce from the heat, set pour it into a small bowl and aside.

**To Serve:**

1 Place in a serving container and spoon the sauce over the top of the lamb mince.

2 Sprinkle with parsley.