Did I tell you that I had an irrational and illogical ‘fear’ of aubergines! In that I was never really sure how to cook them to make them taste nice! They look so exciting and full of promise. I loce their glossy purple appearance and squashy but firm feel. – Baba ganoush- is my dream food – it’s gorgeous and I can’t get enough of it. But when faced with a chopping board of aubergine slices I could never seem to creat anything worth sharing! It was not an ingredient I grew up with and I was never a big fan of moussaka!

However I think I cracked it on this one.

Pray tell…

My friend has rejuvenated an interest in my own recipe book! She was leafing through my Bazaar by Sabrina Ghayour and she liked the look of this recipe aubergines in tomato and tamarind sauce . The last time she came to my house, she had made this dish and we ate it for lunch together. It was so nice.

So of course it was just a matter of time before I made my own version. I didn’t have quite enough aubergines for original recipe so I substituted courgettes. I couldn’t quite countenance frying the vegetables so I roasted them in the oven. Also I didn’t have any tamarind paste so I used the juice of one lime instead.

The final product was out of this world. The tomato sauce came out so nice – sweet but with an edge and very comforting. I boiled up some pearl couscous to accompany it. All in all – very nice. Definitely one to be explored again!

Ingredients

• vegetable oil
• 2 large onions
• 1 garlic bulb
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons of thick unsweetened tamarind paste
• 2x 400g chopped tomatoes
• 4 tablespoons of clear honey
• 6 aubergines
• Maldon sea salt flakes
• Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

• Add enough vegetable oil to coat the base of a large saucepan and set over a medium heat. Fry the onion for 8 – 10 minutes, or until browned but not burnt.
• Add the garlic cloves to the saucepan along with the cinnamon and cook for a couple of minutes, until the garlic begins to soften. Stir in the tamarind, tomato and honey and season generously. Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 1 hours (or more), until the sauce is reduced a little, and has sweetened and intensified in flavour.
• Meanwhile, cut each aubergine in half lengthways and remove the stem, then slice each piece lengthways into 4 wedges. Line a tray with a double layer of kitchen paper.
• Pour enough vegetable oil into another large saucepan to fill a depth of about 2.5 cm. Heat the oil over a high heat, then add the aubergine wedges. Fry for 15 minutes, turning occasionally, until browned and cooled through. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to the paper line plate to drain. Pat with kitchen paper to absorb the excess oil.
• Once the sauce is cooked, add the aubergine wedges to the sauce and carefully stir to ensure they are well coated. Heat through, then serve.