Lebanese lamb-stuffed eggplants

Serves: 4
Time to make: 1 hr 15 mins
( Hands-on time: 20 mins )

Total cost: $ 20.40 / $ 5.10 per serve

(at time of publication)

Ingredients

2 large eggplantaubergineXs, halved lengthways
1 small brown onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
400g lamb mince
½ teaspoon chilli flakes
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriandercilantroX
400g can no-added-salt tomatoes
½ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
¹/³ cup reduced-fat plain yoghurt
4 small wholemeal flatbreads, warmed, to serve
lemon wedges, to serve

Instructions

1 Preheat the oven to 160°C. Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Using a teaspoon, scoop flesh from eggplants, leaving a 1cm-thick border of flesh. Place eggplant shells on tray. Finely chop the eggplant flesh and set aside.

2 Spray a large non-stick frying pan with olive oil and set over a medium-high heat. Sauté onion and carrot for 4-5 minutes, or until tender. Add garlic, lamb, eggplant flesh, chilli, cumin and coriander. Cook, breaking up mince with wooden spoon, for 3 minutes, or until browned.

3 Add tomatoes and parsley to the pan. Season with pepper. Reduce heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes, or until pan juices evaporate. Set mixture aside to cool slightly.

4 Spoon mixture into eggplant shells. Spray liberally with oil. Bake the stuffed eggplants for 50-55 minutes, or until tender. 5 To serve, place one eggplant half on each serving plate. Top each with a dollop of yoghurt and serve with flatbreads and lemon wedges. For a more exotic flavour explosion, sprinkle the eggplant with pomegranate seeds before serving.