Aubergines stuffed with onions & tomatoes (Ýmam Bayýldý)
Ingredients
- 4 small to medium size aubergines
- Olive oil to bake
- 2 tbsp. olive oil (according to taste)
- 2 onions, sliced and cut into half-moon
- shapes
- 4/5 cloves garlic, 1 crushed and
- the rest chopped
- 2 green chilli peppers, deseeded
- and chopped finely
- 1 large tomato, skinned and chopped
- 1 flat tsp. tomato purée
- Good handful chopped parsley
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 1 tsp. sugar
- Water, made up to 200 ml.
- (7 fl. oz.) with the lemon juice
- and the sugar
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
Method
Leaving the stalks on, completely peel the aubergines leaving on the leafy bit by the stalk and trimming it a little. Rub them all over well with olive oil and place in a baking tin. Bake in the oven until the aubergines are golden and soft.
Gently fry the onions in the 2 tbsp. olive oil, until beginning to soften. Add the garlic and chilli peppers and stir fry for a minute or so. Add the chopped tomato and tomato purée, mix in well and simmer until the onions have absorbed the juices from the tomato and are cooked. Season and leave to one side.
Chop the parsley and stir into the onion mix.
Take the aubergines, and with the back of a spoon, gently flatten and ease the flesh into a pocket shape. Place in a single layer in an ovenproof dish and spoon in the filling. When all the aubergines have been filled, pour in the lemon juice, sugar and water mix gently around them. Put on a lid and bake in the oven at 180ºC for about 50 minutes. For the last 10 minutes you can take off the lid.
Leave until cold, sprinkle over some more freshly chopped parsley and serve with a wedge of lemon and warm crusty bread!