Baked Aubergine With Harissa And Yogurt Sauce

BAKE AUBERGINE WITH HARISSA AND YOGURT SAUCE 

Aubergines is a vegetable that can feel quite intimidating to people and they don’t know what to do with it and how to use it in recipes. But in the Middle East this delicious veggie is quite a staple to everyday cooking and rightfully so.  

While it can be eaten raw, aubergine is the most wonderful when it's grilled, baked or braised. The texture becomes soft and creamy saviorness 

Aubergines are rich in antioxidants, specifically nasunin found in aubergine skin - which gives it its purple colour. A potent antioxidant and free radical scavenger, nasunin has been found to protect the lipids (fats) in brain cell membranes. Cell membranes are almost entirely composed of lipids 
Quite an amazing vegetable, huh? In todays recipe is brushed the baked aubergine with some harissa paste to give it even more flavour and depth. Together with the zesty yogurt sauce this dish becomes something of its own and tastes delicious.

INGREDIENTS

2 aubergines
olive oil
sea salt
1 tsp harissa paste
half a cucumber
3 cloves of garlic
25g fresh mint
25g fresh dill
1 tbsp lemon juice
200g almond yogurt or greek yogurt

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat your oven to 200 C/ Gas 6.

2. Cut Aubergines lengthways in half and score the flesh into a diamond pattern, cut about 1 cm deep.

3. Place the aubergine halves in a baking tray cut side up, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes until completely soft.

4. In the meantime prepare the yogurt sauce. Peel the cucumber and garlic. Slice the cucumber into small  cubes, press the garlic through a garlic press and chop the herbs finely, then add everything into a small bowl together with the yogurt. Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper. 

5. Once the aubergines are ready and cooked though, mix in a small bowl the harissa paste with 1 tbsp of olive oil and brush the aubergines gently with the paste.

6.To serve, place two aubergine halves on each plate and top with the yogurt sauce. Garnish with fresh mint.

Enjoy