Recipe: Aubergine Chermoula

This is definitely one of my favourite dishes to make. To make the chermoula paste from scratch takes about 5 minutes. Prepping the aubergine takes about a minute and cooking the dish takes about 30 minutes. So for anyone looking for a dinner that's tasty and quick to prepare, with a preparation time of about 6 minutes, this fits the bill. While the aubergine is cooking you can prepare a simple salad and some hummus to serve with it. This evening, I also served some flaxseed crackers and roasted peppers.

I have previously posted a recipe for a Morrocan style quinoa where I use a chermoula paste. For this recipe, I am using the same chermoula pasta. Chermoula is a marinade originating from North Africa and is traditionally made by blending garlic, herbs, spices, lemon juice and olive oil together. It is usually used to cook fish. However, as I don't eat fish, I use it to with aubergine.

This recipe serves 4.

Ingredients:

4 Aubergines

For the chermoula paste

1 cup of fresh coriander.

1/2 cup of parsley

3 cloves of garlic

1 inch of grated ginger

3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons of paprika

1 tablespoon of cumin powder

1/2 teaspoon of chili flakes

1/2 teaspoon of coriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon of pink mountain salt

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius / gas mark 4.

To make the paste, add all of the ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth. You could also use a pestle and mortar to do this but it takes more work.

Prepare the aubergines by cutting them in half length ways. Make deep criss cross slits diagonally across the flesh of the aubergine. Using a brush, lightly brush the flesh of the aubergine with olive oil before rubbing the paste onto the flesh side of the aubergine. I use a spoon to press the paste down and push it into the flesh of the aubergine.

Place the aubergine on a making tray and place in the over for about 30 minutes until the aubergine flesh is soft.

Serve immediately.

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