Baked Aubergine

As I've mentioned before, I am not very fussy when it comes to my food but there are a few vegetables that I don't enjoy eating and I have to make a lot of efforts to make them taste good. Aubergine/Brinjal/Egglpant is one of them. There are a few dishes that I make that make me forget I am eating it. One of them is Caponata. That's an Italian dip. It's delicious! Find the recipe here

Today, we are making a dish that has Mediterranean flavours and is very simple to whip up. You can serve this as a side or as starters. Let's get cooking!

Ingredients

1 big aubergine
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 shallots chopped up
2 cloves garlic chopped finely
4-5 olives chopped up or 2 teaspoons capers
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried paprika flakes
3 tomatoes chopped
1/2 teacup Balsamic Vinegar
1.5 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Salt to taste
6 tablespoons Greek Yoghurt
1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts
4-5 leaves of Basil (torn)


Method
Wash the aubergine and slice vertically into thin slices.
Coat them with olive oil and bake them in an oven for 25 minutes at 175 degrees C
In the mean time, in a deep bottomed pan, add the olive oil and add the chopped shallots and garlic.
Add the dried herbs next and then the tomatoes.
Allow to cook down till the tomatoes mash up and the entire mix is less runny.
Add olives or capers, salt and mix well.
Let it simmer for 8-10 minutes.
Add the ground pepper, mix well and keep aside to cool down.

To make Balsamic Vinegar glaze, add sugar to the vinegar and allow it to boil. Once it begins to boil, reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes on low till it thickens. Allow to cool down.

Serving -

Take the baked aubergine slices out of the oven and assemble on a big serving plate.

Top with the tomato mix and pine nuts

Add dollops of Greek yoghurt .

Add basil leaves.

Drizzle some Balsamic Vinegar glaze all over and serve.

Enjoy!