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5 from 7 votes

Middle Eastern Stuffed Aubergines

Stuffed aubergines cooked the Middle Eastern way in tomato sauce. These stuffed aubergines/eggplants are made vegan as they're stuffed with just rice, veggies, spices and no meat!
Author Diana
Servings 4
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 16 baby aubergines
  • 1 cup (175g) rice uncooked
  • 2 tomatoes diced
  • 1 onion diced
  • 5 cloves garlic minced
  • 20 grams parsley chopped
  • 10 grams mint leaves chopped
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 and ½ teaspoon baharat seasoning
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 2 litres water or vegetable stock
  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 6 mint leaves fresh or dried

Instructions

To prepare the baby aubergines:

  • Cut the stems off and hollow out the centres of the aubergines to make room for the stuffing. To do that, you will need a special courgette or zucchini corer to get rid of the flesh.
    Leave about 1/2 inch of rim of aubergine and make sure not to make any holes.

For the stuffing:

  • Start by pouring warm water over rice, and leave aside for it to soften a little.
  • Dice onion, tomatoes, and mince some garlic. Roughly chop parsley and fresh mint leaves.
  • Mix all of the ingredients together with olive oil, salt, cumin, baharat mix and black pepper. Add the rice and mix. Your stuffing is now ready.
  • Stuff the eggplants with the rice veggie stuffing, but make sure that the rice takes only two thirds of the space in the aubergine and is loose as the rice will expand while cooking and can become a bit messy and aubergines might even break.

To cook the stuffed aubergines:

  • Arrange the stuffed aubergines/eggplants in a pot. Then add water or vegetable stock and cook for 15 minutes.
  • Add tomato paste or blended tomatoes with garlic, 2 bay leaves and a few mint leaves (fresh or dried). Cook on medium heat for around 40 minutes or until the rice is soft.
    Cover with a plate to help the aubergines stay in place, you could also place a mug on top if the plates starts to move.
  • Cook for about 40 minutes, or until the aubergines are cooked and soft. While the aubergines are being cooked, try the sauce and see if it needs more salt. Add more salt to taste.
  • Serve warm in a plate or bowl with some extra tomato sauce from the pot. Eat with yogurt or pita bread.

Nutrition

Calories: 394kcal | Carbohydrates: 62g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 1866mg | Potassium: 2434mg | Fiber: 29g | Sugar: 36g | Vitamin A: 1495IU | Vitamin C: 42.3mg | Calcium: 122mg | Iron: 3.5mg