Aubergine Tagine

I’ve always loved the flavours of North African cuisine – particularly cumin, cinnamon, ginger and coriander and have a tendency to eat one or more of these spices at each main meal. So here’s one of my favourites: a Moroccan style aubergine “tagine”.

Ingredients

2 large black aubergines, sliced

2 tbls vegetable oil

1 large onion finely diced

2 cloves garlic crushed

½ red pepper, de-seeded and roughly chopped

½ yellow pepper, de-seeded and roughly chopped

Large tin tomatoes

Handful raisins

2 tsp ground cumin

10 cardamon pods crushed

1 inch piece root ginger, finely chopped

1 tsp sugar

Salt/pepper

Place the sliced aubergines on a plate, sprinkle with salt then top with another plate and a weight (I use my pestle). This will draw out the water and bitterness. Drain, rinse and chop into chunks

Heat the oil in a pan add the cumin and aubergine and fry for 5 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, cardamom and peppers. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, raisins and sugar and simmer on a low heat for 20 minutes until all the vegetables are tender. Season and serve with your choice of rice, quinoa, flatbread or cous cous.