Sheikh el mehshi - Lebanese stuffed eggplants

Lebanese cuisine is a very healthy cuisine and cooking depends on the freshest ingredients. It's healthy for its use of legumes (garbanzos and lentils), grains (bulgur and rice), lemon, olive oil, pomegranate, herbs (parsley and mint) and spices (sumac, cinnamon, cumin...) When thinking about Lebanese food, it's the fresh fruits and vegetables that come to mind. The use of fresh, seasonal vegetables plays an important role in Lebanese cuisine; some of the most prominent include eggplant, bell pepper, cucumber, tomato, zucchini, and spinach. 

Today's dish is called Sheikh el Mehshi which consists of small eggplants stuffed with meat and onions and served with rice. There are two ways to make this dish, some people fry the eggplants and others like me, choose the healthy method and just bake it. I always serve this dish with basmati rice, but you can also serve it with plain yogurt too.

Ingredients (serves 4):
1 kg of small eggplants

Meat filling:
1/2 lb (225g) ground beef or lamb
4 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp allspice
a pinch of cinnamon
1 tbsp olive oil

Tomato Sauce:
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup water
salt and pepper to tatse
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses

Place the eggplants on a baking tray in a preheated oven at 450ºF (230ºC) for about 1 hr. Rotate every 15 minutes for even cooking.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, and saute the onion until tender. Add the meat, and cook, breaking it into small pieces. Season with salt and spices. Mix in the toasted pine nuts, and remove from heat. Set aside.

Once the eggplants baked. Remove from oven and let them cool. Make an opening along the eggplant and spoon the meat filling.

Measure one cup of water and mix in the tomato paste and pomegranate molasses. Season.

Place the eggplants in a baking dish, and carefully spoon the tomato mixture over the eggplants. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake in the oven at 180ºC for about 20 mn.
Serve with rice or plain yogurt.



Aubergines farcies

Ingrédients (6 personnes):
1 kg de petites aubergines

Farce de viande:
225 g de viande hachée
4 càs de pignons de pin, grillées
1 oignon, finement haché
1 càc de sel
1/4 càc de poivre
1/2 càc de quatre-épices
une pincée de cannelle
1 càs d'huile d'olive

Sauce tomate:
1 càs de concentré de tomate 
23 cl d'eau 
sel et poivre, selon goût
1 càs de mélasse de grenade

Disposez les aubergines sur une plaque à four et enfournez à 230ºC environ 1 hr. Tournez les aubergines toutes les 15 mn pour une cuisson parfaite.

Pendant ce temps, faites chauffer l'huile d'olive dans une grande poêle, et faites revenir les oignons jusqu'à ce qu'ils soient tendres. Ajoutez la viande et laissez cuire. Assaisonnez de sel et d'épices. Ajoutez les pignons de pin. Réservez.

Une fois les aubergines cuites. Faites les sortir du four. Faites une incision dans le sens de la longeur et ajoutez la farce.

Mélangez le concentré de tomate avec l'eau, la mélasse de grenade puis assaisonnez.

Disposez les aubergines farcies dans un plat allant au four, et versez doucement la sauce tomate dessus. Couvrez avec du papier aluminium et enfournez à 180ºC pendant 20 mn. Servez avec du riz ou avec un yaourt nature.