Stuffed Baby Aubergines (Sheikh El Mehchi)

This is another tasty recipe from Lebanon. The eggplants or aubergines are stuffed with lamb mince, pine nuts and baked in the oven with a rich tomato sauce.

The best accompaniment is rice cooked with a handful of vermicelli that has been first fried in oil or butter until golden red. The fried vermicelli gives a very nice taste to the rice.

NB: if you don’t find these aubergines in the supermarket, you will surely find them in Asian groceries that sell vegetables.

Ingredients

• 12 aubergines, washed and partly peeled, with stems on (see photo)
• 500g of minced lamb
• 1 big onion, cut in small pieces
• 3 cloves of garlic, mashed for the meat and 1 tbsp of garlic powder for the tomato sauce
• A handful of pine nuts, soaked in water beforehand
• 1 tsp of allspice
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of white or black pepper for the meat and for the tomato sauce
• Vegetable oil to fry the eggplants
• 3 or 4 tbsp of olive oil to fry the minced lamb
• 1 tbsp of tomato paste for the meat and 400g of peeled plum tomatoes for the tomato sauce
• 1/2 tsp of turmeric for the meat and for the tomato sauce (healthy supplement)
• Salt, for the meat and for the tomato sauce, to taste

Method