Couscous with Vegetable Tagine

Essentially, it's a variation on the previous two tagine recipes, but this one cooks in 16 minutes (10 minutes prep time), so it's a good "quick" meal.

It's a wonderful vegan dish. If you wanted to, you could subsutite the chickpeas for brown lentils or even do half and half.

Couscous with Vegetable Tagine

Ingredients:

olive oil
1 onion, thickly sliced
1 red capsicum, seeded and roughly chopped
4 long, thin eggplant, sliced
2 zucchini, halved lengthways, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
400g can whole tomatoes
1 1/2 cups (300g) couscous
2 cups boiling water
salt and pepper
400g can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup chopped coriander
chopped flat-leaf parsley, to serve

Method:


1. Heat a little olive oil in a large deep frying pan over medium-low heat. Add the onion, capsicum, eggplant and zucchini and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and cumin. Cook, stirring, for a further minute then stir in the canned tomatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer and cook for 8-10 minutes or until vegetables are quite tender.

2. Meanwhile, place the couscous in a large heatproof bowl and pour over 2 cups boiling water. Cover with plastic wrap and stand for 5 minutes. Remove plastic wrap from the couscous and add 1 tablespoon olive oil, and salt and pepper, fluffing up with a fork to separate the grains.
Once the vegetables are tender, add the chickpeas and coriander and cook for 2 minutes to warm through.

3. Serve the couscous topped with the vegetable tagine and scatter with chopped flat-leaf parsley, to serve.

Source: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/18795/couscous+with+vegetable+tagine

Serves: 4
Rating:

Eggplant Paté

This paté may be eaten either warm or cold served with toasted pitta bread or breadsticks.

If you are not a fan of chilli, you may use a little sweet chilli sauce, or take the seeds out of the chilli and just use the flesh.

Eggplant Paté

Ingredients:

3 large eggplants, pricked all over
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 Tbsp black mustard seeds
2.5cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
2 Tbsp coconut cream
4 Tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200*C. Lay the eggplants on a baking sheet and bake for 40-45 minutes until tender. Cool, then halve them lengthways. Scoop out the flesh and discard the skin.

2. Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan, add the chilli, mustard seeds, and ginger, and fry gently for 1 minute.

3. Stir in the eggplant flesh and the remaining ingredients, breaking up the eggplant fesh, and heat the paté through. Serve warm, or let it cool completely before serving.

Source: Anderson, J (Ed.) (2001). Diabetes Cookbook, Dorling Kindersley: Sydney

Rating: 4

Babaghanoush

This dish is so simple, and yet tastes devine. It's eaten widely in the Middle East, Lebanon and Turkey. Tastes great as a dip, an accompaniment to meals, or even "straight" on Lebanese bread.

Babaghanoush

Ingredients:

2 large (about 500g each) eggplants
1 tsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves (or as desired - I love garlic)
1/4 cup (75g) tahini
2 tbs fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup (125ml) olive oil, extra
Salt & freshly ground pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Place the eggplant on a baking tray and rub with the oil. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the eggplant is very soft. Set aside to cool slightly.

2. Carefully peel skin off the eggplant, discarding the skin. Place the eggplant flesh, garlic, tahini, lemon juice and extra oil in a food processor. Process until well combined and smooth. Season well with salt and pepper.

3. Store in an airtight container in the fridge, until required.

Rating: 4.5

Eggplant, Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil Rolls

This is a simple, and cute, side dish with heaps of flavour.

Eggplant, Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil Rolls:

Ingredients:

1 Large Eggplant
Mozzarella cheese, cut into slices (at least one slice per roll)
Plum/small (i.e. cherry) tomatoes, cut into 4 slices
Basil leaves (at least one per roll)
Balsamic vinegar
Ectra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Method:

1. Cut the eggplant lengthways into 10 thin slices and discard the two outermost slices. Sprinkle the slices with salt and leave tof 20 mins. Rinse, and then pat dry with paper towels.

2. Preheat the grill and line the rack with foil. Place the dried eggplant slices on the grill rack and spray with cooking oil. Grill for 8-10 mins until tender and golden, turning once.

3. Remove the eggplant slices from the grill and then place a slice of mozzarella, a slice or two of tomato and a basil leaf in the centre of each and season to taste. Fold the eggplant over the filling and cook, seam-side down until the grill until heated through and the mozzarella begins to melt. Serve drizzled with olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar.

Notes:

* If you don't have time, or don't like the fiddling around, with drying and grilling your own eggplant, you can use grilled eggplant from the deli. Just make sure the oil is drained off it.

* If you can't get the eggplant with the filling to "stay", use tooth picks to hold them together.

* Tastes great even without the balsamic vinegar and extra oil.

Rating: 4