For years, the relationship between me and eggplants was to simply ignore each other. It was invisible to me. I’d pass an eggplant’s stall at the farmer's market and wouldn't even notice it. When someone would make an eggplant dish i’d ignore it as if it didn’t exist.
Unlike other vegetables that “talk” to me when I see them at the market, sending me messages of scents and flavors, eggplants never made my taste buds tingle. When my better half was at the at the hospital pregnancy bed rest with our youngest son, I would prepare her food daily and bring it to the hospital. Knowing how much she loves eggplants, I decided one of these times to surprise her, and make an eggplant tomato dish. “Eggplants??” she asked, disbelieved. “Yes,” I answered, “but I have no clue if it’s any good, I didn’t taste it”. When I visited her the following day, I saw all her roommates enjoying the dish. “Is it you that doesn’t eat eggplants?” One of them asked with a full mouth, “yes,” i answered, “well, with the way you cook them, it’s better that you don’t eat them” she said, “this way there’s more for us,” she added, making the others laugh. After years of refusing to taste eggplants in any shape or form, I was convinced to try a tahini eggplant salad. It was OK, I mainly liked the tahini. Since then, many water flew the Hudson. I learned to love this vegetable, and it became one of my favorites.
2 medium size eggplants
Olive oil
1 lb ground beef
¼ cup finely chopped parsley
¼ cup finely chopped cilantro
3 garlic cloves minced
1 egg
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp baharat (can be replaced with ground allspice)
¼ tsp ground clove
Salt
Black pepper
Sauce
2 tomatoes diced
I onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 TBS tomato paste
2 TBS olive oil
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp baharat (can be replaced with ground allspice)
¼ tsp ground clove
1 TBS brown sugar
Salt
Black pepper
1 cup water
Preheat oven to 400F/200C. Wash eggplants. Cut corners and slice lengthwise into ½ inch slices.Place on baking tray covered with baking paper. Brush with olive oil both sides and roast for 40 min until soft and golden, flip halfway through.
Heat 2 TBS olive oil in a deep pan. Add onion and fry to golden. Add garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste and water, mix well. Add spices, mix to blend and bring to boil. Lower heat and cook for 10 min.
Lower oven heat to 350. Mix all filling ingredients in a bowl.Place an eggplant slice on working surface. Roll a small beef roll and put on eggplant’s wide side. Roll and place in baking pan. Pour sauce over the eggplants and bake for 1 hour.
