One thing I like most about these late summer days is, that it’s finally eggplant season again. I could actually create a different eggplant dish every day because they are so versatile. Whether marinated, grilled or as a curry – eggplants taste great in every way. Especially the combination of eggplant and a fresh couscous salad is perfect. A light, yet satisfying dish that captivates not only in color, but also in taste.
While I’m almost obsessed with eggplants today, in the past I could not do anything with them. I always thought you had to keep your eggplants salted for hours before you can continue processing them. A few years ago, I finally was ready to give eggplants a try. I was cooking a Mousakka, which completely failed. Of course, my cooking skills weren’t to blame for this disaster, which was obviously due to this suspect vegetable named eggplant. 🙂 And so it came, that I wasted another precious time ignoring this wonderful food. But awareness and recognition comes with age and luckily the eggplant has conquered my heart. So you could name today’s blog post also “Eggplant – the vegetables of late recognition” or “Love at second glance”.
Apart from the versatility of eggplants in the kitchen, they also have many health benefits:
- Eggplant contains a lot of fiber, which slows down your digestion and gives you a good feeling of fullness, which can help you to lose weight.
- Fiber in eggplant can also reduce blood sugar by slowing down the rate of digestion and thus the absorption of sugar in the body. This will help to keep your blood sugar level steady.
- Eggplant is rich in antioxidants that protect our body cells from aging and can also help preventing cancer.
Ingredients
Roasted Eggplant
- 2 eggplants
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 tbsp agave syrup/honey
- 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 chili (minced)
- 3 cloves of garlic (thin slices)
- hand full of fresh parsley (chopped)
Couscous
- 200 g couscous
- 500 ml hot water
- 1 tsp tomato paste
- 1 bunch fresh parsley (chopped)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt & pepper for seasoning
For Topping:
- fresh parsley
- 1/2 pomegranate
Instructions
Eggplant:
- halve the eggplant and carve the fruit meat with a knife (see photos in the blog post).
- Mix the oil, honey (or agave syrup), red wine vinegar, chili, garlic and parsley.
- Place the eggplant halves on a baking sheet and brush with the oil mixture.
- Bake the aubergines for 25 min at 180 °C.
Couscous:
- Put the couscous in a bowl, add the hot water and stir.
- Add the tomato paste and oil.
- Once the couscous water has been absorbed and the mass has cooled down a bit, add the parsley and season the salad with salt and pepper.
Put the couscous salad and eggplants on a plate and top with fresh parsley and pomegranate. Enjoy!
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