Stuffed aubergines, toasted bread, tomato sauce and yoghurt

Description

This dish is complex and it requires time, but it has dramatic appeal and it is quite delicious. If you plan to use the extracted aubergine flesh in another dish, put it into a bowl of water with salt and lemon juice.

Ingredients

For the aubergine stuffing
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil
350g/12oz lean minced beef or lamb
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground allspice
75g/3oz pine nuts
6 small aubergines (available from Middle Eastern and Asian stores)
For the tomato sauce
1kg/2¼lb tomatoes, skinned and chopped
2 tsp sugar
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1½ tbsp pomegranate molasses (available from Middle Eastern and Asian stores, optional)
For the toasted bread
2 pitta breads
For the yoghurt
500g/1lb 2oz natural yoghurt, at room temperature
2 tbsp tahini (sesame seed paste, optional)
2 cloves garlic, crushed (optional)

Method

1. For the aubergine stuffing, heat two tablespoons of the oil in a frying pan. Put in the meat and add salt, freshly ground black pepper, the cinnamon and allspice. Cook, crushing the meat with a fork and turning it over, for about eight minutes until it has changed colour and the liquid has evaporated.
2. In another small frying pan, fry the pine nuts in a drop of oil, shaking the pan to brown them slightly all over. Stir half the pine nuts into the meat.
3. Cut a slice off at the stem end of the aubergines and, using an apple corer, hollow out the flesh, or scrape the sides with a sharp knife, to leave a shell with walls about 5mm/¼in thick, being careful not to pierce the skin.
4. Fill the cavities with the meat and pine nut mixture.
5. For the tomato sauce, put the tomatoes into a wide pan with the sugar, a little salt and freshly ground black pepper and (if using) the pomegranate molasses. Stir well and simmer for five minutes.
6. Add the aubergines, and simmer over a low heat for 45 minutes or until the aubergines are very soft, turning them over once.
7. Preheat the grill.
8. Open out the pitta breads and toast them under the grill until they are crisp and lightly browned.
9. For the yoghurt, mix the yoghurt with the tahini and garlic (if using).
10. Just before serving, assemble the different components in a wide, deep serving dish. Break the toasted pitta breads into small pieces into the bottom of the dish. Take the aubergines out of the tomato sauce and pour the sauce over the toast which will become soft and swollen. Pour the yoghurt all over the sauce and arrange the stuffed aubergines on top. Finally, sprinkle with the remaining pine nuts and serve.