Baked aubergine recipe

How to make baked eggplant

Preparation time55 minCooking time40 min

Ingredients: 

• 4 eggplants
• 2 teaspoons red pepper powder
• ½ teaspoon curry
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Salt
• 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Filling Ingredients:

• 300 g minced beef
• 1 large onion
• 1 large tomato
• 150 g of grated cured cheese
• Salt, pepper and oregano to taste

Cooked eggplants are delicious and easy to prepare, but when it comes to roasting eggplants, some of us have many doubts. That is why we want to share a simple recipe that solves the mystery of how to prepare baked eggplant in a few steps and without having to buy too many ingredients. 

The first thing is to understand that approximately 92% of the weight of the eggplant is water, so that not only does it have a diuretic effect on our body, but when preparing them in a pyrolytic, convection or conventional oven, what we do is dehydrate the fruit, for this reason, the eggplant is significantly reduced in size. Therefore, it is advisable to buy large aubergines, especially if we are going to stuff them. However, there are some that are too large that can be impractical when it comes to serving.

To start, you must place the oven at 200 ° C so that it heats up and wash the aubergines very well, but without cutting them yet, since they oxidize very quickly. Then, in a bowl you have to mix the olive oil, the curry, the salt and the pepper, to create a kind of dressing. Once you have it ready, it is time to cut the aubergines in half and introduce them one by one into the aforementioned mixture. You will see that this vegetable is a kind of sponge that absorbs the ingredients.

Next, place the halves on an oven-safe tray and roast for 30 minutes or until golden brown. And that’s it, you just have to let it cool a bit and serve. Roasted aubergines can be accompanied with countless foods.

A more advanced version can be stuffed eggplants with meat. In this case, when you cut them in half, you have to make mesh-shaped cuts on their pulp and put them in the oven for 20 minutes. Then, you have to remove the halves, let them cool a bit and extract their pulp so that they are empty to fill.

For the filling, you must chop the onion and the tomato into very small pieces to fry in a pot with the hot olive oil, as well as salt and pepper to taste. When the onion turns transparent, you can add the minced meat, mix everything very well and cover to cook until the meat changes color. It is time to chop the pulp that you have extracted from the aubergines and add it to the meat.

Finally, you just have to stuff the aubergines and place on them a little grated cheese and oregano to taste. A few minutes in the oven will be enough for the cheese to be au gratin.