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Recipe

Baked eggplant

There are many stories about the origin of this eggplant dish. The one I prefer to believe is that the priests, in their long eggplant-purple robes, fainted with pleasure after eating these garlic and olive oil-infused baked eggplants. I can relate – this dish is definitely swoon material!

Feb 02, 2016 1:19am
By Nici Wickes
  • 1 hr 20 mins cooking
  • Serves 6
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Ingredients

Fainting priests
  • 1/2 cup oil
  • 2 large onions, thinly sliced
  • 4 clove garlic, crushed
  • 400 gram tin chopped tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoon parsley, chopped
  • 1/4 cup currants
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt and cracked black pepper, to taste
  • 4 eggplants
  • 1 lemon, juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/4 cup water

Method

Fainting priests
  • 1
    Heat half the oil and gently cook the onions for about 15 minutes until softened.
  • 2
    Add the garlic, then cook for a further 2 minutes.
  • 3
    Add the tomatoes, parsley, currants, salt and pepper. Cook for 10 more minutes, then set aside.
  • 4
    Top and tail the eggplants. With a peeler, take alternate strips of skin off lengthwise, leaving it looking like a zebra crossing.
  • 5
    Heat the remaining oil in a frypan and fry the eggplants, two at a time, turning them until they are slightly browned all over. You may need a little more oil for the second lot.
  • 6
    When they have cooled a little, slit each eggplant lengthwise but not right through and gently pull them apart. Spoon some of the tomato filling into them.
  • 7
    Put in a shallow oven-proof dish that will fit the eggplants snugly. Spoon over the remaining filling.
  • 8
    Mix the lemon juice, sugar and water together, then pour over the eggplants.
  • 9
    Mix the lemon juice, sugar and water together, then pour over the eggplants. Cover the dish tightly with a double layer of tin foil and bake at 180°C for 1½ hours or until completely cooked through. Remove the tin foil for the last 10 -15 minutes to reduce the pan syrup.
  • 10
    Serve warm with fresh bread to soak up the garlicky juices.

Notes

Can be assembled the day before and baked the next day. This will serve 4 people as a main dish or more as a side dish.

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