Rose-Harissa Aubergines & Hummus
Servings: 4 (as part of a mezze-style meal or appetiser)
Ingredients
For the Rose Harissa Aubergines
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 large aubergines (chopped into 2 inch chunks. If you have time salt them and leave them for 30 mins to extract water - this will reduce the amount of oil needed to cook them)
- 1 large onion (finely diced)
- 2 cloves garlic (crushed or minced)
- 2 tbsp rose harissa paste
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 250 ml water
- 20 g fresh coriander (finely chopped including stems)
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- Salt and Pepper (to taste)
- Olive oil (to drizzle on top before serving)
- Finely chopped fresh herbs (to garnish - you can use any herb you like including coriander or parsley)
For the Hummus
- 720 g large chick peas in a jar (drained weight approx. 400g)
- 2 cloves garlic
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 4 tbsp tahini
- 40 ml olive oil
- 40 ml ice cold water
- Salt and Pepper (to taste)
Instructions
For the Rose Harissa Aubergines
- Place a large frying pan on a medium / high heat and add 2 tbsp of oil. Add the aubergines and cook until soft all the way through. After 5 minutes of cooking the aubergine, add the remaining 1 tbsp of oil. Stir occasionally to ensure all sides of the aubergine cook through.
- Add the onions to the pan. The pan may be dry as aubergine has a tendency to absorb oil. Do not be tempted to add more oil as the rose harissa paste contains oil. Stir and cook the mixture until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and stir until evenly distributed.
- Add the rose harissa and stir into the mixture. Then add the tomato purée and stir in. Follow with the water, then the fresh coriander and finally the balsamic vinegar. Cook and stir until the liquid reduces and you have a lovely sticky mixture - some of the aubergine chunks will be mashed into the mixture and that is absolutely fine. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and season to taste. You can turn the heat off and leave in the pan until ready to serve the dish. Alternatively you can leave it on a low flame but make sure the mixture does not dry out / burn - add more water if necessary.
For the Hummus
- Add all the hummus ingredients, except the water, salt and pepper to a food processor / nutribullet. Blend until it is smooth. Then add the water and blend further until you have creamy texture. Season to taste.
- Spoon the hummus onto a serving dish and top with the rose harissa aubergine mixture. Drizzle with olive oil and a sprinkle of fresh herbs. Serve as part of a mezze-platter with bread.