This Baked Eggplant Stuffed with Spicy Tomato Chickpeas recipe is totally fuss-free, filling and delicious. It’s also very affordable as it fundamentally consists of chicken, eggplant, chickpeas and tinned tomatoes!
You might think it doesn’t sound interesting enough, but thanks to the magical powers of herbs and spices, it tastes fantastic. Trust me.
I cooked this Baked Eggplant Stuffed with Spicy Tomato Chickpeas in conjunction with my Moroccan Quinoa and Lentil Salad, and I would highly recommend you do the same. They make the perfect pair. However, the baked eggplant would also taste great with any simple side salad, brown rice, cauliflower rice, sweet potato fries, spelt, bulgar wheat, cous cous–whatever you have in the cupboard!
Heavenly Baked Eggplant Stuffed with Spicy Tomato Chickpeas
Ingredients
- 2 medium eggplant (brinjal, aubergine, or guinea squash)
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 tin tomatoes - diced
- 1 tin chickpeas - drained
- 1 cup ground chicken (minced chicken) - precooked
- 2 tablespoons passata or crushed tomatoes (tomato puree with seeds removed)
- ½ tablespoon red chili (red chilli in British English)
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon basil
Instructions
- Preheat fan oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
- Wash the eggplant and slice in half lengthways. Place in a ceramic dish, drizzle with plenty of oil (use coconut oil or olive oil) and sprinkle with ground coriander and sea salt. Place in the oven to roast for 15 minutes.
- Peel the garlic cloves and halve them lengthways. After 15 minutes, remove the eggplant from the oven, drizzle with more oil and distribute the garlic cloves evenly on top. Press them down a little into the hot flesh of the eggplant. Return to the oven.
- Place a medium-sized pan on the hob on low heat. Add the diced tinned tomatoes, drained chickpeas, tomato purée, chicken, and mix thoroughly. Dice the chilli very finely and add it to the pan. Then add the coriander, paprika, and lashings of sea salt and black pepper to taste. Stir regularly so that the mixture simmers.
- If you have fresh coriander (cilantro), add as much of that as you wish.
- After 5 minutes, once all the flavours have begun to infuse through the sauce, taste the tomato chickpea mixture and season further if you wish.
- Remove the eggplant from the oven once it begins to brown nicely and the garlic on top is nice and soft (before it burns). Spoon the chickpea mixture evenly over the 4 halves and return to the oven for 5 minutes.
- Remove the stuffed eggplants from the oven and sprinkle with lots of fresh basil and or coriander and if you’re feeling naughty, sprinkle some parmesan on there. Serve hot or cold!