Eggplant With Tomato Sauce & Pine Nuts
By Lee Jackson ↣ Published on: March 22, 2019
Try these creamy, tangy and crunchy little bites of goodness as part of your next Middle Eastern inspired feast. Wonderfully soft eggplant with a tangy tomato sauce, cooling yoghurt and crunchy pinenuts. They’re the perfect little bite!
My Eggplant With Tomato Sauce & Pine Nuts a great accompaniment to any Mediterranean inspired feast. My favourite way to eat is to create a whole bunch of dishes and leave them in the centre, family style, for all to mix and match. Middle Eastern and Mediterranean mezze style food is the best way to eat. Everyone gets something they love, and you can east as little (or as much) as you like.
I like nothing more than creating a huge array of plant-based dishes to accompany a simply grilled meat or fish. I'm not at the point of following 100% plan-based diet, but am certainly tipping the balance in favour of delicious vegetable side dishes.
What's Ahead?
Why it works?
It's healthy and flavourful - each slice of eggplant comes with all the flavour you'll need. All the flavours and textures work in complete harmony. And so full of goodness too!
Stuff You'll Need
There aren't any hard-to-find ingredients for these healthy little slices. Here's what's involved.
- Eggplant - the slices act as the main vehicle for the other flavours, not that they're lacking in flavour (and texture) themselves.
- Spiced tomato sauce - made fresh using onion, garlic, olive oil, fennel seeds, cumin, paprika, cinnamon and canned tomato polpa or passata.
- Greek yoghurt - used as a cold, cooling topping that works so well with the tangy spiced tomatoes.
- Pine nuts - I like to fry mine in a little oil or butter until golden brown, but you can dry fry in a pan too, or just leave them raw, as bought.
- Parsley - I like the green element on top so use grassy parsley, but other herbs like oregano, marjoram, basil, chives, tarragon or thyme would work too.
Step by Step
Here's how to make my crazy-tasty eggplant with tomato sauce and pine nuts. I like to make the tomato sauce way in advance as the flavour improves with time.
- Step 1 - Heat a large saucepan with 2 tablespoons of the oil over a moderate heat until just hot, then add the aniseed seeds and sizzle for 10 seconds until aromatic. Add the onion and garlic and fry gently for 4-5 minutes until soft and golden.
- Step 2 - Add the cumin, paprika, and cinnamon and stir for 20 seconds before adding the tomatoes – fill the can half full of water then add this to the pan and stir in. Season with salt & pepper then bring to a simmer and reduce the heat to low. Simmer gently for 20 minutes until reduced and quite thick – like jam. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature for 1 hour.
- Step 3 - Heat half the remaining oil over a moderate heat in a large frying pan – large enough to hold the eggplant in one layer (you may have to do it in batches). When hot, place in the aubergine and fry on one side for about 8 minutes, until golden brown and soft. Turn over, add a little more oil if needed and cook until brown on this side. Remove onto kitchen paper and blot to catch the excess oil. Repeat with the remaining aubergine. Leave to cool completely.
- Step 4 - With the pan still hot, add the pine nuts and cook for about 2-3 minutes until lightly golden. Drain and cool on kitchen paper.
- Step 5 - When everything is at room temperature, arrange the aubergine in one layer on a platter. Add a spoonful of tomato sauce on top, then a small dollop of yoghurt, and sprinkle with parsley and pine nuts. Serve!
Serving & Storage Suggestions
- Serving - This is a dish best served at room temperature. You can make all the elements in advance and then arrange just before serving, but be sure to let it come up to room temperature. They work alongside meats, fish and other vegetable dishes. So versatile!
- Fridge - Leftovers will be fine for 2-3 days in the fridge, well wrapped.
- Freezer - I don't recommend freezing this dish as the eggplant will become watery and the yoghurt won't freeze too well either.
Ready to get cooking?
For a wonderful Mediterranean mezze-style platter, these eggplant slices are ideal. They're packed with flavour and play so well with other dishes on the table. I particularly love them with roasted fish or chicken. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
More Middle Eastern and Mediterranean recipes
If you liked this recipe for Eggplant with tomato sauce and pine nuts, I'm sure you'll love some more of my Med-style and Middle Eastern recipes.
- Black Hummus
- Turkish Beetroot & Yoghurt Dip
- Baba Ghanoush
- Fattoush
- Tomato Salad
- Turkish Bean Salad (piyaz)
- Cheese Börek with Spinach
- Cacik (Turkish Yoghurt & Cucumber)
- Chraime Sauce with Fish
- Pilpelchuma with Sweet Potatoes
- Freekeh Pilaf with Chickpeas
- Chicken Pilaf
- Muhammara (Red Pepper & Walnut Dip)
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Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant (aubergine) cut into thick slices
- 1 small red onion Finely diced (about 1/2 cup)
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp aniseed seeds (or fennel seeds)
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 14 oz can tomatoes (400g)
- salt & pepper
- 4 tbsp Greek yoghurt plain
- 4 tbsp pine nuts
- 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley chopped
Instructions
To make the tomato sauce
- Heat a large saucepan with 2 tablespoons of the oil over a moderate heat until just hot, then add the aniseed seeds and sizzle for 10 seconds until aromatic. Add the onion and garlic and fry gently for 4-5 minutes until soft and golden.
- Add the cumin, paprika and cinnamon and stir for 20 seconds before adding the tomatoes – fill the can half full of water then add this to the pan and stir in. Season with salt & pepper then bring to a simmer and reduce the heat to low. Simmer gently for 20 minutes until reduced and quite thick – like jam. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature for 1 hour.
To make the eggplant
- Heat half the remaining oil over a moderate heat in a large frying pan – large enough to hold the eggplant in one layer (you may have to do it in batches). When hot, place in the eggplant and fry on one side for about 8 minutes, until golden brown and soft. Turn over, add a little more oil if needed and cook until brown on this side. Remove onto paper towels and blot to catch the excess oil. Repeat with the remaining eggplant. Leave to cool completely.
- With the pan still hot, add the pine nuts and cook for about 2-3 minutes until lightly golden. Drain and cool on paper towels.
Arranging the dish
- When everything is at room temperature, arrange the eggplant in one layer on a platter. Add a spoon of tomato sauce on top, then a small dollop of yoghurt then sprinkle with parsley and pine nuts. Serve!
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