Chickpea, Basil and Onion Stuffed Eggplant Boats with Almond Drizzle

Normally summer means hot weather, and hot weather means fresh, cold food. Think colourful salad plates, cold soups, smoothies, and sandwiches. But here in Germany even though summer is well and truly here, the weather sometimes suggests otherwise. Lately it’s been scorching hot one day, and cool enough the next day that you can’t leave the house without pants and a jacket.  In the last few weeks we’ve seen temperatures ranging from 13-38 degrees C.  That means that regular summer meals are interspersed with some more fall appropriate ones like this eggplant dish.

These overflowing eggplant boats are a cinch to make but don’t compromise on flavour. Thick tender eggplant is over stuffed with a concoction of chickpeas, basil, and onions. Top that off with a drizzle of creamy, salty, almond sauce and you’ve got a mouth-watering  combination of flavours.

Warmth, cold, rain or shine, regardless of the weather these can be whipped up quickly and enjoyed at any time of the year.

Eggplant Boats Serves two people

For the eggplants

• 2 eggplants
• 1 tbsp olive oil

For the Filling

• 1 large red onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 red pepper (chopped)
• 1/4 cup chopped, sun dried tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas (from a can or self cooked)
• 1/3 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp tumeric
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp ground almonds
• handful of chopped basil leaves
• salt and pepper to taste

For the sauce

• 3/4 cup ground almonds
• 1/2  water
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F
2. Wash the eggplants and slice them in half length wise. With a spoon, scoop out the insides, leaving about 1cm of flesh around the edges (See picture). Chop the scooped out eggplant into small pieces and put in a bowl for later use
3. Brush the 4 eggplant halves with olive oil and bake them for 15 minutes
4. Meanwhile, chop the onions and garlic and saute them in a large frying pan with 1 tbsp of olive oil until they are soft
5. Add the chopped pepper and the scooped out eggplant to the frying and pan and cook for 3-4 minutes
6. Then add the rest of the filling ingredients
7. To make the almond drizzle, in a small pot mix the ground almonds with the water and cook over medium heat stirring continually for 2-3 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste
8. Fill the eggplants with the mixture from the frying pan
9. Put a drizzle of almond sauce on top